Forget about the bulky till – cloud point-of-sale (POS) systems have come to stay. But what is the highest-rated POS software UK has to offer?
There are many newer or smaller POS providers, but still only few that are trusted by industry experts. This POS comparison looks at key differences and features between some major till systems designed for a variety of trades.
We compare POS systems that are considered the best overall. They are all software-as-a-service (SaaS), i.e. you pay a monthly subscription to access it through the cloud. Some of them can be used without internet too, but usually this requires a dedicated server on your premises.
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| Name | TouchBistro | Vend POS | Lightspeed Restaurant, Lightspeed Retail | Square Point of Sale | Epos Now |
| Rating |
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| Website | |||||
| Built for | Restaurants, food-and-drink | Retail | Retail, restaurants, food-and-drink | Retail, hospitality, professional services | Retail, hospitality |
| Pricing* | £49+ per iPad/mo | £49+ per till/mo | £69+ per till/mo | Free | £25+ per till/mo |
| Compatible devices | iPad | iPad, Mac, Windows PC | iPad, Mac, Windows PC | iPad, iPhone, Android tablets & smartphones | iPad, Android tablets, Mac, PC touchscreens |
| Offline mode available? | Yes | Yes | Retail: No Restaurant: Yes |
No | Yes |
| Customer support | 24/7 phone, email & app support – free | 24/7 phone & email support – free | 24/7 phone & email support – free | Weekday phone & email support – free | Setup & limited email support on Standard plan, 24/7 phone & email support on Premium plan |
| Size business | Small-medium | Small-large | Small-large | Small | Small-medium |
| Checkout & payments | |||||
| Payment methods | Payment card, cash, gift card, store credit/on account | Payment card, cash, voucher, gift card, cheque, store credit/on account, layaway | Payment card, cash, cheque, gift card, store credit/on account, quote/layaway | Payment card, cash, voucher, gift card, cheque, invoice, card on account | Payment card, cash, gift card, store credit/on account, layaway, invoice |
| Split bills | Yes, Hospitality plan | ||||
| Tipping | Yes, Hospitality plan | ||||
| Card machine integrations | Barclaycard, Paymentsense, Square | Zettle, SumUp, Square, Paymentsense, Payment Express | Zettle, Verifone, Barclaycard | Square | Barclaycard, Global Payments, Paymentsense, Verifone, Worldpay |
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*Costs not including VAT.
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TouchBistro
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Vend
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Lightspeed
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Square POS
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Epos Now
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4.5/5 rating
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4.5/5 rating
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4/5 rating
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4/5 rating
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4/5 rating
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| Good for | ||||
| Restaurants, food-and-drink | Retail | Retail, restaurants, food-and-drink | Retail, hospitality, professional services | Retail, hospitality |
| Small-medium businesses | Small-large businesses | Small-large businesses | Small businesses | Small-medium businesses |
| Single outlets | Single & multiple stores | Single & multiple stores | Single & multiple stores | Single & multiple stores |
| Pricing* | ||||
| £49+ per iPad/mo | £49+ per till/mo | £69+ per till/mo | Free | £25+ per till/mo |
| Technology | ||||
| iPad | iPad, Mac, Windows PC | iPad, Mac, Windows PC | iPad, iPhone, Android tablets & smartphones | iPad, Android tablets, Mac, PC touchscreens |
| Offline mode | ||||
| Retail: No Restaurant: Yes |
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| Customer support | ||||
| 24/7 phone, email & app – free | 24/7 phone & email – free | 24/7 phone & email – free | Weekday phone & email support – free | Setup & limited email on Standard, 24/7 phone & email on Premium |
| Checkout & payments | ||||
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| Payment methods | ||||
| Payment card, cash, gift card, store credit/on account | Payment card, cash, voucher, gift card, cheque, store credit/on account, layaway | Payment card, cash, cheque, gift card, store credit/on account, quote/layaway | Payment card, cash, voucher, gift card, cheque, invoice, card on account | Payment card, cash, gift card, store credit/on account, layaway, invoice |
| Split bills | ||||
| Yes, Hospitality plan | ||||
| Tipping | ||||
| Yes, Hospitality plan | ||||
| Card machine integrations | ||||
| Barclaycard, Paymentsense, Square | Zettle, SumUp, Square, Paymentsense, Payment Express | Zettle, Verifone, Barclaycard | Square | Barclaycard, Global Payments, Paymentsense, Verifone, Worldpay |
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*Costs not including VAT.
| Inventory management |
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| Categories & variants | |||||
| Stock levels | |||||
| Stock alerts | |||||
| Auto-supply orders | |||||
| Bulk product import | |||||
| Barcode scanning | |||||
| Modifiers (food) | Yes, Restaurant plan | Yes, Hospitality plan | |||
| Ingredient tracking (food) | Yes, Restaurant plan | Yes, Hospitality plan |
| Touch- Bistro |
Vend | Light- speed |
Square | Epos Now |
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| Categories & variants | ||||
| Stock levels | ||||
| Low stock alerts | ||||
| Auto-supply orders | ||||
| Bulk product import | ||||
| Barcode scanning | ||||
| Modifiers (food) | ||||
| Yes, Restaurant plan | Yes, Hospitality plan | |||
| Ingredient tracking (food) | ||||
| Yes, Restaurant plan | Yes, Hospitality plan | |||
| Customer loyalty |
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| Customer profiles | |||||
| Gift cards | Only with add-on | ||||
| Discounts | |||||
| Timed promotions | |||||
| Loyalty points | Only with add-on | Only with add-on | |||
| Email marketing | Only with add-on | Export emails to outside marketing tool | Only with add-on | Export emails to outside marketing tool | Export emails to outside marketing tool |
| Touch- Bistro |
Vend | Light- speed |
Square | Epos Now |
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| Customer profiles | ||||
| Gift cards | ||||
| Only with add-on | ||||
| Discounts | ||||
| Timed promotions | ||||
| Loyalty points | ||||
| Only with add-on | Only with add-on | |||
| Email marketing | ||||
| Only with add-on | Export emails to outside marketing tool | Only with add-on | Export emails to outside marketing tool | Export emails to outside marketing tool |
| Reports & analytics |
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| Daily reports | |||||
| Close/end-of-day report | Yes, but sales and cash drawer reports are separate | ||||
| Export reports | Yes, to CSV file | Yes, to CSV file | Yes, to CSV or PDF file | Yes, to CSV file | Yes, to CSV file |
| Sales analytics | Detailed | Detailed | Detailed | Detailed | Detailed |
| Custom reports | |||||
| Taxes/VAT | |||||
| Accounting integrations | QuickBooks, Sage, Xero | QuickBooks, Xero | Exact, QuickBooks, Sage, Xero | Enterpryze, Exact, Kashoo, KashFlow, QuickBooks, Sage One, Xero, Zoho Books | Sage One, Xero |
| Touch- Bistro |
Vend | Light- speed |
Square | Epos Now |
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| Daily reports | ||||
| Close/end-of-day report | ||||
| Yes, but sales and cash drawer reports are separate | ||||
| Export reports | ||||
| Sales analytics | ||||
| Detailed | Detailed | Detailed | Detailed | Detailed |
| Custom reports | ||||
| Taxes/VAT | ||||
| Accounting integrations | ||||
| QuickBooks, Sage, Xero | QuickBooks, Xero | Exact, QuickBooks, Sage, Xero | Enterpryze, Exact, Kashoo, KashFlow, QuickBooks, Sage One, Xero, Zoho Books | Sage One, Xero |
| Employees & locations |
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| User logins | |||||
| Employee permissions | |||||
| Staff analytics | |||||
| Shift reports | Only with integration | ||||
| Close/open till | |||||
| Multi-location support | |||||
| Stock transfers | |||||
| Location-based analytics |
| Touch- Bistro |
Vend | Light- speed |
Square | Epos Now |
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| User logins | ||||
| Employee permissions | ||||
| Staff analytics | ||||
| Shift reports | ||||
| Only with integration | ||||
| Close/open till | ||||
| Multi-location support | ||||
| Stock transfers | ||||
| Location-based analytics | ||||
More stablished businesses looking for a longterm, custom-built solution with industry-grade touchscreen monitors can get this from Vend and Epos Now, but not the other options above.
Food-and-drink businesses that want a highly intuitive system with great support can go for TouchBistro or Lightspeed Restaurant. Any retailer would be well-served by Vend’s advanced inventory system that is user-friendly, affordable and popular, but Lightspeed Retail comes at a close second.
Square Point of Sale works well for small food-and-drink businesses (it has the perfect combination of features for cafés), small retail shops, mobile businesses and professional services. If features are missing, you have many integration options to expand on business functions.
Small businesses – or mobile merchants with infrequent sales – can also thrive with a general POS app like Zettle Go which is popular in the UK, or another free POS system.
Compare more EPOS software:
Shops: EPOS for retail shops
Restaurants: Hospitality till software UK
Coffee shops: POS systems for cafés
Bars & pubs: POS systems for drinks
iPad tills: POS software for iPad
