Lightspeed Is a POS. Orhuk Is a Booking Platform With One Built In.

Lightspeed was built as a point-of-sale system for retail and restaurants — facility booking came later, as an add-on. Orhuk was purpose-built for facilities: online booking, memberships, waivers, and POS in one system. AI setup gets you live in 6 minutes. Starts free. No hardware requirements. No long-term contracts.

Why Operators Switch to Orhuk

Your facility needs booking at its core, not bolted on.

Lightspeed started as a retail and restaurant POS. Booking capabilities were acquired and integrated later — and it shows. If you're running courts, studios, gyms, or any facility where online booking and scheduling is the primary operation, you're fighting against a system that wasn't designed for that from day one. Orhuk was built for facilities: online booking, real-time availability, resource scheduling, and a POS that extends it — not the other way around.

Lightspeed hardware costs $1,000–2,000+ before you've taken a single booking.

Lightspeed's POS model is hardware-first — you're expected to buy their card terminals, receipt printers, and iPad mounts. A basic setup runs $800–1,500 in hardware before software fees. Orhuk uses Stripe Terminal: compatible readers start at $59, and you can run the full system from an iPad with no proprietary hardware. For facilities that already take most payments online, you may not need a reader at all.

You're paying $149–399/mo for software that doesn't include a customer-facing booking site.

Lightspeed's base plans are for POS and inventory management — a full online booking experience for your customers is a separate product (Lightspeed Golf for golf courses, or a custom integration elsewhere). Orhuk includes a fully white-labeled, customer-facing booking site out of the box, free forever — no monthly fee, just a flat 3% per transaction. Your customers can search availability, book, pay, and sign waivers without ever calling or emailing you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Orhuk have a full POS, or is it just an online booking tool?: Orhuk has a complete walk-in POS: cart with line items, discounts, tips, Stripe Terminal card reader support, barcode and membership card scanning, refunds, and full transaction history. Inventory management with low-stock alerts is included. It's designed for the front desk of a facility — not a retail store — but it covers everything you need to take in-person payments, look up a member, and ring out a walk-in customer.
Can I use my own Stripe account, or does Orhuk control payments like Lightspeed does?: Orhuk uses Stripe Connect: during setup you connect your own Stripe account (or create one — takes about 5 minutes). Every transaction, every customer payment record, every payout — all of it belongs to your business. If you ever leave Orhuk, your Stripe account and its full history go with you. Lightspeed processes through their own rails; your payment relationship belongs to them, not you.
Does Orhuk work for golf courses the way Lightspeed Golf does?: Orhuk handles tee time booking — slot scheduling, advance windows, pricing by time of day, and walk-in + online unified. What Orhuk doesn't have are golf-specific features like handicap management, slope ratings, and tournament scoring that Lightspeed Golf has built over a decade. If your operation is a busy 18-hole course running tournaments and you need that depth, Lightspeed Golf is the better fit. If you're a golf + fitness or mixed-facility club that needs booking across multiple resource types, Orhuk is purpose-built for that.
Do I need to buy Lightspeed hardware if I'm switching to Orhuk?: No. Orhuk runs on any device with a browser — an iPad, a laptop, or a phone at the front desk. If you want a card reader for in-person payments, Stripe Terminal readers start at $59 and work out of the box. You don't need to invest $800–1,500 in a hardware setup before you've processed your first booking.
How does Orhuk handle waivers? Does Lightspeed have this?: Orhuk has fully built-in digital waivers — no third-party add-on required. Customers sign during the online booking flow before their first visit, and every signature is permanently linked to their profile with a SHA-256 signed audit trail. Lightspeed does not include native waiver functionality; you'd need a third-party integration like Smartwaiver or Waiverfile.
What does Orhuk cost compared to Lightspeed at real revenue levels?: Orhuk is free forever — there's no monthly subscription. You pay a flat 3% per transaction, the same rate at every revenue level. At $15k/mo in facility bookings, that's about $450 in Orhuk fees and $0 in subscription. Lightspeed Golf (~$289/mo plan) plus their payment processing runs $500–700+/mo at the same volume, depending on your rates — plus $800–1,500+ in upfront hardware. Card processing on Orhuk is separate and runs through your own Stripe account at standard Stripe rates.