Top POS systems compared

About Top POS systems compared

Point of sale systems sit in an awkward middle: the counter hardware looks like a one-off purchase, while the software behind it renews like a subscription. This ranking covers 94 point of sale systems, and a single trade-off decides most of the order. Entry price says little on its own, because a free plan can be narrowed to a single location or a single product, and a paid tier can add no charge per station at all. Renewal pricing pulls the shapes apart, and so does whether a system settles payments or only runs the register. Small businesses are the main audience in this category, and free plans and free trials are both common, so the deciding factors narrow to plan limits, the support channels a merchant can reach, and the country each vendor is registered in. Read the limits beside the price, not after it.

How we picked

Each system here is scored on weighted factors, and the weights are published so the order can be argued with. Cost carries 40% of the score, the offer carries 40% and trust carries 20%. Cost covers the entry price a counter pays on the first day and the price that follows when the term rolls over. The offer covers what a plan actually includes: terminals, products, users, documents and e-invoices, and the size of any cap on each. Trust covers the support channels a merchant can reach, the legal entity behind the brand and the country it is registered in. Scores are drawn from the published pricing and company pages listed against each brand, plus aggregate figures from the wider database. Partners that serve your country are listed first in this ranking, then the rest by score. Limits are quoted in the terms each vendor publishes, and a published cap is treated as part of the offer rather than a footnote. Silence on a point is left as unknown instead of being counted against a brand, which is why some entries here carry fewer comparisons than others.

Our top picks

1. 2. SpotOn: best for top-pick

   SpotOn leads this ranking because its free plan adds no charge per station on the All-In tier, and entry pricing sits at $0, which keeps a first till cheap to open. It serves small businesses and enterprise operations alike, and pos and payments covers payments as well as the register, so card take does not need a second vendor. The trade-off is reach: support runs on phone and help centre, fewer routes than most systems here carry, so a counter that wants email or live chat should weigh that first. Toast POS, ranked next, is the narrower comparison, with a free plan that caps terminals and pos covering the register alone.

   • Price from: $0
   • Free plan: Yes
   • Usage limits: $0 per station All-In plan

   Pros

   • Software starts free: the free plan is listed as available and entry pricing sits at $0.
   • The free plan is the listed pricing model, so access starts straight away rather than after a trial.
   • Stations cost nothing on the All-In plan, with usage limits stated as $0 per station All-In plan.
   • Support covers phone and a help centre, listed as phone and help centre.
   • The product covers both point of sale and payments, listed under pos and payments.

   Cons

   • The free plan leaves paid tiers unpriced in public terms, so renewal pricing is hard to project before a contract.
   • Support runs on phone and help centre only, with no live chat listed.
   • Audience is limited to small business and enterprise, per small business and enterprise, with no dedicated beginner tier named.
   • Against a category whose entry prices run as high as €218.36, SpotOn's coverage stops at a single product family rather than a wider toolset.

2. 4. Flatpay: best for Flatpay

   Flatpay offers flat-rate payment solutions and point of sale services for businesses.

   • Tool type: Payments
   • Legal entity: Flatpay ApS
   • Headquarters: Denmark

   Pros

   • Manages sales and payments through a scalable point of sale built for growth
   • Provides guided walkthrough plus on site installation of hardware and software
   • Supports order and payment activity for many business types in any location
   • Maintains round the clock assistance to keep payment operations running smoothly

   Cons

   • Offers three core solutions, which gives fewer options for highly specialized needs
   • Centers setup around on site installation, which favors fixed store locations

3. 6. Payrexx

   Payrexx is the bridge between a pure register and a payments platform in this ranking, because payments and pos covers both and the free plan is more than a teaser: its published free plan features are payment tools, Tap to Pay and QR Pay, a wider starting package than JATSAPP, ranked above, offers. It is registered in Switzerland, with its legal entity given as PAYREXX AG, and a trial of 30 days runs alongside the free plan. WayMaker Markets, ranked next, matches the trial length at 30 days but has no free plan, so Payrexx wins on the entry itself.

   • Free plan: Yes
   • Usage limits: Free plan: payment tools, Tap to Pay, QR Pay
   • Free trial length: 30 days

   Pros

   • The free plan covers payment tools, Tap to Pay and QR Pay, so a counter can run without a paid subscription.
   • A 30 day trial gives a paid tier time to be tested before any commitment.
   • Support runs on email, phone and help centre, which covers phone and a help centre rather than email alone.
   • The legal entity is PAYREXX AG, based in CH, so the company behind the till is a named one rather than a reseller.
   • Lower entry prices than the category median of €21.92 for price from points.

   Cons

   • The free plan is scoped to payment tools, Tap to Pay and QR Pay, so inventory or staff scheduling tools sit in a paid tier.
   • Only 30 days of trial time sits between a paid tier and a real decision, unlike a free plan that can be kept indefinitely.
   • The free plan is bounded by Free plan: payment tools, Tap to Pay, QR Pay rather than a device count, so a shop weighing per-station pricing should compare SpotOn at $0 per station All-In plan.

4. 9. JATSAPP

   JATSAPP earns its place in this ranking by pairing a free plan with a trial of 30 days and an entry price of $1, so a new counter can look at the register cheaply and without a long clock running. The scale is the trade-off: the published entry plan allows a single product, so a shop with a broader catalogue outgrows it quickly, and pos covers the register only. Upserve, ranked above, bundles payments on a free plan for a single location; Payrexx, ranked next, also settles payments, and its free plan carries payment tools, Tap to Pay and QR Pay, with email added to phone in email, phone and help centre where JATSAPP runs on email and phone.

   • Price from: $1
   • Free plan: Yes
   • Usage limits: 1 product on entry plan

   Pros

   • The entry plan starts at $1, well under the point of sale median of €21.92.
   • A free plan is included, so a small shop can take takings before committing to a paid tier.
   • A free trial of 30 days beats the site median of 14 and gives a real test drive.
   • Support covers email and phone, so you can pick up the phone rather than wait on a written reply.
   • Seats come to 100 users, so a small team shares one plan instead of one login each.

   Cons

   • The entry plan is narrow: usage limits are 1 product on entry plan, so a wider range of products means moving up a tier.
   • Support runs on email and phone only, with no live chat or self service help centre listed.
   • The rivals reach a lower starting point, since SpotOn, Toast POS and Upserve list a price from $0, $0 and $0.
   • It runs on web only, so a counter that wants a native app rather than a browser has to look elsewhere.

5. 10. POSfix

   POSfix closes this ranking with a free plan at entry pricing of MDL 100 in Moldova and a trial of 30 days alongside, which makes it a natural choice for a small operation that wants its invoicing handled. The free plan carries weight: published limits give it a product cap and a monthly e-invoice allowance, and pos covers the register. Against DuoPOS, ranked above, the difference is the entry, since POSfix starts on a free plan where DuoPOS starts on a trial, and its caps fall on volume rather than access. It is aimed at small businesses, and support is a full spread across email, phone and chat.

   • Price from: MDL 100
   • Free plan: Yes
   • Free trial length: 30 days

   Pros

   • A free plan and a 30 day trial let a shop run the counter before paying.
   • Local compliance covers e invoicing, which matters for shops issuing digital invoices.
   • Support runs on email, phone and chat, so a phone call is an option when the till is down.

   Cons

   • The free plan is capped: Free: 50 products, 30 e-invoices/month.
   • The tool type is pos, so a shop that also needs a full website buys a second product.
   • Everything is tied to MD and compliance covers e invoicing, so the paperwork fit is regional.

What to look for

Entry price at the counter

The median entry price across these systems is €21.92, with a lower quartile of €8.76 and an upper quartile of €51.74. A free plan often hides a cap rather than a fee, so read plan limits beside the price.

Renewal, not just the opening offer

Introductory prices sit below renewals across the wider database, with a median intro price of €2.99 against a renewal median of €5.99. For a counter, the renewal figure is the one that matters after the first year, and a free plan changes that arithmetic.

A free plan or a free trial

A free plan is offered by 36.4% of the systems here, and 71.4% run on a free trial instead. A free plan a counter can grow into is worth more than a long trial that ends at a wall.

How long a trial lasts

Trials in this category run to a median of 14 days, with the upper quartile reaching 30 days and the longest at 60.

Payments in the same box

Around 29.8% of the systems here handle payments as well as the register. Bundled payments remove a second vendor from the reconciliation list, which matters most once takings grow.

Local paperwork and e-invoicing

E-invoicing rules reach 95.8% of the systems in this category, against 0% for Peppol and 4.2% for VAT reporting. A counter that must issue compliant e-invoices should check this early.

Frequently asked questions

Top POS systems compared by country

• Australia
• Brazil
• Canada
• China
• France
• Germany
• India
• Ireland
• Italy
• Japan
• Mexico
• South Korea
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• United States

The data behind this ranking

All data and the CSV