Free vs paid POS software

How to decide

Free POS Online includes the shop counter, dining tables, products, stock, receipts, refunds, dashboard export, many languages, and optional Google Drive sync and encryption.

Paid products usually add card machines, accounting, supplier purchase orders, multi-store control, and hotel room reservations.

Start free if you

• Have one shop or one dining room and a small team
• Are leaving paper or a spreadsheet for the first time
• Want a real week of sales before you pay a monthly fee

What the free workspace includes

Before you compare prices

Write down the jobs you do every day. Compare that list with the free workspace before you compare monthly fees.

A practical comparison

1. List the daily jobs: counter bills, products, stock, receipts, refunds, and tables if you have them.
2. Use the free workspace for that list, including CSV, Excel, JSON, and PDF export from the dashboard.
3. Keep card machines, accounting, supplier orders, and hotel room reservations in the systems you already use.
4. Move to a paid POS when you need one of those missing pieces, not because the free screen feels unfamiliar.
5. After a real week of sales, decide which paid extra is worth the fee.

What you should see

You will know whether the free counter and dining room cover the day, and which paid extra you actually need.

Limits to know before you rely on it

• Sales stay in this browser until you turn on Google Drive sync. Sync is optional, needs a Google sign-in, and Google asks you to sign in again about every hour. Two counters update when each one syncs, not live.
• Encryption is optional. The recovery key is shown once. If you lose both the passphrase and the recovery key, the encrypted data cannot be opened. Every device needs the same passphrase.
• Held bills and invoices are deleted after the retention period you set in Settings, on this device and on Google Drive when sync is on. Held bills can be kept for 6 to 48 hours. Invoices can be kept for 7 to 365 days.
• Receipts print through the browser print dialog. Side margins, often 2–3 mm, keep a thermal printer from cropping the edges. There is no separate cash-drawer or printer driver.
• You can type a barcode or scan it into product search. A scanner is optional.
• Each product needs its own name and barcode. A discount cannot be higher than the price.
• A sale is blocked when stock is too low, until you turn on Allow sales without stock.
• A processed refund cannot be undone.
• Dining staff names can be assigned to a table. They are not separate logins. Everyone uses the same account.
• POS Online does not take card payments, and it does not book rooms, check guests in, or keep a room folio. Housekeeping is a staff role you can assign to a table.
• Purchases on the dashboard is the cost price of what you sold, not a supplier purchase order.