Best Bar POS Systems: Which Is Best for Your Venue?

The best POS system for bars is Square POS, thanks to its feature-rich interface and cost-effective pricing options. While its free plan is quite popular, Square POS offers a lot of functionality to scale, so you can grow with the POS rather than having to find a more suitable option when you make it big.

For bar owners, your POS system is a vital instrument in how you go about your day-to-day – and there are dozens of different things to think about when choosing the right one for your business. For instance, if you work in a particularly busy environment, you’ll want a solution with high uptime, otherwise you could be making significant losses on failed transactions! At the same time, you might work in a nightclub where your hardware is likely to get buffeted around and have drinks spilled on it. In this case, a durable card terminal is an absolute must.

Square POS isn’t the only POS for bars out there, though. Other options like Clover, Lightspeed, Epos Now, and SpotOn are better suited for particular types of bars and restaurants, as it all depends on what you actually need a POS for in the long run.

As there are quite a few options available, we decided to get hands-on with some of the best POS systems and see if they really are suitable for bar use. In this guide, we compare all the hardware, software, pricing, and support metrics, so you can make an informed decision for your bar.

In this guide:

• Best Bar POS Systems
• Why Do Bars Need POS Systems?
• How to Choose a Bar POS System
• How We Researched the Best POS Systems for Bars
• Verdict – What Are the Best POS Systems for Bars?
• Frequently Asked Questions

1. Square POS – Best Overall

Price from: Free (but transaction fees apply)

If you run a small business, chances are you’ve already heard of Square as the POS provider is one of the leading names in the industry. When it comes to affordability and user experience, Square for Restaurants is second to none and perfect for breweries and bars. In fact, after researching and testing leading systems, we found Square was the best POS for restaurants and the top POS for small businesses too, which is a true testament to the system’s versatility for growing businesses.

Square is the best POS for bars for several reasons. Firstly, it’s super easy to add users and expand transaction limits on the platform, making it perfect for bars looking to scale up. Secondly, Square’s offering is excellent value for money, which is especially useful for bars with tighter margins. Finally, with support available through email, phone, and live chat, the POS offers the best help and support in our research.

Below we break down the service’s features and pricing structures in greater detail.

Square POS features

If you’ve already got a POS set up, you’ll be able to use Square with your existing hardware because Square’s software is compatible with most popular operating systems, and can run on pretty much any device. This can be a real asset to bars that already have hardware and aren’t looking to spend much on new devices.

Aside from its versatile applications, Square for Restaurants also excels when it comes to stock control, which is a key concern as the drink of the moment must be available at all times. Square’s inventory management features allow you to create menu items and track sales per unit. This feature is especially useful to drinks venues that specialize in bottled drinks like wine and beer. 

Square’s iPad stand accepts payments and connects to a broad range of supported hardware and accessories. Source: SquareUp

Another one of Square for Restaurant’s selling points is its huge app marketplace. The store gives users access to a wide range of platforms that can benefit multiple areas of the business. For instance, the Food & Drink Exchange app can update prices in real time and the Pretamenu app can get bars online in minutes. We also found that Square offers top-tier hospitality features, due to its powerful inventory tracking, back-of-house, and menu customization tools.

The Square POS interface is particularly intuitive for setting up in the back end. Image: Tech.co testing

Square POS pricing

As utility costs and inflation rates continue to rise, finding a cost-effective bar POS system has never been so important. Thankfully, due to Square’s affordable options, the provider’s pricing achieved a perfect score of 5/5 in our value-for-money analysis.

Square’s free restaurant and bar POS software includes a point of sale system, team management tools, and 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. customer support. However, the most basic plan doesn’t contain seat management, course management, or floor plan customization features.  If you use Square’s free plan, you will have to pay the following transaction fees:

• 2.6% + 10 cents of each card-based sale
• 3.5% + 15 cents for each keyed-in transaction
• 2.9% + 30 cents for online sales

You can read a more in-depth breakdown of Square’s POS pricing here – or, check out the table below for more information about the provider’s transaction fees across its paid plans:

2. SpotOn – Best for Bars With Lots of Staff

• Price from: Free (but transaction fees apply)

SpotOn is a restaurant-exclusive POS that is excellent for managing your staff. It offers tools for communication with your team more effectively, as well as cost versus labor reports to get a clear picture of how many team members you actually need. Plus, with a free plan that includes hardware, it was one of the best pricing options across our POS research.

For bars that have multiple staff (including franchises), SpotOn is a great solution. In the event of a last-minute emergency, for instance, SpotOn gives you the tools to swap shifts and stay in touch with your team as needed. On busy evenings when you’re understaffed, this can be the difference between a successful night and disaster.

SpotOn features

As we mentioned, SpotOn’s most notable feature is its ability to manage your staff. In addition to a wide range of tools, SpotOn also has an employee management app that can make it a lot easier. The app, called SpotOn Teamwork, can provide scheduling templates and integrate with your POS system. Even better, you can view schedules across multiple locations to mix and match as your schedule necessitates.

SpotOn’s 15-inch POS terminal comes with a customer display, making it a great option for counter service businesses. Source: SpotOn

Staff management isn’t the only feature that SpotOn knocks out of the park, though. Offline functionality is a bright spot, offering automatic offline functionality if your Wi-Fi goes down. In contrast, both Square and Clover require offline mode to be enabled in that scenario.

SpotOn’s Teamwork integration handles a wide range of staff management processes. Source: Tech.co testing

SpotOn pricing

SpotOn is tied for the top spot in our POS research for pricing, largely because it offers a decidedly generous free plan. In addition to getting access to the software for free, SpotOn gives you hardware for free as well. Of course, you’ll have to pay some hefty transaction fees at 2.89% + 25¢, but if you want an easily accessible POS that won’t break the bank before your first sale, SpotOn is a good place to start.

Beyond that, SpotOn also offers a $99 per month Counter-service plan, as well as a $135 per month Full-service plan, and a customize your own plan with custom pricing, so it depends on what kind of bar you plan to use it in when it comes to paid plans. Here’s how they compare:

3. Clover – Best for Busy Bars

• Price from: Free (but transaction fees apply)

While the interface of a POS system is obviously important, the hardware offerings are equally something you should consider when it comes to choosing your provider. This is where Clover really shines, offering a wide range of terminals and devices, as well as helpful accessories that can make life infinitely easier for your bar staff, especially during a rush.

For bars with a high volume of customers, it’s crucial that you have a range of different, durable solutions. During peak-time, you need to be able to quickly serve as many customers as possible, without worrying about your terminal giving up on you. Plus, in the event that you spill a drink on your equipment, Clover’s kit won’t let you down.

Clover features

Clover offers some of the best built-in features for its hardware solutions. For starters, you’ll get fingerprint readers for login, making it easy for your bartenders and other staff members to access the POS swiftly. Combined with the basic and easy-to-use front-end interface, your team should have no problem keeping up with orders, even at happy hour.

Clover was found to offer the best hardware options in our research. Source: Tech.co testing

Even better, some of Clover’s hardware solutions come with LTE connectivity. This means that if the Wi-Fi goes out, you’ll still be able to conduct business, something that few other POS providers can say.

In the backend, Clover provides users with some robust analytic tools that can help you understand how your bar is performing. From order efficiency to real-time sales and cost tracking, you can get a clear picture of how you’re doing to make informed decisions for the future.

Clover’s intuitive interface makes it ideal for fast-paced restaurants. Image: Tech.co testing

Clover pricing

As you can see from the pricing table below, Clover can get quite expensive, largely due to the high quality of its hardware solutions.

Subsequently, bars on a budget may want to look elsewhere, as these premium terminals and accessories can seriously cost you a pretty penny. If you can afford it, though, these additional features could really help, as long as the price tag isn’t too unsettling.

Clover now has different pricing plans for different industries or use cases, such as professional services and full-service dining. As there’s no Bar-specific POS plan, check out the quick-service dining plans offered by Clover, which are the most relevant out of those available.

4. Lightspeed POS – Best for More Relaxed Venues

• Price from: $69 a month

Lightspeed Restaurant is a POS made for hospitality businesses, offering flexibility for services like hotel bars and eateries.

With a starting price of $69 per month, Lightspeed POS is a little pricier than others on the list, like Square which offers a generous free plan. However, you get a lot of functionality, including a robust loyalty rewards program, automated marketing through SMS and email, and customer insights from the Lightspeed Loyalty service, making it ideal for smaller businesses trying to encourage repeat customers.

Alongside this, Lightspeed has a feature that collates customer reviews from Yelp, OpenTable, TripAdvisor, and more, meaning that you can stay on top of feedback and action it where appropriate. For smaller businesses that are trying to cultivate a core, loyal clientele, this is a nifty feature that will work in tandem with Lightspeed Loyalty,

Lightspeed POS features

Lightspeed offers a variety of solid bar and hospitality-focused features including inventory tools that update levels of alcoholic stock in real-time, wastage tracking, and flexible payment options like bill splitting, tipping, and surcharging. Due to the strength of its toolkit, our independent research team gave Lightspeed a high market for its hospitality features, a stronger score than our frontrunner Square.

Lightspeed for Restaurants also shines when it comes to third-party integrations. From accounting software from QuickBooks and Xero, to bar-focused apps like RapidBar and BeerSaver, users can combine the system with a broad range of third-party services.

Lightspeed software works across the mobile app, the desktop platform, and the POS interface. Source: Lightspeed

Lightspeed’s business management features have improved in recent years too. Thanks to recent upgrades to its security and user permission capabilities, the POS is just as adept as Square at streamlining management processes.

Notably, Lightspeed POS also connects with hotel property management software (PMS) which allows users to process room payments. Few other point-of-sale providers offer this integration, making the POS a promising choice for hotel bar owners.

The Lightspeed front end is comprehensive and offers dark mode functionality. Image: Tech.co testing

After something more stripped-back? Check out our guide to the best cash registers for small businesses.

Lightspeed POS pricing

• Lightspeed Essentials – This stripped-back plan costs users $69 per month and grants users access to Lightspeed’s core POS system and basic payment processing services.
• Lightspeed Plus – Lightspeed Standard is a little steeper at $189 per month. However, for the extra cost businesses can enjoy additional ecommerce, sales analysis, and accounting features.
• Lightspeed Pro – At $399 per month, this premium plan is better suited to large or growing bars. On top of the standard features, it lets users benefit from several sophisticated CRM tools.

For larger businesses, there’s also a plan called Lightspeed Enterprise, which is the provider’s most comprehensive plan. It provides sophisticated analytic tools to help managers keep track of their sales, and it’s designed for businesses operating over multiple venues.

The exact price of this plan is decided on a case-by-case business, so prospective customers will need to enquire for a custom quote. This is why we haven’t included it along with Lightspeed’s other three plans in the table below.

If all these prices are a little steep for your business, we’d recommend taking a look at our POS quotes form. It provides you with bespoke quotes in minutes, making it much easier to find a budget-friendly point-of-sale system.

5. Epos Now – Best for Nightclubs

• Editor Rating: 4.2/5
• Price: $39 per month

Epos Now for Pubs and Bars is a pretty solid POS option for bars, particularly if you want to be extra diligent about tracking your inventory. This POS offers lots of customization on that front, allowing you to track individual ingredients to stay on top of your inventory. There are even inventory alerts that can notify you when you’re running low, so you’re always ahead of the order. It’s a great solution for nightclubs, where customers can order a wide range of different drinks, including spirits and mixers.

Epos Now features

Managing staff is one of the trickiest tasks involved with running a bar. If you’re looking to ease this burden with POS software Epos Now will be a safe bet as it excels when it comes to employee management tools.

The provider offers unlimited staff training sessions for $35 per month, where new employees can learn how to use the software. This can be a real lifesaver for employers who are onboarding multiple new recruits at once. Unlike other providers on this list like TouchBistro, LightSpeed, and Square, the system is kitted out with a unique training mode too, which allows new staff to practice with the till without interfering with monthly sales reports.

We found the Epos Now hardware cost to be high but worth it for no monthly costs. Source: Tech.co testing

Besides its promising employee training features, Epos Now also offers sophisticated inventory and stock management tools, making it easier for larger bars to keep stock of their products. Bartenders can use the function to track individual items of stock, cocktail ingredients, or even kegs of beer. The system even allows you to split your inventory into different sub-categories, helping to keep stocks as organized as possible even during big events.

Epos Now is straightforward, particularly for accessing our reports. Image: Tech.co testing

Epos Now pricing

Epos Now’s basic POS software package is available for $39 per month. This plan includes sales reporting, stock management, and customer relationship tools, and allows you to access the software from a mobile device, like a smartphone or tablet.

However, Epos Now is currently advertising a Complete POS Solution from Epos now for a one-time fee of $299, giving you access to the software plus a hardware bundle for getting started. However, you’ll need to pay an additional $39 per month.

Learn more about the provider’s pricing plans and fees in our Epos Now review.

Why Do Bars Need POS Systems?

In a time where it’s becoming increasingly hard to run a hospitality business like a bar, relying on old-school cash registers and paper records is no longer an option. Here are some ways drink-serving businesses can benefit from bar POS systems. 

• Greater efficiency – POS systems make it easier to conduct a series of tasks with greater efficiency. From stock control to customer management, useful POS features can streamline these processes and save staff precious time. 
• Better customer experience – POS systems can also improve the customer experience in several ways. For example, streamlined order taking leads to shorter wait times, and cross-channel selling features can make the buying experience much more convenient. Since satisfied customers are more likely to make repeat purchases, the benefits of these features are also likely to ripple across the business. 
• Increased revenue – Point-of-service systems help you to take orders and handle payments in a slick and time-efficient manner. Aside from making life easier for customers and servers, this can dramatically benefit a business’s bottom line by reducing service time and boosting productivity levels. 
• Important insights – If your business is interested in driving up growth even further, lots of modern POS systems offer advanced CRM and reporting tools that allow you to unlock valuable, data-driven insights.  This information can give business owners a clearer picture of their bar’s performance, helping them to retain their competitive edge. 
• Reduced errors – When it comes to handling orders, human error is unavoidable. However, by reducing the need for servers to enter information manually, POS systems help to keep mistakes to a minimum.

How to Choose a Bar POS System

While some POS systems are solid across the board, some may be more catered to the specific requirements of your bar. So whether you run a brewery or a dive bar, here are some key factors to consider when determining which POS system is best for you.

• Business specialty – you’ll want to think about what your business offers. For instance, if you offer food as well as drinks, you’ll probably benefit from targeted POS software with floor plan management and tab-tracking tools, whereas bars that don’t offer table service won’t necessarily need this. Consequently, when browsing the market it’s advised to look for features that will be useful to your type of venue.
• Business size – Different-sized businesses will require different features and packages. Therefore, when comparing the solutions, it’s important to take the size of your bar into account.
• Your clientele – The demographic of your bar will also help determine which POS system will be right for you. For instance, are they more likely to benefit from contactless payments and QR-code coupons? Or will more basic features suffice?
• Your budget –  If your business is operating on a tighter budget, it’s best to look for systems that offer free or affordable plans.

How We Researched the Best POS Systems for Bars

POS systems contain so many moving parts, especially those with sector specialisms. Therefore, to ensure we make the most useful recommendations possible, we created our own research process for ranking and reviewing bar POS systems.

After collecting plenty of data on each POS and user-testing them to see how they perform in the flesh, our team of researchers gave each system a ranking out of five for our key categories. These categories include important POS criteria for businesses like hardware, software, help & support, usability, and pricing.

After determining how the POS systems perform in general, we look for the presence of bar-specific features like bar tab options, age verification, and liquor management. By combining this with our overall ratings, we’re able to rank bar POS systems according to their strength and decide which type of venues they’d be the best fit for.

Best POS Systems for Bars FAQs