Waiterio

Overview

Waiterio brings table and order management, menus, staff, payments, discounts, and sales reports into a restaurant-focused POS. It can send orders to the kitchen and generate invoices, with a kitchen display and employee permissions among its listed capabilities. Its restaurant website builder also routes online orders to the POS dashboard, giving dine-in and takeaway teams a shared view of orders.

Key features

Service and kitchen workflow

Table management and kitchen routing suit restaurants coordinating service across front and back of house. The free plan counts each table served as one order, rather than counting items, and stops at 100 orders per month. That cap may be restrictive for a busy dining room even when its menu has relatively few items per table.

Online ordering and restaurant websites

The website builder supports pickup and delivery scheduling, advance ordering, contactless delivery requests, and multiple locations. Google Maps integration can show the restaurant’s location on its site. Because online orders join offline orders on the same dashboard, Waiterio is a stronger fit for restaurants coordinating dine-in and takeaway than for operators seeking only a standalone website.

QR ordering, payments, and printing

Table QR codes let customers view a menu and place orders that reach the restaurant. Waiterio supports cash, vouchers, and credit card payments; cards can be handled through an external terminal or supported phones. Card transactions go through an external PCI-compliant payment gateway and are not stored or processed on Waiterio’s servers.

For printing, Waiterio works with thermal printers using the ESC POS protocol. Its documentation recommends Wi-Fi printers and does not support parallel or serial connections, so restaurants relying on those connections should check their hardware before choosing it. Users also cannot create new orders while offline, a significant limitation for venues that need ordering to continue through an internet disruption.

Pricing

Waiterio is freemium, with a free plan, a free trial, and paid plans billed monthly. The free plan allows up to 100 orders (tables served) per month; each table served counts as one order. It is a practical way for a low-volume venue to start, but the quota is based on service volume and may be reached quickly by a busy restaurant.

• Small: 39.00 USD per month, billed monthly, for 600 orders per month. A fit for a venue whose volume exceeds the free cap but remains within this allowance.
• Medium: 59.00 USD per month, billed monthly, for 1,200 orders per month. It doubles Small’s quota for a higher-volume operation.
• Large: 79.00 USD per month, billed monthly, with unlimited orders per month. It removes the listed order ceiling, which matters to operators whose service volume would strain a fixed allowance.

The paid tiers are distinguished by monthly order allowance; the listed plans do not state seat limits or trial length. The free plan’s 100-order ceiling is the key trade-off for a small operator, while businesses above it must move to a paid monthly plan.

Platforms

Waiterio is available on Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, web, and Windows. Its documented printer support favors Wi-Fi thermal printers using ESC POS, rather than parallel or serial connections.

Who it's for

Waiterio is aimed at restaurants and bars, particularly those that want table service, kitchen workflow, QR ordering, and a restaurant website with pickup or delivery in one system. It is less suitable for venues that must keep taking new orders offline, or for operators whose table volume makes the free allowance too small.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Online and in-person orders appear on the same dashboard, helping restaurants coordinate service across channels.
• Pro: QR ordering, scheduling, and multi-location website support cover several common restaurant ordering needs.
• Pro: Card transactions are handled by an external PCI-compliant gateway rather than stored or processed on Waiterio’s servers.
• Con: New orders cannot be created offline, so an internet interruption can stop order entry.
• Con: The free plan caps service at 100 tables per month, a limit that can be reached quickly in a busy restaurant.
• Con: Printer support excludes parallel and serial connections, narrowing hardware options.

Alternatives

For a broader comparison, see Restaurant POS Software.

• Loyverse is worth considering if Android, iOS, web, or API access and a free POS plan fit better; its listed paid sales-history option is 5.00 USD per month per store.
• Floreant POS is a free, open-source POS for readers who prefer a Windows or Linux download or self-hosted option.
• Heartland Retail starts at 89.00 USD per month for its listed POS plan and is an option for readers comparing a retail-focused system.
• HungerRush offers a qualifying free Starter plan for one location and one POS terminal, which may suit a restaurant that meets those criteria.
• LOOP POS has a free plan for one outlet and two staff accounts, or a Growth plan at 29.00 USD per month.
• Slant Loyalty is another freemium option.
• TablePort Sites offers a free Sites plan and a 99.00 GBP per month Sites Advanced plan, for readers comparing website-focused options.
• NCR Voyix POS is a paid POS alternative for grocery, convenience, fuel, department, and specialty retail.

Verdict

Choose Waiterio if you run a restaurant or bar and want table service, QR ordering, and online orders connected to one dashboard. Its restaurant-specific ordering workflow is the main reason to choose it; the inability to enter orders offline is the clearest reason to look elsewhere, while the free plan makes sense only if 100 tables served per month is enough.