TablePort vs Square for Restaurants
Square for Restaurants is solid for simple setups. TablePort goes deeper: built-in reservations with floor plans, house accounts, AI phone agent, QR ordering, and the engineer who wrote the code on the other end of your call.
Based on Square for Restaurants publicly available documentation, May 2026. Features and pricing change; verify current details before deciding.
At a glancefull table below
Side by side
| Feature | TablePort | Square |
|---|---|---|
Restaurant focus | Restaurant-only platform | Restaurant product within the broader Square ecosystem |
Pricing Square's free tier is real but limited: no coursing, no floor plans, no KDS, basic reporting. | 30 days free, then month-to-month | Free tier (limited), Plus from $49/mo/location, Premium $149/mo/location |
Hardware | Any iOS or Android device you already own | iPads plus Square terminals, readers, KDS hardware |
Reservations & waitlist TablePort ships reservations with deposits and guest profiles on every plan. Square relies on third-party integrations for reservation booking. | Built-in: floor plan editor, table holds, waitlist, deposits, guest history | Floor plans and table management (Plus and above), reservations via OpenTable/SevenRooms integration |
House accounts | Corporate tabs, monthly invoicing, per-person limits | Open checks and house accounts (Plus and above) |
AI phone agent | Voice + WhatsApp + SMS, multi-language, books and answers automatically | Not native; available via partner marketplace integrations |
QR order & pay | Built into the POS, same check | QR code payments on receipts, plus Square Online ordering |
Kitchen display system | Any tablet or screen | Square KDS (Plus $30/device/mo, Premium $20/device/mo, not on free tier) |
Self-service kiosk | Any tablet, 23 languages | Square Kiosk app (Plus $50/device/mo, Premium $30/device/mo, not on free tier) |
Stock & inventory | ||
Staff scheduling | Scheduling and time tracking (Plus and above) | |
Gift cards | Digital with Apple and Google Wallet | Physical and digital |
Direct developer access | Often same-day on feasible asks | Standard product channels |
Contract terms | Month-to-month, cancel anytime | No long-term contracts on most plans |
UK focus | UK-built, UK rails, UK support | Global platform with UK presence |
Why operators switch
Floor plan, holds, waitlist, deposits, and guest history are part of the platform. Not a separate tool, not an add-on, not an OpenTable tab beside the till.
POS, reservations, QR ordering, KDS, kiosk, scheduling, loyalty, gift cards. One login, one bill, one training session. Staff stop switching between tabs.
Run service on the iPads and phones you already own. Connect existing printers over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LAN, or USB. No proprietary terminals to buy.
Who it's for
If you need the simplicity of a free tier for a small, straightforward setup, Square's Starter plan covers the basics well. For anything beyond that, start the free trial and compare.
Get started
Sign up after close, snap a photo of your menu, and process your first order the next morning. No hardware shipment, no demo call, no two-week parallel run. Your phone is the POS until you're ready for a reader.
Create your account in two minutes. No appointment, no credit card.
Snap a photo of your menu or upload a PDF. AI builds the full structure: items, modifiers, allergens.
Your phone is the POS. Take your first order the next morning. Add a card reader when you're ready.
Switching from Square?
We import your menu, reservations book, and historical sales from Square. Most operators go live within a weekend.
Pull your data from your current system; we'll guide you through it.
Menus, modifiers, customer records, and history: imported and validated.
Run a test service on TablePort. Confirm everything looks right.
Flip when you're confident. Most operators switch over a weekend.
Sign up now. AI imports your menu. First order by morning. No card required.