PrepFlow and Fresh KDS, side by side
| Topic | PrepFlow | Fresh KDS |
|---|---|---|
| Works with | Heartland, Clover, Square and Toast POS, plus Uber Eats and DoorDash orders. | More than 30 POS and ordering platforms, including Square, Clover, TouchBistro, SpotOn and Lightspeed K-Series. |
| How work is ordered | Each item gets its own start time per station, counted back from when the order is due, so the order finishes together. | Orders are sorted by prep and pickup time, with color-coded timers that turn from green to yellow to red. |
| When the kitchen drifts | Re-plans every waiting item live on late starts, add-ons, voids and reroutes. | Move urgent or delayed orders forward by hand. |
| Dishes that move between stations | “Then goes to” chains a dish through up to four stations, and each stage gets its own time so the dish still lands with the rest of the order. | Not described on Fresh's public pages. |
| Busy stations | Knows how many items each station can cook at once and queues the rest. | Not described on Fresh's public pages. |
| Prep times | Learned per dish from Start and Done taps, with Suggest or Auto modes and a saved history. | Measures each order against its target time. |
| Screens and devices | Unlimited screens on any iPhone, iPad, Android device or browser. | iPad or Android tablets. |
| Pricing | $0 monthly subscription and no per-screen fees. You pay per order, and less per order as you grow. | Per screen: $20 a screen a month on Essentials or $27 on Premium (less billed yearly); Enterprise by quote. |
What Fresh KDS does well
Fresh KDS is a strong, widely used kitchen display. It connects to more than 30 POS and ordering platforms, sorts orders by prep and pickup time so the team knows what to make next, shows color-coded timers, and lets you move urgent orders forward. Its off-premise tools, such as order tracking, are broader than PrepFlow’s today.
Where PrepFlow is different
Pacing inside the order, not just the queue. Sorting tells a cook which ticket is next. It does not decide that the fries for that ticket should wait eight minutes while the steak cooks. PrepFlow gives every item its own start time at its own station, counted back from when the order is due, so everything reaches the pass together, hot.
A plan that adjusts by itself. When a cook starts late, an item is added or voided, or a station falls behind, PrepFlow moves every waiting item to match, on every screen at once. Nobody has to reshuffle tickets by hand.
Dishes that move. A dish that grills and then finishes at sauté gets a time for each stage, planned so it still lands with the rest of the order.
Times that learn. PrepFlow measures how long each dish really takes from your cooks’ Start and Done taps and proposes better times, so the plan gets more accurate every week. Doneness, sides cooked at another station, and dishes that move between stations each get their own time.
Pay for orders, not screens. Fresh is priced per screen. PrepFlow is priced per order with no limit on screens, so a station screen, an expo screen and a watch-only screen in the office cost the same as one.
Which should you choose?
If your POS is one PrepFlow does not support yet, or you mainly need a clean, sorted ticket queue, Fresh KDS is a solid choice. If you run Heartland, Clover, Square or Toast and your problem is orders reaching the pass in pieces, PrepFlow is built for exactly that.
Sources
What we say about Fresh KDS comes from its public pages and help articles, checked in November 2026. Products and prices change; check with Fresh KDS before you decide. Fresh KDS is a trademark of its owner, and PrepFlow is not affiliated with it. Spotted something out of date? Email us and we will correct it.
Questions
Is Fresh KDS a pacing system?
Fresh KDS orders the queue: it sorts tickets by prep and pickup time and shows how close each one is to late. PrepFlow paces inside the order: it decides when each item should start at its station so a 12-minute steak and 4-minute fries finish at the same moment.
Fresh works with more POS systems. Why choose PrepFlow?
PrepFlow works with Heartland, Clover, Square and Toast, plus Uber Eats and DoorDash orders. If your POS is another one that Fresh supports, Fresh may fit better today. If you want whole orders to land together with plans that adjust live, PrepFlow is built for that, with no per-screen fees.