Restaurant KDS: The Kitchen Display System That Fits Your POS
October 28, 2026 · 8 min read · Prices checked October 28, 2026
Short Answer
Your POS picks most of your kitchen display system for you. A KDS screen only shows what the POS sends it, so start with the KDS your POS vendor sells: it needs no integration and one support line covers both. Look past it when the price per screen is the problem: Fresh KDS runs on iPads and Android tablets, lists Square, Clover, TouchBistro, SpotOn and Lightspeed among its POS partners, and starts at $20 a screen a month with no contract.
- You run Square
- Square KDS
- $30 / $20a screen a month on Plus / Premium
- You run Clover
- Clover Kitchen Display
- $799–$899a screen, plus $25 a month each
- You run Toast
- Toast KDS
- Quoteno KDS price published
- Any other POS
- Fresh KDS
- $20–$27a screen a month, on tablets you own
Sources: squareup.com (Square for Restaurants pricing and Square KDS pages), clover.com/kitchen-display-system, pos.toasttab.com/pricing and Toast's kitchen display system page, fresh.technology/kds/pricing, checked October 28, 2026. Software prices billed monthly, before card processing and any POS plan fee.
A KDS (kitchen display system) puts each order on a screen at the station that cooks it and clears it with a tap, in place of printed tickets on a rail. Toast, Square and Clover each sell one that works only with their own POS; Fresh KDS works across POS brands. We read every vendor's own pricing and product pages and priced a two-screen kitchen for a year. If you are still choosing the POS, read Toast vs Square first.
Kitchen Display Systems at a Glance
Four restaurant KDS options, with the POS each one runs on, the software price per screen, the hardware it needs and the catch to read first. Prices from each vendor's own pages on October 28, 2026, billed monthly unless noted.
| KDS | Works with | Software | Hardware | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toast KDS | Toast POS only | Not published; quoted by Toast sales | Toast's own kitchen screens | Each device after the first carries its own charge |
| Square KDS | Square for Restaurants | $30/screen/mo on Plus ($49/mo plan) · $20 on Premium ($149/mo) | Android devices | Not available on Square Free |
| Clover Kitchen Display | Clover POS | $25/screen/mo | $799 (14-inch) · $899 (24-inch) | Needs a Register, Table Service or Counter Service Restaurant plan |
| Fresh KDS | 30+ POS systems, incl. Square and Clover | $20/screen/mo Essentials · $27 Premium; 20% off yearly | iPads (iOS 13+) or Android tablets (7+) | Tablets and any bump bars are on you |
Card processing is billed by the POS, not the KDS, so it is left out here. Toast's pricing page says its prices include the first terminal subscription and that additional charges apply for subsequent devices; it lists no KDS line.
Kitchen Display System Price: Two Screens, Year One
One independent restaurant puts in two screens: one on the line and one at expo. It already pays for its POS, so this is the kitchen display system price on top. List prices billed monthly; Square and Fresh run on tablets, which are not counted here because many kitchens start on ones they own.
| Setup | Upfront | Monthly | Year one |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fresh KDS Essentials (2 × $20) | $0 | $40 | $480 |
| Square KDS on Premium (2 × $20) | $0 | $40 | $480 |
| Fresh KDS Premium (2 × $27) | $0 | $54 | $648 |
| Square KDS on Plus (2 × $30) | $0 | $60 | $720 |
| Clover KDS 14-inch (2 × $799 + 2 × $25/mo) | $1,598 | $50 | $2,198 |
| Clover KDS 24-inch (2 × $899 + 2 × $25/mo) | $1,798 | $50 | $2,398 |
| Toast KDS | Quote | Quote | Quote |
The software gap is small: $240 a year between the cheapest and the dearest subscription here. The real fork is hardware. Clover's year one is about three to five times the tablet routes, almost all of it the screens, but from year two it costs $600 a year, less than Square KDS on Plus, on a screen built for the line. Square Premium's row assumes you already pay its $149 plan for other reasons. Give the total its own line in your restaurant budget, then pick your POS and screen count below to see three years.
| KDS route | 1 year | 2 years | 3 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Square KDS$30/mo a screen · Android device | $720 | $1,440 | $2,160 |
| Fresh KDS Essentials$20/mo a screen · your own tablets | $480 | $960 | $1,440 |
| Fresh KDS Premium$27/mo a screen · your own tablets | $648 | $1,296 | $1,944 |
Running totals at list prices billed monthly, checked October 28, 2026. Excludes the POS plan itself, tablets, mounts, bump bars and yearly-billing discounts. Toast quotes its KDS, so a Toast kitchen compares its quote with these lines.
Toast KDS: Built Into Toast POS, Priced on a Quote
Toast KDS takes orders from Toast POS in real time and shows dine-in, takeout, delivery and curbside tickets on one display. Toast lists prep-time reporting, allergen and special-prep highlights, recall of recently fulfilled tickets, Runner Fulfillment and Assembly Lines for multi-station kitchens, and alerts to servers' handhelds or a text to the guest when an order is ready. Its platform guide sets each screen up as a prep station or an expediter, and you can run both.
What Toast does not do is publish a KDS price. Its pricing page starts the Starter Kit at $0 a month and Point of Sale at $69, says the price includes the first terminal subscription and that additional charges apply for subsequent devices, and lists no kitchen display line. So a Toast KDS is a sales-call number. Ask for the screen price and the monthly fee per screen in writing, next to the POS quote. Our Toast vs Square comparison covers the rest of that quote.
Square Kitchen Display System: $20 to $30 a Screen
Square KDS is an Android app. Square prices it per device: $30 a month on Square Plus ($49 a month per location) and $20 a month on Square Premium ($149). Square says a Plus or Premium subscription is required, so it is not available on Square Free, and it recommends Premium for restaurants running several KDS stations. You load the app from Google Play on an Android device, or buy KDS hardware on Square Shop.
The screen shows orders from the POS, your Square online ordering page and delivery apps, sends items to prep stations and has an Expeditor Mode. Do the plan maths before you upgrade for the cheaper screen: Premium saves $10 a screen but costs $100 a month more than Plus, so the KDS saving alone covers the gap only at ten screens or more.
Clover Kitchen Display: Hardware Plus $25 a Month
Clover sells its kitchen display as a device in two sizes: the 14-inch at $799 and the 24-inch at $899, each with a KDS software plan of $25 a month per device. Clover says you must be on a Register, Table Service Restaurant or Counter Service Restaurant plan to buy and use it, and that it is an additional device on top of those bundles.
The hardware is the selling point: a body Clover rates to 122°F, anti-glare and anti-fingerprint glass, and speakers loud enough for a busy line. The software lists expo mode, item-level routing, multi-level fulfillment, prep-time reporting and runner tickets printed to any network printer, and it pulls third-party delivery orders onto the same screen. The 24-inch suits an overhead mount with the optional KB9000 bump bar. Price it on Clover's own KDS page before a reseller quote; our Toast vs Clover comparison explains why.
Fresh KDS: A Kitchen Display That Works With Most POS Systems
Fresh KDS is the independent option. It runs as an app on iPads (iOS 13 and later) and Android tablets (Android 7 and later), and lists more than 30 POS and ordering integrations, including Square, Square for Restaurants, Clover, TouchBistro, SpotOn and Lightspeed K-Series. Essentials is $20 a screen a month and Premium $27; paying yearly takes 20% off, and Fresh's own example puts two Premium screens at $44 a month billed annually. Enterprise, for groups of about 11 locations or more, is quoted.
Essentials covers the basics: move, hold and recall orders, prioritization, timers, sound alerts and speed-of-service reports. Premium adds automations, ticket and label printing, ingredient all-day counts, screen communication and customer messaging. Fresh says there is no long-term contract, and every new account starts with a 7-day Premium trial without a credit card. The trade: you supply the tablets, the mounts and any bump bar, and the KDS and POS are two vendors to call when a ticket goes missing. Plans are on the Fresh KDS pricing page.
How a KDS POS System Works, and What to Check Before You Buy
A kitchen display system replaces the ticket printer and the rail. The order goes from the POS to a kitchen display screen at each station, and the cooks clear items by touch instead of shouting across the pass. Here is one ticket's trip through a typical restaurant KDS:
- 01
Rung in. A server, the counter, your online ordering page or a delivery app sends the order to the POS.
- 02
Routed. The KDS splits the ticket by item: the burger to the grill screen, the salad to cold prep, the fries to the fryer.
- 03
Bumped. Each cook taps an item done (or hits a bump bar), and a timer shows how long every ticket has waited.
- 04
Expo. The expo screen collects the finished items, so one person checks the whole order before it leaves the pass.
- 05
Ready. The system tells the server's handheld or texts the guest, where the vendor offers it.
One screen at the pass is enough for a small menu. Add a screen per prep station when tickets start backing up at one part of the line. If you are still drawing the line itself, start with the commercial kitchen layout guide.
KDS Screen Checklist
Price is the easy part to compare. These six things decide whether the screens survive a Saturday:
- Heat and grease
- The screen above the line lives in heat. Toast says its kitchen hardware is tested to 120°F; Clover rates its KDS body to 122°F. A tablet you already own was not sold for that, so mount it away from the fryer and the flat-top.
- Internet outage
- Ask how the screen behaves when the connection drops. Toast's platform guide says its new KDS view runs on local data sync, which allows offline mode as long as the local hub device stays plugged into your router.
- Station routing
- Item-level routing to prep stations, plus an expo screen. Toast, Square and Clover all list both; on Fresh KDS, test it on your own menu during the trial.
- Delivery and online orders
- Third-party and online orders should land on the same screen as dine-in. Square, Clover and Toast all say theirs do; Fresh KDS connects to Olo, Cuboh and Otter.
- Bump bar and printer
- An overhead screen needs a bump bar (Clover sells the KB9000; Fresh KDS supports USB bump bars). Keep one printer for runner or label tickets.
- Reports
- Prep-time or speed-of-service reports by station show where tickets stall on a Friday.
Tip: put one station on a screen first
Fresh KDS gives every new account a 7-day trial of its Premium plan with no credit card, and Square Plus has a 30-day free trial. Run the expo station on a screen through one busy weekend, keep the printer as backup, and only then buy screens for the rest of the line.
Which Kitchen Display Screen Should You Choose?
1.Do you run Toast, Square or Clover?
Start with that vendor's own KDS. Toast KDS for a Toast kitchen (get the per-screen price in writing), Square KDS on Plus or Premium, or the Clover Kitchen Display on a Clover restaurant plan. One vendor carries the order from the handheld to the pass.
2.Is the per-screen price the sticking point?
Price Fresh KDS against your POS's own screen. On Square Plus it is $20 against $30 a screen a month, and Fresh lists Square and Clover among its integrations. Check that its routing and expo views work on your menu during the 7-day trial.
3.Is the screen going above the fryer or the flat-top?
Pay for hardware built for the line, like Clover's 122°F-rated screens or Toast's kitchen hardware, or mount a tablet well away from the heat.
4.Running another POS, or one whose KDS you dislike?
Fresh KDS is the route that does not depend on the POS brand, on iPads or Android tablets you may already own.
When you do not need a KDS yet: a small counter menu with one cook can run on a printer and a ticket rail. Add the first screen at expo when tickets start to pile up there, and a second at the busiest station after that.
If you have not picked the POS yet, choose it first and the KDS second. Our Toast vs Clover comparison prices both systems over three years, and the restaurant startup costs guide shows where kitchen technology sits in an opening budget.