Square Kiosk vs. a Custom Self-Ordering Kiosk

If you sell on Square and want guests to order themselves, you have three real options in October 2026: Square Kiosk, the standalone 21.5-inch device Square launched last week; Square Kiosk Lite, the iPad app that runs on a Square Stand; or a custom kiosk app built on Square’s APIs, which is what we build. All three keep Square as your POS. They differ in price, plan requirements, branding, languages and where they’re sold.

This post lays out the differences from Square’s own product pages, help center and press releases, all linked at the bottom, and then says plainly which one I’d pick for which shop. I build custom kiosks, so read the last section with that in mind. The numbers in the middle are Square’s, not mine.

First, the naming problem

Square renamed its kiosks in October 2026, and most search results haven’t caught up.

• Square Kiosk now means the new standalone device: a 21.5-inch vertical touchscreen with voice ordering, built-in payments and a barcode scanner. It does not use an iPad. Square announced it on October 14, 2026.
• Square Kiosk Lite is the iPad app Square launched in May 2024 under the name Square Kiosk. The mount it sits in, previously sold as Square Kiosk hardware, is now called Square Stand. Square’s community post on the rename says only the name changed; devices, menus, settings and pricing stayed the same.

So if you read a 2024 or 2025 review of “Square Kiosk”, it’s describing what is now Kiosk Lite. Keep that in mind for the rest of this post.

The three options side by side

	Square Kiosk	Square Kiosk Lite	Custom kiosk on Square APIs
What it is	Standalone 21.5“ device from Square	Square’s iPad app on a Square Stand	Your own iPad app, built for your shop
Hardware cost	$1,999 with counter stand (or $97/mo over 24 months)	$149 Square Stand (or $14/mo over 12 months) + your iPad	Your iPad + Square Terminal ($299)
Software fee	$99/mo per device	$50/mo per device on Plus, $30/mo on Premium	None from Square; the build is a project cost
Square plan required	Square Plus ($49/location/mo) or Premium ($149)	Square Plus or Premium	No kiosk subscription from Square
Payment	Built-in tap, dip and PIN	Tap and dip readers built into the Stand	Square Terminal beside the iPad
Ordering	Touch and voice	Touch	Touch
Branding	Per-location color and small logo	Category images and an “Edit branding” option	Every screen designed around your brand
Languages	English only	Not specified by Square	English and Spanish, switchable on any screen
Where it’s sold	US only	US, Canada, UK, Australia, Ireland	Anywhere Square Terminal works
Offline payments	Not supported	Not supported	Not supported
Cash	Not supported	At the companion POS	At the counter, not on the kiosk
Kitchen printing	Through Square POS hardware; direct printer support “coming soon”	Through a companion POS device	Orders arrive in Square

All prices are US dollars as of October 2026, from the Square pages linked in Sources. Square Plus and Premium prices are per location per month. Processing fees apply on every option: 2.6% + 15¢ per tap or dip on Square Free, 2.5% + 15¢ on Plus, 2.4% + 15¢ on Premium.

What Square Kiosk gives you

The new Square Kiosk is Square’s answer to the big-chain kiosks you see at fast-food counters. The screen is 21.5 inches, portrait, with a presence sensor that wakes it as a guest walks up. Guests can tap or talk. Square’s voice layer reads the menu, answers questions like “what’s vegetarian?”, takes modifications, and suggests add-ons based on what sells at that location at that time of day. Payments are built in: tap, chip and PIN, with no separate reader. There’s a barcode scanner for gift cards.

The constraints are in the fine print. Square’s help center says the device “requires an active Square Plus or Premium subscription”, does not support offline or cash payments, is for indoor use only, and needs at least one active Square POS device alongside it. Kitchen printers and KDS screens connect through that POS device for now; Square lists direct receipt-printer support as coming soon. Voice is English only and the device is sold in the US only. Branding is a per-location accent color and a small logo. Square includes 30-day returns and a two-year limited warranty.

Year-one cost per device, before the plan: $1,999 plus twelve months at $99, so $3,187. Add $588 for a year of Square Plus at one location.

If you run a high-volume quick-service counter in the US, this is the most capable thing Square sells, and voice ordering is something nobody else in the table offers.

What Square Kiosk Lite gives you

Kiosk Lite is the budget route and the only Square kiosk sold outside the US. You buy a Square Stand ($149), dock a compatible iPad, install the Kiosk Lite app and pay $50 a month per device on Square Plus or $30 on Premium. New customers get the first 30 days free. The Stand has tap and chip readers built in, so the guest pays on the same screen they ordered on.

Square’s setup guide is honest about the limits. Offline payments are not supported. The kiosk cannot connect directly to printers, scanners or other accessories; tickets print through a companion POS device, which you must have. The iPad has to stay docked in the Stand or the app stops working. Branding is category images plus an “Edit branding” option; Square’s pages don’t describe colors, fonts or welcome screens, and they don’t mention a second language.

Year-one cost per device, if you already own the iPad and are on Plus: $149 plus twelve months at $50, so $749.

For a shop that wants to try self-ordering for a few hundred dollars and is fine with a kiosk that looks like Square, this is the right call.

What a custom kiosk on Square’s APIs gives you

A custom kiosk is an iPad app written for your shop that talks to Square through its APIs. The menu comes from your Square catalog through the Catalog API, the order is created in your Square account through the Orders API, and the guest pays on a Square Terminal next to the iPad through the Terminal API. I wrote up the four steps and the rules Square enforces on each in a separate post.

Three things fall out of that design.

No Square kiosk subscription. Square’s developer site says “all our APIs & SDKs are free for developers to use” and that “sellers only pay processing fees for each transaction.” There is no monthly per-device fee from Square for a custom kiosk, where Square Kiosk charges $99 and Kiosk Lite $50 or $30.

Your brand, not Square’s. Every screen is designed for your shop: the colors, the type, the photos, and how choosing feels. On our kiosk page the five demos are the same app dressed as a coffee bar, a ramen shop, a pizzeria, a boba shop and a poke counter. Off-the-shelf kiosks look like the company that sold them; this one looks like you.

Languages and rules you choose. Our kiosk runs in English and Spanish, picked on the welcome screen and switchable on any screen after. It reads your Square modifier rules (required choices, maximum toppings, defaults) and keeps “Add to order” disabled until the order is valid. Upsell logic is yours to decide: ours offers one add-on at one moment and then gets out of the way.

Now the honest part. A custom kiosk is a project, not a box. You’re paying a developer up front instead of Square monthly, and you depend on that developer for changes. There’s no voice ordering. Payment happens on a Square Terminal beside the iPad rather than on the iPad itself, which means a $299 Terminal per station, and a guest who wants to pay cash orders at the counter. Loyalty, gift cards and anything else Square adds to its own kiosks arrive on a custom kiosk only when someone builds them.

Which one should you get?

I’d put it this way.

Get Square Kiosk if you’re a US quick-service restaurant doing real volume, you want voice ordering, and you’re already on Square Plus or Premium. The $3,187 first year per device is the price of the most capable kiosk Square has ever sold, and it ships now.

Get Square Kiosk Lite if you want to test self-ordering cheaply, you own an iPad, you’re on Plus or Premium anyway, and you don’t mind the kiosk looking like Square. It’s also the only Square kiosk you can buy in Canada, the UK, Australia or Ireland.

Get a custom kiosk if at least one of these is true: your brand is the reason people walk in and a generic kiosk would cheapen it; you need Spanish or another language on screen; you don’t want a monthly kiosk subscription; you want ordering rules and upsells that match how you actually serve; or you’re outside the US and want more than Kiosk Lite offers. If none of those apply, buy Square’s.

And if you’re not sure, the question that settles it most often is the first one. Walk to your counter and look at it. If a black Square-branded screen would look fine there, Kiosk Lite is a very good deal. If it would look like a vending machine someone parked in your shop, that’s the case for custom.

Questions

Is Square Kiosk the same as Square Kiosk Lite?

No. Square Kiosk is the standalone 21.5-inch device Square launched on October 14, 2026, for $1,999 plus $99 a month per device. Square Kiosk Lite is the iPad app that runs on a Square Stand, for $50 or $30 a month per device. Until October 2026 the iPad product was itself called Square Kiosk, which is why the two get mixed up.

Does a custom kiosk still use Square?

Yes. A custom kiosk built on Square’s APIs reads your menu from your Square catalog, creates the order in your Square account, and takes payment on a Square Terminal. Square stays your POS and your processor. What changes is the app the guest touches.

Does a custom kiosk have a monthly software fee?

Not from Square. Square’s developer site says its APIs and SDKs are free to use and that sellers pay only processing fees per transaction. Square Kiosk and Square Kiosk Lite both require a Square Plus or Square Premium subscription plus a monthly fee per device.

Which option is cheapest in the first year?

Square Kiosk Lite, if you already own an iPad and are on Square Plus or Premium: $149 for the Stand plus $50 a month on Plus, so $749 in year one per device. Square Kiosk is $1,999 plus $99 a month, so $3,187 in year one per device. Neither figure includes the plan itself. A custom kiosk is a project cost up front with no per-device software fee from Square.

Sources

• Square, Square Kiosk product page (price, software fee, plan requirement, US and English only, warranty)
• Square, Introducing the New Square Kiosk, press release, October 14, 2026 (launch date, Plus at $49 and Premium at $149 per location)
• Square, Set up Square Kiosk, help center (no offline or cash payments, indoor only, POS device required, branding options)
• Square, Meet the new Square Kiosk + a new name for our iPad kiosk, Square Community, October 2026 (rename, countries)
• Square, Square Kiosk Lite (per-device pricing on Plus and Premium, 30-day trial)
• Square, Set up Square Kiosk Lite, help center (no offline payments, no direct printers, companion POS, iPad must stay docked)
• Square, Self-Service Kiosk technical specifications (Square Stand price and compatible iPads)
• Square, Square Kiosk Arrives, press release, May 7, 2024 (original iPad kiosk launch)
• Square, Square Terminal (price)
• Square, In-person payments APIs and SDKs (“free for developers to use”, Terminal API)
• Square, Learn about Square fees (processing rates by plan)