Digital Menu Boards for Restaurants (2026): Screens, Software & Install, Priced

Our pick for most restaurants is the CrownTV turnkey package: a commercial 4K screen, mount, media player, professional installation and the first year of menu software for $3,150 per 43″ screen, installed. That one number is what digital menu boards for restaurants actually cost when a licensed crew does the work — not the $8-a-month software line that gets quoted first. Below: what a board is, what each route costs, seven platforms compared on live pricing, and which setup fits a café, a counter, a drive-thru or a 40-unit chain. One of the seven is ours; we say so, and we tell you when a competitor fits better.

What a digital menu board actually is (and what it is not)

A digital menu board is three parts that only work as one: a commercial display, a media player, and the software that decides what plays and when. Every quote you compare has to price all three or it is not comparable.

1. The display. A 43″ to 55″ commercial panel for an indoor wall — 500 nits so it reads under kitchen lighting, anti-glare, no buttons or branding on the bezel, rated to run 24/7, and covered by a commercial warranty. Drive-thru boards are a different animal: 3,500-nit outdoor units in a sealed enclosure.
2. The player. The small computer behind the screen that stores the menu locally and plays it even when the Wi-Fi drops. It can be a dedicated box or the display's built-in Tizen or webOS chip.
3. The software. The dashboard where you daypart (breakfast to lunch to dinner on a schedule), change a price, 86 an item, and push one template to every location.

What it is not: a consumer TV with a streaming stick and a PowerPoint loop. That setup has no dayparting, no remote price change, no offline cache, and a warranty that usually voids the day you hang it in a commercial kitchen. It is also not "just the software" — software is the smallest line on the invoice, and the sites that fail at 12:05 on a Saturday usually fail at the player or the screen, not the dashboard. The full build, from mount height to content rules, is on our digital menu boards use-case page; this article is the buying decision.

How much digital menu boards cost in 2026

Three routes, per screen. The first is the one most operators try first and replace within a year; the second is the right call if you have an AV tech on speed dial; the third is one invoice and one phone number.

Prices and ratings checked 2026-10-14. CrownTV prices are per screen, installed, from the indoor package ladder; retail and software figures are each vendor's published price on that date.

The full CrownTV ladder runs $2,950 for a 32″ up to $9,950 for a 98″ — 65″ ($4,550) and up ship with a two-technician crew. Custom menu design is a $575 one-time add-on with three revisions. Full payment is due to schedule the install date, purchase orders are accepted, and hardware is typically installed within 5–7 business days of the paid invoice. Every size is on the pricing page; the line-by-line math for a self-assembled board, including POS integration fees, is in digital menu board prices.

How we ranked these

Four numbers per platform, all pulled from public pages on 2026-10-14. No demo-call promises, no "contact us" counted as a feature.

1. Price per screen, installed. Hardware, software and installation on one line. If a vendor sells software only, we add a commercial screen at the DisplayDetails price and note that installation is extra.
2. POS integrations published. Does the vendor's own site name Toast or Square (or Clover) as a sync, and on which plan? "Not published" is scored as no.
3. Offline caching. Does the player keep playing the menu when the internet drops, per the vendor's documentation?
4. Multi-location governance. Corporate-locked templates and pricing with store-level publishing inside the rails — the feature that separates a 3-unit group from a 40-unit chain.

G2 ratings and review counts are reported as context, not as a criterion — a 5.0 from 47 reviews and a 4.7 from 3,776 are not the same evidence.

The best digital menu boards for restaurants in 2026

1. CrownTV turnkey package, best for one accountable vendor

This is our platform — judge accordingly. What we sell is the whole board on one invoice: a Samsung commercial 4K display (500-nit, anti-glare, no buttons or branding, rated 24/7), a wall, menu or tilt mount, a CrownTV media player, installation by our licensed and insured crew, and the first year of the CrownTV Dashboard. The 43″ is $3,150 per screen installed; after year one the software is $20 per screen per month. The Dashboard dayparts on a schedule, gives each store a login inside corporate-locked templates, and the player caches the menu locally so a router reboot during the rush changes nothing on the wall. POS sync is scoped per project rather than sold as a checkbox: name your POS on the quote form and we tell you what syncs before you pay. CrownTV was founded in New York in 2012, has deployed 10,000+ displays with 16,000+ screens running on the platform, holds NYS and NYC WBE certification, and answers quote requests within two business hours. The trade-off is honest: if you want to buy a screen on Amazon and run free software yourself, we are the expensive option and one of the next six fits better.

Best suited for: operators who want one phone number for the screen, the install and the software, and multi-unit groups that need corporate templates with store-level publishing. Not for a single café that wants to self-install this weekend.

2. Yodeck, best budget self-serve

Yodeck is the price benchmark: Basic is $8 per screen per month, Premium $12, Enterprise $16, and a single screen is free forever. Annual plans ship a free Raspberry Pi player, or you save $20–$70 per screen by using your own device. Billing is monthly or annual with no stated minimum term, and you cancel by dropping screens in the subscription panel. Offline is strong — all media is stored on the player and keeps playing for up to 35 days without internet. The gap for restaurants is POS: Yodeck's app library has a DSMenu menu-design app but no Toast or Square integration, so every price change is a dashboard edit. Multi-location grouping and user roles exist on the paid tiers. G2 rates it 4.7 from 3,142 reviews, with integrations the lowest-scored area. You supply the screen, the mount and the ladder; a QM43C from DisplayDetails is $780.

Best suited for: a single café or food hall stall that wants boards up this week on its own hardware for the price of a sandwich a month. Not for a chain that needs price sync from the POS.

3. ScreenCloud, best app ecosystem

ScreenCloud lists Core at $20 per screen per month and Pro at $30, both billed annually; a monthly option exists but the monthly rate is not shown on the pricing page, and Enterprise is annual only. Annual plans include a free device or discount, there is a 14-day trial, and no minimum screen count is stated. The app directory is the deepest in signage — dashboards, social walls, scheduling, a Digital Menu Board app and a Canvas editor for building menus — but it lists no Toast or Square app, so POS prices are not synced natively. Offline behaviour is documented: uploaded media caches on the device after its first play and keeps playing through an outage, while streaming apps are skipped. Governance is solid, with spaces and roles for multi-site teams. G2 rates it 4.7 from 455 reviews, with per-screen cost the most common complaint from small operators.

Best suited for: restaurants whose screens do more than menus — a back-of-house KPI wall, a bar with live sports schedules, a hotel F&B group running one platform everywhere. Not for a price-sensitive single site.

4. OptiSigns, best self-serve POS sync

OptiSigns runs Standard at $10 per screen per month ($9 annual), Pro at $12.50 and Pro Plus at $15 ($13.50 annual); Enterprise is $45 with a 25-screen minimum, and there is a free tier for up to three screens. The restaurant reason to pick it is OptiSync: its support centre documents building menu boards from live POS data, with step-by-step guides for Clover and Toast and Square named as a supported source, and sold-out items can hide automatically. That capability sits on Pro Plus and up, so budget $15 per screen, not $10. Offline playback is supported, with content cached on the player. Multi-location is handled through device attributes, so one API request can serve different stores' prices. G2 rates it 4.7 from 3,776 reviews; the recurring criticism is that assets, playlists and screen setup get confusing at scale. Hardware is yours to buy — the same $780 QM43C applies.

Best suited for: an owner-operator on Toast, Square or Clover who wants prices to flow from the POS without paying for a managed vendor. Not for anyone who wants someone else to hang the screens.

5. NoviSign, best template-first editing

NoviSign prices Business at $14 per screen per month, Business Plus at $17 and Premium at $25, all shown as annual billing with a 30-day free trial; annual subscriptions can be cancelled within 30 days for a prorated refund. Toast is a native data source as of Studio Release 27 — menu items, prices and availability sync to the board — and Clover is documented too, but Square is not published. The data-source feature is limited to Business Plus and Premium, so the Toast price is $17. The drag-and-drop editor is the strength: independents who change menus weekly design in-platform rather than exporting from Canva. Offline is well documented — nearly everything is cached as local media on the player, with streaming widgets the exception. G2 rates it 5.0 from 47 reviews, a small sample skewed to businesses under 50 people, so treat it as encouraging rather than conclusive.

Best suited for: a Toast restaurant with one to five sites and someone on staff who likes designing menus. Not for a Square operator, until that integration is published.

6. Raydiant (now Displai), best for hospitality groups mixing kiosks and signage

Raydiant rebranded to Displai in 2026; the pricing page redirects to displai.ai and lists no per-screen price — it is demo-only. Hardware is Displai's own plug-and-play player, and the platform spans menu boards, drive-thru screens, self-service kiosks and employee-facing displays. POS is a real strength: Toast lists Raydiant in its partner directory (the integration launched in 2021), and the Displai marketplace documents a Square menu app where items, prices and out-of-stock status update from Square. Offline: support documentation says screens keep showing cached content until restarted, though streaming channels error out. Contract length is not published. G2 rates it 4.5 from 720 reviews under the Raydiant/Displai listing, with setup complexity and support response time the recurring complaints. Because nothing is priced publicly, it fails our first criterion by default — not necessarily on value.

Best suited for: a 10-plus-unit hospitality group that wants menu boards, ordering kiosks and staff screens from one vendor and is comfortable negotiating. Not for anyone who needs a price before a sales call.

7. Spectrio, best managed-content service

Spectrio sells managed digital signage: a content library, cloud access and a team that produces and schedules content for you. Its pricing page says "Flexible Pricing Built To Scale" and links to a demo — no per-screen price is published, and third-party listings disagree with each other so widely that we treat the price as not published. Its integrations page names no POS at all, so Toast and Square are not published. Offline behaviour for the current SpectrioOne and Engage players is not published either; only the older Share player documents caching. Contract terms are not published. G2 rates it 4.5 from 197 reviews, with ease of use and onboarding praised and billing disputes the sharpest criticism. If you want zero dashboard time and someone else owns the content calendar, this is the model; you trade control and price transparency for it.

Best suited for: multi-site operators with no marketing staff who want menus, promos and waiting-area content produced and managed as a service. Not for anyone comparing on price or on POS sync.

Side-by-side comparison

Prices and ratings checked 2026-10-14 from each vendor's public pricing page, app or integrations directory, support centre and G2 listing. "Not published" means the vendor does not state it publicly; we did not fill gaps with sales-call claims. MustHaveMenus appears in the table because it ranks on the same searches, not in the list above.

Which setup fits your restaurant

Indoor prices are the CrownTV installed package per screen; drive-thru is quoted after a site survey because enclosure, conduit and sun angle change the job. Full drive-thru layout rules are in drive-thru digital menu boards; the broader industry picture is on the restaurants and QSR page.

The screens: Samsung QM43C, QM50C, QM55C

Every indoor package above is built on the Samsung QMC series — 4K UHD, 500 nits, anti-glare, 24/7 rated, Samsung 3-year commercial warranty. If you are self-assembling, the same displays are sold through DisplayDetails, CrownTV's hardware store.

Samsung QM43C — the default menu board. Three of them span a standard counter, it reads from the queue line, and it is the size the $3,150 package is priced on. Display only: Samsung QM43C at DisplayDetails, $780.

Samsung QM50C — the step up when the counter is deep or you want two screens to do the work of three. Same panel spec, more menu real estate. Display only: Samsung QM50C at DisplayDetails, $1,150.

Samsung QM55C — bars, taprooms and single-board concepts where one large screen carries the whole menu. Display only: Samsung QM55C at DisplayDetails, $1,199.

Drive-thru — indoor panels do not survive a drive-thru lane. We spec the Samsung OH46B outdoor display (3,500 nits, sealed enclosure) and quote it per site after a survey, because the enclosure, conduit and mounting structure are most of the cost. Request a drive-thru quote and include the number of lanes.

Frequently asked questions

How much do digital menu boards cost installed?

With CrownTV a 43″ board is $3,150 per screen installed, a 55″ is $3,450 and a 65″ is $4,550 — each price includes the commercial 4K display, mount, media player, professional installation and the first year of software. Self-assembling the same board means a $780 Samsung QM43C from DisplayDetails, a player, $8–$20 per screen per month in software and a local installer quoted separately.

Can I use a regular TV as a menu board?

You can, and it is the most common regret we fix. A consumer TV is designed for a few hours a day at 250–350 nits, most consumer warranties exclude commercial use, and the panel and power supply age fast on a 14-hour kitchen day. A 500-nit commercial display costs more up front and is still cheaper than replacing a TV above the fryers twice.

Do digital menu boards integrate with Toast or Square?

Some do. On this shortlist OptiSigns (Pro Plus plan), NoviSign (Toast, Business Plus plan), Raydiant/Displai and MustHaveMenus publish a direct Toast and/or Square sync; Yodeck and ScreenCloud list no Toast or Square app, so prices are edited in the dashboard. CrownTV scopes POS sync per project — name your POS on the quote form and we tell you what syncs before you buy.

How many screens does a drive-thru need?

A standard single lane runs a pre-sell board upstream, a two- or three-panel main board at the speaker post, and an order-confirmation display before the window. Two panels cover a focused QSR menu; three add a promo panel. Drive-thru units are 3,500-nit outdoor displays such as the Samsung OH46B and are quoted per site, not priced off the indoor ladder.

Who installs the boards and how long does it take?

A CrownTV licensed and insured crew installs the package: one technician up to 55″, two technicians from 65″ up. A typical counter of two or three screens is a single visit, and the boards are live on the CrownTV Dashboard before the crew leaves. A power outlet is required at each display location; we handle the clean connection, not high-voltage electrical work.

What is the hardware lead time?

Typically 5–7 business days from the paid invoice to the install date, sooner on request. Full payment is due to schedule the installation; purchase orders are accepted. Samsung's 3-year commercial warranty covers every display in the package.

Do the boards work if the internet goes down?

Yes. Every CrownTV media player caches the scheduled menu locally and keeps playing dayparts through an outage, then resyncs when the connection returns. Among the self-serve platforms, Yodeck states up to 35 days of offline playback and ScreenCloud, OptiSigns and NoviSign cache media on the player; streaming apps are the exception everywhere.

Do you design the menu?

Yes — custom menu design is a $575 one-time add-on with three revisions, built to your brand and dayparts. If you already have artwork or a designer, skip it; the package software takes your files as they are.

Get a quote

Send the form with your screen count, sizes and POS, and a CrownTV project lead replies within two business hours with a per-screen price off the ladder above and any site-specific notes. We confirm the mount type and outlet locations on a short survey call, hardware ships and is installed within 5–7 business days of the paid invoice, and the crew does it in one visit — the boards are dayparting on the Dashboard before they leave. Purchase orders are accepted, and if self-serve genuinely fits you better, we will say so on that first reply. Start your menu board quote →

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