Epos Now POS Review: Is the Feature-Rich POS Right for You?

Epos Now is a reliable POS system designed for retail and hospitality businesses. The POS offers a number of stand-out capabilities, including a dedicated training mode and a new AI tool that helps sellers price competitively. It also offers robust hardware options, making it a great fit for most established and growing businesses. 

However, despite Epos Now’s strengths, we didn’t find the POS particularly intuitive in our user testing, and unlike some of the best POS systems for small businesses, the provider charges up-front fees in addition to recurring monthly costs. This, combined with its absence of a free plan, will likely be a sticking point for smaller sellers wanting to keep overheads low. 

There’s loads to discuss when it comes to Epos Now, including its hardware options, pricing structure, and help and support options. This guide draws from our research and user testing, leaving no stone unturned, to help you decide if the POS system is a good fit for you.

In this review:

• Epos Now POS: At a Glance
• Epos Now POS: Core Features
• Epos Now Hardware
• Epos Now Pricing Plans
• Epos Now Customer Support
• How Does Epos Now Compare to Alternatives?
• How Did We Research the Best POS Systems?
• The Verdict: Is Epos Now Worth It?

Who should go for Epos Now?

• Businesses with large or complex inventories
• Managers who want support with pricing products
• Businesses after a straightforward set-up process

Who shouldn’t go for Epos Now?

• Businesses that want to avoid start-up fees
• Businesses using a POS for the first time
• Users who rely on social media for help and support

Epos Now POS Review: Core Features

Epos Now has a strong suite of POS features, especially compared to lower-cost alternatives like Square and Zettle by PayPal. Read on to learn more about what Epos Now is capable of in 2024.

Payment options

Vendors using Epos Now can accept a wide variety of payment options including chip and pin, tap and swipe, and digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Epos Now also provides its own payment gateway, Epos Now Payments,  which charges businesses a flat rate and processes payments up to three times faster than standalone devices. Since Epos Now doesn’t require a connection with a third-party processor, businesses know exactly how much they make on each sale, removing unnecessary guesswork.

Epos Now offers just about any payment feature you’d expect from a popular POS system. However, if you want to make your payment options as accessible as possible by offering Buy Now Pay Later services like Afterpay, we’d recommend opting for systems like Square or Clover instead.

Learn more about the free system in our Square POS review.

Inventory tracking

Epos Now’s stock controls are second to none. The POS gives you access to every tool you need to manage your inventory effectively, including bulk-importing and live updates. Epos Now also sends you prompts when you’re running low on specific items. This makes the POS more capable than Toast at overcoming inventory shortages, as the Andoid-only system currently lacks this feature.

Thanks to Epos Now’s new AI assistant, Sidekick, the system lets you analyze the margins of your products. This advanced capability, which leverages internal and external data, allows businesses to price their products more competitively and potentially increase their long-term profits,

Epos Now let me sift through products via category, product name, barcode supplier, or SKU. Source: Tech.co testing

Epos Now also makes stocktaking a breeze. Users can handle the process through the backend or front till, and the POS also gives you the option to scan the barcodes of products if that would be easier than creating a physical list.

Insights and reporting

Epos Now gives users tons of ways to monitor the performance of their businesses. When analyzing sales data, users can filter results by transaction type, location, and server, among other categories, to gain an in-depth understanding of their financial performance. Epos Now also lets you easily track customer information, including purchases, sign-ups, and credits, to equip you with all the insights you need to encourage repeat buying.

Epos Now gave me a comprehensive view of my sales data, and let me filter it by location, device, and staff member. Source: Tech.co Testing

Epos Now even lets you access gratuity reports so you can have a record of how many employees have been tipped and when. Lightspeed and Clover don’t offer this feature, making Epos Now the preferable choice for businesses that rely heavily on tips. However, while we were very impressed by Epos Now’s reporting options, TouchBistro takes the crown in this category, with the POS offering over 50+ real-time reports.

Learn more about the restaurant-focused system in our TouchBistro POS review.

Table management

If your restaurant has a large or complex floor plan, keeping tabs on diners isn’t always easy. Fortunately, Epos Now helps restaurants streamline the table management process, by letting users customize the size and label of their tables and make changes directly through the POS – saving them the hassle of switching to the back office. Unlike lots of free systems, like Zettle By Paypal, Epos Now also lets you track the status of each table, helping you to stay on top of customer orders and turn around tables as quickly as possible.

Creating floor plans was easy with Epos Now. Its drag-and-drop tool lets me customize the floor plan to match the design of my restaurant. Source: Tech.co Testing

When we tested Epos Now, we loved how easy it was to create a custom floor plan. All we had to do was add tables to the grid, before dragging them to the correct position. You can also separate your table plan into different areas in a couple of clicks, which will be useful for service businesses with multiple rooms like bars and outdoor terraces.

App store

If you happen to require a feature that Epos Now lacks, chances are you’ll be able to fill in the gaps using the provider’s extensive app store. Epos Now’s app store gives businesses access to hundreds of third-party integrations, making it easier to seamlessly manage processes like payroll and customer loyalty without switching between different software platforms.

Epos Now even integrates with major website builders like Wix and Shopify, which will be a huge boon if you’ve already got a site set up with the platform. These ecommerce apps also give Epos Now’s marketplace a competitive advantage over Toast, as the Andoid-only POS doesn’t currently let businesses integrate their POS with their online store.

Epos Now’s app store gives businesses a chance to integrate with a wide range of third-party software providers. Source: Tech.co user testing

Epos Now Pricing Plans

Unfortunately, Epos Now keeps its pricing model pretty close to its chest. So, for an accurate estimate of how much the POS could cost your business, we recommend contacting a member of its customer service team.

We do know that if you want Epos Now’s Complete System, you’ll have to pay an upfront fee of $299, plus a recurring fee of $39 per month. 

If you only require a simple tablet setup, the Epos Now software-only plan is available for $39 per month. The provider’s Enterprise package, which provides businesses with the POS’s full suite of features plus onsite support and account management, is priced according to your business’s specific needs.

Is Epos Now a good value?

While Epos Now’s monthly fees are fairly representative of other POS systems, it’s a worse value than many of its competitors because it charges businesses upfront. If you’re a smaller seller who wants to keep overheads low and are willing to forgo premium features, we’d suggest using Square instead.

However, while Epos Now’s price tag is slightly larger than the industry average, you get what you pay for. Many of its features focus on expanding profit margins and identifying new areas for growth. Therefore, established and growing businesses will find Epos Now to be a great investment over time.

Does Epos Now offer a free plan?

No, Epos Now doesn’t currently let businesses get started for free. The POS does let you try out the software before you buy with a free trial, however.

If you’re serious about lowering monthly overheads, there are several POS providers that only charge businesses a fraction of each sale they make. Our research found that Square is currently the best POS system on the market that offers a free plan.

Check out our Square POS review to see if the provider is right for you.

Epos Now POS Hardware

Epos Now lets you build a hardware package in two main ways. You can opt for the provider’s “Complete Solution,” which includes a Countertop POS terminal with a 15.6″ full HD touchscreen and a built-in 80mm printer. This option will be the preferable choice for established retailers and counter-service hospitality businesses.

Epos Now’s 15.6″ Countertop POS terminal comes with a receipt printer and is easy to get started on. Source: Tech.co

Alternatively, if you’re able to make do with a simpler setup, you can select a tablet-based system. Depending on the make of your tablet, you can choose between a Lenovo Tab M10 and an iPad (9th gen) tablet stand. Both stands are capable of rotating and are compatible with Epos Now’s broad range of hardware accessories.

If you’re interested in increasing sales transparency, Epos Now also offers a customer facing display (CFD) option. The HD capacitive customer touchscreen is 10.1” , and businesses can customize it with their own branding to give it a professional edge. However, unlike alternatives like Clover and Square, the CFD can’t accept payments. You’ll have to connect a card terminal to handle this process separately.

Epos Now Countertop’s customer-facing display gives customers a preview of important sales information. Source: Tech.co

Epos Now also offers a range of POS hardware accessories, including external receipt printers, kitchen display systems (KDS), barcode scanners, card machines, and more. Businesses can purchase these items separately or as part of a hardware bundle, depending on their individual requirements. This flexibility is one of Epos Now’s major strengths, as businesses can pay only for the hardware devices they need.

Epos Now’s receipt printer, located in its Countertop POS terminal. Source: Tech.co

Epos Now Setup and Customer Support

Epos Now lets you reach out for support through a variety of different channels, including phone and email. The provider also offers a useful Knowledge Base packed with guides, screenshots, and videos to help businesses get to grips with the software to prevent potential bumps down the road.

Epos Now also has a live chat feature that lets you connect to team members virtually from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and a new 24/7 virtual AI agent, SideKick. When we tested the in-person assistant, we found that its response times were faster than alternatives like Clover, suggesting that Epos Now will be the preferable option for businesses that need to sort out issues quickly.

However, Epos Now doesn’t currently let you access support via social media, so if this is a dealbreaker for you, we’d recommend using systems like Square or Shopify instead.

Epos Now’s new AI customer service Sidekick feature responded to my queries instantly. Source: Tech.co user testing

How Does Epos Now Compare to Other POS Alternatives?

While Epos Now will be capable of meeting the needs of most established retailers, our research found Clover is the best retail POS system for small businesses because of industry-leading POS features and affordable transaction rates. Clover’s software and hardware packages are on the pricier side, however, so if you’re able to do without some perks like in-house customer loyalty tools, our research found that Square is the best POS for small businesses with tighter budgets. 

If you’re after a hospitality-focused system, we’d recommend using Toast over Epos Now. The Android-based system will be a natural fit for full-service restaurants due to its advanced stock controls and customer engagement features, and its intuitive software is easy to get started on, too. However, Toast isn’t compatible with iOS technology, so if you’re in need of a stripped-back iPad, we’d recommend Square instead.

Take a look at how the best restaurant POS systems compare in our research-led guide or check out our comparison table below to see how Epos Now sizes up to the wider competition.

How Do We Research The Best POS Systems?

POS systems serve as central hubs for small businesses, helping them do far more than just take payments. With so much to consider when buying a new system, our thorough research process aims to do a lot of the heavy lifting for you.

After shortlisting the best POS solutions on the market, we analyze them against the following criteria:

• Software features – We check what general POS features a provider offers – from stock controls to reporting and analytics – and also see whether they give access to industry-specific capabilities like SKU labels and food wastage reports.
• Hardware – We analyze a provider’s hardware selection and check for the presence of stand-alone POS terminals and tablet stands, as well as more specialized equipment like KDS systems and customer-facing displays.
• Price – We calculate the average price of POS packages, factor in their entry prices and transaction fee costs, and check for the presence of free plans.
• Help and support options – We research which customer support channels are available – from email to social media – measure how fast the response times are, and consider whether they’re open 24/7.
• Customer satisfaction – We take an aggregate score from customer review sites like Trustpilot and TrustRadius to understand what businesses actually make of the POS system.
• User experience – We test out the POS systems firsthand to gauge how easy to use they are, paying special attention to factors like error rates, intuitiveness, and loading times.

When we’ve carried out our desk-based research and user testing, we give each provider a score out of five in all six categories, in addition to an overall score. These scores help us to determine how the providers compare side-by-side, and how capable they will be at meeting the needs of specific types of businesses.

Learn more about our research process here.