Skip to content

Compare Clover vs Lavu: pricing, features, pros, cons, and which is right for your business.

Clover vs Lavu

Updated October 2026 · Restaurant POS Software software comparison

Clover

Clover

Visit ↗

Turnkey Android POS with proprietary hardware and integrated payments for restaurants

★ 3.8 580 reviews from $135.00/mo financed
Lavu

Lavu

Visit ↗

iPad restaurant POS with in-house Lavu Pay processing and direct online ordering

★ 4.2 259 reviews

At a Glance

Criteria Clover Lavu
Overall Rating ★ 3.8
580 reviews
★ 4.2
259 reviews
Starting Price $135.00 /mo financed Contact vendor
Pricing Model Paid Quote Only
Free Trial No No
Deployment cloud, mobile cloud, mobile
Best For Freelancer, Smb, Mid Market Smb, Mid Market

Strengths & Weaknesses

Clover
Lavu
Pros
✓Transparent, published restaurant bundle pricing — rare in the POS category
✓Runs on off-the-shelf Apple iPads — not locked to proprietary hardware, so you can buy replacements anywhere
✓Turnkey hardware range covers counter, tableside, line-busting, and self-order kiosk
✓In-house Lavu Pay processing is integrated with the POS and accepts payments offline during an internet drop
✓One hardware and POS family across restaurant plus retail or services operations
✓Dual Pricing / cash-discount program offsets card-processing fees by shifting them to card-paying guests
✓Easy-to-use, portable devices are the dominant praise across reviews
✓MenuDrive direct online ordering syncs dine-in, takeout, and delivery to one report set, avoiding marketplace commissions
✓No-fee online ordering with pick-up, delivery, and remote firing on every tier
✓Ease of use, support, and reporting are the dominant praise across reviews
✓Integrated payments with Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo, and QR Scan-to-Pay
✓24/7 live support from real people included
Cons
✗Fees, contracts, and hard-to-cancel billing are the top recurring complaint
✗Price and fees draw recurring complaints; no published rate means you must request a quote to compare
✗Processor lock-in — the device is tied to Clover/First Data; no bringing your own processor
✗Setup, onboarding, and migration run long and costly for some operators
✗Clover hardware bought or used elsewhere can't be re-provisioned onto another processor
✗Occasional bugs reported in reviews
✗Financed bundles and the hardware-credit promo require a three-year contract
✗Hardware friction cited by some reviewers
✗General-purpose roots mean shallower restaurant workflows and reporting than native systems
✗Integration gaps noted; the live integrations catalog is not enumerable since the integrations page now redirects
✗Learning curve and mixed marks on support quality
✗Support quality is uneven — a top strength for many but a friction point for others

Who uses restaurant software — and what each person does with it

🧑‍🍳 Owner / GM

Watches sales, food cost, labor and prime cost across shifts and locations on one dashboard — sees which menu items and dayparts actually make money.

📋 Floor manager

Builds the schedule against forecasted sales, approves shift swaps, seats the floor and clears the waitlist, and pulls the daily close from the POS.

🍽️ Server / FOH

Fires orders from the POS or a handheld, splits and adjusts checks, takes payment tableside, and the kitchen sees the ticket instantly on the KDS.

👨‍🍳 Kitchen / BOH

Works tickets on the kitchen display with station routing and timers, marks items 86'd, and depletes inventory automatically as dishes sell.

The flow the software runs end to end: guest orders (dine-in, online or delivery) → ticket fires to the KDS → items depleted from inventory → payment captured at the POS → sales, food and labor cost post to reporting and accounting → schedule and purchasing adjust to the numbers. Each stage hands off to the next without re-keying.

Who Should Choose Which?

Choose Clover if…
  • Your team fits the freelancer or smb or mid market profile
  • Your preferred deployment is cloud or mobile
  • Transparent, published restaurant bundle pricing — rare in the POS category
Choose Lavu if…
  • Your team fits the smb or mid market profile
  • You prioritise peer-verified quality — higher rating (4.2 vs 3.8)
  • Your preferred deployment is cloud or mobile
  • Runs on off-the-shelf Apple iPads — not locked to proprietary hardware, so you can buy replacements anywhere

Our Verdict

Lavu
Lavu edges ahead with a higher overall rating (★ 4.2 vs ★ 3.8) and stronger review volume (259 vs 580 verified reviews) .

Clover targets freelancer/smb/mid_market businesses with paid pricing starting at $135.00/mo financed. Its strongest selling points include transparent, published restaurant bundle pricing — rare in the pos category and turnkey hardware range covers counter, tableside, line-busting, and self-order kiosk.

Lavu targets smb/mid_market businesses with quote only pricing . Its key advantages include runs on off-the-shelf apple ipads — not locked to proprietary hardware, so you can buy replacements anywhere and in-house lavu pay processing is integrated with the pos and accepts payments offline during an internet drop.

Both tools are reviewed independently — see the full reviews below to dig into integrations, implementation timelines, and user sentiment.

Free · No credit card

Book a vendor demo

Vendor-facilitated. We forward your request to their sales team within 24 hours.

  • Choose a preferred date + time slot
  • 30-minute product walkthrough
  • Custom pricing based on your seat count
GDPR / CCPA compliant. Data forwarded once, not resold.
Request received. We forwarded to sales. Confirmation email en route.
Compare: