What is a POS system?
A POS (point of sale) system is the till a business sells through: software that rings up each sale, takes the card or cash payment and records stock and takings, running on a phone, tablet, handheld or countertop register. In the UK the software costs from £0 a month (Square, SumUp and Loyverse have free plans) up to £344 a month for Shopify POS Advanced, with card fees on top.
Prices read from each vendor's own UK site on 1 November 2026.
POS system meaning: what EPOS and POS stand for
POS is short for point of sale, the moment and place a customer pays. EPOS is electronic point of sale. UK suppliers use the two interchangeably: an "EPOS system", a "POS system" and a "till system" are the same product. The full form you will see on quotes is usually "EPOS software" (the app and back office) plus "EPOS hardware" (the screen, printer, cash drawer and card machine).
POS system or card machine: what is the difference?
A card machine takes the payment. A POS system decides what is being paid for: it holds your item list and prices, builds the order, sends it to the kitchen or prints the receipt, takes off the stock and records who sold it. The card machine is one part of it. That is why prices range so widely: a £19 + VAT Square Reader paired with the free Square app is a basic POS system, while a £699 + VAT Square Register is a dedicated two-screen till.
Types of POS system, with UK examples
| Type | How it works | UK examples and published price |
|---|---|---|
| Phone or tablet app | POS app on a device you own, paired with a small card reader | Loyverse (free app), Square Free with a £19 + VAT reader, SumUp Free POS |
| iPad stand | Your iPad locked into a counter stand, with printer and cash drawer attached | Square Stand £99 + VAT (you supply a compatible iPad) |
| Countertop register | Dedicated till with a customer-facing screen and built-in payments | Square Register £699 + VAT; SumUp Register £399 ex VAT (£478.80 incl. VAT) |
| Handheld POS | Order taking and payment in one device, for tableside or queue busting | Square Handheld £169 + VAT; SumUp Terminal £135 ex VAT (£162 incl. VAT) |
| Installed hospitality system | Multi-till, multi-site setups with kitchen screens, table plans and stock | Zonal, Tevalis, ICRTouch, Toast: priced by demo or quote |
VAT wording is each vendor's own. Full device list on the POS hardware page.
What a POS system costs: the £5,000 a month shop
Running cost is software plus card fees. For a shop taking £5,000 a month on card:
- SumUp Free POS: £0.00 software + £5,000 × 1.69% = £84.50 card fees = £84.50 a month, £1,014.00 a year.
- Square Free: £0.00 + £5,000 × 1.75% = £87.50 a month.
- Square for Retail Plus: £49.00 + £5,000 × 1.6% = £129.00 a month, £41.50 more than Free for the stock and reporting tools.
Add hardware once: from nothing (a phone you own) to £699 + VAT for a dedicated register. Every vendor, plan and card rate is side by side on the EPOS systems comparison, and the free options are costed on free POS systems UK.
How to use a POS system day to day
- Set up once: add your items, prices, VAT rates and staff logins in the back office.
- Open the till at the start of the day, counting the cash float in if you take cash.
- Ring up each sale by tapping items (or scanning barcodes), then choose card or cash.
- For card, the total goes to the card machine; the customer taps or inserts the card.
- Close the day with an end-of-day (Z) report and check the card total against your payout.
- Check stock and sales reports weekly to reorder and spot your best sellers.
Choosing a POS system and card machine?
Tell us what you sell and your monthly card takings. We price the card side against live quotes. Free, no obligation.
Frequently asked questions
What does EPOS stand for?
EPOS stands for electronic point of sale. POS is point of sale. In UK usage the two mean the same thing: the till software and hardware a business sells through. Suppliers also call it a till system.
What is an example of a POS system?
Square POS, SumUp POS, Shopify POS, Epos Now, Lightspeed, Toast, Loyverse, Zonal, Tevalis and ICRTouch are all POS systems sold in the UK. At the simple end, Square and SumUp give their POS software away free and charge 1.75% and 1.69% per in-person card payment.
Do I need a POS system or just a card machine?
If you sell a handful of items and only need to take payment, a card machine is enough: a £19 + VAT Square Reader with the free app already rings up sales. You need a fuller POS system when you track stock, run tables or a kitchen, manage staff or sell across several tills.
What is the difference between a POS system and a cash register?
A cash register adds up sales and holds the cash. A POS system does that and also takes card payments, keeps a live item list with stock levels, records sales by staff member and reports takings, usually stored online so you can see them away from the shop.