The Best Restaurant EPOS Systems

We’ve researched and tested the 10 best EPOS systems and found that Square offers the best hospitality EPOS system for UK restaurants. It offers a functional free plan ideal for new ventures, along with more advanced paid plans that can support growing chains, all at a price lower than most competitor systems.

Square won’t be the perfect fit for all restaurants, and established, large sit-down establishments will fare better with Clover or Toast, since they offer tools for managing expenses and limiting wastage, like cost versus profit and ingredient tracking.

If you’re unsure which system is the best fit for your eatery, you can use our free quote tool to get custom quotes straight from the providers that can best meet your needs.

1. Square: Best for Scaling and Growing Your Restaurant

Square is the best EPOS system for scaling up your restaurant business. Its app-based software has a starting price of £0 per month, making it a good entry point for budding restaurateurs.

At the same time, the advanced features of its paid plans (starting at £69 per month), and its wide range of hardware make Square equally suitable for small chains.

What restaurant EPOS features does Square have to offer?

Square is highly scalable thanks to its highly functional free EPOS software, which is capable of supporting new restaurants. It includes features such as bill splitting by amount, items or percentage, and has a native kitchen display system (KDS) that you can customise and view reports on. This last one costs £15 per month, per device, but is still available to use on the free plan.

On Square’s free EPOS plan, you can also create an online ordering website for free and accept payments through it. This is great for establishments looking to increase their sales, allowing them to serve more customers than their restaurant seats.

Square’s paid plans, the £69 per month Plus plan and the custom Premium plan, will give you access to more advanced features. These include floor plan customisation, advanced staff management tools and the ability to reopen closed bills to make amendments. These are useful tools for larger restaurants with a complex seating chart that serve big parties.

You’ll also get access to in-depth reporting tools, such as live sales tracking, and reports divided up by section (bar, dining room and so on) or time of day (for example, lunch versus dinner service). These aren’t available on Square’s free plan, and are crucial for pinning down what works best for your restaurant and capitalising on it.

Our experience testing Square

We found Square generally very easy to use. The backend was quite intuitive, and we had no trouble creating menus or listing items. We also 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 EPOS 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.

What is Square’s restaurant hardware like?

Square’s EPOS system works with Square’s countertop register and is also app-based and compatible with both Apple and iOS tablets, although these are not provided by Square.

The equipment Square does provide is sleek and modern-looking, which is a plus if aesthetics are important to your business. Available hardware includes:

• Register (£599 + VAT): A tablet stand, and customer-facing touchscreen terminal, and a built-in card reader
• iPad stand (£99 + VAT): Doubles as a contactless and chip and PIN card reader, and the 2nd generation model has a swivel stand to allow for customer-facing transactions
• Card reader (£19 + VAT): A compact reader that can accept contactless, chip and PIN, and mobile payments
• Terminal/portable EPOS device (£149-£169): Portable card machines with a touchscreen from which you can access Square’s EPOS software
• KDS (£15/month): With a 21.5-inch touchscreen

Also available through Square are a variety of cash drawers, receipt printers, accessories, and replacement parts.

Are there any downsides to Square?

Square’s inventory management tools might not be advanced enough to meet the needs of large restaurant chains or those with complex inventories. It doesn’t come with ingredient tracking or cost versus profit management, for instance. If those are the tools you need, Toast or Lightspeed Restaurant are better options.

Square also doesn’t have a training mode for staff, which can slow down onboarding new staff. 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 Restaurant all offer one.

2. Clover: Best For Professional Restaurant Hardware

Clover is the best EPOS system for professional restaurant hardware. Its collection ranges from countertop solutions complete with screens (no need to purchase your tablets separately), to handheld devices that sync with the main EPOS system, and allow you access to all features, from order management to reporting.

What restaurant EPOS features does Clover have to offer?

Clover has some of the best restaurant hardware on the market, and its handheld EPOS device, the Clover Flex, is a great option for restaurants that do table service. It’s light and easy to hold, making it a user-friendly tool for table staff.

The provider also has great terminals for counter-service restaurants. We particularly liked Clover’s customer display screens when we tested them – they’re bright and very reactive to touch, making it easy for customers to use them. Another standout is Clover’s fingerprint login function, making it quicker for staff to access the interface and serve customers.

When it comes to software, Clover’s EPOS system allows you to create custom table plans that perfectly match your restaurant’s layout, create customised orders for guests and even transfer orders from one table to another if customers switch seats. This is great for busy restaurants where customers might get drinks at the bar before being seated, or ones that need to adapt to large parties.

You’ll also be able to see the status of each table in real-time, track and transfer bar tabs, send orders straight to the kitchen, split bills, manage staff, take bookings and track your sales.

We will say, however, that Clover’s KDS system is a little lacking. It does provide the hardware, but the software is through a third-party app, and it doesn’t provide kitchen reports. Alternatives that do include Toast and Lightspeed.

Speaking of integrations, there’s also a Clover app store, where you can find a variety of marketing and reporting tools to integrate into your POS system, allowing you to fill in the gaps in Clover’s tool kit.

Our experience testing 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 EPOS device/card machine, was. Despite its size, it fit easily in our hand and didn’t feel awkward to hold, making it great for table service.

What is Clover’s restaurant hardware like?

Clover has three main pieces of EPOS hardware: a complete countertop system, a tablet, and a handheld device. All have a sleek design, responsive screens, and fingerprint login for quick access.

Here are the options:

• Clover Station Pro*: The most heavy-duty piece of equipment. It’s a countertop station complete with a staff screen on a built-in stand, a customer-facing terminal (complete with screen) and a receipt printer. It’s best suited to large, busy restaurants
• Clover Mini: A small tablet with a short, built-in stand that doubles as a card terminal. It’s best for mid-sized restaurants
• Clover Flex: A handheld device that connects to both Wifi and 4G, it doubles as a card machine and EPOS interface. It has a built-in receipt printer, which connects with larger Clover devices via the cloud, making it a great option for table service

Clover also offers a range of restaurant accessories, such as stands and wall mounts, scales, kitchen printers, and employee login cards. It offers the widest range of equipment of any provider we researched and tested, helping to earn it the top spot for EPOS hardware.

*Clover doesn’t publicly advertise the cost of its hardware. For pricing, request a quote from Clover.

3. Toast: Best For Established Restaurants With Complex Operations

Toast offers a large array of inventory and profit management tools, as well as some excellent customer engagement features, such as loyalty programmes. It is most suited to well-established restaurants that have multiple locations and require robust management tools.

What restaurant EPOS features does Toast have to offer?

Toast allows you to create different menus for different times of day (a feature missing from rival Clover) and create menu item variations. This will make catering to fussy customers easy, and ensure your staff don’t mix up items from different menus.

The Toast platform also shines when it comes to its add-on features, although unfortunately, most of these come at an extra cost (not specified by Toast). Features you can add to your Toast POS system include in-depth inventory management, which includes food and recipe cost management, as well as low-stock alerts.

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. These are essential features for casual dining restaurants looking to increase sales by reaching a larger number of customers.

Other useful add-ons include customer engagement tools, like loyalty program building (set spending and create a points system), email marketing, and gift card creation, including physical gift cards, a feature SumUp is missing.

We were also 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 testing Toast

Toast is easy to use. We found the backend 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.

Another aspect we like is that Toast’s customer service line is open 24/7, 365 days a year (that’s right, even on bank holidays) – this includes a phone line and a web messaging service.

What is Toast’s restaurant hardware like?

Most of Toast’s hardware is matte black, creating a discreet, unflashy look.

The core pieces of restaurant POS equipment available through Toast are:

• Flex Terminal*: A terminal with a 14-inch touchscreen that can accept all payment types, thanks to its built-in card reader.
• Flex Terminal + Guest display: A 14-inch terminal with an 8-inch touchscreen customer-facing display, that can either be attached to the terminal or mounted separately.
• Toast Go 2: A handheld POS system that’s waterproof and lets you take tableside orders.
• KDS: A 22-inch touchscreen that can be mounted on the wall, can withstand high temperatures and can aggregate orders from multiple channels.

Toast also has EPOS accessories, such as receipt and kitchen printers, scales, and cash drawers.

We tested the Toast Flex, Toast’s countertop terminal, and overall, it was a good experience. The screen is bright and responsive, and at a good height for countertop use.

*Toast doesn’t publicly advertise the cost of its hardware. For pricing, request a quote from Toast.

Are there any downsides to Toast?

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 iPad-based EPOS software and want to spare yourself the expense of replacing your hardware, we recommend Square or Lightspeed.

Another aspect we don’t love is that a lot of Toast’s marketing and advanced profit and inventory management tools come as add-ons, meaning you’ll have to pay extra for them. How much exactly isn’t something Toast advertises, which does raise some eyebrows. This isn’t the case for most rivals, including Lightspeed and Clover.

4. SumUp: Best For Small Restaurants Seeking Efficiency

SumUp’s EPOS software has improved a lot in the past year, earning it a spot on this list for the first time. Like Square, it offers free EPOS software and cheap hardware. Combine this with its easy-to-use interface, and SumUp is a great option for small businesses looking for an efficient system.

What restaurant EPOS features does SumUp have to offer?

SumUp’s free EPOS software plan is a great option for small counter-service restaurants looking for an easy-to-use EPOS system, but it might be too basic for some restaurants since it doesn’t include table plan management or loyalty tools (those are reserved for SumUp’s paid plans).

Upgrading to SumUp’s cheapest paid plan, the £19 per month POS Plus, gives you access to more tools for managing orders, such as floorplan management and employee PIN logins. The most expensive plan, the £49 per month POS Pro, features easy and free digital gift card creation and a loyalty programme, included at no extra cost, unlike with Square or Lightspeed.

With this SumUp plan, you can also enable item modifiers and add allergen warnings to all menu items, which will appear in your backend, as well as on menus displayed on kiosks or online. This can make your eatery more accessible to people with dietary restrictions and increase the likelihood that they’ll order from you.

Another highlight is that SumUp offers a self-service kiosk, making it a great EPOS system for a takeout restaurant. Unlike Square, which only offers an iPad-based kiosk, SumUp offers a large standing kiosk, the kind you’d see in large fast food chains.

Our experience testing SumUp

The frontend of SumUp’s EPOS system is very user-friendly, allowing for speedy service, 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

What is SumUp’s restaurant hardware like?

SumUp doesn’t offer a massive range of hardware, unlike Square, but the hardware it does offer is sleek, lightweight and professional-looking. Here’s what’s available:

• Card readers (£25-£169 + VAT): Compact card readers, ranging from PIN pad to touchscreen designs with built-in printers.
• SumUp POS Stand (£109 + VAT): A professional-looking iPad stand.
• Kiosk (£399 + VAT): Large touchscreen device on a stand.

Receipt printers and cash drawers are also available as accessories.

Are there any downsides to SumUp?

We don’t recommend SumUp to large establishments, since it’s missing a few growth-oriented tools, such a built-in reservation and email marketing features, offered by rival Toast.

SumUp also 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 Lightspeed Restaurant.

Finally, SumUp doesn’t offer physical gift card creation, only digital, unlike most of its competitors, including Square, Toast, and Clover.

5. Lightspeed Restaurant: Best for Driving Customer Loyalty

Lightspeed Restaurant is the best EPOS system for restaurants looking to drive customer loyalty, thanks to its range of integrated marketing features and loyalty programs, all of which can entice customers to return.

What restaurant EPOS features does Lightspeed have to offer?

Lightspeed Restaurant gives you access to email and SMS marketing, loyalty programs, and automated marketing, all of which can entice customers to return. It’s got far more built-in loyalty and marketing features than rival Clover.

There’s also an optional Order Anywhere feature, which allows you to give your customers more ways to order, such as online or via a QR code. These tools can help create a loyal customer base and contribute to growth.

On top of its marketing and loyalty tools, Lightspeed Restaurant also has a robust array of restaurant management features. You’re able to customise your floor plan, menu, and displays, which is especially useful for customer-facing screens and KDSs.

Other top features include ingredient usage tracking, cost versus profit breakdowns for menu items, and automated resupply orders. These features are missing from Square’s offering and are part of what makes Lightspeed Restaurant more suitable for large restaurants.

Lightspeed’s EPOS system also has an automatic offline function, unlike SumUp, which means it’ll log data even if you get disconnected from the Wi-Fi and sync everything automatically when the connection returns.

Our experience testing Lightspeed Restaurant

Lightspeed Restaurant 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.

What is Lightspeed’s restaurant hardware like?

Lightspeed’s EPOS software is completely app-based and only operates on iOS tablets, which aren’t available to purchase from Lightspeed.

The KDS and customer display screens are also app-based, and Lightspeed doesn’t offer dedicated hardware for these. This means you’ll need to buy additional tablets, which can really drive up costs if you need to buy tablets for multiple locations.

A lot of restaurants prefer these types of systems because they offer mobility to staff, but if you want dedicated KDS of customer display hardware, you can get them through providers like Clover, Square, or Epos Now.

When it comes to accessories, here’s what Lightspeed can provide your restaurant with:

• iPad stand*: A black, Lightspeed-branded stand for the counter
• Cash drawer: Available in sizes large or small, and connects to the iPad stand
• Receipt printers: A variety of Epson models are available, although the design is slightly clunky
• Card machines: Three mobile Verifone models (Verifone e285, Verifone P400, Verifone V400m), including one with a built-in receipt printer, and a Mobile Tap card reader attachment for iPads and iPhones.

*Lightspeed doesn’t publicly advertise the cost of its hardware. For pricing, request a quote from Lightspeed.

Are there any downsides to Lightspeed Restaurant?

One major downside to Lightspeed is that it doesn’t provide you with the tablets (it only works with Apple iOS) that its system runs on. Buying them separately, if you don’t already have them, can get expensive very quickly. If you want a provider that bundles software and hardware into one payment, Epos Now is your best bet.

We were also a little disappointed in Lightspeed’s team management tools, however, since it doesn’t have a function for sharing tips between employees. If that’s your restaurant’s policy, you might want to go with a system that enables this, like Square.

6. Epos Now: Best for Managing Complex Inventories

Epos Now is the best EPOS system for restaurants that need to manage complex inventories. That’s because Epos Now’s software comes with advanced stock management features, such as stock alerts, bulk inventory uploads, and cost vs. profit analysis.

What restaurant EPOS features does Epos Now have to offer?

Epos Now’s system lets you track ingredients and automate restock orders, and is capable of tracking activity across multiple locations. Tools like these can help your restaurant cut down on waste and identify profitable menu items, increasing your profits in the long run.

When it comes to more essential restaurant features, Epos Now lets you customise and change table plans, so there’s no disconnect between what your staff see on screen and what they see in reality. The KDS syncs quickly with the EPOS system, so that last-minute order changes don’t get overlooked.

Quite uniquely, Epos Now takes a hybrid approach when it comes to how its software is accessed. It can be used on a traditional EPOS terminal, and also accessed via an app on an iPad or Android tablet, or even via desktop, giving restaurant owners a lot of flexibility as to when and where they can use their system.

Our experience testing Epos Now

Epos Now isn’t the easiest system to use, mainly because the more advanced a system’s features are, the less intuitive it tends to be. One example is when we tried to set up price scheduling, so prices would change depending on the time of service. It was difficult to find these functions since there were so many tabs and buttons to sift through. We had a much easier time finding this on Square.

During testing, we found that the front end was slightly easier to use than the back end, although we had no issue with basic tasks such as creating floor plans and assigning ingredients to menu items facilitated stock tracking. However, sifting through all the reporting and tracking options was a little overwhelming.

Since Epos Now can be tricky, and it doesn’t have a training mode, it’s not a system we’d recommend to restaurants that have inexperienced teams. For a more beginner-friendly option, we’d recommend TouchBistro or Clover.

What is Epos Now’s restaurant hardware like?

Epos Now’s basic restaurant hardware package includes a 15.6-inch HD touchscreen, a large customer display, a built-in receipt printer, a card machine, and a metal cash drawer for £249 at the time of writing (Epos Now frequently changes its pricing).

Epos Now’s hardware and software can be purchased as part of a package, with the company giving you the choice between one upfront payment or monthly payments for most items.

Other available hardware includes:

• Card machines (from £15/month): Three different mobile card machines, including one with EPOS software
• Receipt printers (from £129.99): Three different printers, including one that syncs orders with the kitchen or bar
• KDS (£19-£49/month): one model, a large, black touchscreen monitor

There are a few other accessories available, including employee swipe cards (for fast sign-in) and kitchen scales.

The terminal itself is quite large, and the screen sits quite high up from the counter. This meant that it wasn’t the easiest touchscreen to type on when we tested it, compared to, say, Clover or Square’s terminals. It’s definitely not suited to cramped counters.

If that’s you, the tablet package is a better option. You’ll get a tablet (iPad or Android), with a rotating stand, a receipt printer, and a card machine. The cost of a tablet-based system starts at £149.

Are there any downsides to Epos Now?

As we’ve noted above, Epos Now isn’t the easiest EPOS system to use,  so we don’t recommend it to novice users, or restaurants that frequently need to train new staff. A better option is TouchBistro, the easiest system we tested, or Lightspeed, which has a training mode.

Epos Now’s pricing model is also a little atypical since it requires you to pay a lump sum upfront for both software and hardware, while still charging monthly subscription fees. This and the fact that Epos Now constantly changes its pricing means that it can be hard to know exactly how much you’ll pay. For fully transparent pricing, we recommend Square.

Buying Guide: How to Choose a Restaurant POS System

When choosing a restaurant POS system, you should first define your specific needs, which will vary depending on the size of your restaurant, how you serve your food (for example, counter ordering, table service, or QR code), and the number of locations you have.

Here’s what to consider when evaluating your choices:

Pricing

Consider upfront costs and monthly fees, as well as what’s included in them. Is it both software and hardware, or one and not the other? Make sure to include the added cost of integration, training, and transaction fees in your budgeting.

Realistically plan for any projected growth as well. Choosing a system that can accommodate your expected future needs will prevent you from having to switch systems later down the line.

Software

Make a list of must-have and nice-to-have features based on your restaurant’s operations to get a clear picture of what kind of system you genuinely need.

These could include:

• Inventory management: To help you keep on top of your ingredients and prevent you from running out of something unexpectedly
• Reservation management: To help you book out tables in advance and gather customer data
• Staff management: So you can reward your best employees and identify those that need further training
• Online ordering functionality: So you can offer your food to takeaway customers or accept online pre-orders
• Analytics: So you can learn which meals are most popular, which staff members are processing the most transactions, and more
• Customer loyalty programs: So you can offer benefits that entice customers back to your restaurant as repeat visitors

It’s worth being aware that if you prioritise features that help automate your workflows and prevent manual work, you may be able to reduce your labour costs.

Hardware

Think about the important pieces of hardware that your business needs, and how many of them you need – from POS terminals and card machines to receipt printers, kitchen printers, and cash drawers.

Not all providers automatically provide you with card machines, for example. They’re sometimes replaced with a tablet or terminal that can take payments. However, if you need your staff to do table service, you’ll need an EPOS provider that can supply you with mobile card readers.

If you have existing hardware, and want to save yourself having to buy everything new, find an EPOS system that’s compatible with your existing equipment. Most EPOS providers appreciate that you might be switching to them from another supplier, and that you won’t necessarily want a complete overhaul of all your hardware.

Add-ons and integrations

You should also pay attention to the software that your chosen EPOS system can integrate with.

If you already use software, such as accounting software, make sure the EPOS system you choose has a ready-made integration for it, as this will help you streamline operations.

It’s also a good idea to check what other add-ons or apps are available via an EPOS system. Some providers offer advanced marketing or reporting features as add-ons, usually for an extra fee – but if these seem particularly valuable to your business, they could be worth the extra spend.

Customer support

Make sure you check how available the EPOS provider’s customer support team is, and how easily reachable they are.

An EPOS provider should have a customer support phone line that’s open on weekdays, at the very least. Live chat support and community forums you can go to in a pinch are a welcome addition.

You should also check the training resources, onboarding support, and post-implementation support terms provided by the EPOS provider to ensure your team will get the support they need to learn the new system.

How Much Do Restaurant EPOS Systems Cost?

When budgeting for an EPOS system for your pub or restaurant, there are a few categories to consider.

Monthly software fees and upfront payments

EPOS system providers typically charge a monthly fee for their software, although there are a few that charge a one-off upfront payment, which usually includes the cost of hardware as well.

You should expect to pay between £60-£300 per month to use EPOS software depending on your needs, and this fee usually also covers the cost of renting basic hardware. Some providers, like Square, offer their software for no cost, but you’ll buy their hardware upfront.

Hardware costs

EPOS system hardware can either be bought for an upfront, one-time cost, or paid monthly as part of one ongoing fee that covers software and hardware.

Upfront fees for card machines range from £15 to £150, while terminals can cost up to £400. Monthly fees for renting hardware are usually combined with the cost of the software.

Transaction fees

Transaction fees are a separate charge from the monthly software and hardware fees you pay. They can range from 0.2% to 1.8% per transaction, depending on your provider.

Some EPOS providers are also payment service providers, which means you can negotiate transaction fees with them. Typically, the higher your transaction volume is, the lower the fees will be – if they operate on negotiable fees.

An EPOS system such as Square, on the other hand, has fixed-rate fees, which means you pay the same rate, no matter how many orders you take.

You also have the option of going with a different company to your EPOS provider for payment processing, in which case they, and not your EPOS provider, will determine your fees.

Our Methodology: How We Test Restaurant POS Systems