Best AI-Powered POS Systems (2027)

Six POS platforms now ship AI that answers questions about your sales, forecasts demand, writes product copy, or takes orders by voice. This page shows what each one does, which plan unlocks it, and where the vendor warns you not to trust the output.

Reviewed by CanComCo, Partner Experience Manager. Last updated .

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  • Best for restaurants: Toast. Toast IQ comes with Point of Sale from $69 per month.
  • Lowest cost to start: Square. Square Free is $0 per month, and AI voice ordering runs on Plus at $49 per location per month.
  • Best for retail planning: Lightspeed Retail. Lightspeed AI builds reports from your sales and stock history on Plus at $289 per month.
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Illustration of a shop owner at a counter reading a short summary on a tablet point of sale

Top AI POS Systems at a Glance

  • Best for restaurants

    Toast

    Toast IQ answers plain-language questions on sales, labor, menu and guest trends, and it makes changes only after you confirm. It ships with the Point of Sale plan, so the AI costs nothing on top.

    From $69/mo

    Get Toast
  • Lowest cost to start

    Square

    Square Free costs $0 per month. Ask Square AI about your sales in plain language, and on Plus, let AI answer calls and send orders straight to the POS.

    $0/mo. Plus $49/mo per location.

    Get Square
  • Best for retail planning

    Lightspeed Retail (X-Series)

    Lightspeed AI answers questions from your sales and inventory history and builds a report from the answer. Demand forecasting sits alongside it.

    Plus $289/mo

    Get Lightspeed Retail

Why AI Matters in a Point of Sale System

AI in a POS does four jobs: it answers questions about your sales, forecasts demand, writes item descriptions, and takes orders by voice. Skip it and you dig through reports by hand and guess at what to reorder.

Picture the cafe owner who spends an hour each week building reports to see what sells after 3 p.m. An AI point of sale system turns that hour into one typed question. Or the retailer who reorders on gut feel and runs out of best sellers before the weekend. An AI-powered POS system reads the same sales history you do, just faster.

A word of caution before you shop. Every vendor on this list attaches limits to its artificial intelligence POS system. Some tools sit in beta. One vendor states outright that it cannot guarantee the insights are accurate. Others reserve the right to use what you type to train their models. A smart POS system gives you a draft, not a decision.

What to Look for in an AI POS System

  • 1. What the AI actually does

    AI covers four different jobs: reporting, forecasting, content writing, and order taking. Ask which of the four you get, because no vendor on this list does all four on one plan.

  • 2. Whether it answers questions about your own sales data

    A chatbot that explains POS features is not the same as one that reads your transactions. The useful version answers what sold after 3 p.m. last Thursday from your data.

  • 3. Accuracy limits and the need for human review

    Read the vendor's own disclaimer. Lightspeed states it cannot guarantee its AI insights are accurate. Treat every AI output as a draft you check before you act on it.

  • 4. The plan or add-on you need, and its price

    Toast and Lightspeed Restaurant include their AI. Lightspeed Retail gates it behind a $289 plan. Price the AI POS software you want, not the base plan.

  • 5. How your data is used and protected

    Square's AI terms let it use your AI content to train and develop its AI products. Lightspeed Restaurant may share your inputs with third-party AI providers. Check this before you type anything sensitive.

  • 6. Availability in your country and language

    Lightspeed Restaurant's agent answers in five languages. Most vendors have not published a country list for their AI, so confirm it for your market before you sign. An intelligent POS system is worth nothing if the AI does not run where you trade.

Compare AI POS Solutions Side by Side

POS systemStarting priceAI assistantSales forecastingContent writingVoice or chat orderingPlan requiredData use policy
Toast Best for restaurants From $69/mo Toast IQ (agents in early access) Not stated Not stated Partial: Yes, needs a partner Included with Point of Sale Toast IQ cannot be turned off account-wide
Square $0/mo (Square Free) Square AI (beta) Not stated Not stated Partial: Yes, beta. Online ordering must be on Square AI price not stated. Voice on Plus or Premium Square may use your AI content to train its AI products
Lightspeed Retail (X-Series) Plus $289/mo Lightspeed AI (open beta, admins) Yes, demand forecasting Not stated Not stated Plus Vendor cannot guarantee insight accuracy
Lightspeed Restaurant (K-Series) From $69/mo Yes, answers in five languages Not stated Not stated Not stated Every plan Inputs may be shared with third-party AI providers
Shopify POS Basic $39/mo Sidekick, in the Shopify admin Not stated Yes, product content Not stated Basic and up. Limits vary by plan Not stated
SpotOn From $55 per station/mo Weekly AI notes. Data chat (beta) Not stated Partial: Menu editor (beta) Partial: Yes, via Maple, billed separately AI prices not stated Not stated

Features and prices verified November 2026. Not stated means the vendor has not published the detail, not that the feature is missing.

Toast: Best for restaurants that want AI with no upcharge

Toast IQ answers plain-language questions about sales, labor, menu and guest trends. You type the question, it reads your restaurant's own numbers, and it comes back with an answer rather than a report you still have to interpret. When it proposes a change, it waits for your confirmation first.

The pricing is the strongest part. Toast IQ ships with the Point of Sale plan from $69 per month, so the AI adds nothing to your bill. Most vendors on this page charge for the AI tier or decline to publish a price.

Two caveats. Toast's AI agents sit in early access, so the feature set will move. Voice ordering needs a partner, which means a second contract and a second bill. And Toast IQ cannot be fully switched off account-wide, so if your policy is to keep AI out of guest or labor data, Toast will not accommodate that today.

Pros

  • AI included at no extra cost
  • Answers on sales, labor, menu and guest trends
  • Confirms before it changes anything

Cons

  • AI agents in early access
  • Voice ordering needs a partner
  • Toast IQ cannot be turned off account-wide

Pricing: Point of Sale from $69/mo, Toast IQ included.

Get Toast

Square: Best for the tightest budget and for catching missed calls

Square Free costs $0 per month, which makes it the cheapest route into AI POS software for small business owners testing whether the AI earns its keep. Square AI lets you ask about your sales in plain language instead of building a report.

The sharper feature is AI voice ordering. On Plus or Premium, Square AI answers calls to your Square business number and pushes the order to the POS and the kitchen display. For a cafe that drops phone orders during the lunch rush, that is a direct revenue recovery. Plus runs $49 per location per month, and online ordering has to be switched on.

Two things to weigh. The assistant is in beta, so behavior will change. More important, Square's AI terms let it use your AI content to train and develop its AI products. Read that clause before you feed it anything you consider proprietary. Square has also not published a price for Square AI itself.

Pros

  • $0 entry plan
  • Plain-language questions on your sales
  • Voice ordering routes to the POS and kitchen display

Cons

  • Assistant in beta
  • Your AI content may train Square's products
  • Square AI price not published

Pricing: Square Free $0/mo. Plus $49/mo per location for voice ordering.

Get Square

Lightspeed Retail (X-Series): Best for retailers planning stock

This is the only system on the list with published demand forecasting, which makes it the pick for an AI retail POS system. Lightspeed AI answers questions from your sales and inventory history, then builds a report out of the answer. If you plan holiday buys, that turns a half-day spreadsheet exercise into a conversation.

The cost is the obstacle. Lightspeed AI needs the Plus plan at $289 per month, the highest AI gate on this page. For a single store with modest volume, that is a lot to pay for reporting. For a retailer carrying seasonal stock across locations, one avoided stockout can cover it.

Be clear-eyed about the maturity. Lightspeed AI is an open beta limited to admins, and Lightspeed states it cannot guarantee the insights are accurate. Use it to shape a reorder, not to sign off on one without checking.

Pros

  • Demand forecasting
  • Builds reports from your sales and stock history
  • Answers from your own data

Cons

  • Needs the $289/mo Plus plan
  • Open beta, admins only
  • Vendor does not guarantee accuracy

Pricing: Plus $289/mo.

Get Lightspeed Retail

Lightspeed Restaurant (K-Series): Best for multilingual restaurant teams

Lightspeed Restaurant puts its AI agent on every plan, starting at $69 per month. No upgrade, no add-on. You ask about sales and the agent answers, and it does so in five languages, which matters if your manager and your owner do not share a first language.

For a restaurant group running thin margins, AI included on every plan removes the usual problem of the AI living two tiers above the plan you actually need. Compare that with the $289 gate on the retail side of the same vendor.

Two limits. The agent does not use Order Anywhere data yet, so any off-premise orders flowing through that channel sit outside its view, which undercuts the answer on a delivery-heavy week. And your inputs may be shared with third-party AI providers, so the data path runs wider than Lightspeed alone.

Pros

  • AI agent on every plan
  • Answers in five languages
  • Entry price from $69/mo

Cons

  • Does not read Order Anywhere data
  • Inputs may go to third-party AI providers
  • Scope of the agent not fully published

Pricing: from $69/mo, AI agent included.

Get Lightspeed Restaurant

Shopify POS: Best for stores that need AI product copy

Shopify's angle is different from the rest. Sidekick helps with product content and store data rather than reading your register, which suits a store adding dozens of SKUs and writing a description for each. Sidekick is included from the Basic plan at $39 per month, the second cheapest entry on this page.

The catch matters for a POS buyer. Sidekick runs in the Shopify admin, and its presence in the POS app is not confirmed. If you want AI at the counter rather than at the back-office desk, verify that before you commit. Features and limits also vary by plan, so the Sidekick you see on a demo may not be the Sidekick on Basic.

Treat Shopify POS as the choice for a store already on Shopify. The AI is a reason to stay, not a reason to switch.

Pros

  • AI help with product content
  • Included from $39/mo Basic
  • Works across store data

Cons

  • Runs in the admin, not confirmed in the POS app
  • Features and limits vary by plan
  • No published sales forecasting

Pricing: Basic $39/mo, Sidekick included.

Get Shopify POS

SpotOn: Best for owners who want a weekly AI readout

SpotOn flips the model. Instead of waiting for you to ask, it sends weekly AI notes on what moved revenue and labor. For an owner who never opens the dashboard, a summary that arrives on its own beats a query tool that sits unused. A data chat and an AI menu editor are also in the product, both in beta.

Pricing is where this gets difficult. SpotOn starts at $55 per station per month, but it has not published prices for the AI tools, so you cannot budget the AI before a sales call. Voice ordering comes from Maple and bills separately, which adds a third line to the quote.

Shortlist SpotOn if the weekly readout fits how you run the business, and get every AI price in writing before you sign.

Pros

  • Weekly AI notes on revenue and labor
  • Data chat and menu editor in the product
  • Per-station pricing suits small footprints

Cons

  • AI prices not published
  • Data chat and menu editor in beta
  • Voice ordering billed separately through Maple

Pricing: from $55 per station per month. AI pricing not stated.

Get SpotOn

Which AI POS Fits Your Situation

You run a restaurant and want answers without building reports

Go with Toast. Toast IQ takes plain-language questions on sales, labor, menu and guest trends, and it confirms with you before changing anything. As an AI restaurant POS system it carries no AI surcharge, so the $69 per month Point of Sale plan is the whole cost.

You run a retail store and you are planning holiday orders

Go with Lightspeed Retail on Plus. It answers from your sales and inventory history, builds the report for you, and adds demand forecasting, which is the closest thing on this list to an AI sales forecasting POS. Plus is $289 per month, so this earns its place when stockouts cost you more than the plan does.

You run a cafe and you miss phone orders at the rush

Go with Square. On Plus or Premium, Square AI answers calls to your Square business number and sends the order to the POS and the kitchen display. It is in beta and online ordering has to be on, and Plus costs $49 per location per month.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does AI cost extra on a POS?

It depends on the vendor. Toast includes Toast IQ with Point of Sale from $69 per month, Lightspeed Restaurant puts its AI agent on every plan from $69 per month, and Shopify includes Sidekick from $39 per month. Lightspeed Retail gates Lightspeed AI behind the $289 Plus plan. Square has not published a price for Square AI, and SpotOn has not published prices for its AI tools.

Can the AI answer questions about my own sales data?

Yes, on Square, Toast, Lightspeed Retail, Lightspeed Restaurant and SpotOn. Shopify's Sidekick works with product content and store data in the admin instead. That distinction is the main thing separating AI-powered point of sale software from a help chatbot.

Is AI in a POS accurate enough to act on?

Not without review. Lightspeed states it cannot guarantee its AI insights are accurate, and Square's assistant, Lightspeed Retail's AI, SpotOn's data chat and menu editor, and Toast's AI agents are all in beta or early access. Check the output before you reorder or reprice.

Does the vendor use my data to train its AI?

Square's AI terms allow it to use your AI content to train and develop its AI products. Lightspeed Restaurant may share your inputs with third-party AI providers. Toast, Shopify POS, Lightspeed Retail and SpotOn have not published a training-data position we can cite here, so ask for it in writing.

Do I need new hardware for AI voice ordering?

No new terminal, but there are conditions. Square's voice ordering answers calls to a Square business number and needs online ordering switched on. Toast's voice ordering runs through a partner. SpotOn's comes from Maple and bills separately.

Can I turn the AI off?

Toast IQ cannot be fully turned off account-wide. The other vendors have not published an opt-out, so treat the AI as on by default and ask the vendor for the setting before you buy.

Will it work in my country and language?

Lightspeed Restaurant's agent answers in five languages. The other vendors have not published language or country lists for their AI features. Confirm coverage for your market before you sign.

Our Verdict on AI in POS Systems

Among the best AI POS systems available today, restaurants should start with Toast, because Toast IQ answers questions on your own sales, labor and menu data and costs nothing above the $69 Point of Sale plan. Retailers should start with Lightspeed Retail on Plus, because it is the only system here with published demand forecasting, though $289 per month means it pays off only when stockouts are costing you real money. If budget is the binding constraint, Square gets you in at $0 and adds voice ordering at $49 per location when you are ready.

Get Toast See which POS systems forecast demand

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