Key Takeaways:
- Free restaurant management solution is specialized in the food service industry and delivers POS and back-office capabilities to eateries.
- By streamlining operations and providing insights, restaurants can deliver quality service, enhance customer experiences, increase sales, and improve employee satisfaction.
- Though available at no cost, free systems still require training and maintenance. When implemented successfully, they become invaluable assets that ease the demands of running a restaurant business.
It takes a lot of effort to manage employees and a kitchen while providing great food and an unforgettable experience to your customers. Restaurant management software is a tool that offers all the features needed to enhance their business.
Looking for Restaurant Management Software? Check out SoftwareSuggest’s list of the best Restaurant Management Software solutions.
To cope with the constant stress and fear of getting reviewed badly, most restaurateurs upscale their operations with tech-savvy software. Almost 80% of restaurateurs are turning towards technology to run their food businesses online.
Restaurant owners can please their customers and flourish their business by managing their restaurant activities using a restaurant management system for free. Let’s take a look at the top free restaurant management software.
Our selection of these Open Source and Free Restaurant Management Software is based on thorough research and analysis. We have listed these softwares based on usability and satisfaction score that include features, ease of use, customer support, ratings, and number of reviews from SoftwareSuggest. Our goal is to help businesses select the right softwares that can help them optimize their business processes.
15 Best Open Source and Free Restaurant Management Software
Software providers in the market have a wide range of free options available to help you choose the best for your restaurant. Some even offer a trial version to check out all the features before you hire the paid versions to do the work for you.
So, make sure you ask for any trial or free version of the best free management software when surfing vendors for the same.
Although surfing for the right vendors might take time, we have searched for you and curated a list of the 15 best free restaurant management systems to help you pick one for your cafe, hotel, or restaurant.
| Software Name | Features |
|---|---|
| Gift Card Management, Inventory Management | |
| Automated Quoting, Automatic Billing | |
| Customizable Branding, Customizable Reports | |
| Loyalty Program Support, Recipe Management | |
| Payment Handling, Sales Tracking | |
| Gift Card Management, Loyalty Program Support | |
| Online Ordering, Online Payments | |
| Electronic Signature, Email Marketing | |
| Supplier and Purchase Order Management, Quotation & Estimates | |
| Point of Sale (POS), Inventory Controlrs taxation | |
| Order Tracking, Online Payment | |
| Gift Card Management, Inventory Management | |
| Commission management, Customer DataBase | |
| Electronic Signature, Gift Card Management | |
| Barcode Integration, Cloud Computing |
1. Floreant
Floreant is one of the most widely used point-of-sale applications globally. It is the first enterprise-grade restaurant POS system that has been released in the public domain.
It can handle various types of products, and you can easily modify the code to suit the restaurant’s operations using it. This open-source restaurant management system is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac.
Features
- Delivery Management
- Gift Card Management
- Inventory Management
- Loyalty Program
- Online Ordering
- Order Management
- Reporting/Analytics
- Separate Checks
- Split Checks
- Table Management
- Tips Management
- It has a simple and intuitive interface.
- FloreantPOS offers a comprehensive POS solution tailored to small restaurants seeking swift implementation.
- There are many easy functionalities with an easy-to-understand guide manual.
- It is ideal for a newbie in the food industry.
- Lack of advanced functionality.
- Does not integrate with other software systems.
- Has a few bugs which can be flattened with regular updates.
2. Odoo
Odoo is an all-in-one POS software that claims to have an interface designed for productivity. It provides a god’s eye view of what is going on at each table to maximize the efficiency of your waitstaff while reducing the waiting time for your customers.
Odoo is available free as an open-source restaurant software as well as offline. It is operational across all devices and operating systems.
Features
- Auto-Responders
- Automated Quoting
- Automatic Billing
- BOM Creation
- Backorder Management
- Bank Reconciliation
- Bar Chart
- Barcode Recognition
- Batch Processing
- Barcode/Ticket Scanning
- The system provides in-depth reporting and robust analysis functionalities.
- It provides a lot of features in its free version.
- It assists in making complicated work easy.
- Straightforward functionality and intuitive.
- Odoo is slow and a little buggy at times.
- Customizing features is not an option with Odoo.
- UI and UX could have been better.
3. eHopper
eHopper is a POS explicitly designed for small businesses. This cross-platform point-of-sale system is ideal for small shops and new restaurants that will want to expand later in the coming years.
eHopper is an all-in-one business management POS system that will help you reduce the time required for back-office tasks. eHopper is available for Android, iPad, Windows, and Poynt Smart Terminal.
Features
- Customizable Branding
- Customizable Reports
- Data Import/Export
- Delivery Management
- Discount Management
- Dynamic Pricing
- Electronic Payments
- Email Marketing
- Employee Management
- Forecasting
- Inventory Control
- Real-time synchronization with other features.
- Unparalleled customer support, with prompt responses to assistance requests.
- An excellent cost-saving option with comprehensive all-in-one functionality.
- Inventory management proves immensely advantageous.
- Lack of full-service restaurant features.
- It does not remember credit card details.
- It doesn't add your business logo to the receipts.
4. Pangea
Pangea is available in three different versions: Restaurants, Spas, and Retail. This point-of-sale system cannot only be used for restaurants, bars, and cafes but also salons, spas, shops, and supermarkets.
It is restaurant POS software equipped with multiple features under commonly required heads such as Accounting, Sales, and Stock. Its multiple functionalities under different versions make it the go-to software for companies with a multi-channel business on their hands.
Features
- Inventory Management
- Barcode Scanning
- Order Management
- Loyalty Program Support
- Recipe Management
- eCommerce
- Supports Loyalty Program
- Separate Checks
- Split Checks
- Tips Management
- Reporting/Analytics
- It has great customer support.
- It has a proper on-premises deployment.
- An ideal choice for startups and SMEs.
- It comes with loyalty program support.
- The major drawback is that it only supports Windows.
- Not widely and popularly used software.
- Lacks advanced functionality in the free version.
5. uniCenta
uniCenta is a free and open-source POS that can be used for outlets ranging from bars, cafes, and restaurants to supermarkets and grocery stores. It includes features for sales, inventory, supplier, employee, and customer management.
It is available as an on-premise, self-hosted, and cloud-hosted POS system, which your company can select depending on the type of operations you deal with daily.
uniCenta has an interface that is user-friendly and can be installed easily on unlimited terminals.
Features
- Customer Management
- Inventory Management
- Payment Handling
- Sales Tracking
- Barcode Scanning
- eCommerce Management
- Discount Management
- It serves many different functions.
- Effortless and rapid setup, adaptable to user preferences, and seamlessly operational on various devices.
- It tracks employee activities and keeps you updated.
- It keeps up with sales and processes transactions.
- It is difficult to troubleshoot issues.
- Customization needs extra software and programming knowledge.
- Advanced features are difficult to comprehend and use.
6. SambaPOS
SambaPOS is a free restaurant management system that offers all the answers necessary for the dynamic growth of a restaurant.
It has organized and visually appealing kitchen displays that allow the staff to enjoy their work and make changes whenever needed. It offers an experience with confidence, which improves employee efficiency and keeps customers happy.
Features
- Table Management
- Delivery Management
- Gift Card Management
- Loyalty Program Support
- Online Ordering
- Supports Loyalty Program
- Separate Checks
- Split Checks
- Tips Management
- It has a simple and intuitive interface.
- Tailored for personalization, offering limitless menus, products, and categories.
- Ideal for restaurant owners who need basic work.
- Loaded with a great set of features.
- It operates only on a Windows system.
- Custom reports are hard to understand.
- Troubleshooting the issues requires technical assistance.
7. TouchBistro
TouchBistro is free restaurant management software that is very popular among small and medium-sized restaurants as it offers variant pricing plans to fit all budgets.
TouchBistro has cutting-edge features and is custom-designed for the restaurant industry.
It provides unlimited access to the basic restaurant management modules and can be upgraded for better functional performance. It is a holistic solution provider software for any restaurant, as it will lead to a massive change in internal operations!
Features
- Kitchen/Menu Management
- Loyalty Program
- Online Ordering
- Online Payments
- Order Entry
- Order Management
- Payment Processing
- Pricing Management
- Promotions Management
- Real-Time Analytics
- It provides excellent cloud reporting features.
- Setting up and maintaining TouchBistro is a straightforward task for daily operations.
- It has impressive customer support.
- TouchBistro has a simple and intuitive user interface.
- Sometimes lags when placing orders or is used continuously.
- Setting up is a hassle and requires a technician.
- Occasional glitches and disconnects with the admin.
8. Toast POS
Toast POS is a customizable, easy-to-use, and free restaurant management software provider. It is a comprehensive point of sale and management system that helps eating joints improve operational efficiency, increase sales, and create an overall better guest experience.
Toast POS automates all essential processes, such as table ordering, rapid menu maker for modifications, cloud-based enterprise reporting, online ordering, and labor management, on a minimal interface.
Features
- Electronic Payments
- Electronic Signature
- Email Marketing
- Employee Management
- Food Delivery Dispatching
- For Bakeries
- For Bars/Clubs
- For Food Trucks
- For Restaurants
- Gift Card Management
- Inventory Control
- It is tremendously efficient and simple to use.
- One can easily troubleshoot the issues without calling support.
- Effortless order processing through integrated online ordering ensures direct transmission to the kitchen upon customer request.
- The offline mode enables secure credit card sales capture even during internet disruptions.
- Most of the advanced features are available at extra cost.
- Customer support lacks the essence and sounds unprofessional.
- Glitchy and sluggish features within the software.
9. San Software
San software is a highly customized restaurant management software open-source that supports a unique combination of platforms and applications. It addresses the cross-functional business requirements of the clients.
San Software provides customized mobile solutions for payment, purchase orders through mobile, and customer orders through mobile.
Features
- Electronic Signature
- Sales Reports
- Gift Card Management
- eCommerce Management
- Retail POS
- Supplier and Purchase Order Management
- Quotation & Estimates
- Recurring invoice
- Taxation Management
- Time Tracking
- It has a user-friendly interface.
- It provides customized mobile solutions for payment.
- Sam software has incredible customer support.
- Easy to access remotely and from the cloud.
- Difficult to address troubleshooting issues.
- Hard to read data analysis report.
- Advanced features lack support.
10. OpensourcePOS
Open Source Point of Sale is a web-based restaurant management and point-of-sale system. It has a simple and intuitive user interface. It can be installed locally or remotely, packaged with Docker for easy installation, and run on Raspberry Pi.
It is free restaurant management software for small and medium-sized businesses. It will enable customers to use different modes of payment.
Features
- Stock management
- VAT
- Point of Sale (POS)
- Inventory Control
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Reporting
- It has an excellent customer support system.
- It is free software, which makes it accessible for many small businesses.
- It is user-friendly with a straightforward interface.
- Provides unique features and functionality.
- Have to go through some unnecessary steps while installing.
- Sometimes lags with a few basic features.
- It gets slow with overtime use.
11. Imonggo
Imonggo is free, web-based point-of-sale software for small businesses. It has everything you might require for managing your restaurant, store, office, or stockroom. It lets you access your Imonggo account from any source – be it your mobile phone, tablet, laptop, or PC without extra hardware.
With its easy-to-use and simple yet intuitive interface, it lets you keep track of your sales data with just a single click.
Features
- POS invoicing
- Orders Management
- Customer DataBase
- Table Management
- Notification via SMS and Email
- Order Tracking
- Online Payment
- Data Imports/Exports
- Barcode Scanning
- Point of Sale (POS)
- Wait List
- Multi-Location
- Returns Management
- Developed capability for offline sales.
- It places more power in the hands of owners.
- Maintaining and updating basic client information within the system is a straightforward process.
- It has excellent customer support.
- Overly simple feature-set.
- No built-in e-commerce functionality.
- Lacks restaurant-centric functions.
12. TastyIgniter
TastyIgniter is an open-source, restaurant online ordering system that helps a restaurateur gain a competitive edge. It is exclusively designed for extended support of restaurant management. You can install and start operating it in a matter of a few minutes.
Its mobile-friendly design helps you target end customers as an increasing number of people are moving forward to using digital platforms, whether for table reservations or ordering food.
Features
- Delivery Tracking
- Discount Management
- Food Delivery Dispatching
- Gift Card Management
- Inventory Management
- Inventory Tracking
- Item Management
- Kitchen/Menu Management
- Loyalty Program
- It is built keeping every type of restaurant in mind.
- It has excellent customizable solutions.
- This software boasts impressive functioning, enabling swift order management.
- It provides excellent customer support and services.
- It does not have built-in accounting.
- It lacks employee management features.
- The free version provides limited features.
13. ROBOTILL
ROBOTILL is a professional, powerful, and easy-to-use POS software that comes with retailing software for pubs, restaurants, and food outlets. It supports a multitude of POS hardware, including touch screens, electronic cash drawers, barcode scanners, card readers, customer pole displays, and more.
It is an excellent choice for any sized restaurant as it allows you to use your restaurant’s floor plan. This makes table selection easy for waiters – determine which tables are in use, which tables are reserved, and which are available.
Features
- Inventory Management
- Sales Tracking
- Commission management
- Customer DataBase
- Barcode Scanning
- Ordering Automation
- Pricing Management
- It is versatile and easy to use software.
- It has excellent customer support.
- Effortlessly and swiftly customize all printed forms with ease.
- It supports ordering automation.
- It only has on-premise deployment.
- Windows is the only operating system it supports.
- Most of the functionalities are only available in the paid version.
14. JustBilling
JustBilling is professional restaurant management software perfect for multi-location restaurant and franchise businesses. It is a compatible billing software system with Windows and Android platforms, and you can access it from your mobile, tablet, and computer.
It is specifically designed to simplify complex operations and maximize your restaurant’s productivity. It enables your staff to receive orders via a smartphone, tablet, desktop computer, or large-screen POS device.
On placing an order, kitchen order tickets pop up on its Kitchen Display System. This helps a chef eliminate the risk of missing any order. The chef can discard the card once the order is served.
Features
- Discount Management
- Electronic Signature
- Gift Card Management
- Inventory Management
- Layaway Management
- Loyalty Program
- Ordering Automation
- Restaurant POS
- It is user-friendly and has a seamless interface.
- The kitchen order token system can significantly improve restaurants.
- It supports prompt data synchronization.
- Great customer and loyalty management features.
- Its functionalities lack updates and customization.
- Supports mostly all except the iOS mobile platform.
- It sometimes lags when performing necessary actions.
15. Spectrum POS
Spectrum POS is point-of-sale software that manages any retail business, including your restaurant, food outlets, and many more. Its enhanced features help you elevate customer experience and improve profits.
You can successfully run its web app on Windows and Macintosh platforms. Moreover, you can even access it on your Android and iOS smartphone.
Its platform-independent and database-independent design hierarchy makes it a perfect fit for your restaurant.
Features
- Accounting
- Audit Trail
- Barcode Integration
- Cloud Computing
- CRM
- Customer Management
- Email Integration
- Email Marketing / SMS Marketing
- It provides control of what is happening inside the restaurant.
- It offers good customer support.
- Spectrum POS provides excellent performance.
- It keeps a great track record of sales.
- It does not use smart tools.
- The free version offers basic features.
- Decent customer support.
Bottom Line
Restaurant management software simplifies many tedious tasks and helps in the effective administration of routine work. It automatically updates customer and restaurant requirement details repeatedly, allowing the restaurant to offer quality service without any delay.
These are our top fifteen free restaurant management software curates to meet your end needs. Check them out and pick the one that best suits your needs.
According to our research, here are our top 5 free and open source restaurant management system:
- Floreant
- Odoo
- eHopper
- Pangea
- uniCenta
Almost all open source software for restaurant management is free, but exceptions exist.
The disadvantages of free restaurant pos software are:
- You won't be able to use the Internet-based POS system if your Internet connection fails.
- Free pos software comes with ongoing costs.
- It can be expensive to upgrade software.
In the business world, owning a restaurant becomes both a full-time job and a lifestyle, and dealing with multiple challenges can quickly become overwhelming. So, for example, one of the most significant challenges restaurant owners face is uncontrolled stock wastage. Hence, many restaurants use inventory management software, which handles the whole inventory cycle, from counting and repositioning to invoicing and ordering.
Priya is a seasoned writer with expertise in the SaaS industry. With over five years of experience in the field, she deeply understands the requirement of this specific industry, its techniques, and tools. Her articles, whitepapers, and blog posts are known for their clarity, practicality, and actionable insights. Priya also possesses in-depth knowledge of SEO and content marketing, which enables her to develop effective strategies to increase website traffic and improve brand visibility.
