For cafés comparing PayPal POS (Zettle)

A Zettle alternative for UK cafés and restaurants

PayPal Point of Sale, formerly Zettle, is a free POS app with a card reader and a flat card rate, popular with small UK shops and cafés. Café QR is a cloud POS built for hospitality, with the till, kitchen screen, tabs and QR table ordering in one published price.

No card No contract Runs on any tablet 0% platform fee

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Café QR

Price check · Café QR vs PayPal POS (Zettle)

Café QR POS plan: £39/month per venue
PayPal POS (Zettle) app: No monthly fee
Zettle in-person rate: 1.75% per payment

Café QR platform fee: 0%
Setup fee: £0.00
Contract: none

Checked 10 November 2026

FROM THEIR OWN WEBSITES

Zettle and PayPal are trademarks of PayPal, Inc. Café QR is not affiliated with or endorsed by PayPal. Competitor details checked on 10 November 2026 from their public websites; check current terms with them.

Side by side

Compare the published details. Theirs and ours.

Prices exclude payment-processing charges unless the row says otherwise. Check the linked provider pages before making a decision.

Monthly price
Café QR
Order & Pay £9.99, POS £39 and Multi-site £59 plus £29 for each extra venue, per venue per month; first month free with no card needed
PayPal POS (Zettle)
No monthly or setup fees for the PayPal POS app; custom pricing for multiple locations on request
Card processing
Café QR
Card payments go to the venue’s own Stripe account at Stripe’s rates (standard UK cards: 1.5% + 20p online, 1.4% + 10p in person); 0% Café QR platform fee
PayPal POS (Zettle)
1.75% for card and contactless in person, including American Express; manual card entry 3.4% + 20p
Till
Café QR
Counter till and waiter app on the £39 POS plan, with cash, refunds, voids, tabs, split bills, courses, phone orders and cash-up; card by Stripe Terminal reader (UK) or your own card machine
PayPal POS (Zettle)
PayPal POS app on a phone or tablet, with products, inventory, gift cards, sales reports and staff accounts
Kitchen display (KDS)
Café QR
Kitchen screen in every plan, in any browser; kitchen stations, held courses and ticket times on the POS plan
PayPal POS (Zettle)
Not listed on the Zettle pages reviewed
Tables and tabs
Café QR
Floor plan, tabs and split bills on the POS plan
PayPal POS (Zettle)
Not listed on the Zettle pages reviewed
QR ordering
Café QR
Table and counter QR ordering in every plan, from £9.99
PayPal POS (Zettle)
Not listed on the Zettle pages reviewed
Online ordering
Café QR
Your own collection and delivery page from £14.99 a month, with no commission
PayPal POS (Zettle)
Not listed; payment links are described as temporarily unavailable for new sellers
Contract
Café QR
No contract; cancel any time
PayPal POS (Zettle)
No long-term contract or rental; cancel at any time
Hardware
Café QR
Any iPad, Android tablet or laptop you already have; Stripe card readers from £229 + VAT; Star or Epson network printers
PayPal POS (Zettle)
Card reader £29 + VAT for the first (new business users), £69 + VAT for each extra; PayPal POS Terminal from £149 + VAT; Tap to Pay on a compatible phone
Works offline
Café QR
Till sells offline for cash and your own payment types and syncs when back online; card payments wait for the connection
PayPal POS (Zettle)
Opt-in offline card payments, with transaction limits; payments are not authorised until the reader reconnects

A Zettle alternative for UK cafés and restaurants
Detail	Café QR	PayPal POS (Zettle)
Monthly price	Order & Pay £9.99, POS £39 and Multi-site £59 plus £29 for each extra venue, per venue per month; first month free with no card needed	No monthly or setup fees for the PayPal POS app; custom pricing for multiple locations on request
Card processing	Card payments go to the venue’s own Stripe account at Stripe’s rates (standard UK cards: 1.5% + 20p online, 1.4% + 10p in person); 0% Café QR platform fee	1.75% for card and contactless in person, including American Express; manual card entry 3.4% + 20p
Till	Counter till and waiter app on the £39 POS plan, with cash, refunds, voids, tabs, split bills, courses, phone orders and cash-up; card by Stripe Terminal reader (UK) or your own card machine	PayPal POS app on a phone or tablet, with products, inventory, gift cards, sales reports and staff accounts
Kitchen display (KDS)	Kitchen screen in every plan, in any browser; kitchen stations, held courses and ticket times on the POS plan	Not listed on the Zettle pages reviewed
Tables and tabs	Floor plan, tabs and split bills on the POS plan	Not listed on the Zettle pages reviewed
QR ordering	Table and counter QR ordering in every plan, from £9.99	Not listed on the Zettle pages reviewed
Online ordering	Your own collection and delivery page from £14.99 a month, with no commission	Not listed; payment links are described as temporarily unavailable for new sellers
Contract	No contract; cancel any time	No long-term contract or rental; cancel at any time
Hardware	Any iPad, Android tablet or laptop you already have; Stripe card readers from £229 + VAT; Star or Epson network printers	Card reader £29 + VAT for the first (new business users), £69 + VAT for each extra; PayPal POS Terminal from £149 + VAT; Tap to Pay on a compatible phone
Works offline	Till sells offline for cash and your own payment types and syncs when back online; card payments wait for the connection	Opt-in offline card payments, with transaction limits; payments are not authorised until the reader reconnects

When PayPal POS (Zettle) may fit

Zettle may fit a small café, market stall or shop that mostly takes payments at a counter and wants no monthly fee: you pay 1.75% per card payment and buy a reader from £29 + VAT.

It also suits venues that already use PayPal for online payments and want the money in one place.

When Café QR may fit

Café QR may fit an independent café, restaurant, pub or takeaway that wants one system for the till, the kitchen screen and QR table ordering, and wants to see the full price before speaking to anyone. The POS plan is £39 per venue a month and includes the till, waiter app, tabs, floor plan, bookings and your own online ordering page.

It runs in a browser on hardware you may already own, and card payments go to your own Stripe account with no Café QR platform fee. There is no contract and the first month is free.

It is not the right choice if you need to take card payments through an internet outage: offline, Café QR’s till takes only cash and your own payment types.

The main difference from Zettle is table service: Café QR has a kitchen screen in every plan, plus tabs, a floor plan, a waiter app and QR table ordering, which we did not find on Zettle’s UK pages.

The app you’ll use

One glass dashboard. Open it on any screen, every shift.

Takings, live orders, tables and what needs you now, on a laptop, a tablet or the phone in your pocket.

Café QR owner dashboard on a laptop: today's takings, live orders, tables and what needs attention.

Takings, liveTill, table QR and online orders in one number.
Kitchen on timeLate tickets flag themselves.
The floor at a glanceWho’s seated, and who’s waiting to pay.
Light or darkPick the look that suits your venue.

50-second video

Add up what you pay now.Separate tools for the till, QR ordering, bookings and the rest, against one Café QR bill. Watch it on the pricing page

Switching from another till

Switching is easy. We do the heavy lifting.

1We load your menuSend a photo, a PDF or a link. We add the items, prices, options and allergens, free, while you're on your trial.
2Keep your card machineTake card on the machine you have and tap Card to record it, or move to a Stripe reader when you're ready.
3No contract, no setup feePay monthly per venue and cancel any time. The first month is free and needs no card.
4Run it beside your old tillStart with table ordering or the kitchen screen first. A Square till can be linked so paid orders are pushed to it.

Try it now · free AI menu preview

Snap your paper menu. See it as a phone menu.

Upload a clear photo or a short PDF and we’ll read up to 8 items, so you can see how your menu could look before you start.

Drop a menu photo or PDF here

Choose file

JPEG, PNG, WebP or PDF

Photos are resized in your browser (4 MB after resizing; PDFs 1.5 MB; three previews an hour). Your file is sent to OpenAI to read the menu. Café QR does not save it or add the preview to an account. Check prices and allergens before using them.

Your menu, on a phone

Your items appear here. The file is only used for this preview.

What you need. Probably what you already have.

No proprietary hardware, and no setup fee.

The one you haveA tablet or phoneRuns in the browser on an iPad, Android tablet, phone or laptop.
OptionalA card readerA Stripe reader, or keep your own machine and record card sales.
OptionalA kitchen printerStar or Epson network printers, or use the kitchen screen.
NeededWi-FiIf it drops, the till keeps taking cash and uploads the sales later.

Switching fromSquare →Epos Now →Lightspeed →SumUp →Or send your menu on WhatsApp

Sources

Official pages reviewed. Check them yourself.

Ask before buying

Details we could not verify

Payment link rates differ between Zettle’s and PayPal’s UK pricing pages, so they are left out.
Whether Zettle offers a kitchen display, table management or QR ordering through partner integrations; none were described on the pages reviewed.
Offline payment limits, which are set out in Zettle’s help centre.

Questions

Straight answers, before you start.

Visit the help centre →Ask us on WhatsApp

How much does Zettle cost in the UK?

Zettle’s UK pricing page lists no monthly fee for the PayPal POS app and 1.75% per in-person card payment. The first card reader is £29 + VAT for new business users and each extra reader is £69 + VAT; the PayPal POS Terminal is from £149 + VAT.

Is Zettle good for a café?

Zettle works well for counter service with no monthly fee. We did not find a kitchen display, table management, tabs or QR table ordering on its UK pages, so cafés with table service often need more. Café QR includes those on its £39 POS plan.

Is Café QR cheaper than Zettle?

Not on software alone: Zettle’s app has no monthly fee and Café QR’s POS plan is £39 a month. Card payments with Café QR go to your own Stripe account with no Café QR platform fee. Compare the total on your own card takings and the features you need.

Keep comparing

Prefer to talk it through?

Book a walkthrough or ask us anything.

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.

WhatsApp us Or try the live demo →