Epos Now, Square,
or a till built for you.
The subscription vendors publish their prices, which makes this comparison possible. Here is the three-year arithmetic, and the cases where buying the product is the better decision.
Start a projectWhat the subscription vendors actually offer
Read off Epos Now’s own UK site on 14 October 2026. We are quoting them because they publish, which is more than most of this industry does.
Hardware up front, software by the month
Their published bundle prices on that date ran from £149 to £349 depending on the offer, against "was" prices of £849 to £899, with handheld systems from £15 a month and a kitchen display from £19 a month. A discounted bundle was footnoted as requiring a twelve-month subscription from £54 a month. Offers move, so check the figure on the day.
Scale, and what it buys you
Their site claims more than 80,000 locations. At that scale the edge cases have been found by somebody else, the integrations list is long, and support is a department rather than a person — all of which are real advantages.
Industry configurations
They publish around thirty industry pages — takeaway, cafe, restaurant, barber shop, vape store and so on — which is a sensible way to sell a configurable product to a trade in a hurry.
Third-party proof on the page
A Trustpilot link, a G2 High Performer badge and five award badges. We display none of that yet, and we would rather say so than pretend it does not count.
The arithmetic, done honestly
The comparison people usually run is hardware price against build price, which is the wrong sum. Run it over three years, per terminal, including everything.
| Over three years | Subscription till | Built for you |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware | Discounted up front, often tied to a contract | Bought outright at market price, yours |
| Software | Monthly, per terminal, for as long as you trade | Build cost once |
| Adding a second terminal | Another monthly fee | Hardware only |
| Price rises | Theirs to set | None from us |
| Card processing | Often bundled, sometimes required | Your own provider, your own rate |
| Changes you want | A feature request | We build it, quoted |
| What you own at the end | The hardware | The system and the data |
Fill that in with your own numbers and the crossover point is usually clear. One till in one shop with a simple menu rarely favours a build. Three terminals across two sites, with a website and a kiosk that have to agree, usually does.
When Epos Now, Square or SumUp is the better buy
You need a till this week
A product arrives configured. A build does not. If your current till has died, buy the product and talk to us later about the system around it.
Your product list is simple
A few dozen items, straightforward options, one site. Their model holds that comfortably and the flexibility of a build is flexibility you will not use.
You want one number to ring
Hardware, software, payments and support from one supplier has a genuine value, particularly if nobody in the business enjoys technology.
Cash flow matters more than total cost
A monthly fee is easier to carry than a build cost, and that is a legitimate reason to choose it even when three-year arithmetic points the other way.
When a built till wins
The till is one part of a bigger system
If you also want an ordering website, a kiosk or loyalty, building them together means one menu, one stock count and one end-of-day report instead of four products arguing about which is right.
Your operation has a shape products do not expect
Trade and retail prices on the same item, account customers who pay monthly, deposits, batching, two shops sharing stock.
You are tired of per-terminal rent
The subscription model charges per terminal, forever, and the price is theirs to move. A build has a cost, then hosting and card fees.
You want the data to be yours
Every sale, every modifier, every void, exportable, in a database you own. It is the difference between reading reports and asking your own questions.
Before you ask.
Is a custom till cheaper than Epos Now?
What does Epos Now cost?
Can we move our data off an existing till?
Do you resell hardware?
What if we want to keep our current till and just add online ordering?
Ready to get started?
Tell us what you need. We will scope it, price it and build it.
Start a project →