The best POS systems for small businesses in 2023

Our expert researchers have determined that Square and Lightspeed are the top two POS systems in 2023 – both available at affordable prices and boasting industry-specialist and sophisticated features such as advanced inventory management, intuitive user interfaces, and seamless integration with various payment methods.

With a modern POS system like either one of these two, businesses can quickly and effortlessly process sales, accept various payment methods, and generate detailed receipts.

However, it's important to choose one with fees that comfortably suit your budget and offers the features you need to streamline your operations, especially in this critical trading period building up to Christmas for retail and hospitality businesses.

Below, we pick out our choices for the best POS systems:

What is a POS system?

A point-of-sale (POS) system is used by businesses to take payments from customers and to stay on top of their sales. It is a set of devices, software, and payment services working together so businesses can automate their transaction process and track important sales data.

Modern POS systems are entirely digital and can let you check out customers wherever they are. As long as you have a POS app and an internet-enabled device, you'll be able to take payment, generate reports, manage your inventory, track employee hours, and much more.

The best POS systems

The best POS system for small businesses is dependent on lots of factors, including the type of industry your business operates in, your stage of growth and, of course, your budget.

After thorough research and in-depth product analysis, we've found:

• Square is the top provider for retail businesses, including supermarkets, florists, and homeware stores. In-depth business reporting, barcoding, stock management, and hardware are all included in one package – for zero monthly fees.
• Lightspeed is the top provider for hospitality businesses, which makes it the best POS system for restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. It's also the best POS system  for takeaway businesses.

Point of Sale systems are fundamental to the operations of any small business. In today's climate, sales margins are decreasing, which means it's crucial to find a provider that offers the right products and services for a good price. 

For a closer look at the pros, cons, and costs of our six chosen providers, read on for our deep dive EPOS comparison.

While business owners should save where they can, it's also essential to understand that a POS provider could come in at a slightly higher price point but offer a better suite of necessary features. This could be the saving grace for your business.

Small business owners can use our 🔍free POS cost comparison tool to find the right provider for their specific needs. We've helped over a thousand businesses find the best POS provider.

Below, we list the top POS systems that small UK businesses should consider, and we cover the typical setup and equipment costs, as well as the transaction fee structures.

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Square	Lightspeed	Zettle	Epos Now	Touchbistro
Overall Score Based on our in-depth research and user testing 4.7	Overall Score Based on our in-depth research and user testing 4.4	Overall Score Based on our in-depth research and user testing 4.4	Overall Score Based on our in-depth research and user testing 4.2	Overall Score Based on our in-depth research and user testing 4.1
Pricing from £0 monthly cost £16+VAT – Square Reader	Pricing from £39 per month (excl. VAT)	Pricing from Zettle Go app – free £29 – card reader £189 – store kit	Pricing from £25 per month	Pricing from £65 per month

Want to use our free comparison tool to compare costs from the best POS systems available? Compare Costs

1. Square

Best for startups wanting advanced features for minimum cost

Square: Key features

Square has packed a lot into its Square point of sale software, making it a great all-round solution for any small business.

Among the platform's long list of core features is:

• Payment and processing: You can accept all kinds of debit and credit cards, as well as gift cards, all at the same rate
• Payment protection: Square covers any and all disputes that may arise; and it prioritises fraud protection and encryption, so both you and your customers are securely covered at all times
• Ecommerce: Integrate seamlessly with all the online aspects necessary to run a restaurant business, from being able to send your customers a checkout link directly through email or social media, to having your sales and inventory conveniently sync with POS purchases automatically.

There are also a few advanced tools as well. Hospitality businesses can create a customisable floorplan to track and monitor tables to ensure each customer is being looked after. There’s also the potential to integrate several free extensions – including sophisticated inventory and team management – as well as third-party apps.

Our in-depth Square review highlights how easy and intuitive the platform is to use, which means you don’t need to waste valuable business hours training new staff members to use the hardware.

Square is also suitable for an unlimited number of users, allowing you to add new members with ease. This is unlike Lightspeed's lowest paid-for plan, which only permits five users.

Users can also link their in-store software to their ecommerce store, meaning all sales data will appear in one place, which will give you a bird’s-eye view of your business' performance.

Pricing

• Software: Free
• Hardware: Square card reader required (at £19+VAT)
• Transaction fees: 1.75% for each contactless, chip, PIN, or swiped card-present transaction. 2.5% for payments manually keyed-in to the Point of Sale app, recurring payments facilitated via Online Checkout links, Square Invoices, and Virtual Terminal.

Square’s pricing is incredibly transparent. Its software is free – unless you opt for the paid version of Square for Restaurants – and it charges a set fee for both card present (1.75%) and card-not-present (1.9%) transactions. The software includes features like customer support, next business day transfers, inventory management, real-time analytics, dispute resolution, and data security (PCI) compliance.

For in-person transactions, Square charges a transaction fee of 1.75% per transaction.

You'll also get an online store as part of the package, including online checkout and essential APIs for your online transactions. For that, the transaction fee is 1.4% + 25p for UK card transactions, and 2.5% + 25p for non-UK card transactions.

Lastly, you have manually keyed-in transactions, which are the most expensive with a transaction fee of 2.5%.

2. Lightspeed

Best for hospitality businesses wanting to prioritise customer experience

Lightspeed: Key features

Lightspeed offers a range of monthly subscriptions for its restaurant POS, which is a comprehensive system. It is a mobile hospitality EPOS system that utilises cloud technology.

While it's more expensive than Square (part of the reason we gave it 2.3 out of 5 for pricing), our top option, Lightspeed truly pays for itself with its huge arsenal of hospitality features.

Orders can be taken tableside and will be sent directly from the waiting staff to the kitchen. This means that staff no longer have to wait for an open terminal to complete the order, cutting down the time between customers ordering and receiving their food.

In addition to its software, Lightspeed can also provide hardware, ranging from printers to scanners and cash drawers. It is also available as a kit or individually, so your purchase can be customised to your needs. It offers 24/7 customer support and over 250 integrations with other software.

Lightspeed also tops our rankings for the best hospitality POS systems because it is a great option for pubs, cafes, and bars.

However, there is a downside. Lightspeed's pricing is pretty steep for owners of smaller business who may just be starting out. If cost is an issue, then Square would be more beneficial.

Pricing

• Software: From £69 a month
• Hardware: Starts from £99
• Transaction fees: 2.6% + $0.10 for card-present (CP) transactions, or 2.9% + $0.30 for card-not-present (CNP) transactions.

Lightspeed offers three rudimentary price packages: Lean, “for your essential business needs” at £69 per month; Standard, “ideal for omnichannel businesses” at £89 per month; and Advanced, which offers “more tools for businesses looking to go further” at £139 per month. If you need additional features or have a high sales volume, you can receive a personalised quote with the Enterprise plan.

Lightspeed offers retail and hospitality POS systems, each with varying industry-specific features to help your business grow. However, these specialised systems don’t come cheap. Its recommended retail software package is just shy of £100 per month, so you need to be sure that you’ll make full use of Lightspeed’s sophisticated software features for it to be worthwhile.

3. Zettle

Best for mobile businesses that want the flexibility of a POS app

Zettle: Key features

Zettle offers fairly basic EPOS software – but this is what makes it so great. This fuss-free software gives business owners exactly what they need to get going, from enabling transactions to managing stock.

It’s intuitive to use, simple to set up and, best of all, it’s free! Just like Square, Zettle users only need to pay for the Zettle card reader (£29+VAT), and there are zero monthly fees.

Additionally, Zettle's till features are outstanding, scoring 4.3 out of 5 in this category in our research. Users gain access to regular reporting and analytic functions, sales forecasting, and even managing staff hours – all of which can be controlled via the Zettle app.

That said, as your business blossoms, you may need more from your POS software. Just as with Square, we like Zettle for its affordable pricing, but the former has a lot more to offer in terms of business development. There's currently no CRM function available for Zettle, for example, which makes it difficult to increase sales and improve customer loyalty.

Pricing

• Software: Free
• Hardware: Zettle card reader required (£29+VAT)
• Transaction fees: 2.5% online or via invoice, 1.75% per in-person transaction

One of the best things about Zettle is its transparent pricing, which is why we awarded it a perfect 5 out of 5 in our research for this category. The Zettle Go software is free, the card reader is £29, and the full store kit currently retails at £189.

There are no monthly contracts for its paid products. Instead, the only thing Zettle charges for is card processing fees.

Virtual payments is where Zettle starts to struggle. Those paying online or by invoice are charged 2.5% – which is considerably higher than its rival, Square (1.9% for European cards). Direct ecommerce payments also aren’t available.

This means Zettle users who run a physical store and take numerous small payments will get the most value. Online sellers will find Zettle an expensive choice with few payment options.

The platform has a clear pricing breakdown on its website, which is highlighted in our full Zettle review.

4. Epos Now

Best for scaling retail businesses, such as those with multiple outlets

Epos Now: Key features

Epos Now is the ideal POS solution for retail businesses that want in-depth, real-time reporting on staff, customers, sales, margin, and stock​. Businesses can revel in the system's capacity to integrate with over 100 apps, including accounting software, CRM tools, and, most importantly, ecommerce platforms, like BigCommerce.

Epos Now is one of our top-rated retail POS systems. Other features include 24/7 customer phone support at no extra charge, multiple store capabilities, and a one-on-one smooth onboarding process.

However, Epos Now falters when it comes to CRM and loyalty tools. These are only available using third-party integrations, whereas Lightspeed provides this function for zero additional charge. This is why we gave it a low 2.9 out of 5 for business development in our research.

Pricing

• Software: £25 per month or a one-off £399 upfront payment
• Hardware: An HD touch screen POS system, secure cash drawer, and a high-speed printer are included with your software package
• Transaction fees: 2.6% + $0.10 or all transactions, but additional hardware fees may apply

There is a mix of hardware and software products included under the Epos Now umbrella, all of which are compatible with mobile devices.

Conveniently, the platform organises its product range into industry-specific packages, such as Epos for Bars, Epos for Retail, and Epos for Hospitality. However, our analysts did spot that, while the Epos range is impressive, its pricing plans are anything but transparent.

Epos Now offers a package deal as standard, which costs either £25 per month or a one-off £399 upfront payment. The package includes the HD Touch screen POS system, EPOS software, a secure cash drawer, a high-speed printer, and personalised onboarding and product training.

Epos Now’s various products and services are sold as different all-in-one packages for either retail or hospitality.

One of the biggest drawbacks of the Epos Now system is the confusing pricing plans that can make it difficult to work out just how much a package will set you back, so consumer discretion is advised.

5. TouchBistro

Best for restaurants looking to get online and start a new takeaway revenue stream

TouchBistro: Key features

TouchBistro is a restaurant POS system with industry-specific features, like tableside ordering and table management, to help established hospitality businesses offer the most efficient service to their customers.

Staff can mobile on the restaurant floor, relaying information and sending orders without errors. This is thanks to TouchBistro's advanced software that makes it easy to manage across multiple devices. It’s even possible for your waiting staff to entice customers with screensaver images and menu displays.

Where TouchBistro really excels is with its takeaway capabilities. While we identified Lightspeed as the best option for hospitality firms overall, if you're offering a food delivery service, TouchBistro should be your preferred champion.

Unlike Lightspeed, it provides a separate delivery payment screen that displays the delivery route and logs that the order was a takeout order. Our researchers also gave TouchBistro a perfect 5 out of 5 for stock management. Customisable pop-up alerts also inform servers when an item is running low, so your customers will never order more food than what is available.

You can also use TouchBistro to manage inventory and staff schedules.

The only small downside we could find is that Touchbistro multiple customers have echoed the sentiment that there is a lack of customer support, particularly during the onboarding process.

Pricing

• Software: £69 a month
• Hardware: TouchBistro doesn't have branded hardware, but an iPad is needed
• Transaction fees: TouchBistro's transaction fees aren't made public by the provider, but you can reach out to the provider for a tailored quote

The TouchBistro POS system starts at £69 per month.

It has a wealth of add-on products that you can purchase to optimise the experience for both yourself and customers. This includes gift cards, which start as low as £25 a month, to marketing and loyalty solutions, with pricing starting at £50 a month. The latter may be a good investment because TouchBistro claims that, on average, loyalty diners spend 13% more per transaction vs. non-loyalty diners.​​

Finally, they offer a reservation add-on service at £229 a month.

tPOS: Best alternative POS system

If none of the above POS systems sound like the right option for you, we'd recommend tPOS by takepayments, a relatively new POS system.

Nonetheless, as it's been released by one of the most popular small business payment solutions providers in the UK – and it's already making waves among SMEs. Our analysts were particularly impressed by its high Trustpilot score, indicating strong user favourability.

Because of its focus on card machines, tPOS is the exemplar for payment hardware. There are two plans available: tPOS Complete, a compact, slightly less advanced terminal; and tPOS Counter, which comes with a dual screen to increase customer transparency. With each of these, you can pay for either a retail or hospitality monthly plan. Hospitality costs more due to its larger range of features.

An initial set up payment of £250 is also required to get started, it's not the most affordable option, which is why we don't recommend tPOS for startups or those with outstanding debt as you are likely to already be burdened with other financial obligations.

How does a POS system work?

These days, POS systems are similar to computers. Once they're hooked up to the internet, they provide a host of tools that help you take transactions and manage your business. Your POS software works in conjunction with a card machine, and the transaction process runs like this:

• Input the customer’s items into the system – they can be scanned or selected from a menu
• Once they’ve been added, store the sale if it’s part of a bill, or total the sale and select whether the customer wants to pay by card or cash
• If they pay by cash, enter the total amount. The cash drawer will then open. Give them any change they require, and the sale will be stored as a cash sale
• If they pay by card, the amount is either transferred to the card machine, or you input the sale amount into the card machine. The sale is then stored as a card sale
• You’ll be able to see how many card or cash sales you’ve taken in the back end of your POS system

What types of businesses are POS systems suitable for?

Every retail or hospitality business needs a POS system, regardless of the specific sector or size. However, there are different types of POS systems that suit certain types of businesses better:

• POS Apps – best for small businesses with limited budgets that want a flexible and portable POS
• Mobile POS systems – best for vendors on the move or retailers that want to process transactions on the sales floor.
• Touch-screen POS systems – best for businesses that want to speed up the ordering and checkout processes
• Cloud POS systems – businesses that want to access reports and POS data from anywhere
• Open-source POS systems – best for businesses with abundant technical resources that want to set up their own custom system
• Multichannel POS systems – best for businesses that sell online and in-person and need to sync orders and inventory
• Self-service Kiosk POS systems – best for businesses with self-checkout options, such as quick service restaurants, ticketing, and hospitality

Next steps: choosing the best POS system for your small business

A firm rule before signing on the dotted line is to compare POS system providers. This is because you don't want to be tied to a service that doesn’t fulfil the needs of your business, even if it is, generally speaking, a great product.

This is where our custom-built comparison tool comes in. We've partnered with some of the top POS providers to help you get the best service for your business, includes Lightspeed, Zettle, and Square.

Simply provide us with a few basic details using our 🔍free cost comparison tool and the top providers will be in touch with customised quotes for your business.

Our methodology

With so many POS systems on the market, we've spent months ranking and researching the best options available to cut through the noise and create a definitive list of the top choices for SMEs.

The above choices are guaranteed to make your business transaction process efficient and customer-centric, thanks to our specific research categories chosen because of their importance to our readers.

To reach our results, we looked at five key categories, including pricing, help and support, business development, business management, and till features.

Pricing encompasses upfront costs as well as hidden fees and hardware charges. As inflation rises and overheads increase, we know many SMEs needed to reduce their technology budgets, which makes this research area more important than ever before.

New technology can be difficult for small business owners to get to grips with while simultaneously running a business. We analysed hundreds of online reviews to reach a conclusion on the help and support available, including the average speed of the customer response team, and the options available to ask for advice.

In terms of features, we separated these under till (checking stock and payment integrations) and business (managing staff and rotas). We looked at the amount of tools available on each payment tier to judge how generous these were.

We also looked at business development as an area to conclude how well a platform could grow alongside the business. If, during a period of growth, the POS system is not able to cope, this could be disastrous and set the business back, ultimately affecting value for money.