Talech POS Review: Is the POS System Right for Your Business?

Talech is an iPad-based point-of-sale (POS) system designed for both restaurants and retail stores, offering users a free forever plan with competitive processing fees. This makes it perfect for smaller startups that need a low-risk POS solution, although there are some notable pitfalls that kept it out of our top POS systems for small business rankings.

Between the lack of hardware solutions, the limited software functionality, and the notably difficult to use interface, it’s hard to recommend Talech for any business who isn’t exclusively focused on saving money. Even as far as free plans go, there are other POS solutions out there with more functionality and equally competitive pricing, like Square.

In this guide, we’ll help you decide whether Talech POS is a good option for your business, covering everything from features and pricing to customer support and POS alternatives.

In this review

• Talech POS: Quick Fact File
• Talech POS Core Features
• Customer Setup and Support 
• Talech POS Pricing 
• Talech POS Alternatives 
• Verdict: Is Talech POS a Good Choice? 

Customer management

While checking out each customer, the POS tracks that customer’s data, creating a profile that can help managers better understand their customer base. This data includes stats on the average amount spent with each visit, the total number of visits, how many days have passed since their last visit, and which products the customer prefers.

The POS also lets users set up loyalty programs for customers, offering them discounts or other rewards based on how often they visit or how much they spend. Support for a gift card program is also offered, although this is a paid add-on that costs $49 per month beyond the basic plan.

Returns & exchanges

Employees can issue full or partial returns, as long as their manager has given them the permissions needed to do so. You won’t necessarily need a receipt to accept the return, which can be helpful when transitioning away from your old POS system.

The POS’s support for exchanges also offers plenty of options: If the customer’s exchanged item costs less than the initial one, the difference can be refunded to the customer’s card, issued back as cash, or converted into store credit.

If they choose, managers can set up a PIN code for each employee to enter in order to access the ability to issue a refund. This allows managers to better track when refunds are offered, and which employees can process them.

Employee management

A “clock-in” feature lets employees sign in and out, helping them track their hours and generating a manager report with insights into the hours each employee has worked. Through the Talech POS software, managers can set overtime rules and track individual employee performance, noting sales or tips per employee.

Managers can also set granular rules surrounding register access, choosing which employees can access features such as discounts, the cash drawer, and data reports. Managers can also review the history of actions such as refunds or voided sales.

Discounts & deals

Depending on the price plan (we cover these in our pricing section), managers can set up a wide variety of discounts. Examples include happy hour discounts which are triggered at a pre-set time and day of the week, buy-one-get-one-type deals on specific products, or store-wide discounts for specific qualifying customers under a loyalty program.

Table management

While this feature is for restaurants only, it’s a crucial one for any full-service eatery. Waiters can use it to quickly pair each order with the table that ordered it, knowing instantly where to deliver each prepared dish.

Talech’s retail inventory features. Source: Talech

Setup and Customer Support

Across all plans, Talech offers a customer support team that’s available 24/7 through both email and phone and has a live chat option available on its website as well.

Talech also has a frequently updated searchable online Help Center, with categories of articles that include “Getting Started,” “Register Application,” “Hardware,” and “Register Back Office.” Customers with issues setting up printers or troubleshooting their card readers may find the fastest solution available through the Help Center, rather than a live support team member.

Training is only offered at installation, meaning you’ll need to train up any subsequent staff – which might be necessary given that Talech scored very low in our usability tests.

Support & training

Talech Pricing and Plans

Talech POS is available through three main price plans. A fourth plan, Enterprise, is available for larger businesses. No free trial is available, because the free forever plan give you a good idea of how the software works without a financial commitment.

Here, we’ve listed the features and pricing to expect from the three main Talech plans, as well as our recommendation for which types of business each plan is best suited to.

Talech Starter plan

The Starter plan costs $29 per month for the first device and another $29 per month for each additional device. Notably, the plan is limited to five employees and 100 products, and this product limit, in particular, is likely to make this plan unattractive to any businesses larger than a café or bodega.

However, users will still have access to a suite of features that includes product and inventory tracking, employee permissions, basic order management, refunds (full and partial), customer history tracking, and basic reporting functions.

Talech Standard plan

The Standard plan costs $69 per month for the first device, then $29 per month for each additional device. Employees and products are unlimited, so this is likely the best plan tier for businesses that want the essential features of a retail or restaurant POS, but don’t need any advanced abilities. Quick-service retail or fast-casual establishments would find this tier ideal.

Features include everything in the previous tier, plus barcode label printing, clock-in and timesheets, kitchen printing, automatic discounts, exchanges, store credit, and more advanced reporting. Gift card support is available, but only for an extra $49 per month.

Talech Premium plan

The Starter plan costs $99 per month for the first device, then $29 per month for each additional device. As with Standard, the numbers of employees and products are unlimited under this plan, and gift card support is a $49 per month add-on.

The plan is set apart by its additional features. One big new feature is table management, making this plan essential if your business is a full-service restaurant. It’s also a good deal for multi-location franchises, given that each additional device beyond the first is just $29 per month.

Other features include everything from the Standard plan, plus appointment booking, online ordering, inventory alerts and log, purchase orders, pay by position, the ability to split and merge orders, and automatic gratuity.

Does Talech have a free plan?

Yes, Talech does have a free forever plan, which helped it secure one of the highest pricing scores across our research. It gives you access to the Talech software, allowing you to accept payments on your smartphone, although you will need a Bluetooth card reader to work.

This free plan is obviously quite limited compared to the paid options. It allows for only 100 products to be sold, provides virtually no reporting tools, and offers no employee management functionality. Still, you get access to basic order management, customer tracking, and email support, so it really is an affordable way to get started with POS.

Talech POS Alternatives

Talech offers a fine POS, but it’s not the only game in town. A variety of alternative services all come with their own pros and cons, and most of them are more popular as well.

The top brands in POS offer a few perks that Talech can’t match. The Shopify POS offers a great ecommerce integration, complete with an online ordering option for in-store pickup. Square POS comes with flexible pricing, including an option for no upfront payments that will appeal to tiny businesses. Popular restaurant POS systems like Toast and SpotOn both offer more granular menu settings but come with their own caveats: Toast is Android-only, while Upserve starts at a pricey $119 per month.

In our view, Talech is a fine option, but it’s outclassed when compared against heavy hitters like Square, which also offers a free plan. It offers less functionality in a less easy to use interface, all while offering no hardware solutions to go along with it. Suffice to say, there are better POS options out there.

Here’s a quick table comparing Talech against its most attractive competitors: