Choosing the right restaurant pos system is one of those decisions that can either make your life a total breeze or leave you pulling your hair out during a Friday night rush. If you’ve spent any time looking for a new epos system, you’ve likely bumped into the big three: Toast, Epos Now, and Square.
Each one claims to be the best pos system on the market, but as we know in the hospitality trade, what works for a massive city-centre steakhouse might be a total nightmare for a small pop-up coffee shop. We’ve done the legwork for you, digging into the features, the costs, and the "real-world" usability of these platforms.
In this guide, we’re going to break down how Toast, Epos Now, and Square stack up against each other so you can decide which one deserves a spot on your counter.
Why Your POS System Choice Actually Matters
Years ago, a "till" was just a place to keep cash and print a basic receipt. Today, a modern epos system is essentially the brain of your business. It handles your floor plan, tracks your inventory down to the last burger bun, manages your staff shifts, and even takes care of your online orders.
If you pick the wrong one, you’re looking at manual workarounds, frustrated staff, and, worst of all, slow service. But get it right, and you’ll find yourself with more time to actually focus on your customers. Whether you’re looking for the cheapest pos system to get started or a heavy-duty restaurant pos system to manage multiple sites, the "best" choice is the one that fits your specific workflow.
Toast: The High-Performance Heavyweight
Toast has built a massive reputation by focusing 100% on the hospitality industry. Unlike some systems that try to be a retail pos system and a restaurant system at the same time, Toast is built specifically for feeding people.
The Good Stuff
We love how deep the features go with Toast. It’s an Android-based system, and the hardware is specifically designed to survive the harsh environment of a kitchen, think spills, heat, and the occasional dropped tablet.
In terms of features, Toast is a beast. You get advanced floor planning, tableside ordering, and a kitchen display system (KDS) that is widely considered one of the best in the business. If you’re running a large, full-service restaurant with a complex menu, Toast’s ability to sync menus across multiple locations instantly is a massive win.
The Not-So-Good Stuff
The biggest hurdle with Toast is often the cost and the commitment. While they do offer a "starter" tier, the add-ons can get expensive quickly. Want online ordering? That’ll cost extra. Gift cards? Extra. You’ll also often find yourself locked into a long-term contract, which might not sit well if you prefer flexibility.
Alt text: A professional kitchen display system showing active orders in a busy restaurant.
Square: The Simple, No-Strings Starter
If you’ve ever visited a food truck or a local craft fair, you’ve seen Square. They practically invented the "plug and play" mobile POS market. While they’ve expanded into more robust restaurant pos system territory lately, simplicity is still their main selling point.
The Good Stuff
Square is often the cheapest pos system for those just starting out because there are no monthly software fees for their basic plan. You just pay a percentage of each transaction. It’s incredibly easy to set up, you could literally be taking payments within ten minutes of opening the box.
We also think Square’s offline mode is a lifesaver. If your Wi-Fi drops out, you can still take payments, and the system will process them once you’re back online. For pop-ups or venues with patchy internet, this is a huge deal. It’s also a strong contender if you’re looking for something that bridges the gap between a simple payment processor and a full epos system.
The Not-So-Good Stuff
Where Square starts to struggle is with complex inventory. If you need to track ingredients (like how many grams of coffee are used per latte), Square isn’t quite there yet. As your business grows and you add more locations, those "simple" transaction fees can also start to bite harder than a fixed monthly subscription would.
Epos Now: The Versatile All-Rounder (Our Top Pick)
If Toast is the enterprise giant and Square is the entry-level specialist, Epos Now sits right in that "Goldilocks" zone. It offers the advanced features of a high-end system but keeps the flexibility and ease of use that small business owners crave.
We’ve spent a lot of time looking at their software, and it’s clear why they are a favourite for UK businesses. Whether you need a retail pos system or a dedicated setup for a pub, Epos Now adapts to you, rather than making you adapt to the software.
Why We Rate Epos Now So Highly
One of the standout features of the epos now till system is the AppStore. Much like your smartphone, you can add "apps" to your POS to give it extra powers. Need to integrate with Sage or Xero for your accounting? There’s an app for that. Want to set up a loyalty scheme? There’s an app for that too.
For restaurants specifically, their inventory management is top-tier. You can track stock at an ingredient level, meaning you’ll get alerts before you run out of steak on a Saturday night. Plus, the hardware is sleek, modern, and very competitively priced.
If you want to see exactly how it stacks up, you should definitely check out our comprehensive Epos Now till system review. It goes into much more detail on the pricing and the specific hardware options available.
Alt text: An Epos Now till system on a modern bar counter with a customer paying via card.
Direct Comparison: At a Glance
Sometimes you just want the facts laid out. Here’s how the three compare on the things that actually matter to your bottom line:
| Feature | Toast | Square | Epos Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best For | Large/Multi-location | Small cafes & Pop-ups | Mid-sized & Growing |
| Contract | Long-term | Month-to-month | Flexible options |
| Inventory | Advanced/Ingredient | Basic | Robust/Ingredient |
| Offline Mode | Yes (limited) | Excellent | Yes |
| Ease of Use | Moderate | Very Easy | Easy |
| Hardware | Custom Android | iPad or Square Hardware | Multiple (PC, Mac, Android) |
As you can see, each has its place. However, for most UK hospitality owners, we find that the epos now till system offers the best balance of power and price. It’s a solid epos system that grows with you, which is why it’s often cited as the best pos system for those looking to scale.
What About Shopify and SumUp?
It's worth mentioning that there are other players in the game. You might have looked at a shopify pos or a sumup pos.
Shopify POS is fantastic if your business is primarily an online shop that happens to have a physical location (you can read our Shopify POS review here). However, for a dedicated restaurant, it lacks some of the finer hospitality details like table management.
SumUp POS is another great budget option, similar to Square. It’s very popular for small coffee shops and bars that just need to take quick payments without a lot of bells and whistles. You can see how it compares in our SumUp POS system review.
How to Make the Final Decision
When you're ready to pull the trigger, we recommend asking yourself these three questions:
- How complex is my menu? If you have hundreds of items with various modifiers (e.g., "no onions," "extra cheese," "gluten-free"), you need a system like Toast or Epos Now that handles modifiers smoothly.
- What’s my budget? If you have zero upfront capital, Square might be your only choice. But if you can invest a little in hardware to save on transaction fees later, Epos Now is usually the smarter financial move in the long run.
- Do I need it to talk to other software? If you already use specific accounting or staff scheduling software, check the integrations. This is where Epos Now really shines because of its massive integration library.
Alt text: A restaurant owner looking at sales analytics on a tablet.
Our Recommendation
If you’re still on the fence, we’d say that for the average UK restaurant, pub, or cafe, Epos Now is the way to go. It’s reliable, the support is great, and the level of customisation you get for the price is hard to beat. It’s a professional restaurant pos system that doesn't feel like it's trying to overcharge you for every little feature.
It’s definitely worth getting a demo to see how the interface feels in your hands. You can find out more about their latest offers and features here.
Choosing your pos system is a big step, but don't let it paralyse you. Most modern systems are designed to be user-friendly, and once you have your data migrated over, you'll wonder how you ever managed with your old setup. Whether you go for the advanced features of Toast, the simplicity of Square, or the balanced power of Epos Now, you're taking a massive step toward a more efficient, profitable business.
If you're still curious about the wider market, don't forget to check out our guide on what is the best EPOS system in the UK for a broader look at the industry.
Final Thoughts from Dan
At What EPOS, we see hundreds of business owners go through this exact struggle. The "best" system is always the one that lets you stop thinking about tech and start thinking about your food and your guests. If you're looking for a solid all-rounder that won't let you down, we'd put our money on Epos Now every time. It’s a fantastic epos system that simply gets the job done.
Ready to upgrade? Click here to read our full Epos Now review and see if it's the right fit for your restaurant.