Last Updated on August 17, 2026
An EPOS system in the UK costs between nothing and £399 a month in software, plus £19 to £699 in hardware, plus 1.6 to 1.75 percent of every card payment you take.
The card rate is the number that decides the bill. A cafe taking £15,000 a month on card pays around £255 a month in processing at 1.7 percent. That is more than any software tier on this page.
Prices checked 27 July 2026 from each vendor own UK pricing page. Where a vendor does not publish a figure, this page says so rather than guessing.
What does EPOS software cost per month in the UK?
| System | Entry software cost | Higher tier | Card present rate | Pricing published? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SumUp | £0 | £29 to £49/mo | 1.69% | Yes |
| PayPal Zettle | £0 | n/a | 1.75% | Yes |
| Square | £0 | £49 to £69/mo | 1.75% | Yes |
| Shopify POS | £25/mo | £69/mo POS Pro add-on | 1.6 to 1.7% | Yes |
| Lightspeed Retail | £75/mo | £149 to £189/mo | Not published | Partly |
| Toast UK | £80/mo | £150/mo | Not published | Partly |
| TISSL | From £89/mo | From £149 to £259/mo | Not published | Partly |
| Storekit | £0 | £149 to £399/mo rolling | Not published | Partly |
| Epos Now | Bundled | From £54/mo subscription | 1.70% | Partly |
| ICRTouch | Not published | Not published | Not published | No |
| Access EPoS | Not published | Not published | Not published | No |
| Vita Mojo | Not published | Not published | Not published | No |
Checked 27 July 2026. VAT treatment is only explicitly stated by Square, Zettle and SumUp, all of which quote hardware excluding VAT.
What does the hardware actually cost?
| Item | SumUp | Zettle | Square |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tap to Pay on a phone | £0 | n/a | n/a |
| Cheapest card reader | £25 (Solo Lite) | £29 introductory, £69 after | £19 |
| Standalone terminal | £135 | £149 | £149 |
| Till stand | n/a | from £169 store kit | £99 plus your own tablet |
| Full register | n/a | n/a | £699 |
All hardware prices excluding VAT, checked 27 July 2026. Shopify publishes a £239 POS Terminal; its card reader price was not published on the UK hardware page when we checked.
Why is the card rate the number that matters?
Because it scales with your takings and the software fee does not.
| Monthly card takings | At 1.69% | At 1.75% | Difference per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| £5,000 | £84.50 | £87.50 | £36 |
| £15,000 | £253.50 | £262.50 | £108 |
| £30,000 | £507.00 | £525.00 | £216 |
| £60,000 | £1,014.00 | £1,050.00 | £432 |
Illustrative, based on the published rates above applied to card present transactions.
Six hundredths of a percent looks like nothing. At £60,000 a month it is £432 a year, which is most of a Square Register. This is why the vendors who will not publish a rate are the ones to press hardest.
How long are you tied in?
This is where UK rules help you, and most EPOS content never mentions them.
The Payment Systems Regulator decided in October 2022 that POS terminal lease and rental contracts from directed acquirers must have an initial minimum term of no more than 18 months. After that they must move to rolling terms of no more than 31 calendar days. Exit and termination fees must be cost based, fully explained and transparent before you sign. The rules apply to merchants with annual card turnover up to £10 million.
The PSR market review that led to those remedies found that terminal contracts and their early termination fees were actively discouraging small merchants from switching acquirer, and that acquirers do not typically publish their prices.
The gap to watch. The 18 month cap applies to terminal lease and rental, not to the EPOS software subscription. That is why Epos Now can require a 12 month subscription on its discounted bundle, Shopify Plus can require one to three years, and Storekit can discount for a 12 month commitment. Two different contracts, two different sets of rules.
What should you actually pay?
A sensible order of decisions
- Start with the card rate, not the software. Get it in writing as a percentage and a pence figure, for card present and card not present separately.
- Work out your annual processing cost at your real takings before you look at any software tier.
- Buy the cheapest hardware that does the job. A £19 reader and a tablet you already own is a valid till for a market stall or a mobile therapist.
- Only pay for a software tier once you need table plans, stock control or multi-site reporting. Free tiers from Square, SumUp and Zettle run a small cafe perfectly well.
- Check the terminal contract separately from the software contract, and ask for the exit fee in writing.
What to be wary of
- Any system that will not publish a card rate. ICRTouch, Access, Vita Mojo, TISSL and Lightspeed all withhold theirs. That is a negotiation, not a price list.
- Heavily discounted hardware bundles. Epos Now advertises a bundle from £199, down from £849, tied to a 12 month subscription starting at £54 a month. The hardware is cheap because the subscription is not.
- Quotes that do not state VAT. Only three of the twelve systems checked state VAT clearly where the price appears. Assume 20 percent on top unless it says otherwise.
- Rates quoted only as market rate or competitive. That is not a rate. Ask for the number.
- Comparing software tiers without comparing processing. On £30,000 a month of card takings, processing costs more than every software tier on this page combined.
The bottom line
For most small UK hospitality and retail businesses, the right answer is a free software tier from Square, SumUp or Zettle, cheap hardware, and a card rate under 1.75 percent.
Pay for a tier when the operation demands it, not when the salesperson does. And never sign a terminal contract without reading the exit fee, because the regulator forced them to make it readable for exactly this reason.
Not sure where your money is going?
Run a free check on your business and get specific recommendations.
Common questions
How much does an EPOS system cost in the UK?
Software runs from £0 to £399 a month depending on the system and tier, hardware from £19 for a card reader to £699 for a full register, and card processing at 1.6 to 1.75 percent of card present transactions. Checked 27 July 2026, Square, SumUp and PayPal Zettle all offer free software tiers, Shopify POS starts at £25 a month, Lightspeed Retail at £75, Toast UK at £80 and TISSL from £89.
What is the cheapest EPOS system for a UK small business?
Free. Square, SumUp and PayPal Zettle all publish £0 software tiers, and the cheapest hardware is a £19 Square reader or SumUp Tap to Pay on a phone at no cost. Card processing then runs at 1.69 percent with SumUp and 1.75 percent with Square and Zettle.
How long is an EPOS contract in the UK?
It depends which contract you mean. Since the Payment Systems Regulator remedies of October 2022, POS terminal lease and rental contracts from directed acquirers must have an initial minimum term of no more than 18 months and must then roll on terms of no more than 31 days, with cost based and clearly explained exit fees. The EPOS software subscription is a separate contract and is not covered, which is why some systems still require 12 months or longer.
Which EPOS providers do not publish their prices?
Checked on 27 July 2026, ICRTouch, Access EPoS, Vita Mojo and Nobly publish no pricing at all and require a sales call. TISSL, Lightspeed, Toast UK and Storekit publish software tiers but not card processing rates. Epos Now publishes a card rate of 1.70 percent but no standalone software price.
Is the card processing rate more important than the monthly fee?
For most businesses, yes. At £15,000 a month in card takings, processing at 1.7 percent costs around £255 a month, which is more than any published software tier in this comparison. A difference of 0.06 percentage points in the rate is worth £108 a year at that level and £432 a year at £60,000 a month.
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