Introduction
When every business cost takes away from your profits, you will be on the hunt for free software where you can get them.
There are plenty of free ePOS systems available, but they all come with a catch or fault.
In this guide, you’ll find out everything that you need to know about free ePOS systems, including what they are and where you can find them.
Let’s take a look at your options right now!
What’s in this guide?
The Best Free ePOS Options
1. Square
Type: Epos Provider
Trustpilot Score: 5/5
Square is one of the big players in POS, and they offer one version of their software, and it’s always free.
Square offers everything a small business could need, including employee management, inventory management, tabs and receipt options, as well as full reporting.
The catch…. To use Square POS, you also need to use their card payment processing facility.
If you are accepting cards, then you will need to pay for processing anyway, but Square’s per-transaction rate is relatively high. Payments you take in person (chip and pin or contactless) will cost 1.75% of the transaction value.
Typed in payments that you take over the phone or online will cost 2.5%.
2. iZettle
Type: Epos Provider
Trustpilot Score: 4/5
iZettle has been labelled “the Square of Europe” and pretty much offers the same deal, a free POS if you use their payment processing service.
iZettle Go covers all the basics including customer and inventory management, and there are no limits on how many users or products you can have.
However, it is just their basic retail and e-commerce versions that are free.
You will need to pay a monthly fee for iZettle Go Plus if you want to integrate your online and in-store inventories. Restaurants will need to pay for iZettle Pro to open up table management and tab functionality. Both paid options are £29/month each.
The catch… As with Square, you are locked into using iZettle for your card payment processing.
Using iZettle Go you will pay 1.75% for in-person transactions and 2.5% for e-commerce transactions.
Restaurants, bars and cafes that use iZettle Go will pay just 1.25% on each transaction.
3. Zero POS
Type: Epos Provider
Capterra Score: 4.5/5
ZeroPOS is the best free POS for Android users, though it also runs on Windows and Linux.
Their mobile version for Android is free. This free POS software is full of features.
You could do all of your transaction processing, process discounts, gift cards and exchanges of a full product line with it. If you need them, you can pay to add on reporting, customer loyalty or employee management modules.
The catch…The limitation is that the free version is just available for mobiles.
Running your whole till system on the phone may look unprofessional and be rather inefficient if you are running a brick and mortar store.
However, you can upgrade to a multi-mobile, tablet or PC based version.
At this point, your POS is no longer free, but their plans are pretty affordable, starting at just £10/month.
4. Loyverse
Type: Epos Provider
Capterra Score: 5/5
Loyverse offers a great free POS app, available for both apple and android devices.
You will have transactions, basic reporting and a customer loyalty program covered for free.
You can then choose to add-on more advanced and remote reporting, kitchen or customer display apps, for a fee. The interface is beautiful, and small businesses review it thoroughly.
The catch… Loyverse is a customer loyalty app at its heart.
To fully use the customer loyalty program feature of your POS, Loyverse wants your customers to download their app.
This way the customer can gain loyalty points in your store, and presumably get other offers from Loyverse through the app.
This isn’t a negative, because it isn’t compulsory to use this part of the system, and customers can, of course, opt out.
5. Keyhut
Type: Epos Provider
Capterra Score: 5/5
Well, you have got to the fun one on the list, Keyhut is a bit out of the ordinary.
Quirky genius Dale Harris decided to build a POS system for kicks and has made it available for nothing, no strings attached.
Keyhut is almost unlimited in the number of products and users you can have, and some large stores are successfully using this system.
The interface isn’t all that pretty, it sort of looks like a 90s computer screen, but the functionality is there. It’s worth a look at the Keyhut website, and especially the facebook page for a few laughs, as well as a whole lot of rave reviews.
The catch… there isn’t one. They only thing that might hold you back is that this system is just created and supported by one guy, so there is some risk that it might not be sustained forever.
However users say that Dale is accommodating during setup, you might have a better customer service experience for free than you get from a paid POS from a big corporate.
6. Floreant
Type: Epos Provider
Capterra Score: 5/5
Floreant is an open source POS system designed just for restaurants. You can download the full program free of charge, and use it as is or make any changes so that the system fits your needs.
Floreant is unique as an open source POS for restaurants.
The standard software encompasses order and kitchen management, can handle tabs and split bills. It has reporting and elements of employee management.
Plugins are available to add extra functionality, some paid, some free.
The catch… You will either want to be a bit tech savvy or to pay for some setup and customisation support. Floreant was built by a company called Orocube LLC, and they still put out regular updates for free.
However, you can also pay them to customise the software to your business with program edits and plugins.
FAQ
What is a POS system?
A POS system can help you and your employees to more natural conduct sales by using things such as a cash register and a computer, but also sometimes items such as iPads and your smartphone.
These devices can complete your transactions and usually print off a receipt for your customers.
Usually, you can also manage things such as reports based on your customer demographic, your inventory and manage your employees.
How can POS systems help me?
✔ Complete transactions on mobile devices such as tablets or phones
✔ Print off receipts for your customers and gather customer information
✔ Manage your employees and see which of your employees are the best performers
✔ View and manage your inventory levels, with alerts to keep you stocked
Is free worth the cost?
Upfront, you need to consider if you are better off paying a small monthly fee for your POS system instead of using a free option. You want a reliable POS system, as you are going to miss sales if it crashes or it isn’t user-friendly.
Free systems can work well but are usually limited in features or number of users.
If your business is growing, then it is almost certainly worth biting the bullet to get a full feature system, even if it costs you.
Take a look at the main types of free POS software so you can weigh up the pros and cons.
What’s the best free ePOS system?
The best free POS system that could suit you and your business depends on many different factors, which might include the following:
- The versatility of the software
- If you’ll need to buy any equipment
- Manage stock and inventory
- If there are alerts to low inventory
- Manage your employees and performance
- Customer service scores online
What are the categories of free ePOS software?
Category |
Pros |
Cons |
| Free POS when you use their payment processing platform |
|
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| Freemium version with basic features or tie-ins to other systems |
|
|
| Fully free systems |
|
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Conclusion
In conclusion, there are many different options when it comes to getting free POS software for free; from the entirely free for use Keyhut which requires a computer, to iZettle which is free if you use their transaction processing.
Have you learnt what you need to know about free POS systems?
Do you want to learn more about POS systems in general? Or do you want to compare all of your options right now?
Take a look at the comparison tool at the top of the page, or, you can check out the ExpertSure guides here.
