Comparison

ST POS vs Lavu POS

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

ST POS

This app serves as a dual-purpose tool for businesses, functioning as a point-of-sale system for restaurants and bars, and as an age-verification and admission management system for venues. It allows for order placement, payment processing, and customer tracking.

Highlights
  • Table-side order and payment processing
  • ID and age verification for admissions
  • Customer and VIP tracking
  • Accepts various payment methods
  • Employee scheduling and management
  • Inventory and product customization
  • Tab management and split payments
Features
Read full description

SmartTab POS & ADMISSION app is both a restaurant/bar/nightclub point-of-sale (POS) app and an age-verification/admission app for bouncers and doormen. The SmartTab POS app is optimized for tablet POS (iPad) and handheld table-side service POS (iPod) and gives you everything you need to place orders and accept payments from a mobile device. The SmartTab ADMISSION feature (iPod) provides ID and Age Verification while keeping track of customer admission, VIPs, bottle service guests, and 86’d guests. Accept cash, debit, credit card and SmartTab payments (see companion SmartTab CUSTOMER app). Funds are deposited fast—see money in your bank account in one to two business days. Use SmartTab POS to keep track of all your customers, tabs, tables, admissions, products, modifiers, tenders, inventory, courses, gratuity, taxes, surcharge, employees, schedule and timesheets. All this with no long term obligation and simple month-to-month contracts. FEATURES SmartTab POS & ADMISSION can operate independently through the cloud, or connect locally as part of a broader POS configuration that works in tandem with resistive-touch POS stations. Get the latest features and enhanced functionality with regular app updates. - Accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, AMEX (optBlue), cash, gift cards, and other forms of tender - Customers can pay, tip, and sign right on your device - Integrated for SmartTab payments where customers can open their tab with their ID or through the SmartTab CUSTOMER app - Full-featured POS functionality with transfers, merges, coursing, covers, itemized or entire check discounts, repeat order, drag select, remaining counts, 86’d items, mods, gratuity, surcharge, tax, and more... - Employee scheduling along with staff management tools and reports - Customize your products with names, prices, tax rules, recipes, mods, and ingredient tracking - Construct a venue customer and product social graph - 1-click tab lookup with robust tab management and filtering - Dynamic split check / split payment for quick and flexible customer split management - Connects to a receipt printer, kitchen / bar remote ticket printer, barcode scanner, and cash drawer ----------------------------- NEXT-DAY DEPOSITS Get your money fast. SmartTab deposits payments into your bank account in one to two business days. SECURE MOBILE CREDIT CARD READER Credit card information is encrypted from start to finish.

About

Lavu POS

This comprehensive restaurant management system streamlines operations, from order taking and checkout to menu updates and detailed reporting. It's designed for efficiency, accuracy, and improved customer experience, suitable for various food service businesses.

Highlights
  • Streamlined order taking and checkout
  • Customer checkouts and receipt emailing
  • Menu management and layout customization
  • Detailed operational reports
  • Mobile ordering processing
  • Wireless printing integration
Features
Read full description

Lavu is a feature-rich, modern, and easy-to-use restaurant management system that ensures everything in your restaurant runs quickly, efficiently, and accurately. It streamlines your operations while simplifying restaurant management and improving the customer experience. Using Lavu POS's sleek and user-friendly interface, your restaurant staff can seamlessly clock in, place orders, perform customer checkouts, email receipts, and more. This eliminates the need to run tickets to the kitchen, allowing for more time with the customer and leading to higher sales! Lavu POS is designed to accommodate national restaurant chains as well as individual food trucks, nightclubs, coffee shops, etc. Lavu POS was the very first full-featured restaurant POS App in the App Store and continues to lead the revolution in innovation and integration. With detailed reports, mobile ordering processing, and wireless printing all working in sync, Lavu POS is much more than a POS app. It is a smart and complete restaurant management solution that you can control and customize with ease. Utilizing the Lavu control panel, you can change the layout of your restaurant, update the menu, and perform other administrative functions online. Any changes you make through the control panel are updated with a one button click on Lavu POS. This type of control makes your restaurant more efficient, flexible, and independent. That is why Lavu POS is trusted by thousands of customers, in 65 different countries.

Screenshots

ST POS4 screens
Lavu POS3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: ST POS at 100% against Lavu POS's 43%. ST POS also leads on rating (4.5 vs 2.8) and update cadence (every 5 days vs every 6 weeks). Lavu POS's advantage is ratings volume (83 vs 26) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ST POS holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 2.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 26 and 83 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of ST POS's written reviews are positive against 43% of Lavu POS's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ST POS ships an update every 5 days, Lavu POS every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
ST POS versus Lavu POS: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterST POSLavu POS
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (26 ratings) — better2.8 (83 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better42.9% of reviews
Number of ratings2683 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.113.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size119 MB226 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperSmarttab CorpLavu

Customer experience

ST POS

All ratings26 ratings
Positive84.6%
Neutral3.8%
Negative11.5%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Lavu POS

All ratings83 ratings
Positive39.8%
Neutral7.2%
Negative53.0%
Written reviews21 reviews
Positive42.9%
Neutral4.8%
Negative52.4%

In-app purchases

None

ST POS

No in-app purchases

None

Lavu POS

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ST POS free?
ST POS is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Lavu POS free?
Lavu POS is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ST POS or Lavu POS?
ST POS is rated higher. ST POS averages 4.5 out of 5 from 26 ratings, while Lavu POS averages 2.8 from 83 ratings.
Do ST POS or Lavu POS have ads?
Neither ST POS nor Lavu POS shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ST POS or Lavu POS?
ST POS ships an update every 5 days, and Lavu POS every 6 weeks. Most recently, ST POS was updated on November 1, 2026 and Lavu POS on October 29, 2026.

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