CompareSquare for Restaurants (EPOS and payments)

Hangar vs Square

Square for Restaurants is easy to start: a free plan, Plus at £69 a location a month, no long-term contract, an open API and even an MCP server in beta. The catch is that Square is your only card processor, and using its Orders API with anyone else costs 1% a transaction. Bookings, stock and rota come from partners, and almost every extra is a monthly add-on. Hangar matches Square's no-contract terms and adds bookings, stock, staff and wifi on one guest database, on one subscription, with your own card provider at no extra cost.

Square
Hangar
Card processing
SquareThey are the only processor: "If you want to use the Square Orders API with a non-Square payments provider, there is a 1% fee per transaction"
HangarKeep your own card provider and connect it at no extra cost
Bookings
SquareThey "Bring diners in through reservation partners", such as OpenTable
HangarWe take tables, events, tickets and private hire ourselves, on the same guest
Stock
SquareThey add "Square Restaurant Inventory by MarketMan: +£79/mo. per location", a third party
HangarWe take each serve off stock in the same system as the sale
Add-ons
SquareThey charge Loyalty "From £25/mo. per location", Marketing "From £9", kiosks "£35 per device, per month", and KDS £15 a device on Free
HangarWe charge a simple monthly subscription: one price for the platform, with CRM and Payments, plus each module you add, with no per-device fees for kiosks or kitchen screens
Full-service venues
SquareThey draw this from a UK operator: "Lots of issues if you using it for a restaurant with full service ."
HangarWe're built for full-service rooms: tabs, group bookings and private hire
Your money
SquareThey draw this: "Square still won't allow me to take funds from the account."
HangarBring your own merchant account and your provider pays you directly
Guest wifi and rota
SquareThey have no guest wifi; rota links go to Deputy or Planday
HangarWe have guest wifi and staff and rota in the same system
AI
SquareThey have an MCP server, still "in Beta"
HangarWe include a production MCP server across every module, with previews before anything moves money
Contract
SquareThey need "No long-term contract"
HangarWe need none either
What their customers say
Trustpilot
Lots of issues if you using it for a restaurant with full service .
Jul 2026Read it
Trustpilot
take your money for hardware and then a few months later deactivate your account
Jun 2026Read it
Trustpilot
Missing funds from a transaction from 17 days ago.
Sep 2026Read it
Switching

We do the switch for you.

Export your guests, products, bookings and gift card balances, and our setup team brings them all into Hangar. It's done remotely, planned around the date your Square contract ends, and ready before your team's first shift.

Sources, checked October 2026
Glass doors at night with a queue of people waiting outside, a shaft of light on the floor.

The wait is nearly over.

Hangar launches in Q1 2027.

T-minus / Launch window Q1 2027
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