Buyer’s guide for UK hospitality
The best EPOS system for a UK café, pub or restaurant is the one that fits how you serve, at a total price you can live with. Compare the monthly price, card processing, kitchen display, QR ordering and contract terms of the main UK hospitality EPOS systems side by side, then read the full comparison for the one you are weighing up.
This comparison is written by Café QR. Competitor names belong to their owners, and Café QR is not affiliated with them. Competitor details checked on 12 October 2026 from their public websites; check current terms with them.
Café QR
Price check · Café QR and 5 others
Checked 12 October 2026
FROM THEIR OWN WEBSITES
Side by side
Prices exclude payment-processing charges unless the row says otherwise. Check the linked provider pages before making a decision.
Published monthly software price
Card processing
Kitchen display
QR table ordering
Contract
Works offline
POS and EPOS systems
Full comparisons with the till systems UK cafés, restaurants and pubs most often consider: prices, processing, kitchen display, QR ordering, contracts and hardware.
QR ordering apps
If you already have a till and only want guests to order from their table, these comparisons cover the order-and-pay apps. Café QR’s £9.99 Order & Pay plan does the same job and can grow into the full POS.
A headline software price rarely tells you the full cost. Add the kitchen display, QR ordering, stock, loyalty and booking modules you need, the cost of extra devices, and the card processing on your expected sales.
Some providers publish every price; others quote after a demo. Where a price is not public, this guide says so rather than guessing.
A busy restaurant group with dedicated hardware, offline card payments and a sales team may suit Toast, Lightspeed or Epos Now. A small café that wants to start for nothing may suit Square’s Free plan or SumUp.
Café QR suits independent cafés, restaurants, pubs and takeaways that want the till, kitchen screen and QR table ordering in one published price, on hardware they already own.
Cafés and coffee shops: a fast counter till, milk and size options, a kitchen or barista screen and table ordering for busy periods. Square’s Free plan suits a café starting on nothing; Café QR suits one that wants the till, kitchen screen and QR ordering in one published price.
Pubs and bars: tabs, split bills, table service and offline card payments. Epos Now, Lightspeed and Toast are built for bigger, hardware-led bars; Café QR suits an independent pub that wants tabs, a waiter app and order-at-table without a contract.
Restaurants: a floor plan, kitchen stations, bookings and reports. Toast and Lightspeed suit groups with a sales-led rollout; Café QR includes the floor plan, kitchen stations and an online booking page in its £39 POS plan.
Takeaways: a counter till, your own online ordering page and delivery zones, so repeat customers skip the delivery-app commission.
In the UK the words are used for the same thing. A till rings up sales; an EPOS (electronic point of sale) system adds the menu, stock, reports and connections to card readers and the kitchen. Every system compared here is an EPOS system in that sense.
Ask for the contract length, the exact card rate for each card type, the price of each extra device, what happens if the internet drops, and who owns your customer data.
For Café QR: there is no contract, the venue is the merchant on its own Stripe account, and if the internet drops the till keeps taking cash and your own payment types while card payments wait for the connection.
The app you’ll use
Takings, live orders, tables and what needs you now, on a laptop, a tablet or the phone in your pocket.
Switching from another till
No proprietary hardware, and no setup fee.
Sources
Ask before buying
There isn’t one best system for every venue. Toast, Lightspeed and Epos Now suit larger venues that want dedicated hardware and a sales-led setup. Square and SumUp suit small venues starting cheaply. Café QR suits independent cafés, pubs, restaurants and takeaways that want the till, kitchen screen and QR ordering for one published price, with no contract.
It depends on your sales. Square for Restaurants has a £0 Free plan and charges 1.75% on in-person card payments. Café QR’s POS plan is £39 a month per venue, with card payments on your own Stripe account at Stripe’s rates. Compare the monthly fee plus processing on your expected card takings.
Square, Epos Now, SumUp and Toast all describe an offline mode on their own pages, each with its own limits; Square, Epos Now and Toast say theirs covers card payments. Café QR’s till keeps selling offline for cash and your own payment types and uploads those sales when the connection returns, but card payments, tabs and QR ordering need the connection.
A QR ordering app takes orders from tables. A POS system also runs the till, cash, tabs, refunds and end-of-day cash-up. Café QR is a POS with QR table ordering built in, so you can start with ordering at £9.99 and move to the full POS later.
Prefer to talk it through?
Tell us about your venue and we’ll reply, usually within one working day, to plan your setup or show you round the till on a call. It’s an enquiry only: no card, no subscription and no trial started.