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.
AuthorHannah ReiterSenior Analyst, Business Applications
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Full disclosure.
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.
Four things, in this order: how much setup the first ninety days take, what the price becomes
once the modules a normal buyer needs are added, how your data comes back out if you leave,
and who the product is genuinely for. Feature counts are the least useful comparison in
software, because every vendor ticks every box.
We do not publish a score out of ten. A number like 8.4 is a judgement dressed as a
measurement, and nobody can check it. What you can check is on this page: what each product
costs, where the vendor is established, whether the price is published, and what we think it
is bad at. Our full method is on the how we work page.
A UK shop or bar that needs a full till system cheaply
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.
Zettle is the cheapest honest way for a small trader to take cards: one published percentage, no monthly fee, hardware you buy outright rather than lease, and settlement into your own account. There is no contract to escape. What it is not is a store system — inventory, staff management and reporting are minimal, so a shop that needs stock control at the till will outgrow it quickly.
What stands out
No monthly fee
Cheap reader
Transparent rate
Where it costs you
Retail and inventory features are minimal
Not a store system
Right for
A small trader who wants the cheapest honest card acceptance
SumUp reaches more countries than anything else here and the standalone terminal works without a phone, which is why market traders and mobile businesses use it where other readers fail. Pricing is a single published 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
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. 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 StatesPer transaction, published; paid software tiers
Behind the till, Lightspeed is a proper retail system: purchasing, supplier catalogues, matrix inventory and multi-store transfers that speciality retailers genuinely need. That depth is the reason to choose it over Square. The complaints cluster around commercial terms — 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
Priced per register
Right for
A speciality retailer that needs real purchasing and stock
Wrong for
A single stall or pop-up
CanadaPer month per register, published; payments extra
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 omnichannel fulfilment work as advertised. On its own, without the online store, it is an expensive way to buy a till, and in most markets you are tied to Shopify Payments.
What stands out
Unified with online store
Staff permissions
Omnichannel stock
Where it costs you
Expensive on its own without the online store
Locked into Shopify payments in most markets
Right for
A retailer whose online store is already Shopify
Wrong for
A shop with no ecommerce
CanadaPer month by plan, published; payments extra
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 is included. It is US-only in practice, and the hardware and payment processing are bound together, so switching processor means switching everything.
What stands out
Kitchen display
Online ordering
Restaurant reporting
Where it costs you
US-only in practice
Hardware and processing are locked together
Right for
A restaurant that wants everything built for restaurants
Wrong for
Any non-hospitality retailer, or anyone outside the US
United StatesPer month per terminal, quoted; payments extra
Usually arrives through your acquiring bank, which makes it easy to buy and hard to compare. Terms vary by reseller, and terminals are often locked to the processor that sold them.
What stands out
App marketplace
Bank distribution
Range of hardware
Where it costs you
Terms vary by reseller and are hard to compare
Terminals are often locked to the processor
Right for
A business that wants to buy the till through its bank
Wrong for
A buyer who wants to compare rates properly
United StatesPer month by plan, quoted through resellers; payments extra
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 KingdomPer month by plan, published; payments extra
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
6 of the 8 tools here publish what they cost; the other 2 quote per organisation, which means a sales conversation before you can compare anything. If you are buying without a procurement function, start with the ones that publish: Zettle by PayPal, SumUp, Square, Lightspeed Retail, Shopify POS, Epos Now.
02
Work out what the first ninety days cost in time
Licence cost is the number in the contract; setup effort is the number that surprises people. Ask every shortlisted vendor who does the configuration, how long it took the last customer of your size, and what happens if that person leaves halfway.
03
Check the exit before the entry
Ask for an export of your own data in a format you can open, and ask whether it is included or billed as a project. A vendor that hesitates here is telling you what renewal negotiations will feel like in three years.
04
Match the tool to the size you are, not the size you plan to be
Most regret in this category comes from buying for a headcount that never arrived. The entry-level products here are not worse; they are aimed at a different company.
05
Decide how much the jurisdiction matters
3 of these 8 vendors are established in Europe. Where a vendor is established decides which government can compel access to what it holds, which is a different question from where the servers are. For most buyers that is a factor, not a veto.
What goes wrong most often
Shortlisting on a feature matrix. Every vendor ticks every box, so the matrix tells you nothing and costs a week.
Testing with clean data. Import the messy export from the system you are replacing, because that is what the first week will actually look like.
Letting the demo be run by the vendor. Ask for a sandbox and do your own three most common tasks in it, timed.
07
Frequently asked questions
7 answers
What is the best point of sale in 2026?
Zettle by PayPal leads our ranking of 8. The cheapest honest way for a small trader to take cards: one published percentage, hardware you own, no contract. The retail and inventory features stop well short of a real store system.
How did you rank these point of sale tools?
On what separates products after the demo: how much setup the first ninety days take, what the price becomes once the modules a normal buyer needs are added, how your data comes back out, and who the product is genuinely for. Not on feature counts, and not on a score we invented.
Which point of sale tools publish their pricing?
Zettle by PayPal, SumUp, Square, Lightspeed Retail, Shopify POS, Epos Now. The other 2 quote per organisation.
Is there a free point of sale option?
Square offer a free tier or a free self-hosted edition. Read what the free tier excludes before you plan around it.
Which point of sale vendors are European?
Zettle by PayPal, SumUp, Epos Now are established in Europe, 5 elsewhere. Establishment decides whose courts and whose disclosure laws apply, which is a separate question from where the data is hosted.
Do you get paid for these rankings?
Some links on the page are commercial and commercial relationships can affect which products we cover and where they appear. They never change what an entry says, including the criticism. The full arrangement is on our disclosure page.
How often is this point of sale guide updated?
Whenever the facts move: a price change, an acquisition, a product that stops being maintained. The published and updated dates at the top of the page are real, and a review means someone went back to the vendor documentation rather than bumping a date.
Not on this list, or listed and unhappy with what it says? A factual correction is free and
applied whoever asks for it. If you want the product taken apart properly, we do
commissioned analysis — you see it before it is
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