Resources · Methodology

How we compare UK POS costs

Compare one venue using POS, QR ordering, a kitchen station, ingredient stock and loyalty, run on two tills, two kitchen screens and two card terminals. Published prices and budget allowances are identified below.

Scope: one UK venue with POS, QR ordering, one kitchen station, ingredient inventory and loyalty, run on two tills, two kitchen screens and two card terminals. Servio uses devices the venue already owns; each rival is priced with that kit from its own hardware range, bought new. Prices exclude VAT. Payment fees are separate.

The comparison basis

Servio runs on devices and the card terminal the venue already owns, so its row is software only. Each rival is priced with the same full kit from its own hardware range, bought new: two tills, two kitchen screens and two card terminals. Where a provider sells no item of its own, we use the device its UK site names, such as an iPad. No cash drawer, printer or charger is added. Software and hardware exclude VAT; Apple’s and Lightspeed’s VAT-inclusive prices are divided by 1.2. Card processing and variable ordering fees are separate.

Software charged per device is counted for this kit: SumUp charges for each kitchen screen, and Lightspeed for each device beyond the licences in its plan. Square Restaurants Plus includes unlimited devices and kitchen screens, and Servio Starter shows its one kitchen station on any number of screens. The rows are list prices for one example kit, not a minimum hardware spend; existing compatible equipment can lower any provider’s cost.

The five indicators describe the selected package, not identical feature depth or support. A priced add-on is already included in the total. A tilde marks an allowance, not a confirmed vendor price. Toast uses market benchmarks for unpublished UK QR and loyalty prices; those integrations and the final supplier package are unconfirmed. Its total is a planning estimate, not a guaranteed matching integrated offer.

Servio

Starter £89 plus native ingredient inventory £29 gives £118/month or £1,416/year on monthly billing. POS, QR order and pay, one kitchen station and loyalty are included, and both kitchen screens can show that station. No proprietary Servio till is required, and it works with any card reader: a supported Stripe reader can be set up for integrated payments, and payments on any other reader are recorded in Servio manually. Servio’s row therefore includes no hardware.

Square

Restaurants Plus £69, MarketMan £79 for eligible new sellers, Loyalty from £25 for 0–500 monthly visits and Online Plus £240/year total £193/month equivalent. Restaurants Plus includes unlimited KDS screens. Square’s UK shop lists the Register at £699 and the 10.1-inch kitchen display at £499, each excluding VAT (checked 27 October 2026). Each Register has a card reader built in, so the two Registers are both the tills and the card terminals; no separate Square Terminal is added. Two Registers and two kitchen displays add £2,396 once. Total: £4,712 in year one, about £392.67/month. The £900 annual saving shown against this bundle is software-only.

SumUp

The selected POS Pro example is a £49 licence for each of the two tills plus Advanced Stock £19, Hospitality £19 for recipe specification, Advanced Loyalty £19 and two Kitchen Display licences at £19 per screen. That is £193/month. It is a selected recipe-ready bundle, not a claim that every venue must buy every module. If Hospitality is not needed, subtract £19/month. POS Pro runs on iPads, which SumUp does not sell, so the kit is four new iPads at £357.50 each (two tills, two kitchen screens) and two SumUp Solo readers at £79 each, excluding VAT (checked 27 October 2026): £1,588 once. No iPad stand is added. SumUp’s help centre says each device running POS Pro needs its own licence and that extra licences are bought through support; it lists no price for them, so the second is estimated at the same £49. Total: £3,904 in year one, about £325.33/month. Goodeats table ordering on Stripe Express is 1.7% + 12p per order including all debit and credit card fees, with VAT on that fee. It varies with orders, so it is not added to the total; do not add another processing charge to that rate.

Toast

The budget combines Essentials at £150/month with a £99/month ingredient inventory benchmark from TruLens, which advertises Toast connectivity. QR gets a £30/month allowance based on Tradeinit UK pricing, and loyalty a £20/month allowance based on TapStamp Starter. These are market benchmarks, not published Toast module prices or verified integrations with those two services. Native Toast rates could be lower or higher; the estimate does not claim those third-party purchases are compulsory. xtraCHEF is not used in this UK estimate because Toast says it is US-only.

Toast UK publishes neither its hardware prices nor its charge for devices after the first, so both rest on stated assumptions. We assume Essentials covers the first till and kitchen screen, and price the second till and second screen at £7/month each, based on Clover’s published £6.99 per extra device. We assume the kit, two tills with card payment and two kitchen screens, costs £1,588, the same as the cheapest comparable kit in this comparison (SumUp’s). Software, allowances and extra devices come to about £313/month: about £5,344 in year one with the kit. Toast’s actual prices could be higher or lower; confirm a like-for-like package before buying.

Lightspeed

The UK Restaurant page lists Core at £149/month with two device licences, which run the two kitchen screens, and extra registers at £39/month each for the two tills: £227/month, £2,724 a year. QR ordering, inventory and loyalty are included in this selected tier. We use the GBP figures from the UK page, not euro prices or Retail plans. That page labels prices per month but doesn’t state VAT treatment, so £149 and £39 are treated as monthly prices excluding VAT. If they include VAT, Lightspeed’s first year is about £4,296.67. Lightspeed’s UK hardware store lists the iPad at £429, its iPad stand at £139 and the Hospitality Smart Terminal at £219, all including VAT (checked 27 October 2026). Four iPads, two stands and two terminals come to £2,026.67 excluding VAT. Total: £4,750.67 in year one, about £395.89/month. Hardware and payment eligibility still depend on the supplier agreement.

Hardware prices and arithmetic

Every rival gets the same kit, priced on 27 October 2026 from the provider’s own UK shop: Square lists its prices excluding VAT; SumUp shows prices with and without VAT; Apple UK lists the entry iPad at £429 including VAT, £357.50 excluding VAT; Lightspeed’s UK store marks its prices as including VAT. These are list prices for one example kit, not minimum spends or quotes.

Monthly equivalent = monthly software + annual subscriptions divided by twelve + example hardware divided by twelve. Year one = twelve months of software + annual subscriptions + example hardware. Hardware divided by twelve is an accounting equivalent, not a finance offer. Exact calculations are rounded only for display. No editable budgets or sales-volume assumptions are required.

Payment compatibility

Servio works with any card reader: a supported Stripe reader can be set up for integrated payments once the venue’s Stripe account is ready, and staff record payments on any other reader in Servio manually and reconcile them with the reader’s provider. A venue that already owns a card terminal needs no new reader, so Servio’s row includes none. Replacements, required printing, installation, delivery or network work beyond the listed device allowances may add costs. Transaction fees are excluded consistently across providers.

Sources

Servio plans, Square Restaurants, MarketMan, Square Loyalty, Square Online, Square UK hardware shop, Square kitchen display and Square Register.

SumUp POS Pro and modules, SumUp POS Pro licence per device, SumUp UK shop, SumUp POS Pro hardware, Goodtill deployment and Solo integration, SumUp supported hardware and Goodeats fee inclusions.

Toast UK plans, Clover UK per-device charge, the basis for Toast’s extra devices, TruLens inventory and advertised Toast connectivity, Tradeinit QR benchmark, TapStamp loyalty benchmark and Toast xtraCHEF availability.

Lightspeed Restaurant UK pricing, Lightspeed UK hardware store, Lightspeed supported hardware and Apple UK iPad prices.

Servio publishes this comparison. Estimates may change and do not establish the cheapest provider for every venue. Compare the same features, billing terms, processing fees and device requirements before subscribing. Send corrections to enquiries@servio.uk.

Common questions

Are these guaranteed supplier prices?

No. Rival totals are estimated example packages at list prices. Toast’s total is an estimate throughout: UK market allowances for unpublished add-ons, extra devices based on Clover’s published per-device charge, and its kit assumed at the cheapest comparable kit here. Check the final supplier agreement.

Does every competitor require new hardware?

No. These rows show each rival with its own kit bought new. Existing compatible rival equipment can reduce the cost too.