A point-of-sale system is a payment contract with a screen attached, and the screen is the part vendors talk about.
This guide ranks on the total cost of taking a hundred euros, on whether the hardware is yours or leased, and on what happens to the terminal and the transaction history if you switch provider.
Vendors can pay for visibility on this page. It never changes what an entry
says about a product, including the criticism, and we earn nothing when you click through to a
vendor. How that works.
In short
What point of sale software does
A point-of-sale system takes payment in person, records the sale against stock and reporting, and settles the money to a bank account.
In this order: setup effort, what it really costs, how your data comes back out, whether
you can leave, and who each point of sale tool is built for. One rule sits on top of those tests:
Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category, wherever the category has them; the established names follow from place 4 in their ranked order. Why those five, and why there is no
score out of ten, is on the how we work page.
Published on clover.com per business type, e.g. full-service restaurant from $179 a month over 36 months; card payments from 2.3% + 10 cents; reseller terms vary
—
A business that wants to buy the till through its bank
Per transaction, published as interchange plus a fee
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A multichannel retailer that wants one payment platform everywhere
A single shop looking for an all-in-one till
Country is where the vendor is headquartered or contracts from, which is a
different question from where your data is hosted. Where the two tell different stories, the
entry says so.
Direct ordering and payments for restaurants, alongside the till you have
Ranked #1 of 12 in Best POS System in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingEurope
storekit is aimed at hospitality specifically, where the requirements are order-at-table, split bills, tabs and a menu that changes weekly rather than stock control. It is an ordering and payments layer that works with your POS, including Toast, Square and Lightspeed, rather than a till in its own right.
Pricing is published per location: a free Starter plan for pickup and delivery, Grow at £99, Pro at £199 with QR ordering and pay-at-table, and Enterprise from £995, each with a flat per-order fee and no commission. Retailers should ignore it entirely, and a restaurant still has to buy and run a till beside it.
What stands out
Hospitality focus
QR ordering
Published price
Where it costs you
Hospitality only
An ordering layer, not a till: it needs a POS alongside it
Right for
A restaurant or bar that wants table ordering and payments
Wrong for
A shop with stock, suppliers and purchase orders
United KingdomFree Starter plan; Grow £99, Pro £199 and Enterprise from £995 per location per month, published; flat per-order fee
SumUp offers merchant accounts in 38 countries and the standalone Solo terminal works without a phone, on a built-in SIM with an offline mode, which is why market traders and mobile businesses use it where other readers fail.
Pricing is published per transaction with no monthly fee, 1.69% in person on the UK list, and optional monthly plans lower the rate. Reporting and integrations are minimal by design, and the inventory features are enough for a coffee stand rather than a shop with a catalogue.
What stands out
No fixed contract
Works standalone
Wide country coverage
Where it costs you
Reporting and integrations are minimal by design
Thin inventory features
Right for
A mobile or market business that needs a reader that just works
Wrong for
A multi-store retailer
United KingdomPer transaction, published; optional monthly plans
The entry offer is the cheapest full till system in the UK and the software covers both retail and hospitality. The contract length and cancellation terms generate more complaints than the product does.
What stands out
Cheap hardware bundle
Hospitality and retail
UK support
Where it costs you
Contract length and cancellation draw more complaints than the product
Support is stretched
Right for
A UK shop or bar that needs a full till system cheaply
Wrong for
A buyer unwilling to sign a long contract
United KingdomComplete Solution bundle from £299, published, with a 12-month payments, care and support subscription from £54 a month; other bundles quoted
Card terminals with instant settlement and no monthly fee
Ranked #4 of 12 in Best POS System in 2026.
Published pricingEurope
myPOS competes on cash flow rather than on features. Settlement takes seconds into a free account that comes with the terminal, there is no monthly fee below £10,000 a month in turnover, and the device works over its own data SIM without a phone.
For traders at markets, fairs and events that combination is genuinely useful. It is not a retail system: stock, purchasing and reporting are barely present, so a shop that needs to know what it holds should look higher up this list.
What stands out
Instant settlement
No monthly fee
Own business account
Where it costs you
Hardware bought outright or rented monthly
Almost no inventory or retail features
Right for
A mobile or small trader who needs the money today
Wrong for
A shop that needs stock control behind the till
United KingdomBuy or rent the terminal; per transaction from 1.10% + 7p, published; free account, no monthly fee under £10,000 turnover
Square's free tier is the most complete in payments: you can open a business tomorrow with free software, a cheap reader and no contract, then grow into payroll, loyalty and online selling on the same account. Paid plans, from $49 a month per location in the US, add restaurant and retail features such as coursing and a kitchen display app.
Card acceptance is limited to eight countries. The recurring complaint is account stability: freezes triggered by unusual volume are well documented and painful when they happen to a business that depends on daily settlement.
What stands out
Free POS software
Ecosystem of add-ons
Fast onboarding
Where it costs you
Account freezes on unusual volume are a recurring complaint
Fees add up at higher volume
Right for
A new business that wants to be selling tomorrow
Wrong for
A high-volume retailer optimising card fees
United StatesFree plan; Plus $49 and Premium $149 per location per month, published; processing per transaction
Zettle, now renamed PayPal Point of Sale, is the cheapest honest way for a small trader to take cards: one published percentage, 1.75% on UK cards, no monthly fee, and hardware you buy outright rather than lease, from £29 for the first reader.
Funds typically reach your PayPal Business account within minutes, with no fee for the automatic transfer to your bank. There is no contract to escape. What it is not is a store system: the free app has inventory, staff tracking and sales reports, but at a level a shop that needs real stock control at the till will outgrow quickly.
What stands out
No monthly fee
Cheap reader
Transparent rate
Where it costs you
Inventory and reporting are basic
Not a store system
Payouts land in a PayPal Business account first
Right for
A small trader who wants the cheapest honest card acceptance
Wrong for
A shop that needs stock control at the till
SwedenPer transaction, 1.75% on cards, published; hardware bought outright; no monthly fee
If the online store is already Shopify, the POS removes the reconciliation problem entirely: one product record, one stock number, one customer profile across the shop and the website. Staff permissions and inventory management come with the POS Pro add-on, charged per location.
On its own, without the online store, it is an expensive way to buy a till. Shopify's own card readers require Shopify Payments; an external terminal from another processor is allowed, but Shopify then records only the payment status and charges its third-party fee.
What stands out
Unified with online store
Staff permissions
Omnichannel stock
Where it costs you
Expensive on its own without the online store
Shopify's own card readers require Shopify Payments; an external terminal reports only payment status
Right for
A retailer whose online store is already Shopify
Wrong for
A shop with no ecommerce
CanadaIncluded with a Shopify plan, per month, published; POS Pro add-on per location; payments extra
Built for restaurants first, on its own hardware and processing
Ranked #8 of 12 in Best POS System in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
Every part of Toast assumes a restaurant, from coursing and modifiers to tip handling and the kitchen display, and that focus produces a better experience than a general retail till adapted to hospitality.
Online ordering, payroll and scheduling are add-ons, and the pricing page lists a Starter Kit from $0 and Point of Sale from $69 a month without printing the processing rate. Toast serves the US, Canada, Ireland, the UK and Australia. You must use its processing and its approved hardware, so switching processor means switching everything.
What stands out
Kitchen display
Online ordering
Restaurant reporting
Where it costs you
Available in five countries only: the US, Canada, Ireland, the UK and Australia
Hardware and processing are locked together
Right for
A restaurant that wants everything built for restaurants
Wrong for
A general retailer, or anyone outside the five countries Toast serves
United StatesStarter Kit from $0/month; Point of Sale from $69/month, published; processing extra, rate not listed
Bank-distributed hardware with an app market and plans per business type
Ranked #9 of 12 in Best POS System in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
Often arrives through your acquiring bank, which makes it easy to buy and hard to compare: Clover publishes plans per business type on its own site, from a full-service restaurant system at $179 a month over 36 months with table mapping, tabs and bill splitting, but it says those prices apply only on clover.com, so a bank or reseller quote can differ.
What stands out
App marketplace
Bank distribution
Restaurant, retail and service plans
Where it costs you
Prices on clover.com apply only there; bank and reseller terms differ and are hard to compare
Right for
A business that wants to buy the till through its bank
Wrong for
A buyer who wants to compare rates properly
United StatesPublished on clover.com per business type, e.g. full-service restaurant from $179 a month over 36 months; card payments from 2.3% + 10 cents; reseller terms vary
Behind the till, Lightspeed is a proper retail system: purchase orders and supplier catalogues through NuORDER, matrix inventory and multi-store stock that speciality retailers genuinely need. That depth is the reason to choose it over Square.
The published plans run from $89 to $289 a month with one register included. The complaints cluster around commercial terms, meaning contract length, payment processing requirements and support responsiveness, rather than the software itself, so read the agreement carefully.
What stands out
Strong inventory
Multi-store
Supplier catalogues
Where it costs you
Contracts and payment terms draw the most complaints
Each plan includes one register; extra registers and locations cost more
Right for
A speciality retailer that needs real purchasing and stock
Wrong for
A single stall or pop-up
CanadaPer month by plan, published: Basic $89, Core $149, Plus $289, one register included; extra registers, locations and payments extra
Retail POS now sold as Lightspeed Retail (X-Series)
Ranked #11 of 12 in Best POS System in 2026.
Published pricingAsia-Pacific
Vend built a good retail point of sale in New Zealand and was acquired by Lightspeed, which now sells it as Lightspeed Retail (X-Series). The software still does what it did, meaning a fast till, solid stock, multi-store transfers and sensible reporting, and it now carries Lightspeed's published pricing from $89 a month with one register and 24/7 support.
The name Vend is gone from the product, and the commercial terms around payment processing are the same ones customers complain about across Lightspeed.
What stands out
Retail-first
Multi-store
Now part of Lightspeed
Where it costs you
Now sold as Lightspeed Retail (X-Series) under the Lightspeed brand
Payment processing terms are the common complaint
Right for
A multi-store retailer that wants proven retail workflows
Wrong for
A buyer who needs certainty about the product roadmap
New ZealandPer month by plan, published as Lightspeed Retail (X-Series): Basic $89, Core $149, Plus $289, one register included; payments extra
One payment platform for the till, the site and the app
Ranked #12 of 12 in Best POS System in 2026.
Published pricingEurope
Adyen belongs in this list because the payment layer is where a lot of the cost and most of the reconciliation pain in a point of sale actually sits. Interchange-plus pricing is transparent in a way the bundled providers are not, and having in-store, online and in-app payments settle through one platform makes month-end arithmetic straightforward.
It is only half the system: you still choose till software, and the commercial model is built for volume, so a single shop is better served by the all-in-one products above.
What stands out
Interchange plus pricing
One platform for all channels
Enterprise scale
Where it costs you
Not a till system — you still need POS software
Aimed at volume, not at a single shop
Right for
A multichannel retailer that wants one payment platform everywhere
Wrong for
A single shop looking for an all-in-one till
NetherlandsPer transaction, published as interchange plus a fee
A point-of-sale system takes payment in person, records the sale against stock and reporting, and settles the money to a bank account. The differences that matter are rarely in the feature list, so this is
the order we would work through them.
01
Decide whether you need a published price
12 of the 12 tools here publish what they cost; the other 0 quote per organisation. The ones you can compare without a sales call: storekit, SumUp, Epos Now, myPOS, Square, PayPal Point of Sale, Shopify POS, Toast, Clover, Lightspeed Retail, Lightspeed Retail (X-Series), Adyen POS.
02
Decide how much the jurisdiction matters
These 12 vendors are established in 6 countries across 3 regions (Europe 6, North America 5, Asia-Pacific 1). That decides whose disclosure law applies to what the vendor holds, wherever the servers are.
The software price is not the price
Every product here earns on payment processing, and that is where the real cost sits. SumUp, Zettle, myPOS and Adyen charge per transaction and give the software away or nearly so.
Lightspeed and Shopify POS charge a monthly fee and then charge for payments on top, and Square and Toast both list a plan at no monthly fee beside their paid ones. At any real turnover the processing rate decides the annual total and the monthly plan is rounding.
Get the processing rate for your card mix, including commercial and foreign cards.
Ask whether you may use a third-party acquirer, and what it costs if you do.
Model the annual total at your turnover, not the monthly plan fee.
Hardware you own against hardware you rent
Zettle sells you a terminal outright and myPOS sells or rents one; Clover says its devices cannot be used with another processor, and Toast's software runs only on approved Toast hardware with Toast's own processing.
Locked hardware is the quiet lock-in in point of sale software, because switching provider means replacing the counter as well as the contract. A terminal you own can usually be repurposed; one tied to a processor cannot.
Ask whether the terminal works with another provider if you switch.
Get the cost of replacing a broken unit, and the lead time.
Check what happens to leased hardware at the end of the contract.
Hospitality and retail are different products
Toast is built for restaurants: covers, courses, split bills, kitchen printers. Lightspeed Retail and Vend are built for shops: variants, stock across locations, purchase orders.
Square and Clover sell separate restaurant and retail plans, Square with coursing and a kitchen display app on paid plans, while SumUp stays a generalist that does both lightly. A restaurant running a retail POS improvises table service; a shop running a hospitality POS fights the stock module.
Match the product to your trade before comparing anything else.
Test your most awkward transaction: a split bill, or a variant exchange.
Check offline behaviour. Tills have to work when the internet does not.
Settlement timing is a cash flow decision
How fast money reaches your bank differs by days across this page, and for a business with thin margins that is more important than the rate.
Ask for the settlement schedule in writing, including weekends and holidays, and ask what triggers a hold. A provider that holds funds after an unusual day is a provider you find out about on the worst day.
Get the settlement schedule in writing, including weekends.
Ask what triggers a payout hold and how it is released.
Check whether refunds come out of the next payout or are charged separately.
What goes wrong most often when buying point of sale software
Comparing monthly software fees while ignoring the processing rate, which is the actual cost.
Buying locked hardware without checking whether it survives a change of provider.
Running a restaurant on a retail till, or the reverse.
Not testing offline mode before the first busy Saturday.
07
Frequently asked questions
6 answers
What is the best point of sale in 2026?
storekit leads our ranking of 12. Built for restaurants and bars: pickup, delivery, QR ordering, pay-at-table and kiosks that sit alongside an existing till such as Toast, Square or Lightspeed rather than replacing it.
The free Starter plan covers pickup and delivery; QR ordering and pay-at-table start on Pro at £199 per location a month. Retail is not the target.
Which point of sale tools publish their pricing?
12 of the 12, with the pricing model each one publishes:
storekit: Free Starter plan; Grow £99, Pro £199 and Enterprise from £995 per location per month, published; flat per-order fee.
SumUp: Per transaction, published; optional monthly plans.
Epos Now: Complete Solution bundle from £299, published, with a 12-month payments, care and support subscription from £54 a month; other bundles quoted.
myPOS: Buy or rent the terminal; per transaction from 1.10% + 7p, published; free account, no monthly fee under £10,000 turnover.
Square: Free plan; Plus $49 and Premium $149 per location per month, published; processing per transaction.
PayPal Point of Sale: Per transaction, 1.75% on cards, published; hardware bought outright; no monthly fee.
Shopify POS: Included with a Shopify plan, per month, published; POS Pro add-on per location; payments extra.
Toast: Starter Kit from $0/month; Point of Sale from $69/month, published; processing extra, rate not listed.
Clover: Published on clover.com per business type, e.g. full-service restaurant from $179 a month over 36 months; card payments from 2.3% + 10 cents; reseller terms vary.
Lightspeed Retail: Per month by plan, published: Basic $89, Core $149, Plus $289, one register included; extra registers, locations and payments extra.
Lightspeed Retail (X-Series): Per month by plan, published as Lightspeed Retail (X-Series): Basic $89, Core $149, Plus $289, one register included; payments extra.
Adyen POS: Per transaction, published as interchange plus a fee.
The other 0 quote per organisation.
Is there a free point of sale tool?
storekit, Square offer a free tier or a free self-hosted edition.
Where are these point of sale vendors established?
In 6 countries across 3 regions: Europe 6, North America 5, Asia-Pacific 1.
storekit: United Kingdom.
SumUp: United Kingdom.
Epos Now: United Kingdom.
myPOS: United Kingdom.
Square: United States.
PayPal Point of Sale: Sweden.
Shopify POS: Canada.
Toast: United States.
Clover: United States.
Lightspeed Retail: Canada.
Lightspeed Retail (X-Series): New Zealand.
Adyen POS: Netherlands.
What should you use instead of storekit?
SumUp and Epos Now are the next two on this page. SumUp is for a mobile or market business that needs a reader that just works; Epos Now is for a UK shop or bar that needs a full till system cheaply.
Who should not buy storekit?
A shop with stock, suppliers and purchase orders. Hospitality only.
If your point of sale product belongs among these 12, tell us what it does and who it is for. Inclusion is an editorial call; what a listing is and is not is set out under software advice.
