Clover POS systems for Arkansas restaurants, with the published numbers
Clover puts its package pricing on the web, which is rare. Read the fine print underneath it before you decide that transparency is the same as flexibility.
Clover is one of the few restaurant POS platforms that publishes real numbers. Full service packages start at 179 dollars a month over 36 months, or 1,799 dollars up front plus 89.95 dollars a month for software. Card present transactions are 2.3 percent plus 10 cents. The catch is not the price, it is the contract: Clover subscriptions are non cancelable and Clover devices cannot be used with another processor.
“We are not mosquitoes. You will not be swatting us away. But we are not disappearing after the install either.”
What does a Clover restaurant system cost?
Clover publishes package pricing for full service and for quick service separately, and each comes in Starter, Standard and Advanced. On the full service page the Starter package is 179 dollars a month for 36 months, or 1,799 dollars up front plus 89.95 dollars a month. Standard is 239 dollars a month for 36 months, or 2,548 dollars up front plus 109.90 dollars a month. Advanced is 354 dollars a month for 36 months, or 4,447 dollars up front plus 129.85 dollars a month. All three run on the Restaurant Growth software plan.
The quick service page is cheaper. Starter is 135 dollars a month for 36 months, or 849 dollars up front plus 89.95 dollars a month. Standard is 185 dollars a month for 36 months, or 1,899 dollars plus 89.95 dollars a month. Advanced is 245 dollars a month for 36 months, or 2,648 dollars plus 109.90 dollars a month.
One line under those tables deserves attention: prices shown are only available on Clover.com. That is Clover telling you, in its own words, that what your local bank or your existing processor quotes you may be a different number entirely.
What are Clover's published card rates?
Clover publishes 2.3 percent plus 10 cents for a card that is tapped, swiped or inserted, and 3.5 percent plus 10 cents for a card keyed in by hand. Those two rates are identical across every published restaurant package, full service and quick service alike, which is unusual and useful.
There is a third published number worth knowing. Rapid Deposit, which moves funds to you within minutes of a card sale rather than on the normal settlement cycle, carries a 1.75 percent fee. Used habitually on every batch, that is a very expensive line of credit. Clover Capital, the funding product, is repaid out of future card sales.
A flat rate like 2.3 percent plus 10 cents is easy to model and easy to compare, which is its real advantage. It is not automatically the cheapest structure. The 10 cents per transaction is what hurts a low average ticket business, and we work that arithmetic through on the pricing page.
What does the Clover subscription actually commit you to?
This is the part reps move past quickly. In Clover's own words, subscriptions are non cancelable and ineligible for refunds. A subscription agreement can be broken during a buyout or an upgrade, and it can be paid off at any time, but there is no simple cancellation. You will have 30 to 60 days before the first payment is due, and any partial month is pro rated.
At the end of the term you choose to purchase the equipment or return it. If you do neither, Clover states that the subscription term is extended at the same monthly charge. That is an automatic continuation on a system whose hardware is by then three years old, and it is the sort of clause that quietly funds a competitor's marketing budget.
Termination fees are a separate question again, and Clover does not answer it. Clover states that contract terms and any termination fees vary based on your service provider, whether that is Clover Direct or one of the bank partners it names, including Citi, PNC and Wells Fargo, or one of more than 3,000 other financial institution partners selling Clover in the US.
A real person calls you back within two hours, Monday to Saturday, 8am to 7pm Central.
Why do two Clover quotes never match?
Because Clover is a platform sold by thousands of separate businesses. The device is standardised. The merchant agreement wrapped around it is not. Two restaurants three miles apart can run identical Station Duos on wildly different rates, wildly different terms and wildly different early termination language, and both are genuinely Clover.
Clover also states plainly that while its devices can be purchased or leased from other entities, they cannot be used with other payment processors. That is the single most important sentence on Clover's pricing page. Your hardware is tied to your processing relationship. If you find better processing in year two, the equipment does not travel with you.
Which restaurants is Clover genuinely right for?
Counter service, coffee, bakeries, fast casual and bars with simple check management do well on Clover. The Mini and the Flex are good hardware, the published pricing means you can build a budget before anyone visits, and the app ecosystem covers most of what a small operation needs.
Full service dining rooms need more care. On the published Starter full service package, tableside ordering and firing is listed as not included, and tap and mobile wallets are listed as not included at all, because the Station Solo in that package does not do contactless. You get contactless on the Flex at Standard, and on the Flex and Station Duo at Advanced. A busy dining room that buys the cheapest package has bought a stationary POS that cannot take a tap, and guests will notice long before the owner does.
If you are in Arkansas and already leaning Clover, we sell it, we install it, and we will tell you if your service model points at the other platform instead.
Clover, honestly
Clover's transparency is real and worth crediting. Its constraints are equally real and are printed on the same page.
What works
- Clover publishes package prices and card rates on its own website, which almost nobody else in restaurant POS does.
- Card present pricing of 2.3 percent plus 10 cents is the same across every published restaurant package, so the packages differ on hardware rather than on hidden rate changes.
- No fee online ordering, a Clover online menu page, pickup and delivery order types and remote order firing are listed as included at every published tier.
- QR code order and pay is included at every published tier, full service and quick service alike.
- The device range genuinely spans use cases, from an 8 inch Mini with a built in printer to a Station Duo with a customer facing screen.
- Clover is sold and serviced by a very large number of partners, so finding someone locally who knows the platform is easy.
What does not
- Clover devices cannot be used with other payment processors. Clover states this itself. Buy Clover, and your hardware investment is locked to your processing relationship for the life of the equipment.
- Subscriptions are non cancelable and ineligible for refunds in Clover's own words. The exits are a buyout, an upgrade or paying the term off, not a cancellation.
- At the end of the term, if you do not actively purchase or return the equipment, the subscription extends at the same monthly charge on hardware that is by then three years old.
- Contract terms and termination fees vary by whoever sold you the system, across Clover Direct plus more than 3,000 financial institution partners. The published price on Clover.com may bear no relation to the offer in front of you.
- On the published Starter full service package the Station Solo does not accept tap or mobile wallets, and tableside ordering and firing is not included. It is the cheapest full service option and it is the wrong one for most dining rooms.
- Payroll integrations show as an optional add on across all published tiers, and a great deal of Clover's capability lives in App Market subscriptions. The package price is a floor, not a ceiling.
- Clover publishes End of App Update notices for Gen 1 devices, naming Station C010, Mobile C020 and C021, Mini C030 and C031 and Flex C041 and C042, and tells developers to plan device upgrades. Clover hardware sits on a published lifecycle.
Questions restaurant owners ask
Is Clover cheaper than the alternatives?
It is more knowable, which is not the same thing. Clover publishes package prices and a 2.3 percent plus 10 cents card present rate, so you can build a three year model before a rep visits. Whether it lands cheaper than a negotiated interchange plus quote depends entirely on your volume, your average ticket and your card mix.
Can I buy a used Clover on eBay and save money?
Clover warns against this directly. It notes that entities outside its partner network advertise Clover devices, and that while the devices can be purchased or leased elsewhere, they cannot be used with other payment processors. A device bought secondhand may be locked to a merchant account you do not control, leaving you with an expensive brick.
What happens at the end of my 36 month Clover subscription?
Clover states you choose to purchase the equipment or return it. If you do neither, the subscription term extends at the same monthly charge. Put a calendar reminder at month 32. Nobody else will, and an automatic extension on three year old hardware is one of the easiest costs in this whole category to avoid.
Does Clover do tableside ordering?
Yes, from the Standard full service package upward, where a Flex handheld is included. The published Starter full service package lists tableside ordering and firing as not included. If your servers need to fire from the table, Starter is not the package for you no matter how attractive the monthly figure looks.
Does Clover take Apple Pay and Google Pay?
It depends on the device, which surprises people. Clover's published full service tables show tap and mobile wallets as not included on the Starter package, available on the Flex only at Standard, and on the Flex and Station Duo at Advanced. Check contactless support device by device rather than assuming it is a platform feature.
Do you sell Clover in Arkansas?
Yes. We sell it, we program the menu before hardware ships, we install in person and we are on site on go live night. We will also tell you plainly when your service model points at the other platform we carry. A dealer who only ever recommends one system is not giving you advice, they are reading a script.
Vendor pricing and tax rates change without notice. Confirm current figures with the vendor, the city or your accountant before you rely on them. Not tax, legal or accounting advice.
Every number on this page traces to a primary source
- Clover full service restaurant packages: Starter 179 dollars a month for 36 months or 1,799 dollars plus 89.95 dollars a month; Standard 239 dollars a month or 2,548 dollars plus 109.90 dollars a month; Advanced 354 dollars a month or 4,447 dollars plus 129.85 dollars a month, all on the Restaurant Growth software plan.clover.com / restaurant
- Clover published card rates: 2.3 percent plus 10 cents tapped, swiped or inserted; 3.5 percent plus 10 cents keyed. Rapid Deposit carries a 1.75 percent fee.clover.com / restaurant
- Clover full service Starter lists tableside ordering and firing as not included, and tap plus mobile wallets as not included; Standard is Flex only; Advanced is Flex and Station Duo only. Payroll integrations are an optional add on at all tiers.clover.com / restaurant
- Clover quick service packages: Starter 135 dollars a month for 36 months or 849 dollars plus 89.95 dollars a month; Standard 185 dollars a month or 1,899 dollars plus 89.95 dollars a month; Advanced 245 dollars a month or 2,648 dollars plus 109.90 dollars a month.clover.com / quick service restaurant
- Clover subscriptions are non cancelable and ineligible for refunds; first payment is due 30 to 60 days in; at end of term you purchase or return equipment or the term extends at the same monthly charge; termination fees vary by service provider across Clover Direct and more than 3,000 financial institution partners; Clover devices cannot be used with other payment processors.clover.com / pricing
- Clover restaurant service plans are Counter Service Restaurant and Table Service Restaurant, and Clover publishes End of App Update notices for Gen 1 devices including Station C010, Mobile C020 and C021, Mini C030 and C031 and Flex C041 and C042.docs.clover.com / understand merchant service plans