Restaurant EPOS in the UK is sold in three ways: a monthly software price per till, a discounted hardware bundle tied to a minimum term, and a free tier with priced add-ons. The published figures range from zero to about 200 pounds a month per site, and the trap is not the headline number. It is the condition printed underneath it.
The bundle tax, printed on the supplier's own page
Epos Now advertises its complete solution at a large discount and states the condition directly beneath the price: the discounted price requires a twelve month payments, care and support subscription starting at a stated monthly figure. Over a year the subscription is worth several times the advertised saving. The headline and the contracted cost move in opposite directions, so read them as one number.
Priced in pounds, or not
Lightspeed's restaurant pricing sits on a UK path and prints its three tiers in euros, including the extra register. Square's GB restaurant page has printed a dollar figure per location beside a zero pound tier. TouchBistro, the page a UK restaurant reaches from a UK search, prints a starting figure in US dollars. storekit is the clearest counter example here: three tiers in pounds, with both the rolling and the twelve month rate shown.
What a restaurant is actually buying
Table plans, course timing, kitchen printing and split bills are what separate restaurant EPOS from a shop till, and they are usually the tier boundary rather than an add-on. Ask which tier includes the kitchen display, how many covers or registers the price covers, and whether the card rate is tied to the software contract, because several suppliers price the terminal and the software as one deal.
Questions people ask about epos for restaurants
How much does restaurant EPOS cost per month in the UK?
Published tiers run from a free entry level to roughly 200 pounds a month for a multichannel package. storekit prints 99 pounds a month for its growing brands tier and 199 pounds for its multichannel tier. Suppliers that bundle hardware usually price the software lower and lock the term instead.
Is a free restaurant EPOS really free?
The core can be. Loyverse gives the till away and prices sales history, employee management and advanced inventory separately, per store or per employee. For a single site with one operator the free tier is genuinely free; add staff and stock control and the real monthly figure is the sum of the add-ons.
Should the card machine come from the EPOS supplier?
Not necessarily, and it is worth asking whether it must. An integrated terminal saves keying totals twice and typically ties the card rate to the software contract. A separate terminal keeps the two decisions independent, which matters most if you expect to renegotiate one of them.