Zettle vs Servio: which suits your venue?
Zettle by PayPal gives you a free, simple till. Servio gives you a connected cloud POS with ordering and kitchen screens included. An honest look at where each one fits, from the team behind one of them.
Last updated · prices checked against published UK rates
Disclosure: Servio is our product. Every figure is a published detail or a marked estimate you can confirm with each provider.
The short version
Zettle's strength is a genuinely free POS app backed by PayPal, which is ideal for a simple counter. Servio's strength is that the till, QR ordering, kitchen display and analytics are one connected system, not a free app with a stack of paid add-ons. If table service, QR or kitchen screens are anywhere in your plans, that connection is where the value is.
How do Zettle and Servio compare?
| Servio | Zettle | |
|---|---|---|
| Software | £89-£219/month, whole platform | £0 for the POS app |
| QR ordering + kitchen display | Included from Starter | No first-party QR or KDS. Sourced stand-in: SumUp POS Plus £39 + kitchen screens £19 each (est.) |
| Hardware | Your own tablets and phones (£0) | Two terminals, printer dock and kitchen printer £895 |
| Payments | Stripe published rates, no markup | Zettle/PayPal rates; app routing can raise the effective rate |
| Contract | Month-to-month | None |
| Best for | Venues wanting one connected system | Simple counters and short menus |
Based on publicly available UK information and typical configurations. Details vary by plan and change over time, so confirm current terms with each provider.
What is Zettle better at?
A free POS app, cheap readers, PayPal's reliability, and an afternoon to set up. For a market stall, coffee cart or short-menu counter with no table service, it is a sensible first till and anything heavier would be over-buying.
Who is Servio best for?
The free app still needs a sourced QR + kitchen stack (~£77/month est.) and a loyalty stand-in, plus ~£895 of kit. All-in at the modelled venue sits around £1,015 against Servio at £999; Servio opens at £0 and stays one bill. The worked example is in our POS cost guide. Servio includes those features in one platform, publishes every price, and stays month-to-month. See the full field ranked in the 2026 comparison.
Common questions
Is Zettle really free?
The Zettle POS app is free to use and you pay card fees per transaction, which genuinely works for a simple counter. The cost appears when you add restaurant features: there is no first-party QR or kitchen display, so we price a sourced stand-in (around £77/month) plus £25/month loyalty (est.). Hardware is still ~£895. All-in at the modelled venue sits around £1,015 against Servio at £999; Servio opens at £0 and stays one bill.
Does Zettle have a kitchen display and QR ordering?
Not as one native connected system. Zettle is a payments-led POS; hospitality features are typically added through separate apps. Servio includes QR ordering and a single-station kitchen display from the £89 Starter plan, with multi-station routing on Growth, so front and back of house stay in one platform.
When should I choose Zettle?
If you run a simple counter today with one till, a short menu and no table service, and you are confident you will not need QR ordering or kitchen screens in the next year, Zettle is a cheap first till with PayPal behind it. Servio is the better fit the moment you outgrow that, and a food-led venue usually does inside a year.
Can I move my menu from Zettle to Servio?
Yes. Servio imports your menu from a file or URL and rebuilds your categories, items and modifiers, so switching is usually an afternoon, not a project. See the menu migration guide for how it works.
Read the best UK restaurant POS systems 2026 comparison, the restaurant POS cost guide, and how we calculate every figure.