Best EPOS Systems in 2025 | UK POS Provider Guide

We’ve tested over 10 EPOS systems, and can confidently say that Square offers the best EPOS system for UK businesses. It’s extremely scalable, with a comprehensive free plan for small and new businesses. Paid plans, from £29 per month, offer more advanced functions for growing businesses. Plus, it’s got a host of add-on tools for marketing, loyalty, and staff management.

That said, for large businesses with complex operations, Square might not be the best choice, since it is missing profit management tools. For ambitious retailers who want to sell both in-store and online, Shopify is a better option, while Clover offers great hardware options for full-service restaurants.

We’ll get into what each top EPOS system is best for in our review, and go over features, strengths, and weaknesses.

The Best UK EPOS Systems: Summary

Before we begin our in-depth reviews, here’s a quick summary of what the best EPOS systems in the UK have to offer:

As you can see, most EPOS providers are quite transparent with their monthly software pricing, but a few, such as Clover, Toast, and Lightspeed, have custom price points for transaction fees. In other words, you won’t know what you’ll be paying until you contact each provider.

1. Square: Best for Scaling and Growing Your Business

Square is the best EPOS system for businesses looking to scale and grow, thanks to its affordable entry point price, and range of EPOS solutions designed to suit businesses of different sizes and industries, from hospitality to services.

What makes Square one of the best EPOS systems?

Small businesses, or those just starting, can benefit from Square’s free EPOS software plan, which comes with multi-site stock and employee management, and menu and table management for hospitality businesses. These features aren’t always included in free EPOS software and are missing from SumUp’s free EPOS software. A functional free EPOS plan like Square’s can give your business a leg up when it’s just starting out, by minimising monthly overheads.

As your business grows, you can upgrade your Square plan (for a monthly fee of £29 to £69) to get access to more advanced features, catered to the type of business you run. For example, Square’s paid plan for retail businesses, which starts at £49 per month, per location, gives you access to more advanced reporting tools, like tracking discount use.

Square’s paid plans have a wide range of additional features, tailored to each business type, and offer good value for money on that front. Processing fees are still slightly high, however, staying at 1.75%.

Square’s wide range of EPOS hardware also makes it easy to scale. Businesses can start out with simple card readers or tablets, such as using Square’s 2nd Generation Stand for simple, integrated contactless and chip payment options via its iPad EPOS app, and move on to tills complete with cash drawers and receipt printers when needed, without having to switch to a new provider.

Square also offers a wide range of marketing a loyalty software, as well as a free online store builder. This makes it a great all-in-one solution for businesses of any size.

Our experience with Square

We found Square generally very easy to use. The backend was quite intuitive, and we had no trouble creating menus or listing items. And we appreciated the search function, which helped us find tools quickly.

We did run into a few annoying glitches, however, such as the table plan not appearing in the backend, and we found the process of cancelling orders and adding staff accounts overly complicated.

When it comes to hardware, we tested the Square Terminal, its portable POS device and card machine. While it was easy to access inventory and process payments from the device, we did have issues with the physical design. The card machine was quite wide, so it wasn’t easy to hold in one hand, making it better suited to countertops than table service.

How could Square improve?

Although Square offers a wide range of features across its three types of EPOS systems, it’s missing a few useful features for large businesses. For example, Square doesn’t offer cost versus profit analysis on any of its plans, and its restaurant EPOS system is missing ingredient usage tracking.

These are useful tools for large restaurants or chains looking to minimise waste, and are offered by competitors Toast and Lightspeed, which are better suited to large establishments.

Square also doesn’t have a training mode for staff, which can slow down onboarding new recruits. That said, Square’s software is quite easy to use, so this isn’t a huge issue, but if a training mode is a must for your business, competitors Clover, SumUp, Toast, and Lightspeed all offer one.

Square’s pricing

Square offers three types of EPOS software, all of which come with a free plan. To access more advanced features, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan, which costs from £69 per month for Square Restaurant, £49 for Square Retail and £29 for Appointments. They all offer tools for specific industries, such as live sales reporting, advanced inventory, and more.

Elsewhere, transaction fees are unusually transparent for an EPOS provider, with a flat 1.75% for card-present (chip and PIN or contactless) payments, going down to 1.6% on certain paid EPOS plans. Square also offers custom retail and restaurant EPOS plans for large businesses, with negotiable monthly and transaction fees.

Overall, Square offers great value for money. Alongside SumUp, it’s one of the few providers to offer free software, and its paid plans are generally cheaper than competitors, with Square’s maximum price of £69 per month still being cheaper than Lightspeed’s starting price of £75 per month.

2. Clover: Best for Professional Hardware

Clover is the best EPOS system for businesses seeking professional hardware that can handle the fast-paced environment of an expanding business. It offers three different countertop terminals, two of which include a customer display, a handheld EPOS device that doubles as a card machine, and a range of accessories.

What makes Clover one of the best EPOS systems?

Clover’s hardware was the best we tested. It was sleek and responsive, and its handheld EPOS device and card machine, the Clover Flex felt lightweight, despite its size.

Among Clover’s other hardware offerings is the Clover Station Pro, which is a countertop kit that comes with an employee and customer-facing screen and a card machine. We found the customer display screen particularly intuitive, which restaurants will find useful when taking orders. It’s got a sleek design and responsive touchscreen, so your staff won’t have trouble with it, and you can customise the display and use it to show off promotional items.

Clover Station Pro also comes with fingerprint recognition, the only terminal we tested to offer this, which means your staff can log in to the EPOS system with just a touch. This saves a lot of time on busy days when employees are alternating between taking payments and serving customers on the shop or restaurant floor.

Clover isn’t just good for hardware; it’s got some great features capable of handling medium to large establishments. Unlike Square, Clover doesn’t offer industry-specific EPOS systems, instead, it offers one system that can adapt to a variety of businesses.

System features include low stock alerts and cost versus profit tracking, as well as advanced analytics that let you break down sales by category, item, or even employees across multiple locations.

Clover also has an extensive app store, which features many native Clover tools, allowing businesses to build the perfect EPOS system. Native Clover tools include employee time clocks, customer loyalty programs, and cash tracking.

Our experience with Clover

Clover has remained consistently easy to use in our testing, despite offering advanced features. We particularly like Clover’s frontend, which is highly intuitive and makes great use of colour to highlight features. The drag-and-drop design of Clover’s table planner is also a nice touch for hospitality businesses.

That said, it wasn’t quite smooth sailing when it came to certain backend features. For example, we had trouble finding where to set up discounts and loyalty programmes, and real-time syncing issues disrupted the overall smoothness of the experience.

When it comes to hardware, we were particularly impressed by how light the Clover Flex, Clover’s handheld POS device/card machine, was. Despite its size, it fits easily in our hand and didn’t feel cumbersome, making it great for table service.

How could Clover improve?

Although Clover doesn’t advertise its pricing for the UK market, if its US pricing is anything to go by, Clover is an expensive option. Its EPOS software will generally cost over £50 per month, while its countertop terminals can cost around £1,000. This means it’s not a good option for small businesses looking to minimise upfront cost, and you can get cheaper, quality hardware from competitors Square and SumUp.

Additionally, Clover, although it has advanced features, is missing automated tip sharing, a useful feature for hospitality businesses. The best option for easy tip sharing is Square.

Clover’s pricing

Clover offers custom pricing in the UK, which varies depending on the type of POS software and hardware (such as card machines, tablets, and tills) your business needs. You’ll pay one monthly subscription fee, which covers the cost of using Clover’s software and renting the equipment.

Transaction fees are not included in the subscription, but they’re negotiable with Clover, with 1.49% per transaction being the starting point for most businesses, although you can negotiate even lower fees. For medium-sized businesses, we believe you can expect transaction fees to be around 1% + £0.10, which is very cheap compared with competitors.

3. Shopify: Best for Omnichannel Retail Businesses

If you’re a retailer looking to manage in-person and online sales, Shopify is the best EPOS system. Starting out as an ecommerce platform, Shopify then branched out into EPOS software, and its unified dashboard for both ecommerce and EPOS makes consolidating sales and data easy.

What makes Shopify one of the best EPOS systems?

Shopify’s unified dashboard that integrates both ecommerce and EPOS functions is one of its key strengths. When listing products, businesses are able to assign them to be sold online, in-store, or both, and stock levels update to reflect both in-person and online sales. This makes it easy to manage inventory across both channels to prevent any discrepancies in sales reports.

Useful Shopify features include the ability to accept in-store returns for online purchases and customer profiles that sync in-person and online purchase history, making it easier to reward customer loyalty. That being said, unlike Square or Clover, Shopify doesn’t have a built-in loyalty programme builder; you need to integrate the system with a third-party app to build one.

That said, when it comes to third-party apps, you’re spoilt for choice with Shopify. It integrates with over 8,000 apps, far more than the 1,300 runner-up Square integrates with. These include loyalty tools, CRM software, and social media integrations.

Shopify also comes with a great help and support network for new users. In the Shopify Help Center, we found answers to an enormous range of questions, as well as tutorials for using the platform, and a forum where you can troubleshoot with other businesses that use Shopify.

Our experience with Shopify

While we found Shopify’s frontend easy to navigate, we had a little more trouble navigating the backend.

What made the frontend easy to use was the intuitive layout of the checkout page, product library, and discount buttons. Plus, the addition of an AI assistant allowed for quick troubleshooting and feature lookup. We also generally liked the sleek and modern appearance of the frontend, which made subtle use of colour to make features stand out.

However, we had more trouble using the backend, mainly due to the sheer volume of features and menus (Shopify’s backend is for managing sales across multiple channels, after all). The abundance of menus and submenus made finding features such as staff accounts and discount settings difficult, leading us to rely on the AI assistant a lot.

How could Shopify improve?

Shopify only offers iPad-based software and doesn’t sell physical countertop terminals, only a tablet stand. This set-up won’t work for all businesses, so if you prefer a more heavy-duty terminal, we recommend Clover.

Like Square, Shopify is also missing a training mode for employees. Given that most staff will only be handling Shopify’s easy-to-use frontend, this might not be an issue, but if it is, all other providers on this page, besides Square, offer a training mode.

Lastly, Shopify’s card processing fees are on the high side, at an average of 1.7% for in-person purchases. You can get lower fees if you pay for an expensive ecommerce plan, but this will increase your monthly costs.

Shopify’s pricing

Shopify offers two EPOS software plans, the £5 per month Starter plan (also called POS Lite), and the £69 per month Retail plan (also called POS Pro). The £5 per month Starter plan, while extremely cheap, isn’t a fully-fledged EPOS software, and is designed for taking payments via social media and Shopify’s tap-to-pay on iPhone app. Its transaction fees are also very high at 5% for in-person purchases.

To get access to full EPOS features, businesses need to be on the £69 Retail plan, while an ecommerce subscription is charged separately, at between £19 and $2,300 USD per month, depending on the plan. On the upside, in-person transaction fees can go down to 1.5% on the most expensive ecommerce plan.

4. SumUp: Most Affordable EPOS System

SumUp’s EPOS software has vastly improved in the past year, earning it a spot on our list for the first time. Like Square, it offers free EPOS software, but has an even lower-priced paid plan and cheaper transaction fees, making it the most affordable option for UK businesses.

What makes SumUp one of the best EPOS systems?

Like Square, SumUp is one of the few providers to offer a free EPOS plan, with paid plans only going up to £49 per month, less than Square charges. Add to this transaction fees of 1.69% (less than Square’s 1.75%), and SumUp is the most affordable option for small businesses.

Unlike Square, SumUp doesn’t offer separate EPOS software for retail and hospitality, but its plans can work for both, with the most expensive plan, the £49 per month POS Pro plan, the most suitable for restaurants, since it comes with table management,  scheduled menu changes, and allergen and item variation management.

Another highlight is that SumUp offers a self-service kiosk, making it a great EPOS system for takeaways. The standing kiosk itself costs just £399, which is quite cheap for such a large piece of equipment, with software costing an additional £59 per month.

SumUp also impressed us by offering easy and free digital gift card creation on its free plan, although, unlike rivals Square and Toast, it doesn’t allow for physical gift card creation. Additionally, SumUp has an impressive £19 per month loyalty programme add-on, which customers can access via the SumUp Pay app.

Add to this the fact that SumUp, like Square, offers a free native ecommerce platform, and it’s an affordable way for both retail and hospitality businesses to boost sales through online channels.

Our experience with SumUp

The frontend of SumUp’s EPOS system is very user-friendly, but the backend remains hard to navigate.

SumUp’s frontend has a simple, clear, and responsive interface, with a minimalist design making finding features such as table management, and order cancellation and editing easy. We especially like the “park order” function, which allowed us to quickly adjust items mid-transaction.

However, the backend consistently frustrated us, since its design was much clunkier, and we ran into a lot of slow loading when trying to access reports, bulk imports, or user settings. The sidebar menu would also often cover up other navigation elements, which made completing tasks difficult.

How could SumUp improve?

SumUp doesn’t have an automatic offline function, which means that if you lose internet access, you won’t be able to keep processing orders. Many competitors offer this function, since it’s a useful backup in a crisis, including Clover, Toast, and Lightspeed.

Additionally, SumUp doesn’t supply handheld EPOS devices, which are useful for restaurants or cafes that do table service, or for shops without a dedicated checkout counter. Most competitors offer this type of device, including Square, Shopify, and Clover.

SumUp’s pricing

SumUp, like Square, is very transparent with its pricing. It offers three EPOS software plans: the free plan, the £19 per month POS Plus plan, and the £49 POS Pro plan.

It’s also very clear about transaction fees, charging 1.69% for in-person purchases, although these fees can be lowered to 0.99% with a £19 per month SumUp One subscription. This is a great value option for businesses with a high annual card turnover.

When it comes to hardware, SumUp offers three card machines, ranging from £34 to £139, although it regularly offers discounts for these. Since SumUp is an app-based EPOS system, it doesn’t sell physical terminals, but you can get an iPad stand for a reasonable £109.

5. Toast: Best for Established Restaurants With Complex Operations

Toast offers a wide array of inventory and profit management tools, as well as some useful customer engagement features, making it a great option for established restaurants with multiple locations and complex operations.

What makes Toast one of the best EPOS systems?

Toast offers one of the best restaurant EPOS systems, capable of handling large, busy establishments. For example, it’s possible to create different menus for different times of day (a feature missing from rival Clover) and create variations of menu items. This is perfect for restaurants with a separate lunch and dinner service, or for those that encourage item customisation.

Operation management features include food and recipe cost management, low-stock alerts, and cost versus profit analysis, allowing growing chains to keep on top of finance and limit waste.

You can also take your restaurant online with online and mobile ordering, Toast’s delivery services and takeout app, and a host of integrations with third-party delivery apps. Most competitors offer similar integrations, but Toast is one of the few providers that lets businesses create their own app.

Toast also has a wide set of built-in customer engagement and loyalty tools, including loyalty programmes that let businesses set spending and create a points system, and gift card creation, which includes both physical and digital cards, something SumUp is missing.

Finally, we were impressed by Toast’s native reservation management tools, which allow businesses not only to accept reservations but to automatically assign seating based on guest count and allow the host to keep track of service progression. Unlike competitors, Toast’s tools are built into the EPOS system, and not integrations.

Our experience with Toast

We found Toast generally easy to use. The back end was particularly intuitive and easy to navigate, and the setup tutorial offered a clear step-by-step guide that helped us find our way around the platform.

The only task we struggled with a little was setting up a discount on an order, which is something we had trouble with on a lot of other EPOS platforms we tested. In this case, we found Toast’s wording a little confusing, since you have to click on an “update” button to find the discount button. Lightspeed and Square both clearly label this option on the checkout screen.

How could Toast improve?

Although Toast offers both countertop terminals and an EPOS app that works on tablets, its app is only compatible with Android tablets. If you already use an iPad-based EPOS software and want to spare yourself the expense of replacing your hardware, we recommend Square or Lightspeed.

Toast is also on the expensive side, with plans starting at £80 per month for a basic package, not including marketing or kitchen display system (KDS) add-ons. Small cafes or new hospitality businesses might prefer a more affordable solution, such as the ones offered by Square and SumUp.

Toast’s pricing

Toast isn’t as forthcoming with its pricing as competitors Square, SumUp, and Shopify. It offers three EPOS software plans: the £80 per month Starter, £150 Essentials, and a custom plan. This makes Toast an expensive option, with its starting price being the second highest on the list, after Lightspeed Restaurant’s £109 per month option.

Toast offers other products and services, including payment processing and a variety of hardware (handheld EPOS device, terminal, customer display, and KDS screen), but it doesn’t specify pricing for any of these.

6. Lightspeed: Best for Fostering Customer Loyalty Across Multiple Stores

Lightspeed is one of the best EPOS systems for driving customer loyalty, thanks to its proprietary marketing tools and loyalty programmes. Its comprehensive inventory management features also make it a good option for businesses with multiple locations.

What makes Lightspeed one of the best EPOS systems?

Lightspeed has two EPOS systems, one for restaurants and one for retail, and both come with a plethora of marketing and loyalty tools. To name a few, they include email and SMS marketing tools, loyalty programmes, automated marketing campaigns, gift card creation, and customer tabs, so you have a history of all previous orders.

These features do cost extra, but they’re built into the system, so you don’t need to rely on third-party integrations. Plus, Lightspeed’s customer loyalty features also include access to an app store (on both Restaurant and Retail plans) that includes tools such as customer birthday mailers.

Both of Lightspeed’s EPOS systems also have a robust set of tools for managing sales and inventory, including cost versus profit breakdowns, and reports offer detailed insights into the performance of each channel or store.

A relatively new Lightspeed Restaurant feature is Lightspeed Pulse, which gives operators real-time data on all the venues they manage. And, on the Lightspeed Retail side, businesses can get access to B2B categorisation, where products uploaded from suppliers are automatically categorised in the Lightspeed Retail EPOS system.

Tools such as these are essential for businesses with multiple locations and are a key feature that’s missing from rival Square.

On the practical side, since Lightspeed’s EPOS software is completely tablet-based, it allows your staff to stay mobile while serving customers. Plus, Lightspeed now offers a handheld EPOS device, Lightspeed Tableside, which is about the size of a smartphone.

Our experience with Lightspeed

Lightspeed remains a slightly difficult-to-use platform, which is the main reason it slipped down in our rankings during our latest round of testing.

We had a lot of difficulty creating a discount, mainly because the process was overly complex, with too many options for offer time limits. Bulk importing products also took a lot of time, and we didn’t like that we weren’t alerted clearly when an import had failed. We also didn’t love that the menu featured a lot of unlabelled icons that required hovering to interpret.

However, it wasn’t all bad. The frontend was much more intuitive than the backend, and we didn’t have much trouble processing payments or creating customer profiles during a sale. We also appreciated the depth and flexibility of features like the loyalty system and product categorisation, particularly for businesses with complex inventories or advanced needs.

How could Lightspeed improve?

Lightspeed only offers a tablet-based EPOS system (Android and iOS) and doesn’t offer countertop terminals, unlike Clover or Square. While this lightweight approach might suit some businesses, others might prefer more hardware options.

It also doesn’t have an automated tip-sharing feature, which isn’t great for hospitality businesses, and is offered by rival Square. Plus, changing the floor plan on Lightspeed Restaurant is a bit of a hassle, since it requires backend access. This means it’s not the best option for establishments that make frequent changes to table placement.

Lightspeed’s pricing

While Lightspeed advertises its EPOS software pricing, transaction fee amounts and hardware costs (card machines, tills, tablets, and terminals) are only available upon request.

However, as the below image shows, Lightspeed does offer a rough guide to transaction fees you can expect in monetary terms.

If we consider these figures, we can estimate transaction fee costs. For instance, the first range of £3,850 to £15,379 produces a transaction fee of £75. This suggests the rate for this income point is between 0.49% and 1.95%.

Meanwhile, for volumes on the other end of the scale (between £192,310 and £230,769), Lightspeed customers can expect between 0.457% and 0.548% transaction fee rates. Compared with Square and Shopify, these potential transaction rates do look more appealing, especially for businesses with higher turnover.

How to Choose an EPOS System

We get it: with so many providers on the market, picking one can feel daunting. To help you out, we’ve listed some of the things you should consider when choosing your EPOS system.

Cost and pricing structure

You know your budget better than we do, and it goes without saying that you shouldn’t choose an EPOS system that you can’t afford. We recommend that you look closely at the pricing structure, and assess what’s included for free, and what comes at an added cost, to get the best deal.

For example, Square charges zero fees for using its EPOS software, but you’ll have to pay upfront for each card machine, till, or other piece of equipment you need. This can really add up if you have multiple stores.

A provider such as Clover, on the other hand, charges a monthly fee for using its software and any equipment you rent. This could work out cheaper if your business has multiple locations.

Don’t forget about card processing fees either. Companies that have cheap or free software tend to charge more expensive transaction fees, so that’s something to be wary of.

EPOS functions and available hardware

Assess your business needs, and choose a provider that meets them closely. Some EPOS systems are designed with certain types of businesses in mind (e.g. pubs and restaurants versus retail stores), which makes locating the right fit easier.

It’s also important to look at the features included in the EPOS software. For example, are you a pub or fast-food establishment that requires QR code ordering? Providers such as Clover and Lightspeed have this, while TouchBistro doesn’t.

You should also look at the physical equipment that’s available to buy or rent from each EPOS system provider. If your staff needs to take orders at tables, for example, a tablet-based EPOS system will be beneficial. If you accept cash as well as card, look for an EPOS provider that has a till setup.

Some EPOS systems are compatible with third-party hardware, but it’s always best to check if your existing equipment, or the equipment you plan on buying, can easily integrate with your chosen EPOS system.

Ease of use

As a rule of thumb, the easier an EPOS system is to use, the better. This will speed up training and service times, and reduce room for error.

This doesn’t mean you need to go with the absolute easiest system to use. If you and your employees are experienced with EPOS systems, you could compromise on ease of use in favour of advanced features.

EPOS systems like Clover and TouchBistro are particularly easy to operate, while Lightspeed has a training mode for new employees.

Customer support

Good customer support shouldn’t be overlooked when it comes to EPOS systems. In an ideal world, you’d never have to contact customer support but, let’s face it, no system is ever perfect.

We’d recommend choosing an EPOS system that has a customer support phone line since calling is usually the fastest way to get an issue resolved. Live chat channels, help centres, and community forums, if the EPOS system has them, can also be great for quick troubleshooting.

Don’t forget to look at customer support opening times. Most EPOS customer support teams operate during the week, but a few are also available at weekends and holidays, which could be really valuable if those are your busiest times.

Our Methodology: How We Test EPOS Systems