Square's own inventory, the MarketMan add-on, or ShelfCount
If you run a cafe on Square, you've probably asked whether Square already does inventory. It does, up to a point, and Square now offers MarketMan as an add-on for the rest. I own a coffee shop in Los Angeles and built ShelfCount there, so I have a stake in your answer. This page shows what each option costs and does, with dates and links to Square's own pages. ShelfCount is $50 a month, flat.
What Square tracks by itself, and when that’s enough
Square’s plans for restaurants are Free at $0, Plus at $49 a month per location, and Premium at $149. Plus lists “Integrated inventory tracking and close of day reports.” Square’s inventory features page lists stock tracking, low-stock alerts, and vendor profiles for purchase orders, the last on Plus and Premium. That page covers Square generally and isn’t written for restaurants, so check what your own dashboard shows. All of this is as of 2026-10-13.
Square also has its own recipe feature, Square Recipes, which its help page calls a beta for Plus and Premium. You add ingredients, attach a recipe to a menu item, and when that item sells Square reduces the ingredient stock. If an ingredient runs short, the item is marked sold out, and staff can override that.
If you sell bottled drinks, bagged beans and pastries you buy in, Square’s stock counts may be all you need. Each thing you sell is one thing you stock, so there’s nothing to translate. Stay on Square alone in that case, and keep your money.
Where it stops for a cafe: modifiers, sizes, house-made syrups
A cafe sells one drink in three sizes with five milks and a flavor, and buys none of those as-is. Square’s help page for Square Recipes, read on 2026-10-13, says three things that matter here. Modifiers don’t track inventory or costs, so an oat swap doesn’t reduce oat milk or appear in the recipe cost. Items with variations can’t have recipes, and Square suggests a separate item for each size. And there are no recipes of recipes, so a house-made vanilla syrup can’t be its own recipe that other drinks draw on.
It’s a beta, and Square says it may change. Treat this section as a snapshot, and see the one-latte test for a way to check what your own setup deducts today.
The MarketMan add-on for Square: price and who it’s for
Square sells Square Restaurant Inventory by MarketMan as an add-on to Square Plus and Square Premium, at $99 a month per location. Square’s page says that price is for sellers new to MarketMan. On Plus the total is $49 + $99 = $148 a month, or $1,776 a year. On Premium it’s $149 + $99 = $248.
Square’s help center describes it as a third-party integration built by MarketMan for high-volume restaurants or multi-location businesses, and says to contact your Square account manager to set it up. The product page lists ingredient tracking, purchase orders from par levels, invoice photos, receiving, usage against what you should have used, and a multi-location dashboard. It’s a real inventory system. For one cafe it may be more than you need, and it costs $49 a month more than we do.
The three options, side by side
| Square alone | Square + MarketMan add-on | Square + ShelfCount | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you pay for inventory | Included in Square Plus ($49 a month per location), which lists "Integrated inventory tracking and close of day reports". Not listed on Free | $99 a month per location, on top of Square Plus or Premium. Square says that price applies to sellers new to MarketMan | $50 a month, flat, on top of whatever Square plan you already have |
| Square plan you need | Free is $0. Plus is $49 and Premium is $149 a month per location | Plus ($49) or Premium ($149). Square lists the add-on for those two plans only | Your current plan |
| Monthly total on Square Plus | $49 | $148 ($49 + $99), which is $1,776 a year | $99 ($49 + $50), which is $1,188 a year |
| Free trial | Square lists "Try free for 30 days" on Plus and Premium | Not stated on the Square page we read | 14 days. Card at signup, nothing charged until it ends |
Square and MarketMan figures from squareup.com, checked 2026-10-13. Square Free, Plus and Premium prices are for the US. Prices change, so check Square's page before you sign anything.
| Square alone | Square + MarketMan add-on | Square + ShelfCount | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stock on items you sell | Yes. Square's inventory page lists stock tracking and low-stock alerts, without naming a plan | Yes, at ingredient level, per Square's page | Yes. Counts and on-hand for every ingredient and supply |
| Recipes and ingredient stock | Square Recipes, a beta on Plus and Premium. A sale reduces ingredient stock | Square's page says it tracks "complex recipes and modifiers" | Recipes with nested prep recipes; a sale reduces ingredient usage |
| Modifiers (the oat swap) | No. Square's help page: "Modifiers don't track inventory or costs" | Square's page lists modifiers; it does not say how a milk swap is handled | Yes. Each modifier adds, swaps or changes an ingredient, set once |
| Sizes (small, medium, large) | Items with variations can't have recipes. Square suggests a separate item per size | Not described on Square's page | Each Square variation maps to a recipe |
| House-made syrups and batches | No. "No batch prep or recipes of recipes" | Not described on Square's page | Yes. A syrup is its own recipe, costed into every drink that uses it |
| Purchase orders | Vendor profiles for purchase orders are listed for Plus and Premium on Square's inventory features page | Orders generated from par levels, with vendor price comparison | Drafted from your count; emailed to the vendor when you send it, for vendors set up for email |
| Invoice scanning | Not on the Square pages we read | Photograph an invoice to update inventory and costs | Yes, review-first: nothing changes a cost until you approve the line |
| Theoretical vs actual usage | Not on the Square pages we read | Yes. Square's page: "what you should have used versus what was actually used" | Yes, with a usage variance report |
| POS | Square | Square | Square and Clover. Toast is built and waiting on partner approval |
Square and MarketMan cells come only from Square's public pages, checked 2026-10-13. Where a page says nothing, the cell says so rather than guessing.
Where ShelfCount is behind
The add-on is a larger system than ours. MarketMan is built for multiple locations and high-volume kitchens, and Square lists a multi-location dashboard with it. Multi-unit enterprise reporting is not built in ShelfCount yet, and if that’s why you’re shopping, the add-on or MarketMan itself is the better buy. We don’t do vendor EDI ordering or Xero sync either.
ShelfCount also lives outside Square’s dashboard. You sign up with us separately, and Square connects with an access token you create. We read sales, catalog, and locations and never write to Square. Read-only OAuth is on the roadmap. Square describes the add-on as a third-party integration, activated through your Square account manager, as an add-on to Square Plus or Premium.
Where ShelfCount fits
ShelfCount is $50 a month on top of your Square plan, and it’s built around the problem Square Recipes leaves open for a cafe. Each modifier carries an ingredient change you set once. Each size maps to a recipe. A house-made syrup is its own recipe, costed into every drink that uses it. Your count then shows what you used against what your sales said you should have. Purchase orders are drafted from the count and emailed to the vendor, and invoices are scanned for review before any cost changes.
It also reads Clover today, and Toast is built and waiting on partner approval. If you might move off Square, ShelfCount comes with you. Square Recipes doesn’t.
When to stay on Square alone
- You mostly sell items you buy and resell: bottles, bags of beans, pastries from a bakery
- Your drinks are few and simple, and nobody swaps milk or changes size
- You’re happy knowing what you sold and counting what’s on the shelf
When ShelfCount makes more sense than the add-on
- One cafe, where $49 a month less matters ($588 a year)
- Your menu runs on modifiers and sizes, and the cost of a latte depends on the milk
- You want the order written from the count, and invoices checked line by line
- You want the option of Clover later
Questions people actually ask
- Does Square track ingredients?
- Yes, in a limited way. Square's help page for Square Recipes, read on 2026-10-13, says ingredient cost tracking is a beta for Square for Restaurants Plus and Premium. When a menu item with a recipe sells, Square reduces the ingredient stock. The same page says modifiers don't track inventory or costs, items with variations can't have recipes, and there are no recipes of recipes.
- How much is the MarketMan add-on for Square?
- Square's own page lists Square Restaurant Inventory by MarketMan at $99 a month per location, as an add-on to Square Plus or Premium, and says that price applies to sellers new to MarketMan. Plus is $49 a month and Premium is $149, so the lowest total is $148 a month. All of that is from Square's pages as of 2026-10-13. MarketMan sold on its own starts at $249 a month.
- Do I need ShelfCount if I already pay for Square Plus?
- Only if Square's inventory stops short of what you need. Square Plus keeps stock on items. If you sell mostly packaged goods and pastries you buy in, that may be all you need. If you make drinks to order and want the oat swap, the size and the house-made syrup reflected in what you used, that is the job ShelfCount does, for $50 a month on top of Square.
- Does ShelfCount write to my Square account?
- No. Square connects with an access token you create. ShelfCount reads sales, catalog, and locations and never writes to Square. Read-only OAuth is on the roadmap.
- Is Square's recipe feature going to catch up?
- I can't say. Square labels it a beta that may change, and its help page read as it does today on 2026-10-13. If Square adds modifiers or sizes later, this page will be wrong, and I'll fix it. The one-latte test in the modifiers post shows you what your own setup deducts right now.
Compare something else
- ShelfCount vs MarketMan
- ShelfCount vs QuickStok
- Square recipes and modifiers: where the tracking stops
- Square inventory for restaurants, explained
- How ShelfCount connects to Square
- ShelfCount pricing
Sources
Every figure above about another company came from its own public pages on the date listed. Prices move; if one of these is stale, email us and we’ll fix the page.
- Square Restaurant Inventory by MarketMan (price, plan requirement) — https://squareup.com/us/en/inventory-management/restaurants (opens in a new window) (checked 2026-10-13)
- Square for Restaurants pricing (Free, Plus, Premium) — https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing (opens in a new window) (checked 2026-10-13)
- Square help: Track ingredient costs with Square Recipes (beta) — https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/8629-beta-track-ingredient-costs-with-square-recipes (opens in a new window) (checked 2026-10-13)
- Square help: Manage ingredient inventory with Square Restaurant Inventory — https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/8610-manage-ingredient-inventory-with-square-restaurant-inventory (opens in a new window) (checked 2026-10-13)
- Square inventory management features (stock, low-stock alerts, purchase orders) — https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/features/inventory-management (opens in a new window) (checked 2026-10-13)
- MarketMan pricing page — https://www.marketman.com/pricing (opens in a new window) (checked 2026-10-13)
You don’t have to book a call to see this one. The demo is the real product with a cafe’s data already in it. Open it, poke around, close the tab.