DEAR Systems, by Cin7 vs. Lightspeed Restaurant

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
DEAR Systems, by Cin7
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
DEAR Systems is now part of Cin7 since the early 2021 acquisition. They offer a multi-channel order and inventory management oriented around the needs of retailers, that scales to support warehouse operations, point of sale solutions, as well as accounting and ecommerce integrations.
$325
per month
Lightspeed Restaurant
Score 9.9 out of 10
N/A
The Lightspeed Restaurant POS, from Lightspeed in Montreal, is a restaurant POS and management system designed to enable users to sync the user's menu with major food delivery apps, manage all orders and and reach new customers.
$69
per month 2.6% + 10¢
Pricing
DEAR Systems, by Cin7Lightspeed Restaurant
Editions & Modules
Standard
$325
per month
Retailing
$475
per month
Manufacturing
$525
per month
Lightspeed Restaurant Essentials
$69
per month 2.6% + 10¢
Lightspeed Restaurant Plus
$189
per month 2.6% + 10¢
Lightspeed Restaurant Pro
$399
per month custom per purchase rates
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
DEAR Systems, by Cin7Lightspeed Restaurant
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsDiscount available for annual subscription and billing (equal to one month free).
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
DEAR Systems, by Cin7Lightspeed Restaurant
Considered Both Products
DEAR Systems, by Cin7
Chose DEAR Systems, by Cin7
DEAR Systems is much better software compared to Xero. The inventory tracking within Xero doesn't record batch dates and isn't really capable of production modules. Additionally, Xero doesn't have pricing tiers within invoicing, which is a very helpful feature offered by DEAR …
Chose DEAR Systems, by Cin7
  • DEAR does what it says on the tin. We see great feedback from our peers.
  • Unleashed, I found support poor (but over two years ago).
  • Linnworks - No Xero integration by Xero recommended API and very expensive by other third party SAP Business 1 is in a different league, but the …
Lightspeed Restaurant
Chose Lightspeed Restaurant
I have already used two Restaurant POS software but Lightspeed helps me a lot to grow my business. I face some problems when using this but day by day they are constantly developing their services. Their customer support is amazing. If we face any problem the team responds …
Chose Lightspeed Restaurant
Upserve [POS (formerly Breadcrumb)] offers more functionality than Square, which is the only other restaurant POS I've used. Upserve has intuitive employee time tracking, and helpful labor and sales reporting features. I know my data guy would prefer more detailed data …
Chose Lightspeed Restaurant
LAVU is the worst POS system I have ever encountered. It was the most frustrating part of everyone’s shift. They were never available for customer service, Upserve is. Their system would shut down across regions, Upserve does not. Upserve (at the time Breadcrumb) was highly …
Chose Lightspeed Restaurant
POS systems are always evolving. Breadcrumb continues to stay on top of the game.
Chose Lightspeed Restaurant
We chose Upserve POS for the following reasons:
  • Easy to find items on the menu by using the search bar.
  • Ability to modify menu, devices, etc. remotely.
Chose Lightspeed Restaurant
Upserve is on the way to be able to do everything that ALOHA can do. However, the future is with Upserve.
Chose Lightspeed Restaurant
Upserve is smaller, quicker, portable and more user friendly.
Chose Lightspeed Restaurant
Upserve rises above all of it's competition. It's just as robust as a legacy brand like Micros or Restaurant Manager, and simultaneously agile and intuitive like square. It's a perfect balance for modern restaurants.
Chose Lightspeed Restaurant
Upserve is pretty well organized and not hard to adjust to at all.
Chose Lightspeed Restaurant
Upserve is better because of its support team that helps guide you through the implementation process. Upserve is great at managing costs, employee actions, and retail processes.
Chose Lightspeed Restaurant
Upserve is more robust than both of these products. Northstar simply isn't functional, so most anything could outperform it. I would choose Upserve over either of the above products.
Chose Lightspeed Restaurant
It was better than Micros back in the day.
Chose Lightspeed Restaurant
I have not compared any other POS systems.
Chose Lightspeed Restaurant
  • Micros - Very expensive for the initial setup and support afterward, but offers all the features needed for a complex restaurant.
  • Toast - Pretty similar to Breadcrumb, but lacks a development team.
  • Focus - Similar to Micros, but less expensive for the support.
Chose Lightspeed Restaurant
Now as a Toast user, it makes Breadcrumb look like an ancient technology. Toast is way more user friendly and more suitable for a higher volume restaurant. Toast has a more thorough reporting system than Breadcrumb. The display is a lot more vibrant through Toast and people get …
Features
DEAR Systems, by Cin7Lightspeed Restaurant
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
DEAR Systems, by Cin7
7.3
Ratings
8% below category average
Lightspeed Restaurant
-
Ratings
Inventory tracking8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Automatic reordering6.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Serial number and batch tracking8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Automation rules8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting and analytics9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Fulfillment5.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Backorder management2.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Returns management7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Bill of materials management7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Item kitting7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Invoicing9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Forecasting9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Accounting integration10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
DEAR Systems, by Cin7Lightspeed Restaurant
Small Businesses
Webgility
Webgility
Score 10.0 out of 10
Square POS
Square POS
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
Score 8.6 out of 10
Shopify
Shopify
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
Score 8.6 out of 10

No answers on this topic

All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
DEAR Systems, by Cin7Lightspeed Restaurant
Likelihood to Recommend
7.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
8.5
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
1.0
(0 ratings)
8.9
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
DEAR Systems, by Cin7Lightspeed Restaurant
Likelihood to Recommend
The software was well suited to small businesses who manufacture and sell on line and who have to manage batch codes however they are now pricing themselves out of the market. Customer service is terrible
Read full review
Upserve POS is well suited for any restaurant, bar, or coffee shop. We've utilized this system for full service, quick service, and bar service and it's been perfect for all of it. I can't think of food or beverage service application that Upserve is not well suited to handle
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Pros
  • Inventory tracking
  • Invoicing
  • Ecommerce synch
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  • I love all the backend reporting features of Upserve. It's really robust and helps me manage our restaurant by staying in touch with labor, best selling items, etc.
  • The customer service is great. I had a question and used their chat feature and my question was answered within 5 minutes.
  • I'd highly recommend this product.
Read full review
Cons
  • Support
  • Bugs
  • Website Functionality
  • Down-time
  • Glitchiness
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  • There are a few minor bugs in the reporting that should be fixed.
  • Check out reports could improve by showing each transaction detail.
  • There is not currently a way to check via the reports how many online orders come through since they are processed as a credit card/cash.
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Likelihood to Renew
It does what it says on the tin.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Usability
No answers on this topic
Upserve is very intuitive. It utilizes a tab system along the left side of the screen for easy access to menu categories. After choosing the tab you want to view (i.e. Food), all the food items and/or sub categories show up instantly on the screen. once your items are chosen, you are a card swipe away from starting the payment process. Very easy. That said, there are a few minor issues with usability. For example, splitting checks is really quite difficult. You have to create new checks one at a time, then have to go searching for the checks to ring guests up. Really not intuitive on this front. Thankfully, it's not incredibly inhibitive
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Support Rating
Terrible support, absolutely useless for anything more major than a simple navigational problem. They always provide meaningless responses that don't really address the issue such as, "our engineering department is working on the issue" or "we're working on some optimisation". These responses would be fine if anything actually resulted from them, but the same errors and problems have existed for 4 years so I don't believe they really amount to anything. In addition, they're quite pushy for me to "close your ticket" so it can be marked as resolved, but my issue hasn't been resolved. I don't exactly want to leave my ticket open for several months, but they send me consistent reminders to close the ticket which is obnoxious especially since their resolution was "our engineering department will work on it".
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Seriously, if I could give a 12 rating I would. Upserve support is 24/7 and completely free. No extra fees on evenings or weekends and they are fast. You can actually start a chat support straight from your ipad screen. 90% of our support issues have been solved in just a few minutes from the chat screen. That said, I prefer the phone. Calling into Upserve support is just as easy and everyone is always friendly and fast
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Alternatives Considered
DEAR Systems is much better software compared to Xero. The inventory tracking within Xero doesn't record batch dates and isn't really capable of production modules. Additionally, Xero doesn't have pricing tiers within invoicing, which is a very helpful feature offered by DEAR Systems. If a business has any level of complexity than DEAR Systems is a significantly more capable software.
Read full review
Upserve [POS (formerly Breadcrumb)] offers more functionality than Square, which is the only other restaurant POS I've used. Upserve has intuitive employee time tracking, and helpful labor and sales reporting features. I know my data guy would prefer more detailed data reporting abilities (for instance, you can't pull reports that show modifiers - so when we have Happy Hour and want to track how happy hour modifiers are doing compared to normal price, we have to do this manually wtf?). But overall Upserve is better than the other POS systems I've tried.
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Return on Investment
  • Lost company time
  • Effective inventory management
  • Mostly does the job it's supposed to
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  • Bestsellers and slower items rise to the top in reporting features, making analysis quicker.
  • Dramatically reduced server error
  • Posed a challenge to continue face-to-face contact between servers and cooks; the POS tends to end conversations about special orders, special customer requests or restrictions, and generally conveys the nuances that contribute to excellent service. So we have to make a conscious effort to continue talking to each other.
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ScreenShots