Lightspeed Restaurant vs. QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
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¢
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Score 7.9 out of 10
N/A
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise is a widely-used accounting package designed for small to mid-sized businesses. It is the top of the QuickBooks line. Pricing starts at $3,000 for five users, and goes up depending on the number of additional users. They also offer an Advanced Inventory module for $999 / year.
$1,261
per year
Pricing
Lightspeed RestaurantQuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Editions & Modules
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
Gold
1,261
per year
Platinum
1,522
per year
Gold with Remote Access
1,785.60
per year
Platinum with Remote Access
2,083.20
per year
Diamond
3,060.34
per year
Diamond with Remote Access
3,600.36
per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Lightspeed RestaurantQuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Lightspeed RestaurantQuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Considered Both Products
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 …
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Quickbooks is better in all aspects of my business.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Quick Books Desktop Enterprise as it's pros and cons. Pro's is that is much more user friendly and intuitive to learn than other products. It does much better to revise or adjust retroactively to prior period when coding issues or even allocations issues are discovered …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Not really comparable the interface on QuickBooks enterprise is far superior. It is the easiest to use across all functions.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Sage Intacct would be the best, but the cost is prohibative of clients. QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise is used more as it is syncs outside systems better.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Unanet ERP GovCon
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
QuickBooks seems to be more focused on the accounting side of the business than FreshBooks. I've also tried Peachtree software. Peachtree seemed more restrictive. The user had to adapt their procedures to the methods of the software rather than the reverse. I tried …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
We have used any software other than Quickbooks for our accouting system.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
It's a great compliment to these tools and works in conjunction to provide an end to end solution to run a consulting/project based business where there is a lot of volume and billable labor hours to track and maintain margin on.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise is easier to use and easier to implement.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Thomson Reuters CS Professional Suite is a very good alternative to QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise. It is installed and web-based at the same time, taking a load off the server computing power. I think it also is very much more user friendly. As mentioned, QuickBooks Desktop …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Significantly better in every way except having a cloud access system that does not require a hosting service.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
There were instances that clients do provide their books with using Xero and QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise. When we export data from each other, they do compliment with the data and it's not far from analyzing each of them to see any difference from each sheets. You may need to …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Xero is too basic and not a very good general ledger system. I found Peachtree (Sage 50) to be very good. Reconciliations and look ups were more logical because it is more of an accounting document.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise for accounting and inventory needs is very easy to use, make corrections and create reports.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
QuickBooks Online
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
We upgraded to Desktop Enterprise when our company staff increased. It we find that it is more cost effective for us.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise vs. Frontier: Frontier's UI/UX is very old compared to QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise. QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise is far more advanced in terms of features and UI/UX. QuickBooks is one of the most widely used accounting software programs for …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
I did not find QuickBooks online to be very user friendly. QuickBooks Desktop is a much simplified version while still having all the functionality.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
WE have actually switched to Quickbooks Online. In my opinion, the cloud server is more secure and less expensive.
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
We have selected this product as it is affordoable in terms of pricing and features too. Our clients is geeting lots of benefits by using this product. By using QuickBooks desktop client also manage the information realted to financials and also get the clear picture for the …
Chose QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
These other options are quite a bit more complex, customizable, and provide lots of options for creating custom integrations. However they all come with an exceptionally high yearly price tag and would require additional programming time to setup those additional features. …
Features
Lightspeed RestaurantQuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Lightspeed Restaurant
-
Ratings
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
9.2
Ratings
17% above category average
Pay calculation00 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Benefit plan administration00 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Direct deposit files00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Reimbursement management00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
Lightspeed Restaurant
-
Ratings
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
7.3
Ratings
4% below category average
API for custom integration00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Plug-ins00 Ratings6.60 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Lightspeed Restaurant
-
Ratings
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
9.0
Ratings
8% above category average
Single sign-on capability00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Lightspeed Restaurant
-
Ratings
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
8.5
Ratings
7% above category average
Dashboards00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Standard reports00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Custom reports00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
Lightspeed Restaurant
-
Ratings
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
8.9
Ratings
13% above category average
Accounts payable00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Accounts receivable00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Cash management00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Bank reconciliation00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Expense management00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Time tracking00 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Fixed asset management00 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Multi-currency support00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Multi-division support00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Regulations compliance00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Electronic tax filing00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Self-service portal00 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Global Financial Support00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Intercompany Accounting00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Localizations00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Enterprise Accounting00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Configurable Accounting00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Centralized Rules Framework00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Standardized Processes00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
Lightspeed Restaurant
-
Ratings
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
7.7
Ratings
5% above category average
Inventory tracking00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Automatic reordering00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Location management00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Manufacturing module00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
Lightspeed Restaurant
-
Ratings
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
8.7
Ratings
12% above category average
Pricing00 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Order entry00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Credit card processing00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Cost of goods sold00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Order Orchestration00 Ratings7.70 Ratings
End-to-end order visibility00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Order exception Resolution00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Lightspeed RestaurantQuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Small Businesses
Square POS
Square POS
Score 10.0 out of 10
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Shopify
Shopify
Score 9.1 out of 10
Zoho Books
Zoho Books
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises

No answers on this topic

Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Score 10.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Lightspeed RestaurantQuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.9
(0 ratings)
6.0
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Lightspeed RestaurantQuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Likelihood to Recommend
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
Read full review
QuickBooks Enterprise is great for managing our inventory, purchases and income as we receive it. We use it to help budget and plan our monthly purchases, as well as keep each location on track when it comes to their expenses. It's also used for payroll and timekeeping at each store.
Read full review
Pros
  • 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
  • Made for small to mid-sized product-based businesses.
  • Once you use the program, you will be amazed at how important the tool is and how it can be used to analyze and manipulate numbers.
  • Saves a lot of time and money than if you do all the things manually.
Read full review
Cons
  • 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.
Read full review
  • I would like to see more ways to customize reports and have that process be more user friendly.
  • I would like to see the process of creating year end giving statements be made more user friendly. Since I only do it once a year, I have to figure the process out every year.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
While QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise has been an amazing tool for many years, it seems it is getting phased out for QuickBooks Online. Intuit is decreasing the level of support it offers for QuickBooks Desktop in lieu of stronger support for QuickBooks Online. Although the desktop version is robust and helpful, it seems QBO is the way of the future for bookkeeping with QuickBooks.
Read full review
Usability
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
Read full review
QuickBooks provides all staff immediate access to the data in whatever form each person wants it. The balancing on entries prevents incorrect data entry on payables/receivables. Reports are easy to customize and save for future use. The records are easy to audit.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
Rating: 7 out of 10
We rate QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise's availability a 7 out of 10. For the most part, the software is dependable and available when we need it. When hosted on a properly managed local server or through a reputable third-party cloud provider, uptime is generally consistent, and routine day-to-day operations run smoothly.
However, availability challenges do arise, particularly when accessing QuickBooks remotely or during periods of high system demand. Because it's a desktop-based solution, availability is highly dependent on our internal IT infrastructure. If our network goes down, a server needs maintenance, or if there’s an issue with a remote desktop connection, access to QuickBooks can be temporarily disrupted. These outages aren’t necessarily caused by QuickBooks itself, but they do impact our experience with availability.
Additionally, we’ve occasionally experienced application errors, especially after updates or when working with large company files. While Intuit support is usually helpful in resolving these issues, they can still lead to frustrating delays—especially during critical periods like month-end closing or grant reporting deadlines.
Planned maintenance, while infrequent, also affects availability, especially when using a hosted environment. Coordination with IT or hosting providers is sometimes needed to minimize downtime.
Overall, QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise is a reliable tool, but its dependence on local infrastructure introduces more potential points of failure compared to cloud-native solutions. Enhancements in cloud-based access or hybrid models could significantly improve both accessibility and uptime. That said, with strong internal IT support or a reliable cloud hosting provider, the availability can easily rise to an 8 or 9.
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Performance
No answers on this topic
I rate QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise's performance a 5 out of 10, mainly because while it’s functional for most routine tasks, it can lag significantly when handling complex operations, large data files, or during multi-user sessions. As our organization has grown, we’ve noticed that report generation—especially for customized or multi-dimensional reports—can be slow, sometimes taking several minutes to load or refresh. This impacts productivity, particularly during key financial cycles like audits, monthly closings, or grant reporting.
Performance degradation is especially noticeable when multiple users are active in the system at the same time. Even with a solid server setup, there’s often a drop in responsiveness when more than a handful of users are generating reports or entering transactions concurrently.
We’ve also experienced some slowdowns in third-party integrations, particularly when syncing with Vena Solutions or exporting data for use in external tools. While the integrations are valuable, they occasionally stall or require workarounds, adding friction to our workflows.
In short, QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise delivers the basics well, but its performance limitations become more apparent in high-volume or complex use cases. It would benefit from better optimization for large datasets and faster processing for advanced reporting. Upgrades in system architecture—such as deeper support for cloud hosting or more efficient data handling—could significantly improve the user experience and move this rating closer to an 8.
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Support Rating
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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Very rare do I call the Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions support staff and I get a customer service associate quickly. On average, my wait time is near an hour, and at times even longer. After spending the first three minutes discussing my problem, they then begin to poke and prod around, sometimes the questions continue. But 80% of the time, the problem is over their head and they have to escalate the issue. The only problem is this escalation arrives usually after spending forty-five minutes poking and proding around but learning nothing. In short, my experience is rarely all that well, let alone great
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In-Person Training
No answers on this topic
The in-person training for QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise received a 9 out of 10 based on feedback from my manager, and this rating reflects the overall effectiveness and value of the experience. The training provided a hands-on, interactive environment where staff could immediately apply what they were learning to the system, which made the process much more practical and engaging.
One of the standout features was the personalized support provided by the trainer, who was able to address specific questions and scenarios tailored to our organization’s unique needs. This was particularly helpful for areas like nonprofit accounting and grant management, where we had more specific requirements that could have been difficult to grasp in a standard training setting.
The trainer’s expertise and clear explanations allowed the team to gain a deeper understanding of QuickBooks’ more advanced functions, ensuring that everyone could use the software effectively. The small group size also facilitated a collaborative learning environment, where participants could share insights and learn from each other.
However, the training wasn't perfect. Some minor logistical issues—such as coordinating schedules and ensuring all staff could attend—were factors that slightly impacted the overall experience. Despite this, the quality and effectiveness of the training made it an extremely valuable part of the implementation process.
Read full review
Online Training
No answers on this topic
easy to learn system, specially with some kind of support. Just like with any other system, things get lot easier if you have guidance to lead you in your search for answers. having said that, QB is very easy to use and very easy to teach. you wont spend much time memorizing where to click.
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Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
If you're loading QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions onto a computer that you're going to directly log into, you should be able to do it yourself. If you are going to connect to a server through a network or remote connection, you should probably have a professional IT person set it up for you.
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Alternatives Considered
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.
Read full review
QuickBooks seems to be more focused on the accounting side of the business than FreshBooks. I've also tried Peachtree software. Peachtree seemed more restrictive. The user had to adapt their procedures to the methods of the software rather than the reverse. I tried Peachtree a number of times but always came back to QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise.
Read full review
Scalability
No answers on this topic
I would rate QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise a 7 out of 10 for overall scalability. The product offers solid scalability features, particularly for small to mid-sized organizations like ours that are growing and need reliable multi-user access, enhanced data capacity, and cross-departmental functionality. It handles increasing transaction volumes and user growth quite well, especially with its support for up to 40 users and the ability to manage large lists (customers, vendors, accounts, etc.)—a significant improvement over QuickBooks Pro or Premier.
Its role-based permissions system also allows us to assign tailored access by department or user level, which is essential for maintaining control and security across teams like finance, HR, and program management. Additionally, features like advanced reporting, inventory management, and class tracking have helped us better manage multiple programs or sites within one system.
That said, the scalability still has some limits. For example, deploying the software across multiple physical locations or for remote teams requires additional IT infrastructure—such as hosting it on a third-party cloud server or setting up a VPN—which introduces cost and complexity. Also, while QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise can technically handle a high volume of data, performance can decline as the file size grows over time unless regular maintenance and optimization are done.
In summary, QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise scales well within its designed range, particularly for growing nonprofits and NGOs. However, organizations with distributed teams or very large, complex operations may eventually find the system’s desktop-based architecture less agile compared to cloud-native ERP platforms. With enhancements to cloud integration and remote accessibility, this rating could easily increase.
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Return on Investment
  • 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.
Read full review
  • Memorized transactions save time and can prevent errors.
  • Improved accessibility saves time- multiuser, multi-companies open at once.
  • Annual audit with CPA firm is easier being able to export whole file to them.
  • Worry about bookkeepers who claim they know QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise and accounting but in reality do not. Doesn't require really knowing debits from credits. Big worry.
Read full review
ScreenShots