Aldelo Gift Processing vs Lightspeed Restaurant

Aldelo Gift Processing handles physical gift cards and digital eGift cards for restaurants and bars. Customers can buy, store, and redeem cards online or in-store. The system connects natively with Aldelo Express POS and the Masa+ digital wallet for sales, activation, and redemption. Store groups can designate participating locations and manage cards across their chain. A physical card works in-store or online, while a digital card can be presented as a QR code from Masa+. POS terminals scan those codes with built-in cameras, so additional scanning hardware is not required. Digital cards are delivered instantly and remain in Masa+, where customers can check balances. Aldelo describes Express as cloud-native and device-independent, with iPad and Android support; Masa+ is available in a web browser. The service also offers a cloud-based REST-pattern Open API, 24/7 support, and payment security certifications for Aldelo ePay.

Lightspeed Restaurant is restaurant management software built around a point-of-sale and payments platform. It supports customizable menus, screens and floor plans, with online, tableside and QR-code ordering. Restaurants, hotels and multi-location operators can use the system for operations including inventory, reservations, tables, staff scheduling and sales reporting. The cloud-based POS can keep working offline, saving entered data locally and uploading it when connectivity returns; master-data maintenance and eCloud evaluations still require internet access. Its front end requires the Lightspeed Restaurant iPad app, while the back end can be managed on desktop and iPad. Lightspeed also says the POS can run in a browser on Mac, PC, Apple or Android devices. The Restaurant Integration Hub includes hundreds of third-party integrations, and accounting sync can send sales data to QuickBooks, Xero, Sage and other software. Plans start at $69/mo. Restaurant has no free plan or free trial listed; a demo option is presented instead.