First, the bias, out in the open: we make Seamless, a UK EPOS built for hospitality, and one of the six systems below is ours. We would rather you pick the right till than pick ours for the wrong cafe, so this comparison includes real prices, real card rates, and honest notes on when each option (including Seamless) is the wrong choice.
Our verdict in one line: most independent UK cafes are best served by free or low-cost software with proper hospitality features; Seamless, Square and SumUp cover the vast majority of cafes between them, and a £50-plus monthly subscription only earns its keep once you have queues, multiple sites, or complex operations.
The six compared at a glance
All prices below were checked against each provider's own UK pricing page on 24 July 2026. Card rates are the standard in-person rate for UK cards; most providers charge more for non-UK cards.
| System | Software cost | Card rate | Contract | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seamless | £0/mo with a partner card machine, else £24/mo | Depends on provider (Dojo, SumUp, Teya, Zettle, EVO) | None, cancel anytime | Cafes doing food, tables or delivery |
| Square | £0/mo (Restaurants Plus from £29/mo) | 1.75% | None | Quick counter service, fast setup |
| SumUp | £0/mo (POS Plus £29/mo ex VAT) | 1.69% pay-as-you-go | None | Lowest card rate on a budget |
| Zettle by PayPal | £0 app | 1.75% | None | PayPal users, stalls and pop-ups |
| Epos Now | From £54/mo (hardware from £199) | Not published, quoted per business | 12 months | Bundled hardware with onboarding help |
| Lightspeed Restaurant | From €89/mo (yes, euros) | By consultation | Plan-based | Larger or multi-site operations |
Seamless (ours)
Best for: independent cafes and coffee shops that serve food, run tables or tabs, or take delivery orders, and want hospitality features without a monthly bill.
Seamless runs on iPad and Android, and it was built for food businesses rather than adapted from a retail till. That means kitchen printing, tabs and tables, stock control, tips at the terminal, and offline mode when the internet drops mid-rush. Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat orders sync straight into the till, which matters more to cafes every year.
Pricing, verified July 2026: the Starter plan is £0 a month when you take payments through a card machine partner we introduce (Teya is the usual route), otherwise it is £24 a month. Pro is £39 a month per terminal and there is no contract on any plan, so leaving is as easy as joining. We import your menu for free when you start. Full details are on our pricing page, and the cafe EPOS page covers the cafe-specific features properly.
When not to choose us: if you are a single-person kiosk selling flat whites and nothing else, a free card reader app will do the job and a full EPOS (ours included) is overkill. And if you need kitchen display screens rather than kitchen printing, we do printing, not screens, so look elsewhere or ask us first.
Square
Best for: cafes that want the fastest possible setup and a clean, simple till for counter service.
Square's free plan is genuinely free: £0 a month with a flat 1.75% rate on UK cards, verified July 2026. The hardware is cheap to start (the basic reader is £19 plus VAT, currently offered at £13.30 plus VAT) and the software is polished. Square for Restaurants adds coursing and better floor management from £29 a month.
The trade-offs: 1.75% is not the cheapest rate in this list, you are tied to Square as your payment provider, and the deeper hospitality features sit behind the paid plan. For a busy food-led cafe the free tier can start to feel thin. Credit where due though: for pure speed from unboxing to first sale, Square is hard to beat.
SumUp
Best for: cost-conscious cafes where the card rate matters more than till depth.
SumUp's pay-as-you-go rate of 1.69% is the lowest standard rate of the six, with no monthly fee, verified July 2026. If you turn over enough, Payments Plus drops the rate to 0.99% for £19 a month, which is worth doing the sums on. The POS Plus plan at £29 a month (ex VAT) adds a fuller till.
The honest caveat: SumUp grew up as a card reader company, and the till side is younger than the payments side. Fine for a straightforward counter operation; less convincing once you add tables, kitchen routing and delivery channels. Worth knowing: SumUp is one of the payment providers Seamless integrates with, so "SumUp for payments, Seamless for the till" is a combination we see working well.
Zettle by PayPal
Best for: traders already living in the PayPal ecosystem, and mobile setups like stalls, carts and pop-ups.
Zettle keeps it simple: a reader from £29 (ex VAT, first-reader price), a 1.75% card rate, and a free app, verified July 2026. Money lands in your PayPal account, which some owners love for cash flow visibility. As with SumUp, we integrate with Zettle too; details on our Zettle integration page.
The limits show in the same place: the free app is a payment tool with a light till bolted on, not a cafe operating system. No serious kitchen workflow, thin reporting, and you are committed to PayPal's ecosystem. For a weekend market stall, ideal. For a 40-cover brunch spot, you will outgrow it.
Epos Now
Best for: owners who want a boxed bundle (till, drawer, printer) with sales-led onboarding, and who read contracts before signing.
Epos Now advertises complete hardware from £199 (listed as reduced from £849), attached to a 12-month payments, care and subscription package from £54 a month, verified July 2026. The system itself is capable and widely used across UK hospitality.
Two things to weigh up honestly. First, the card processing rate is not published; it is quoted per business, so you cannot compare it from the website alone. Get the rate in writing before you commit. Second, the £199 headline comes with a 12-month tie-in, which is a different deal from the no-contract options above. Neither point makes it a bad system; both make it a deal you should read twice.
Lightspeed Restaurant
Best for: larger cafes, groups and multi-site operations that need depth and will pay for it.
Lightspeed is the heavyweight here: strong menu management, multi-site reporting, and serious integrations. UK pricing starts at €89 a month for Basic, rising to €249 for Pro, with extra registers at €49 each, verified July 2026. You read that right: the UK pricing page quotes euros, so your direct debit will wobble with the exchange rate. Payment processing rates are by consultation.
For a single-site independent cafe, that is a lot of system and a lot of money. For a five-site group with a head office, it starts to make sense. If you are comparing at this end of the market, our UK EPOS comparison lays out the wider field.
How to actually choose
Start from your operation, not the feature lists. A counter-only espresso bar has different needs from a food-led cafe with covers, and both differ from a multi-site group.
If you mostly sell drinks over the counter: Square or SumUp, and pick between them on rate versus polish. If you serve food, run tables or take delivery orders: Seamless or Square for Restaurants, and we would say ours, but then we would, so trial both (ours has a 14-day free trial, no card details needed). If you want one supplier for everything in a box and accept a contract: Epos Now, with the rate in writing. If you are running multiple sites: Lightspeed earns a look.
Whatever you choose, do the whole-cost sum: software plus card fees on your actual turnover, not the headline price. A £0 till with a high card rate can cost more than a paid till with a low one. Our EPOS cost calculator does this arithmetic for you, for any provider, not just us.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a cafe EPOS system cost in the UK?
As of July 2026, anywhere from £0 a month (Seamless with a partner card machine, Square's free plan, SumUp pay-as-you-go, Zettle's free app) to €249 a month (Lightspeed Pro). On top of software, budget for card fees of roughly 1.69% to 1.75% on standard pay-as-you-go rates, plus hardware: a card reader from £19 to £29, or an iPad if you do not already own one.
Can I run my cafe till on an iPad?
Yes, and most independent cafes now do. Seamless, Square, SumUp, Zettle and Lightspeed all run on iPad; Seamless also runs on Android tablets. An iPad till is cheaper to buy, easier to replace, and takes up less counter space than legacy till hardware.
Do I need a full EPOS system or just a card reader?
If you only sell a handful of products over the counter, a card reader with its free app is enough, and we will happily tell you not to buy a full EPOS yet. You need a proper EPOS when you add food, tables, tabs, stock control, kitchen printing or delivery apps, because that is when the free apps run out of road.
Which cafe EPOS systems work with Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat?
Seamless syncs Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat orders directly into the till. Square and Lightspeed offer delivery integrations through partners or add-ons. The simpler card-reader apps (Zettle, SumUp's free tier) generally leave you retyping delivery orders by hand, which is where mistakes creep in.
What card rate will my cafe pay?
On standard pay-as-you-go pricing verified July 2026: SumUp charges 1.69%, Square and Zettle charge 1.75% for UK cards. Epos Now and Lightspeed quote rates individually, so ask for the figure in writing. With Seamless you choose your own payment provider from Dojo, SumUp, Teya, Zettle or EVO and pay their rate, which lets you shop the rate separately from the till.
Is a free EPOS really free?
Free software is real, but every provider earns somewhere, usually on card fees. Square and SumUp fund free software through their processing margin. Seamless Starter is £0 a month because our payment partners pay us a share when we introduce you, and it is £24 a month if you bring your own unconnected provider. The right question is total monthly cost at your turnover, not whether the software line says zero.
