Tool	Best for	Venue fit	Regions	Pricing	Evidence
Square for Restaurants	Small to mid-sized cafés/restaurants wanting POS + payments in one ecosystem	Cafe, Restaurant, QSR, Food Truck	AU, Global	Mixed	Source-backed seed
Tyro		Cafe, Restaurant, Bar Pub, Medical	AU	Unknown	Source-backed seed
Zeller Terminal	Small Australian venues wanting simple EFTPOS pricing	Cafe, Restaurant, Bar Pub, Food Truck	AU	Transaction Fee	Source-backed seed
Zeller Account	Venues already considering Zeller terminals	Cafe, Restaurant, Bar Pub	AU	Mixed	Source-backed seed
Square Payments		Cafe, Restaurant, Food Truck, QSR	AU, Global	Unknown	Seed record
PayPal Zettle		Food Truck, Cafe	AU, Global	Unknown	Seed record
Shift4		Restaurant, Multi Site	AU, Global	Unknown	Seed record
Stripe		Restaurant, QSR	AU, Global	Unknown	Seed record
Windcave		Restaurant, Bar Pub, Multi Site	AU, NZ, Global	Unknown	Seed record
Smartpay		Cafe, Restaurant, Bar Pub	AU, NZ	Unknown	Seed record

Buying criteria

How to choose without getting buried in demos

Venue fit

Does the tool match your venue type and service model?

Australian relevance

Are pricing, support and integrations useful for Australian operators?

Data portability

Can you get useful data out if the stack changes later?

Common traps

What to check before signing

Vendor demos that skip the messy operational edge cases.
Unclear pricing or region availability.
Integrations that exist in name but need paid connectors or manual work.

Build the shortlist

Square vs Lightspeed for Australian cafes

A first comparison between a simpler starting stack and deeper hospitality workflows.

What to check before choosing a hospitality POS

Demo questions for hardware, support, payments and integrations.

Methodology

How this page is assembled

We include tools based on category fit, Australian relevance, source-backed data and operator usefulness. We do not publish fake star ratings. Vendor pages stay cautious until pricing, integrations and support claims are checked.

Read methodology