Retail POS systems with stock control, compared on monthly cost
For a shop taking £5,000 a month by card, Square for Retail Free is the cheapest retail POS with every cost published, at £106.92 a month including a till, and Square Plus at £148.42 is the cheapest published option with purchase orders and stock counts. Lightspeed Retail and Epos Now publish software prices but not card rates, so you can only rank them once you hold a written quote.
One finding cuts against the sales pitch: Square Plus's lower 1.6% rate only repays its £49 fee above £32,667 a month of card takings. Below that, you pay for Plus to get the stock tools, not to save on fees.
Prices read from each vendor's own UK pricing page on 1 November 2026. No comparison sites used.
Retail EPOS prices, side by side
| System | Software a month | Hardware | In-person card rate | Stock control included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Square for Retail | Free £0; Plus £49 a month per location; Premium custom | Register £699 + VAT; Terminal £149 + VAT; Stand £99 + VAT (iPad not included) | Free 1.75%; Plus 1.6% | Free: low-stock alerts, cross-location stock sync, item categories, stock count exports, GTIN and SKU barcodes. Plus adds inventory counting, bulk intake, purchase orders, vendor management, barcode label printing, stock forecasts, cost of goods sold reports |
| Shopify POS | Basic £25 (£19 billed yearly); Grow £65; POS Pro £69 a month per location | WisePad 3 reader £59; POS Terminal £239 | Basic 1.7%; Grow 1.6%; Advanced 1.5% | POS Pro adds in-store inventory management, unlimited staff roles and permissions, in-store pickup |
| Lightspeed Retail | Basic £75; Core £149; Plus £189; one register included | Not published; extra registers not priced | Not published (£15 chargeback fee stated) | Every plan: inventory management, purchase orders, supplier catalogues, landed costs |
| SumUp POS Pro | £49 a month ex VAT; Advanced Stock £19 a month | Your own iPad; Solo reader £79 ex VAT | 1.69% (SumUp's standard rate; POS page states none) | Advanced Stock is a paid module |
| Epos Now | Payments and support subscription from £25 a month | Complete Solution bundle from £299 (shown as reduced from £849) | Not published ("one flat rate") | Stock tracking advertised; tiers not published |
Square and SumUp state their prices exclude VAT; Shopify, Lightspeed and Epos Now do not say either way, so their figures are shown exactly as published. Square's Plus rate applies only to payments taken while signed in to a Plus account on the Square POS app. Square Register: Square’s own pages also showed £599 + VAT and a £329 + VAT offer price on the day we checked; we use the £699 list price. Epos Now's bundle is a promotional price and needs a 12-month subscription. Sources: Square, Shopify, Shopify hardware, Lightspeed, SumUp POS, Epos Now.
What a retail till system costs on a £5,000 a month shop
The house example: one till, £5,000 a month in card takings, all on UK consumer cards, with one-off hardware spread over 36 months.
| Setup | Software | Hardware a month | Card fees on £5,000 | Monthly total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Square for Retail Free + Register | £0.00 | £19.42 | £87.50 | £106.92 |
| Shopify Basic + WisePad 3 (own phone or tablet) | £25.00 | £1.64 | £85.00 | £111.64 |
| Square for Retail Plus + Register | £49.00 | £19.42 | £80.00 | £148.42 |
| SumUp POS Pro + Advanced Stock + Solo (own iPad) | £68.00 | £2.19 | £84.50 | £154.69 |
| Shopify Basic + POS Pro + WisePad 3 | £94.00 | £1.64 | £85.00 | £180.64 |
| Epos Now Complete Solution | £25.00 (from) | £8.31 | Not published | £33.31 + card fees |
| Lightspeed Retail Basic | £75.00 | Not published | Not published | £75.00 + hardware + card fees |
The arithmetic
- Square Free: Register £699 ÷ 36 = £19.42, plus £5,000 × 1.75% = £87.50, total £106.92.
- Square Plus: £49 + £19.42 + £5,000 × 1.6% (£80.00) = £148.42. The lower rate saves £7.50 a month here, so the fee is mostly a charge for the stock tools.
- Plus payback: £49 ÷ (1.75% − 1.6%) = £32,667 a month of card takings before the rate cut alone covers the fee.
- Shopify Basic: £25 + WisePad 3 £59 ÷ 36 (£1.64) + £5,000 × 1.7% (£85.00) = £111.64. Billed yearly it is £105.64.
- SumUp POS Pro with Advanced Stock: £49 + £19 + Solo £79 ÷ 36 (£2.19) + £5,000 × 1.69% (£84.50) = £154.69.
The rate Lightspeed and Epos Now have to beat
Lightspeed Retail Basic includes purchase orders, so the fair comparison is Square Plus. To match its £148.42, Lightspeed's card rate would need to be under (£148.42 − £75.00) ÷ £5,000 = 1.47%, before its hardware. Against Square Free it would need 0.64%. Epos Now has to come in under 1.47% to beat Square Free on this shop.
Before switching anything, add your current till fee to last month's card fees. If the sum is under £106.92 on £5,000 of takings, stay put: nothing on this page is cheaper on published prices. Our free statement review runs that check on your real numbers.
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Who should pick what, by shop type
| Shop | Our pick | Why, in numbers |
|---|---|---|
| Small shop, simple stock, one till | Square for Retail Free | £106.92 a month on £5,000 with a Register, and low-stock alerts plus barcode support come free. |
| Shop that orders from suppliers every week | Square for Retail Plus, then quote Lightspeed Retail against it | Square Plus is £148.42 all in with purchase orders and stock counts. Lightspeed Basic matches it only with a card rate under 1.47%, before hardware. |
| Shop that also sells online | Shopify Basic, adding POS Pro only when staff and in-store stock need it | £111.64 a month on monthly billing (£105.64 billed yearly); POS Pro takes it to £180.64. |
| Convenience store or newsagent | Square for Retail Free, moving to Plus once stock counts take hours | GTIN and SKU barcodes are on the free plan. Epos Now's bundle is cheaper upfront at £299, but its card rate is not published and it must be under 1.47% to beat Square Free. |
| Salon or barber selling retail products | Whatever your booking system already includes | Product sales are a small share of a salon till, so the booking software matters more than the stock module. Check what card rate it charges before adding a second system. |
Stock control, plan by plan
The free and cheap tiers handle counting what you sold. The paid tiers handle buying it back in. Square's free plan gives you low-stock alerts, cross-location stock sync, item categories, stock count exports, GTIN and SKU barcodes; you pay for Plus once you want inventory counting, bulk intake, purchase orders, vendor management, barcode label printing, stock forecasts, cost of goods sold reports. Lightspeed Retail puts inventory management, purchase orders, supplier catalogues, landed costs on every plan, which suits shops with many variants and suppliers, such as bike or golf shops, provided the card quote stacks up. SumUp sells stock as a £19 a month Advanced Stock module, and Shopify keeps in-store inventory management for POS Pro.
Convenience store and newsagent tills
High transaction counts and barcode scanning define a c-store till. Square includes GTIN and SKU barcodes on its free plan, and its fee is a flat percentage with no pence per transaction, which matters when the average basket is small. A barcode scanner is extra on every system; Shopify lists the Zebra DS2278 among its hardware. For the card machine side, see card machines for retail shops and retail card machines compared.
Hair salon and beauty POS
A salon's till is mostly services, so the deciding feature is booking, not stock. If your booking software already takes payments, compare its card rate with the 1.75% and 1.69% benchmarks above before adding a separate retail POS for the product shelf. Our card machines for salons and barbers guide covers the payment side.
Our EPOS reviews
- Square POS review
- Shopify POS review
- Lightspeed review
- Epos Now review
- Restaurant and hospitality EPOS compared
How we priced this
- Every figure was read from the vendor's own UK pricing page on 1 November 2026. Where a vendor publishes nothing we say "Not published" and never borrow a figure from a comparison site.
- Totals use £5,000 a month of UK consumer card takings, one till and hardware over 36 months. Keyed, online, Amex and non-UK card payments cost more on every system.
- We have not run these systems in a shop. The comparison is on published price and listed features only.
Frequently asked questions
What is a POS system in retail?
It is the till software that rings up sales, takes the card payment and keeps the stock count in step with what you sell. Even Square's free retail plan includes low-stock alerts, cross-location stock sync, item categories, stock count exports, GTIN and SKU barcodes. Paid tiers add the back-office stock work: on Square Plus that means inventory counting, bulk intake, purchase orders, vendor management, barcode label printing, stock forecasts, cost of goods sold reports.
How much does a retail POS system cost a month?
Published software prices run from £0 (Square Free) and £25 (Shopify Basic, billed monthly) to £49 (Square Plus or SumUp POS Pro), £75 (Lightspeed Basic) and £189 (Lightspeed Plus). With card fees and a till spread over 36 months, a £5,000 a month shop on Square Free pays £106.92 a month in total.
Which retail POS has the best stock control for the money?
On published prices, Square Plus at £148.42 a month all in on £5,000 is the cheapest with purchase orders, stock counts and cost of goods reports. SumUp POS Pro with Advanced Stock is £154.69. Lightspeed Retail includes inventory management, purchase orders, supplier catalogues, landed costs on every plan from £75, but its card rate is not published, so it beats Square Plus on this shop only if the quote is under 1.47%.
Is Square Plus worth it for a small shop?
Not for the rate. Plus cuts Square's in-person rate from 1.75% to 1.6%, which saves £7.50 a month on £5,000, against a £49 fee. The rate saving alone covers the fee only above £32,667 a month of card takings. Buy Plus for purchase orders and stock counts, or stay on Free.
Do I need Shopify POS Pro?
Only if you need in-store inventory management, unlimited staff roles and permissions, in-store pickup. POS Pro is £69 a month per location on top of the Shopify plan, which takes a £5,000 a month shop on Basic from £111.64 to £180.64 a month. A shop that mainly sells online and runs the odd market stall can stay on the included in-person selling.