Epos Now alternative for UK takeaways and restaurants
If you are searching for an alternative to Epos Now, you have usually already made the decision. What you need now is a clear-eyed look at what to check before you sign with anyone else — including us.
- The four costs that decide whether switching is worth it
- What to get in writing before you cancel
- UK hospitality EPOS from £499 + VAT
Short answer
For a UK takeaway or restaurant, the deciding factor is usually whether online ordering and kitchen display are included in the system or charged as monthly add-ons. Posso includes branded online ordering, sells the kitchen display as a one-off, and publishes its pricing — systems start at £499 + VAT with menu build and staff training included.
Why UK operators look for an Epos Now alternative
Epos Now is a large, established UK provider with over 80,000 businesses on its platform. It is not a bad system. But the reasons operators leave cluster around four specific things, and all four are worth checking against any replacement — this one included.
The add-on ladder
The headline software price is rarely the price you pay. Independent 2026 reviews report online ordering from around £25/month, kitchen display from around £19/month, loyalty from around £15/month and accounting sync from around £25/month, layered on a base subscription. Ask any provider: write down the monthly total for everything I need to open on Monday.
Contract length and exit terms
Independent reviews report hardware discounts tied to a support subscription with a minimum term that auto-renews, plus a separate multi-year care plan where early exit is calculated from remaining payments. Before signing with anyone, get three figures in writing: the minimum term, the renewal terms, and the exact cost of leaving in month 13.
Quote-led pricing
Epos Now's pricing is partly quote-led — you request a quote rather than reading a full price list. That is a legitimate commercial model, but it makes comparison hard, and it is the most common complaint in independent reviews.
Support when it actually matters
A till fault at 8pm on a Saturday is a different problem from one at 10am on a Tuesday. Ask for support hours, whether support is phone or ticket, and the average response time during service. Then ask for it in writing.
What to check in any replacement
Switching costs you time and disruption, so it is only worth doing if the replacement genuinely fixes the thing that made you leave.
Is online ordering included or an add-on?
This is the biggest single line-item difference between UK hospitality EPOS systems. If ordering is an add-on, add both its monthly fee and its per-order commission to your comparison.
Who owns the hardware at the end?
Some systems discount hardware in exchange for a long subscription; others sell it outright. Neither is wrong, but at month 37 one leaves you with an asset and one leaves you with nothing.
How many vendors are you signing with?
Till from one company, ordering from another, card machine from a third, kitchen screens from a fourth. Four bills, and when they stop talking to each other, four companies pointing at the other three.
What does migration actually involve?
Your menu, modifiers, prices and customer list. Ask who rebuilds it and whether that is chargeable. If a provider expects you to rekey 400 menu items yourself, that is a hidden cost measured in evenings.
What is the real card rate?
Get it as a percentage and a pence figure, for card-present and card-not-present separately. At £30,000 a month in card takings, a 0.5-point difference is £150 a month — more than most software subscriptions.
Does it work when the internet does not?
Ask what happens to order-taking, cash payments and receipt printing during an outage. Cloud-only systems stop; offline-first systems keep trading and sync when the connection returns.
How Posso compares
Posso is a UK hospitality-only EPOS platform, built in Leicester and supported from the UK.
Online ordering is part of the system, not an add-on. Your branded ordering site and app run on your own domain with the menu synced from the till. The 60p service fee is added to the customer's order — so on direct orders, the only fee your business pays is card processing.
One vendor covers the whole stack: EPOS till, kitchen display, self-order kiosks, online ordering, delivery integrations and card payments, on one support number. No integration fees and no vendor blame games.
Pricing is published. Systems start at £499 + VAT including hardware, software licence, menu and product setup, and staff training. Kiosks from £699 + VAT. A 21-inch kitchen display screen is £399 + VAT. Extra kitchen printers are £99. Just Eat, Uber Eats and Deliveroo integration is £45/month with unlimited orders. Finance is available from £24.92 per week.
Card processing runs through Posso Pay, Posso's own merchant service — rates are quoted on your card turnover, and the same rate applies in store and on the online payment gateway. Every system carries a 2-year warranty.
Where Posso is not the right answer
Posso is built for hospitality — restaurants, takeaways, cafés, pubs, QSRs and multi-site groups. If you run a convenience store, a pharmacy or a clothing shop and need deep retail stock control, barcode-driven purchasing and supplier management, Epos Now's retail depth is a genuine strength and you should stay on a retail-first platform.
Posso is also not the cheapest possible way to take a card payment. If you are a market stall or a pop-up that needs nothing but a reader, a free app tier from Square or SumUp will serve you better.
Switching without closing for a day
The migration is the part most operators dread, and usually the part that turns out to be easiest.
1. Send us your current menu
A photo, a PDF, a spreadsheet or an export. We build it, including modifiers and pricing.
2. We configure before shipping
Terminals arrive with your menu already loaded and kitchen routing set, not blank.
3. You pick the install date
Typically a quieter weekday, or between lunch and evening service. Not a Friday.
4. Staff training is included
About an hour for order-taking basics. Book it for a day when the people who use the till are in.
5. Your old system stays live
Nobody switches off a working till on faith. Run both until you are confident.
6. Setup is included
Menu build and equipment configuration cost nothing. Larger multi-terminal sites needing an on-site engineer are quoted separately.
Check your existing contract before you commit to a date
If you are inside a minimum term, request your exact settlement figure in writing from Epos Now first. We would rather time your switch around your renewal date than have you pay twice.
Epos Now alternatives — frequently asked questions
Is there a better alternative to Epos Now for a takeaway?
For a takeaway specifically, the deciding factor is usually online ordering. If most of your orders come through your own website or a marketplace, a system that includes ordering natively — rather than charging a monthly add-on plus per-order commission — will normally cost less over three years. Posso includes branded online ordering as part of the system, with the 60p service fee paid by the customer rather than the shop.
Can I get out of my Epos Now contract early?
That depends entirely on what you signed. Independent reviews report minimum terms that auto-renew and separate multi-year care plans where early termination is based on the remaining payments. Ask Epos Now in writing for your exact settlement figure and your contract end date before you commit to anything else. If you are close to renewal, it is usually cheaper to time the switch around it.
Will I lose my sales history if I switch?
Your historical sales data lives with your current provider, so export your reports before you close the account — most systems allow a CSV export. Your menu, modifiers, prices and customer list transfer to the new system as part of the build. Posso rebuilds the menu for you as part of setup at no cost.
How much does it cost to switch EPOS provider?
The switching cost is the sum of three things: any early termination fee on your existing contract, the cost of the new system, and any menu rebuild charges. With Posso the system starts at £499 + VAT and the menu build and staff training are included, so the main variable is your existing contract. Finance from £24.92 per week is available if the upfront cost is the obstacle.
Do I need to buy new hardware?
Usually yes, if your current hardware is tied to your existing provider's software. Posso terminals run Windows 11 Pro and are supplied configured with your menu already loaded. If you have recent hardware you would rather keep, tell us the specification and we will tell you honestly whether it is worth reusing.
How long does the switch take?
From confirmed order to taking your first live order is typically under 24 hours once the hardware is with you, because the menu build and configuration happen before shipping. The realistic planning window is one to two weeks from first conversation, mostly spent on menu review and choosing an install slot that does not clash with your busiest service.
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Tell us about your business and a member of the team will get back to you with a personalised demo, a quote, and answers to anything you want to check before you buy.
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