Best Free POS Systems for UK Businesses (2026)
Square POS is the default — full inventory, free online store, offline mode, no monthly fee. Loyverse wins if you want to choose your own card processor.
- No monthly fee, no contract, and a free online store that syncs to in-store inventory.
- Offline mode queues card transactions for up to 24 hours when WiFi drops.
- Hardware from £19 +VAT for the Square Reader; Tap to Pay also free on iPhone and Android.
Compare free POS systems at a glance
Pick the row that matches your volume and your tolerance for hardware lock-in. Pricing, hardware, and offline behaviour verified against provider websites, May 2026.
| Provider | Monthly software fee | In-person transaction fee | Hardware from | Offline mode | Inventory at free tier | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £0 | 1.75% flat | £19 +VAT (Square Reader) | Yes (24-hour queue) | Yes — full | Get Square → |
 | £0 (Lite) | 1.69% PAYG | £14.99 +VAT (Air reader) | Cash only offline | Basic | Visit SumUp → |
 | £0 | 1.75% flat | £29 +VAT (Zettle Reader 2) | Not advertised | Yes | Visit Zettle → |
 | £0 (software only) | Set by your card processor | £0 — bring your own tablet | Yes (cash + sync) | Yes | Visit Loyverse → |
 | £0 with Shopify (from £19/mo) | ~1.7% (Shopify Payments) | £49 (Tap & Chip Reader) | Limited | Yes — synced with online | Visit Shopify POS → |
Pricing and feature data verified against provider websites, May 2026. Every provider in this table charges per-transaction processing fees on card sales — “free” refers to the absence of a monthly software fee, not zero cost. Confirm current rates with each provider before signing up.
BusinessExpert may earn a commission when you sign up through links on this page. Our editorial picks are based on verified pricing, feature breadth, and operational fit — not commission rates. Square is our featured affiliate partner.
The decision most owners actually face is this: at your card volume, will the per-transaction fees on a free POS cost you more than a paid plan that drops the rate? Run the maths before treating “free” as automatically cheapest. Above roughly £3,000–£5,000 a month in card sales, a paid plan with a lower rate often beats a free flat-rate plan within a few months.
The best free POS systems for UK businesses
Picks are ranked by feature breadth at the free tier and how well each system holds up as the business grows. Each comes with an explicit condition for when it is the wrong choice.
Best free POS overall
Square POS. The most complete free POS available in the UK. Inventory, employee time tracking, sales reporting, a free online store, and an offline mode that queues transactions for up to 24 hours when connectivity drops — all included at the free tier with no monthly fee and no contract. Hardware starts at £19 +VAT for the Square Reader. The trade-off is that Square is both the POS and the payment processor; you can’t bring a cheaper acquirer.
Not right if: you process more than £5,000–£8,000 a month in card sales. At that volume the 1.75% flat rate becomes worth refinancing — either by upgrading inside Square or by switching to a system like Loyverse where you control the card processor.
Get Square POSBest free POS for sole traders and pop-ups
SumUp POS Lite. SumUp’s free POS is deliberately simple: take a card payment, log a sale, generate a receipt. No advanced inventory, no employee management, no online store. The 1.69% PAYG rate is the lowest confirmed in-person rate on this list, hardware starts at £14.99 +VAT (Air reader) or £0 with Tap to Pay on your existing phone, and there’s no contract. For a sole trader who needs to take cards reliably without managing a system, simplicity is the point.
Not right if: you need real inventory control, multiple staff accounts, or an online store. SumUp’s free tier doesn’t pretend to do those things; you’d be paying SumUp’s monthly Pro tier or moving to Square or Loyverse.
Visit SumUpBest free POS already running PayPal
Zettle by PayPal. Free POS app with inventory at the free tier, no monthly fee, no contract, and 1.75% flat including Amex. The differentiator is settlement: card takings land in your PayPal Business account in minutes rather than next day. If your business already runs a PayPal balance for online sales or invoicing, Zettle keeps in-person and online takings in the same reconciliation flow. The catch is that funds in PayPal still need a transfer to a standard bank account before they’re fully spendable.
Not right if: you don’t use PayPal for anything else. The PayPal-first settlement adds a step you don’t need, and at 1.75% with fewer features than Square, it isn’t the default choice.
Visit ZettleBest free POS that lets you choose your own card processor
Loyverse POS. Loyverse separates two things every other system on this list bundles together: the POS software and the card processing. The software is permanently free with no per-transaction fee at the POS layer; you connect a separate processor (SumUp, Zettle, or Teya) and pay that provider’s rate directly. A cafe that starts on SumUp at 1.69% can later switch to a lower-rate acquirer without retraining staff on a new POS. Inventory, customer loyalty, and a free kitchen display app are all included.
Not right if: you don’t already have an iOS or Android tablet to run it on, or you want a single relationship for software and payments. Loyverse’s strength — processor independence — is also its operational complexity.
Visit LoyverseBest free POS for businesses already on Shopify
Shopify POS Lite. Free for any business with an active Shopify subscription. Inventory, customer data, and reporting all flow through the same Shopify back office that runs the online store, so a Shopify shop adding in-person sales doesn’t need a second product catalogue. Hardware starts at £49 (Shopify Tap & Chip Reader). The honest framing: not free standalone — the £19/month Shopify Basic plan is the real entry cost.
Not right if: you don’t already use Shopify for an online store. Don’t take a Shopify subscription just to access POS Lite; Square or Loyverse will be cheaper if e-commerce isn’t already part of the business.
Visit Shopify POSBest free POS systems compared
Square Reader
Shopify POS Lite
What “free” actually means in a free POS
“Free” in this context means no ongoing monthly software fee. It does not mean no transaction fees. Every provider in the table charges per-card transaction, with rates between 1.69% and 1.75% for in-person card-present payments in the UK as of May 2026. The free part is the absence of a monthly subscription on top of that. Hardware costs separately, from around £15 to £300+ depending on the setup.
The break-even maths matter and most owners skip them. At 1.75% per transaction, a business doing £3,000/month in card payments pays £52.50/month in processing. If a paid POS plan costs £29/month but drops the rate to 1.2%, the saving on fees is £16.50/month — more than covering the subscription. The crossover sits at roughly £5,750/month in card turnover for that example. Run the calculation on your actual volume before treating a free POS as automatically cheaper.
What to look for in a free POS system
Per-transaction processing rate
The headline number is the in-person card-present rate. SumUp at 1.69% is the lowest confirmed rate on this list; Square and Zettle sit at 1.75% flat including Amex. Loyverse passes the rate through to whichever processor you connect, so it inherits SumUp’s 1.69% or Zettle’s 1.75% depending on the pairing. Shopify POS Lite uses Shopify Payments at roughly 1.7% on the Basic plan.
Inventory at the free tier
Inventory is where free POS systems differ most. Square includes a full inventory module with low-stock alerts. Zettle and Loyverse include capable product libraries. SumUp’s free tier is deliberately basic and adds inventory only on the paid Pro tier. Shopify POS Lite inherits Shopify’s inventory engine, which is the strongest of the five if you already have a product catalogue online.
Offline mode
Offline reliability is the dimension that separates POS systems in the real world. Square queues card transactions for up to 24 hours when connectivity drops, then settles when the connection returns. Loyverse processes cash sales offline and syncs when reconnected. SumUp and Zettle don’t advertise offline card acceptance for UK merchants — cash-only offline. Shopify POS Lite has limited offline capability tied to the Shopify subscription tier. Test the offline behaviour against your actual location before committing.
Settlement speed
Square and SumUp settle next working day to a UK business bank account. Zettle settles to PayPal in minutes, then takes one to two business days to transfer to a high-street bank. Loyverse settlement is whatever your linked processor offers. Shopify Payments typically settles T+3 on the Basic plan. For tight cashflow cycles, the difference between minutes-to-PayPal and three-day Shopify settlement is real money.
Hardware lock-in
Square, SumUp, and Zettle each sell their own readers and pair only with their own apps; switching POS means buying new hardware. Loyverse runs on standard iOS or Android tablets and pairs with whichever card reader your processor uses, so you can change either side independently. Shopify POS Lite uses Shopify-branded readers tied to the Shopify subscription. Hardware lock-in is the cost most owners underestimate when picking a free POS.
Online store integration
Square includes a free Square Online store that syncs inventory and orders with the in-person POS. Shopify POS Lite is built around the Shopify online store. Loyverse and SumUp don’t include a native online store; you’d add WooCommerce, BigCommerce, or a similar platform separately. Zettle has historically integrated with PayPal’s online tools but doesn’t include a standalone storefront builder.
Providers excluded from the free POS table
EPOS Now
EPOS Now is a capable POS but isn’t free at the software layer. The published entry pricing is around £54/month on a 12-month minimum, with discounted hardware bundles tied to that subscription. We’ve covered EPOS Now elsewhere; it doesn’t belong in a roundup of POS systems with no monthly software fee.
Clover
Clover’s UK pricing is bundled through reseller partners (Barclaycard, Tyl by NatWest), each with different hardware and software fees. There’s no genuinely free Clover tier — the entry point is a rental terminal with monthly fees set by the reseller. Useful if you’re already on a Barclaycard or NatWest acquiring contract; not a free POS.
Dojo
Dojo is a payments-led product. The card reader and management portal are bundled into a monthly subscription (typically £39.99/month on a 12-month contract for businesses under £1m turnover). It’s a strong card payment proposition but not a free POS in any meaningful sense.
Frequently asked questions
Is any POS system genuinely free?
Genuinely free means no mandatory monthly software fee. Square, SumUp Lite, Zettle, and Loyverse all qualify. Shopify POS Lite qualifies only if you already have a Shopify subscription for other reasons. None of them are zero-cost overall — you still pay per-transaction processing on every card sale, and you still pay for hardware up front.
What’s the cheapest in-person card rate on a free POS?
SumUp at 1.69% PAYG, confirmed against sumup.com/en-gb in May 2026. Square and Zettle sit at 1.75% flat. Loyverse passes through whichever processor you pair, so its rate is whatever you connect (SumUp’s 1.69% or Zettle’s 1.75% are the typical pairings). For high volumes, none of these flat rates are the cheapest available — paid plans (Tide Sell In-Person, SumUp Payments Plus, negotiated Barclaycard or Worldpay rates) beat them once you clear roughly £5,000–£15,000/month in card sales depending on the plan.
Can I use a free POS without a card reader?
For card payments you need a reader, a Tap to Pay app, or a paired terminal. SumUp and Square both offer Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android, which lets you take contactless payments through the phone itself with no separate hardware. The transaction rate is the same as the standard reader rate. Limits: the £100 contactless cap means Chip and PIN customers still need a physical keypad, and your phone effectively becomes the till.
Do free POS systems support multiple users or staff accounts?
Square’s free tier includes employee time tracking and basic staff accounts. Loyverse’s free tier covers basic staff but charges per-employee for the Employee Management add-on (£5/month per employee), so staff costs scale with team size. SumUp Lite and Zettle don’t include real staff management at the free tier. Shopify POS Lite has limited staff features; full role management requires Shopify POS Pro at £79/month per location.
Which free POS works offline?
Square is the strongest on offline card acceptance — up to 24 hours of queued transactions. Loyverse handles cash offline and syncs when reconnected. SumUp and Zettle don’t advertise offline card payments for UK merchants — cash only offline. Shopify POS Lite’s offline mode is limited and tier-dependent. For market traders, pop-ups, and venues with patchy WiFi, Square is the practical default.
How fast do free POS systems pay out?
Square and SumUp settle next working day to a UK business bank account. Zettle settles to PayPal in minutes, then takes one to two business days to a standard bank. Loyverse settlement is whatever your linked processor pays. Shopify Payments on the Basic plan settles T+3. Faster settlement matters most for tight-cashflow businesses where a Monday card take should be spendable on Tuesday morning.
Pricing and feature claims verified against provider websites in May 2026. Rates change — confirm current pricing with each provider before signing up. This page is editorial content, not regulated financial advice.
We researched POS systems available to UK businesses with no mandatory monthly software fee. Pricing, hardware, and feature claims were verified against each provider’s primary website. Selection reflects current pricing, feature breadth at the free tier, and operational fit for early-stage UK businesses. Verified May 2026.
Pricing and feature claims are sourced from providers’ primary websites and pricing pages. Rates and features change — confirm current pricing with each provider before signing up.
Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you sign up through one, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t affect our editorial judgements or rankings. See our editorial policy for details.