The best hospitality POS systems

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Square is our pick for the best hospitality point-of-sale (POS) system in 2025. It’s fast, easy for staff to learn, and includes hardware that works well in bars, restaurants, cafés, coffee shops, and hotels.

We reached this conclusion during our May 2025 research, where we tested 11 POS platforms across 37 criteria, including pricing, stock tools, staff features, and overall usability. Square performed consistently well, making it a strong fit for fast-paced hospitality teams.

Of course, different businesses need different tools. For example, bar POS systems won’t always meet the same needs as the best POS systems for restaurants. Likewise, cafés or hotels often need their own set of features in a POS solution.

That’s why we’ve compared the top eight hospitality POS systems of 2025 and outlined what each one does best — so you can quickly see which system is the right fit for your business.

The best hospitality POS systems: quick comparison

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		Best for	Pricing from	Key benefits
SPONSORED	BEST OVERALL
Epos Now	Square	Clover	SumUp	Toast	Lightspeed	takepayments	TouchBistro
Best for hotels	Best overall POS system for hospitality businesses	Best for nightclubs and bars	Best for coffee shops, bakeries, and takeaways	Best for established restaurants with complex operations	Best for multi-location restaurant chains	Best for quick service fast food restaurants	Best for full-service and fine dining restaurants
Hardware: From £225 Monthly subscriptions: From £25 per month	Free plan	£1 per month (on an 18-month contract)	Free plan	£80 per month	£69 per month	Quote-based	$69 per month
Inventory tracking 24/7 support Easily connect to delivery apps	Excellent help and support options Free plan Automatically share tips between your employees based on working hours	Exceptional POS hardware and accessories Fingerprint login on the Clover Terminal   Lots of tools to boost the efficiency of your staff	Great range of hardware and accessories Inventory management tools with stock alerts and cost management Mobile and QR code ordering	Customer engagement tools to build loyalty programmes Strong inventory management, including stock alerts Built-in reservation tools	Watch a demo before you buy Grows with your business Customisable floor plans Customer loyalty features	Realtime reporting Easy inventory management Dedicated account manager	Staff management software Strong floor planning tools In-depth reporting features
Get Quotes	Visit Square	Get Quotes	Get Quotes	Get Quotes	Try Lightspeed	Get Quotes	Get Quotes

We last updated this article on 02/01/2026

As of this date, all pricing and provider information in this guide is accurate. However, the payment processing industry moves fast, so we recommend confirming prices directly with the POS provider before making a buying decision.

How did we test hospitality POS systems?

We are impartial and rigorous — we regularly re-evaluate POS systems to give you the most helpful recommendations for your business.

In May 2025, our Senior Research Executive led a new analysis of the top 11 POS systems for hospitality in the UK. This was conducted at our Startups offices in London, and included hours of hands-on user testing by our Reviews Writer and other specialists.

We tested the hardware, front end, and back end of the POS systems using a framework (developed by our Head of Research) that reflects the pain points and needs of hospitality business owners.

Then, we evaluated the POS systems against six scoring categories (weighted by their importance to hospitality entrepreneurs):

• Usability (30%): Ease of using a system, based on how straightforward navigation is and how often our testers made errors.
• Software (25%): Crucial features of hospitality POS software, including table/floor management, reservation options, and customer engagement capabilities.
• Pricing (20%): Upfront costs, monthly costs, and transaction fees.
• Help and support (15%): Types of customer support available, and the responsiveness and accuracy of the answers.
• Hardware (5%): POS terminals available, their display quality and portability, and any accessories.
• Reputation (5%): User reviews, online comments, and how likely our testers would be to recommend the platform.

1. Square: best hospitality POS system overall

Square

4.8

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• Starting software price: Free plan
• Transaction fees from: From 1.75%

• Great range of POS hardware, plus a mobile app
• Excellent mobile ordering features
• Easy menu creation

Summary Square is headed up by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. It currently serves four million clients, making it a leading POS system in the US market, and is specifically designed for small-to-medium-sized businesses.

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Why is Square the best hospitality POS system?

Square is our top choice for a POS hospitality system because it’s easy to use, offers industry-specific features (such as mobile ordering and menu creation), and is an affordable option for smaller businesses.

The Square Point of Sale app is available for customers on a free plan and provides all the tools you need to manage payments, online orders, and deliveries.

What’s also great is that you can combine the free plan with any hardware, which Square has a wide range of. For instance, Square Register is an integrated POS till system with a touchscreen that handles both payments and restaurant management.

Free plan users can also access the Square App Marketplace, which offers a range of useful third-party integrations to help you run your business. These include the accounting app Xero, OpenTable for reservations, and Deliverect to connect food delivery apps.

When we tested it, we really appreciated how simple and user-friendly Square’s POS software is. Source: Startups.co.uk

Additionally, since our last round of testing in 2024, Square has made some pretty impressive improvements to its interface. The upgrades have resulted in a sleek, fast, and modern user experience. Plus, Square offers excellent, responsive customer support.

We also ranked Square as the best iPad-based POS system. It’s particularly convenient if you already own an iPad and are willing to use it for your POS needs, as you can save on hardware costs.

This is how your order screen will look when using Square POS. Source: Startups.co.uk

What could be improved?

An ingredient-tracking feature would improve the software, as we found this very helpful when testing Clover (learn more below).

We would also have liked a dedicated training mode to help novice users get up to speed, but Square makes up for this with an exceptional range of help and support channels.

How much does Square cost?

A big benefit of Square is its transparency around pricing. While other platforms can be coy about costs, Square is upfront about its software plans and transaction fees, so you know what you’re in for.

Its in-person transaction fee of 1.75% is in line with the industry average, and the Plus plan is priced similarly to other restaurant-specific POS packages. Meanwhile, the free plan is perfect for those just starting out.

What our researchers think

I’m a huge fan of the Square interface. When we tested it on the an iPad, I found it really easy to navigate as everything was clearly labelled and the interface was really modern and clean looking, which made it even easier to find all the functions I needed.

Ollie Simpson Senior Research Executive

2. Clover: best for nightclubs and bars

Clover

4.4

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• Starting software price: Currently from £9.99 per month
• Transaction fees from: 1.49%

• Highly customisable customer display
• Exceptional POS hardware and accessories
• Speedy fingerprint login on the Clover Terminal

Summary Clover is based in California and, as of 2020, processes $133bn in card transactions annually. It’s owned by Fiserv, the world’s largest merchant acquirer.

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Why is Clover a top hospitality POS?

We’ve always been fans of Clover’s top-of-the-range countertop terminals, and our latest tests have only cemented that opinion.

Clover offers a range of hardware and accessories, which are perfect for bars and nightclubs managing the chaos of happy hour. For instance, the Clover Station Duo has a fully customisable customer display screen, plus another monitor for you. For a simpler solution, the Clover Mini is a smaller touchscreen device designed to sit on the countertop.

The touchscreens on Clover’s hardware are highly responsive and allow fast access via fingerprint login. In a busy nightclub or bar environment, this could save your staff precious time.

The speedy fingerprint scanner, which can be seen on the top right of the POS terminal, is definitely a standout feature. Source: Startups.co.uk

Clover’s software is feature-rich, including essential tools like profit tracking and stock alerts – handy for monitoring your inventory of beer kegs, bottles, and more.

Its huge library of apps should also have you covered for any specific tools that aren’t already built in

Read more: The best POS systems for pubs and bars

Clover has an extensive app store. Source: Startups.co.uk

What could be improved?

While established bars and nightclubs will find the first-class terminals and feature-packed software invaluable, smaller pop-up bars might find the system to be overkill for their needs.

If you’re just getting started, we recommend our number-one choice: Square.

We’d also have liked to see Clover include an automated tip-sharing option, as both Square and Toast do in their POS systems.

How much does Clover cost?

	Pricing
Software	From £9.99 per month (includes device rental)
Hardware	Clover Mini: From £450 upfront (costs vary) Clover Flex: From £450 upfront (costs vary) Clover Station Duo: From £1,300 upfront (costs vary)
Transaction fees	From 1.49%
Free trial?	No

While Clover’s POS software is pretty affordable, its terminals are very expensive. If you need a more affordable countertop terminal, consider SumUp (which we review below) instead.

What our researchers think

The Clover hardware was the most modern and sleek for me, out of all the POS systems we tested, I’d liken it to Apple in the way it looks with glossy white colours. Using the system was really simple too, it’s laid out with icons and looks similar to an iPad, so there’s no issues with learning to use it – plus the finger print recognition was so useful and meant I could log in quicker than any other system we tested.

Ollie Simpson Senior Research Executive

3. SumUp: best for coffee shops, bakeries, and takeaways

SumUp

4.2

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• Starting software price: Free
• Transaction fees from: 0.99%

• Superb range of hardware and accessories
• Mobile and QR code ordering
• Inventory management tools with stock alerts and cost management

Summary In 2020, London-based payment service provider SumUp acquired GoodTill, an iPad-based POS software provider.

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Why is SumUp a top hospitality POS?

SumUp lets you seamlessly connect with Uber Eats and Deliveroo, making it a great choice for takeaway businesses. It’s also a good fit for smaller companies, like cafés and bakeries, looking for a simple solution. The software is straightforward to use, so you can get up to speed quickly and take payments efficiently.

We were especially impressed by SumUp’s sleek, lightweight POS Lite terminal, which feels like a truly professional piece of kit despite its affordable price.

You can get started with SumUp by downloading the free app. Source: Startups.co.uk

Another bonus? You can build a website through SumUp and enable your customers to place orders via mobile or QR code. SumUp lets you do everything from an iPad and the free app, which is great for keeping operations simple and costs low.

This is how your payment screen will look when using SumUp POS. Source: Startups.co.uk

What could be improved?

Despite some improvements to SumUp’s front end since 2024, we still ran into issues syncing the front and back ends and faced slow loading times.

While smaller businesses will appreciate SumUp’s simplicity, if you’re running a large restaurant, Lightspeed will be a better option due to its more advanced features.

Read more: The best takeaway POS systems for small businesses

How much does SumUp cost?

With SumUp’s Pay-as-You-Go plan, you can get started for no monthly costs, just the transaction fees (which are pretty reasonable.

If you want to scale up, you can pay for SumUp’s Point of Sale Pro plan, which includes features like the ability to send an order straight to your kitchen printer.

What our researchers think

I really liked how easily you could set up QR code ordering and customise it to your business, which is great for serving customers more efficiently. On the back-office side they have really great inventory management and analytical tools which make it a breeze when tracking your stock.

Ollie Simpson Senior Research Executive

4. Toast: best for established restaurants with complex operations

Toast

4.1

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• Starting software price: £80 per month
• Transaction fees from: Quote-based

• Excellent inventory management tools
• Reservation tools built into the POS package
• Includes customer engagement tools that let you create a points system

Summary Toast, Inc. is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, with its POS system purpose built for the food and beverage industry. Toast's POS operates on Android and is currently used by 140,000 restaurant locations.

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Why is Toast a top hospitality POS?

Toast’s POS system is designed for the hospitality industry and offers features for businesses of all types and sizes, from full-service restaurants to small pizzerias. Its advanced tools also make it perfect for managing complex or multifaceted hospitality operations (think a hotel that needs to run an in-house restaurant and bar simultaneously).

Some of Toast’s most useful features include customer engagement programmes, automatic tip sharing, and reservation tools. Its inventory management tools are particularly useful, helping you stay on top of a complex inventory of wines, spirits, and food items. Best of all, there’s no need to integrate third-party software to get these capabilities!

Toast comes with built-in customer engagement tools so you can build your own loyalty programmes. Source: Startups.co.uk

Despite Toast being an advanced system, our testers found it easy to get to grips with, thanks to a helpful tutorial and a clear step-by-step guide.

You can adjust the height of the Toast Flex and flip the screen to suit a range of different environments. Source: Startups.co.uk

What could be improved?

Toast is built for Android. So if you run your POS system on iPads, an iOS-friendly platform like TouchBistro (number 7 on our list) or Square would be a better fit.

Also, while Toast has many tricks up its sleeve for managing a complex, multi-location operation, it might be overkill for smaller, single-location businesses (which can consider SumUp or Square as an alternative).

How much does Toast cost?

Toast is one of the more expensive options in this roundup. With no free plan and a high minimum monthly cost, this will price out many budget-conscious businesses. But more established restaurants with busy kitchens may find Toast’s advanced tools worth the asking price.

5. Lightspeed Restaurant: best for multi-location restaurant chains

Lightspeed Restaurant

3.9

Visit Lightspeed

• Starting software price: £69 per month
• Transaction fees from: Quote-based

• Offline functionality that syncs automatically when back online
• Brilliant customer engagement features
• Tablet-based system is easy to carry around

Summary Based in Montreal, Canada, Lightspeed is a commerce platform that currently serves over 150,000 customer locations.

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Why is Lightspeed Restaurant a top hospitality POS?

Lightspeed’s advanced tools make it a good fit for multi-location restaurants. These include:

• Comprehensive cost vs profit breakdowns
• Customisable menu creation
• Centralised touchpoint to manage menus and make real-time adjustments to floor plans across multiple locations

This is how the payment page will look when using Lightspeed Restaurant. Source: Startups.co.uk

Additionally, Lightspeed’s loyalty tools were some of the best we’d tested. We especially liked its email marketing tools – helpful for driving repeat customers back to your eatery.

The range and accuracy of the help and support channels available were another bonus. If you do face any issues using the system, you can head to the Help Center for your specific POS system and speak with an agent.

Creating a floor plan is easy with Lightspeed Restaurant. Source: Startups.co.uk

What could be improved?

Lightspeed uses an iPad-based system. These devices are easy to carry around, but some restaurant staff might feel more comfortable with the rugged durability of an all-in-one countertop terminal. If that’s you, take a look at Clover’s range of terminals instead.

We also found that the back end was more intuitive than the front end, and had some difficulties with functions like order recall. Lastly, we would’ve liked built-in tip management, which Toast provides.

How much does Lightspeed Restaurant cost?

Lightspeed doesn’t disclose its transaction fees or the prices of its POS hardware or accessories, but its software isn’t cheap. Its starting plan is more expensive than most of the other mid-range options we evaluated. Since the software is designed for iPads, you’ll also need to buy one if you don’t already have one.

That said, restaurateurs who want advanced tools may consider Lightspeed good value, but it’s too pricey for the average café.

If you opt for Lightspeed, you can get a product demo for its Restaurant POS before locking into an ongoing contract.

What our researchers think

Although Lightspeed may start slightly higher in monthly price than some other options, it’s well worth the money. When I tested the front end, I was really impressed with how easy and quick it was to take an order, and the fact that this could all be done through an iPad means that you can be on the go and speed up serving times.

Ollie Simpson Senior Research Executive

6. takepayments: best for quick service fast food restaurants

takepayments

3.8

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• Starting software price: Quote-based
• Transaction fees from: Quote-based

• Code scanners built into the front and back of the terminal
• User-friendly and simple frontend balanced with a feature-dense backend
• The terminal comes with a built-in printer

Summary Takepayments is a UK-based company offering payment solutions, including card terminals, online payments, and POS systems. It currently serves over 750,000 customers and is one of the fastest-growing card payment providers in the UK.

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Why is takepayments a top hospitality POS?

takepayments’ all-in-one terminal has a built-in printer, barcode scanner, and customer display, making it easy to keep counters as clutter-free as possible. It’s a great tool for quick-service restaurants and sandwich shops that sell items as well as serving food, as they’re more likely to need the extra counter space. We also liked that you can set up separate prices for eating in and taking away.

takepayments’ dual-screen terminal is ideal for showing customers their order total to avoid confusion. Source: Startups.co.uk

In addition, takepayments’s analytics impressed us. They’re great for seeing which items are selling the most during peak times – and combined with cost-versus-profit management tools, they help owners keep an eye on profit margins.

The takepayments terminal’s built-in scanner can really come in handy. Source: Startups.co.uk

What could be improved?

The back end is straightforward to use and packed with management tools. But since our last tests in 2024, our overall frustrations with the front end haven’t been resolved; we found it clunky and unresponsive.

We’re also a bit disappointed that there’s no option to use takepayments to create bespoke gift cards. Consider Clover instead if this is a must-have for you.

How much does takepayments cost?

	Pricing
Software/Hardware	tPOS: Quote-based
Transaction fees	Quote-based
Free trial?	No

takepayments doesn’t offer a free plan or trial, which might not be ideal for those just starting out. However, takepayments’s transaction fees are tailored to your business, which can result in a better deal.

What our researchers think

I loved how simple and easy to use the takepayments POS system was. The layout was really clearly divided into each section which minimised any confusion or mistakes when adding an order. I was also really impressed by their onboarding and support as they have someone to take you through the processes and they can also remotely log in (with your permission of course) so when you have a problem they can see exactly what is happening and fix it 10x quicker!

Ollie Simpson Senior Research Executive

7. TouchBistro: best for full-service and fine dining restaurants

TouchBistro

3.7

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• Starting software price: $69
• Transaction fees from: Quote-based

• Solid cost management tools
• Tablet-based system is easy to carry around
• Floor plans that are easy to edit

Summary TouchBistro is based in Toronto, Canada, and in 2013, it partnered with PayPal. It now focuses on its POS software developed specifically for iPad.

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Why is TouchBistro a top hospitality POS?

TouchBistro’s POS system is made specifically for restaurant management and includes various dedicated solutions. Its excellent floor-planning tools can help manage complex seating arrangements, and the seamless kitchen display system ensures precise order-tracking (crucial for multi-course meals), making TouchBistro a good choice for multi-service and fine-dining restaurants.

Since our last testing in 2024, we’ve seen clear improvements in TouchBistro’s usability. Both the front and back end of the system are extremely sleek and user-friendly, and we completed orders with exceptional ease using the iPad.

We found TouchBistro’s software very easy to use in our testing. Source: Startups.co.uk

TouchBistro has an interesting pricing approach: You pay for the core software, and additional features are paid add-ons. This means you can build a bespoke package for your needs, adding new solutions as you scale and grow. The marketing tools, loyalty reward features, and reservation system were all stand-out additions in our testing.

TouchBistro has a user-friendly order screen that can help streamline orders. Source: Startups.co.uk

What could be improved?

The key missing feature is automated tip management. UK businesses need to follow the country’s tipping laws, so making sure your staff get the right tips is critical. Check out Square or Toast for tip management features.

How much does TouchBistro cost?

TouchBistro’s POS system starts at $69 per month. As of December 2025, it also offers an Essentials Bundle for $99 per month, which includes hardware, software, and integrated payment processing.

There are extra hardware and software options – such as a customer-facing display and an inventory management tool that integrates with the POS – available for an additional cost.

If you only need one or two additional features, TouchBistro is a fine option, but if you need a full suite of tools, it becomes pretty costly. You can book a free demo through TouchBistro, though, so you can try before you buy.

What our researchers think

What I love about TouchBistro is the ability to pick and choose what features you want. You don’t have to pay extra for something that you won’t actually need and it means you’re getting a package tailored to you but what’s great is that their pricing is still completely transparent. I also found that the menu and stock customisation was one of the best I’ve seen.

Ollie Simpson Senior Research Executive

8. Epos Now: best for hotels

Epos Now

3.7

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• Starting software price: £25
• Transaction fees from: 1.3%

• You can pay upfront for the software and hardware
• In-depth inventory management tools
• High quality terminal with a large 15.6" HD display screen

Summary Based out of Norwich, Epos Now is a payment service provider and SaaS company, specifically focusing on providing POS systems to small and medium sized businesses.

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Why is Epos Now a top hospitality POS?

Epos Now is one of the few providers to offer a dedicated POS system specifically for hotels. Through its POS app store, you can access a host of hotel-specific integrations, like multi-room booking and room service ordering.

You can also pay extra for a handy caller ID function, which you can connect with your landline or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), to store customer contact info.

Epos Now provides an impressively sturdy terminal. Source: Startups.co.uk

Epos Now provides an impressive and sturdy terminal with a large 15.6-inch display. The monitor helps streamline tasks like checking in guests and taking orders.

We were also impressed by Epos Now’s management functions, such as the simple drag-and-drop floor planning, inventory updates, and insightful cost versus profit analysis reports.

What could be improved?

In our latest round of testing, we still found the front end slightly easier to use than the back end. While we appreciate the powerful back office customisation, it creates a steep learning curve for new users.

We’d also have preferred more extensive tip management options, which Square offers.

How much does Epos Now cost?

Epos Now offers a range of software and hardware packages to suit your specific requirements. It also lets you pay for all your hardware and software up front, so you can avoid monthly fees completely.

What our researchers think

This is a great choice if you want some high quality hardware. They have tonnes of features in the back-end to create loyalty programmes and floor plans and being able to access this from the terminal itself is something that only very few platforms actually allow.

Ollie Simpson Senior Research Executive

How to choose a POS system for your hospitality business

At the end of the day, the ideal POS system depends heavily on the industry you’re in. For example, the elements that make for a perfect retail POS system differ from what a hospitality POS system needs.

So, to choose the best POS for your business, consider these industry-specific factors:

• Cost: A lot goes into the cost of a POS system. There’s the terminal, software subscription costs, setup fees, transaction fees, and the price of any additional accessories you might need.
• Features: The system you choose should have all the essential features you need to run your hospitality business. For example, a takeaway service might need mobile and QR code ordering, whereas a larger restaurant will require extensive floor planning.
• Hardware: What hardware is right for you? Are you running a small café that could use the portability of an iPad? Or are you running a busy hotel that needs a more sturdy, large-screen countertop terminal? Bear in mind the typical lifespan of POS hardware is 5–7 years for quality terminals, so buying equipment isn’t just a one-off cost.
• Free trials: Many hospitality POS systems offer a free demo. It’s always worth testing it before you make any financial commitments.
• Accessories: You might need additional hardware, like a cash drawer or a barcode scanner. Make sure these are compatible with your system before you buy them.
• Security: POS systems handle customers’ sensitive information, so look for systems that offer data encryption and regular security checks and updates.
• Help and support: Inevitably, things go wrong, and issues happen, especially in the high-pressure world of hospitality. Make sure you’ll have access to the help and support you need via the contact channels you prefer.

Summary: the best POS systems for small businesses

Square is our top all-rounder POS system for hospitality businesses. It combines a straightforward, easy-to-use platform with a convenient free plan that contains all the basic tools you need to get things off the ground. Even free users can download the app and access integrations, allowing them to handle food deliveries, reservations, and more.

Still, Square isn’t right for everyone, which is why we’ve highlighted seven other providers worth considering.

Platforms like Toast and TouchBistro are tailor-made for the hospitality industry; while they cost more, they offer more advanced features that some may appreciate. For instance, TouchBistro offers sophisticated floor-planning solutions, and Toast provides built-in tools for reservations and automatic tip sharing without requiring integrations.

Ultimately, hospitality businesses should consider their specific needs and take advantage of any free trials or demos before making a final decision about which POS system to use.

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