Forget about the bulky till – cloud point-of-sale (POS) systems have come to stay. But what is the highest-rated POS software UK has to offer?

There are many newer or smaller POS providers, but still only few that are trusted by industry experts. This POS comparison looks at key differences and features between some major till systems designed for a variety of trades.

We compare POS systems that are considered the best overall. They are all software-as-a-service (SaaS), i.e. you pay a monthly subscription to access it through the cloud. Some of them can be used without internet too, but usually this requires a dedicated server on your premises.

TouchBistro Vend logo Lightspeed logo Square Epos Now logo
Name TouchBistro Vend POS Lightspeed Restaurant, Lightspeed Retail Square Point of Sale Epos Now
Rating
Website
Built for Restaurants, food-and-drink Retail Retail, restaurants, food-and-drink Retail, hospitality, professional services Retail, hospitality
Pricing* £49+ per iPad/mo £49+ per till/mo £69+ per till/mo Free £25+ per till/mo
Compatible devices iPad iPad, Mac, Windows PC iPad, Mac, Windows PC iPad, iPhone, Android tablets & smartphones iPad, Android tablets, Mac, PC touchscreens
Offline mode available? Yes Yes Retail: No
Restaurant: Yes
No  Yes
Customer support 24/7 phone, email & app support – free 24/7 phone & email support – free 24/7 phone & email support – free Weekday phone & email support – free Setup & limited email support on Standard plan,
24/7 phone & email support on Premium plan
Size business  Small-medium  Small-large  Small-large  Small Small-medium
Checkout & payments
Payment methods Payment card, cash, gift card, store credit/on account Payment card, cash, voucher, gift card, cheque, store credit/on account, layaway Payment card, cash, cheque, gift card, store credit/on account, quote/layaway Payment card, cash, voucher, gift card, cheque, invoice, card on account Payment card, cash, gift card, store credit/on account, layaway, invoice
Split bills Yes, Hospitality plan
Tipping Yes, Hospitality plan
Card machine integrations Barclaycard, Paymentsense, Square Zettle, SumUp, Square, Paymentsense, Payment Express Zettle, Verifone, Barclaycard Square Barclaycard, Global Payments, Paymentsense, Verifone, Worldpay
TouchBistro Vend Lightspeed Square Epos Now

*Costs not including VAT.

TouchBistro icon Vend on price tag Lightspeed Restaurant POS Square Epos Now
TouchBistro
Vend
Lightspeed
Square POS
Epos Now
4.5/5 rating
4.5/5 rating
4/5 rating
4/5 rating
4/5 rating
Good for
Restaurants, food-and-drink Retail Retail, restaurants, food-and-drink Retail, hospitality, professional services Retail, hospitality
 Small-medium businesses  Small-large businesses  Small-large businesses  Small businesses  Small-medium businesses
Single outlets Single & multiple stores Single & multiple stores Single & multiple stores Single & multiple stores
Pricing*
£49+ per iPad/mo £49+ per till/mo £69+ per till/mo Free £25+ per till/mo
Technology
iPad iPad, Mac, Windows PC iPad, Mac, Windows PC iPad, iPhone, Android tablets & smartphones iPad, Android tablets, Mac, PC touchscreens
Offline mode
Retail: No
Restaurant: Yes
Customer support
24/7 phone, email & app – free 24/7 phone & email – free 24/7 phone & email – free Weekday phone & email support – free Setup & limited email on Standard,
24/7 phone & email on Premium
Checkout & payments
TouchBistro logo Vend logo Lightspeed logo Square Epos Now
Payment methods
Payment card, cash, gift card, store credit/on account Payment card, cash, voucher, gift card, cheque, store credit/on account, layaway Payment card, cash, cheque, gift card, store credit/on account, quote/layaway Payment card, cash, voucher, gift card, cheque, invoice, card on account Payment card, cash, gift card, store credit/on account, layaway, invoice
Split bills
Yes, Hospitality plan
Tipping
Yes, Hospitality plan
Card machine integrations
Barclaycard, Paymentsense, Square Zettle, SumUp, Square, Paymentsense, Payment Express Zettle, Verifone, Barclaycard Square Barclaycard, Global Payments, Paymentsense, Verifone, Worldpay
TouchBistro logo Vend logo Lightspeed logo Square Epos Now

*Costs not including VAT.

Inventory management


Inventory
management
TouchBistro Vend Lightspeed Square Epos Now
Categories & variants
Stock levels
Stock alerts
Auto-supply orders
Bulk product import
Barcode scanning
Modifiers (food) Yes, Restaurant plan Yes, Hospitality plan
Ingredient tracking (food) Yes, Restaurant plan Yes, Hospitality plan
Touch-
Bistro
Vend Light-
speed
Square Epos
Now
Categories & variants
Stock levels
Low stock alerts
Auto-supply orders
Bulk product import
Barcode scanning
Modifiers (food)
Yes, Restaurant plan Yes, Hospitality plan
Ingredient tracking (food)
Yes, Restaurant plan Yes, Hospitality plan

Customer loyalty & management


Customer
loyalty
TouchBistro Vend Lightspeed Square Epos Now
Customer profiles
Gift cards Only with add-on
Discounts
Timed promotions
Loyalty points Only with add-on Only with add-on
Email marketing Only with add-on Export emails to outside marketing tool Only with add-on Export emails to outside marketing tool Export emails to outside marketing tool
Touch-
Bistro
Vend Light-
speed
Square Epos
Now
Customer profiles
Gift cards
Only with add-on
Discounts
Timed promotions
Loyalty points
Only with add-on Only with add-on
Email marketing
Only with add-on Export emails to outside marketing tool Only with add-on Export emails to outside marketing tool Export emails to outside marketing tool

Reports and analytics


Reports &
analytics
TouchBistro Vend Lightspeed Square Epos Now
Daily reports
Close/end-of-day report Yes, but sales and cash drawer reports are separate
Export reports Yes, to CSV file Yes, to CSV file Yes, to CSV or PDF file Yes, to CSV file Yes, to CSV file
Sales analytics Detailed Detailed Detailed Detailed Detailed
Custom reports
Taxes/VAT
Accounting integrations QuickBooks, Sage, Xero QuickBooks, Xero Exact, QuickBooks, Sage, Xero Enterpryze, Exact, Kashoo, KashFlow, QuickBooks, Sage One, Xero, Zoho Books Sage One, Xero
Touch-
Bistro
Vend Light-
speed
Square Epos
Now
Daily reports
Close/end-of-day report
Yes, but sales and cash drawer reports are separate
Export reports
Sales analytics
Detailed Detailed Detailed Detailed Detailed
Custom reports
Taxes/VAT
Accounting integrations
QuickBooks, Sage, Xero QuickBooks, Xero Exact, QuickBooks, Sage, Xero Enterpryze, Exact, Kashoo, KashFlow, QuickBooks, Sage One, Xero, Zoho Books Sage One, Xero

Employee & store management


Employees &
locations
TouchBistro Vend Lightspeed Square Epos Now
User logins
Employee permissions
Staff analytics
Shift reports Only with integration
Close/open till
Multi-location support
Stock transfers
Location-based analytics
Touch-
Bistro
Vend Light-
speed
Square Epos
Now
User logins
Employee permissions
Staff analytics
Shift reports
Only with integration
Close/open till
Multi-location support
Stock transfers
Location-based analytics

How they stack up

More stablished businesses looking for a longterm, custom-built solution with industry-grade touchscreen monitors can get this from Vend and Epos Now, but not the other options above.

Food-and-drink businesses that want a highly intuitive system with great support can go for TouchBistro or Lightspeed Restaurant. Any retailer would be well-served by Vend’s advanced inventory system that is user-friendly, affordable and popular, but Lightspeed Retail comes at a close second.

Square Point of Sale works well for small food-and-drink businesses (it has the perfect combination of features for cafés), small retail shops, mobile businesses and professional services. If features are missing, you have many integration options to expand on business functions.

Small businesses – or mobile merchants with infrequent sales – can also thrive with a general POS app like Zettle Go which is popular in the UK, or another free POS system.

Compare more EPOS software:

Shops: EPOS for retail shops

Restaurants: Hospitality till software UK

Coffee shops: POS systems for cafés

Bars & pubs: POS systems for drinks

iPad tills: POS software for iPad