When you price a kitchen display system, the first question is usually “how much per screen?” It is worth asking a different question: what should the bill grow with?
How per-screen pricing works
Most kitchen displays charge a monthly fee for each screen. As of November 2026:
- Fresh KDS lists $20 a screen a month on its Essentials plan and $27 on Premium (less when billed yearly).
- Square KDS costs $20 to $30 a month per device in the US, depending on your Square plan.
- Toast describes its KDS pricing as a monthly software fee per screen plus hardware, quoted directly.
Prices change, so check each vendor before you decide.
The effect is simple: every screen costs money. So kitchens ration them. The fry station shares a screen with the grill, the expo uses a printer, the manager never gets a view from the office, and a second screen for a busy station waits for next year’s budget.
How per-order pricing works
Per-order pricing charges for what the kitchen actually does. A slow Tuesday costs less than a packed Saturday, and adding a screen costs nothing. You put a screen wherever it helps: one per station, one at the pass, one in the office, one on the manager’s phone.
PrepFlow uses usage-based pricing: you pay per order, and the rate per order falls as your volume grows. There is no charge per screen.
How to compare them honestly
Per-order is not automatically cheaper. Work it out for your own kitchen:
- Count the screens you would run if they were free. Every station, the expo, the office, maybe a phone for the manager.
- Multiply by the per-screen price of the system you are comparing, plus any hardware it requires.
- Put your monthly order count into the per-order calculator. PrepFlow’s is on the pricing section of the home page.
- Compare the two, then compare what you get. A screen-priced display that only sorts tickets is a different product from one that paces every item.
A one-screen food truck may pay less per screen. A full-service kitchen with five stations and an expo usually wants more screens than a per-screen budget allows. Per-order pricing removes that trade-off.
Questions
Which kitchen display systems charge per screen?
Many do. As of November 2026, Fresh KDS lists prices per screen, Square charges per KDS device, and Toast describes KDS pricing as a monthly fee per screen plus hardware. Check each vendor for current prices.
How does PrepFlow price?
Simple, usage-based pricing: you pay per order, and as you grow you pay less per order. There is no charge per screen, so you can run as many screens as you want.