Written by: JJ Tan, Founder, Jelly | Last updated: 5 September 2026
Choosing the right billing software shapes your service, your admin workload, and your margins. This guide walks through the features that matter, compares six UK systems, and shows how Jelly fills the profit gap that billing tools leave open.
Key Takeaways
- UK restaurant billing systems vary widely in pricing, and hidden add-ons often push monthly costs from £25 to £60–£100.
- Essential features include table management, split bill handling, kitchen order tickets, VAT and MTD compliance, payment integration, reporting, and accounting connectivity.
- UK options for 2026 range from free or low-cost systems like Square and SumUp to advanced platforms such as Lightspeed and Toast, each suited to different restaurant types.
- Billing software records sales but does not track ingredient costs or calculate dish profitability in real time, so it cannot protect margins on its own.
- See how Jelly connects with your billing system to automate the back office and boost gross margins.
With those takeaways in mind, the next step is to understand which features you actually need from a billing system.
7 Essential Features to Prioritise in Restaurant Billing Software
Before comparing specific systems, get clear on your non-negotiables. These seven features affect service speed, guest experience, compliance, and how easily you can run your numbers.
- Table Management. For dine-in venues, visual table plans, course tracking, and the ability to transfer or merge tables during service are non-negotiable. Without them, floor staff waste time and table turnover suffers.
- Split Bill Handling. Around 22% of UK hospitality businesses report that customers are now keen to split the bill, according to a Lloyds whitepaper. Your system must handle equal splits, item-level splits, and multiple payment methods without slowing service.
- Kitchen Order Tickets (KOT). Orders must route instantly to kitchen screens or printers, with course timing and modification tracking. Delays here mean cold food and dissatisfied customers.
- VAT Handling and MTD Compliance. VAT-registered businesses have been required to keep digital records and file returns through MTD-compatible software since 2019, and from April 2026 MTD extends to sole traders with gross income above £50,000. Your billing system must produce HMRC-compatible VAT reports without manual spreadsheet work.
- Payment Integration. Contactless now accounts for 39% of all UK payments, and 65% of UK adults are registered for at least one mobile payment service. Your billing system needs integrated payments that accept chip and PIN, contactless, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, ideally with pay-at-table functionality.
- Reporting and Analytics. Real-time visibility into sales by time of day, staff member, table, and menu item is essential. Billing reports show you what sold, so you can spot trends and operational issues quickly.
- Integration with Accounting and Inventory Tools. Your billing system should connect with Xero or Sage for accounting, and with inventory and back-office platforms. Integration with inventory-management platforms is becoming a non-negotiable procurement requirement for UK operators.
Discover how Jelly automates your back office by connecting to your billing system.
6 Restaurant Billing Systems to Consider in the UK (2026)
Once you know which features matter, you can match them to real products. The systems below cover everything from solo operators to multi-site groups, each with different strengths.
Square for Restaurants
Square offers a free plan with per-transaction fees of 1.75% for in-person card payments, which suits small venues and cafés. If you need advanced features such as multi-location reporting and staff management, paid plans start around £30–£60 per month. Its intuitive interface and low hardware costs keep the barrier to entry low, and it connects reliably with accounting tools like Xero. Square also works alongside Jelly via a real-time API, delivering item-level transaction data the moment a sale completes.
Lightspeed Restaurant
Lightspeed's UK pricing starts at £49/month for Lite (single location), £99/month for Plus (multiple locations, advanced reporting), and £199/month for Pro (enterprise features, API access), with payment processing at 1.49% + 20p per transaction. Hardware costs £800–£1,650 for a full setup. Lightspeed targets full-service restaurants, pubs, and groups that need strong table management and reporting. It integrates with Xero, Sage, and delivery platforms, and works seamlessly with Jelly, which is listed on the Lightspeed marketplace.
Epos Now
Epos Now's Countertop 2 system is marketed at £299 upfront (down from £849) plus £58/month on a 12-month subscription, with a flat card rate of 1.2%. However, a fully featured setup with stock module and table management can run £100–£150 monthly, with hardware costs of £500–£1,200 for a basic setup. Epos Now suits venues that need detailed inventory and multi-site control. It integrates with Sage 50, Xero, and QuickBooks, and works alongside Jelly via a real-time API that processes all discount and refund calculations at the individual line level.
SumUp
SumUp is a low-cost option popular with food trucks, market stalls, and small takeaways. SumUp's basic card reader, the Solo Lite, starts at £25 ex VAT (£30 incl. VAT) in the UK. SumUp's Point of Sale Pro software in the UK starts at £49 per month, with a £0 onboarding fee. Transaction fees run approximately 1.69%. SumUp's simplicity is its strength, although operators requiring advanced table management or kitchen display integration will outgrow it quickly.
Toast
Toast is the second-largest restaurant POS provider globally, holding 21.69% of the broader market, and is gaining traction in the UK among larger operators and multi-site groups. Pricing requires a custom quote. Toast offers robust kitchen display, menu engineering, and integration capabilities. Jelly works alongside Toast via a real-time API delivering item-level sales mapped to Jelly dishes.
Zettle by PayPal
Zettle operates on a pay-as-you-go model with no monthly fees on its basic plan, and you pay approximately 1.75% per in-person transaction. Zettle's card reader starts at £29 excluding VAT for the first reader for new eligible business users, with additional readers priced at £69 excluding VAT. It suits small venues, pop-ups, and food trucks that want minimal commitment. Advanced restaurant features like table management and KOT are available on the Zettle Restaurant plan, which costs £29 per month per iPad, with the first month free.
All six systems can work alongside Jelly for back-office automation, pulling item-level sales data to calculate real-time gross profit margins per dish.
How to Choose the Right Billing Software for Your Restaurant Type
UK operators should weigh monthly cost versus per-transaction fees, hardware requirements, kitchen display support, delivery platform integrations, VAT and MTD readiness, and accounting software integration when comparing systems. The table below maps common restaurant types to suitable options.
| Restaurant Type | Recommended Systems | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Cafés and small takeaways | SumUp, Zettle | Low cost, simple interface, minimal hardware investment |
| Food trucks and pop-ups | Zettle, SumUp | Pay-as-you-go, mobile-friendly, no long-term contracts |
| Full-service restaurants | Lightspeed | Table management, split billing, KOT functionality |
| Fine dining and multi-site | Lightspeed, Epos Now | Advanced reporting, multi-location management, enterprise integrations |
| Pubs and bars | Lightspeed, Epos Now | Stock tracking, table service, integration with accounting tools |
The best choice depends on your volume, service style, delivery requirements, and whether you operate a single site or are expanding. Transaction fees of 1.4%–2.6% per card payment compound quickly. A restaurant processing £30,000/month at 2.0% pays £600/month in fees alone, so fee negotiation matters as much as the monthly subscription.
Even after you choose a system, one gap remains: billing tools cannot show whether each dish still makes money once supplier prices move.
The Missing Piece: Why Billing Software Alone Will Not Protect Your Margins
Billing software records your sales, but it cannot reveal your profitability. Because supplier prices fluctuate weekly, a dish that was profitable last month could be losing money today, and your EPOS system will not flag that. Manual spreadsheets rarely keep pace either, unless someone spends 10–20 hours a week on data entry.
Jelly acts as the back-office complement to any front-of-house system. It automatically scans every line item of supplier invoices, tracks ingredient prices in real time, and calculates gross profit margins per dish. Jelly works alongside Square, Lightspeed, Epos Now, and Toast to pull item-level sales data, and integrates with Xero for accounting. Connecting a supported POS takes approximately five minutes.
The results are measurable. For example, one operator improved gross profit from 65% to 72% within 12 weeks on approximately £500,000 in revenue. On average, Jelly users save 10–20 hours of admin every month and add 2 percentage points to gross margins. Specific cases illustrate this: Amber restaurant in East London saves £3,000–£4,000 per month using Jelly, achieving a 68× return on investment, while Sushi Revolution boosted gross profits by 2–3% and cut monthly stocktakes from 2–3 hours down to 5–20 minutes.
Restaurants that pair billing software with Jelly gain live visibility on dish profitability and can react to supplier changes before margins erode.
See how Jelly protects your margins by turning billing data into actionable insights.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best POS system for restaurants in the UK?
The right system depends on your restaurant type, volume, and service style. Square suits smaller venues and cafés with its intuitive interface and free entry-level plan. Lightspeed is a strong choice for full-service restaurants and pubs requiring robust table management and multi-site reporting. Toast is gaining traction among larger UK operators and multi-site groups. Epos Now works well for complex venues with detailed inventory needs. The best system is the one that matches your specific operational requirements and connects cleanly with your accounting and back-office tools.
What is the cheapest POS system for a restaurant?
Square's free plan with 1.75% per-transaction fees is the most accessible entry point. SumUp offers hardware from around £25 ex VAT (£30 incl. VAT) for its basic card reader and transaction fees near 1.69%. Zettle by PayPal has no monthly fees on its basic plan. Calculate total cost of ownership rather than focusing on the headline subscription price. Free or low-cost plans typically carry higher transaction fees, and add-ons for features like table management or kitchen display integration can significantly increase the monthly outlay.
What is the easiest POS system to use?
Square and Zettle are widely regarded as the most intuitive systems, with clean interfaces that staff can learn quickly and minimal configuration required. For a more feature-rich system that remains accessible, Lightspeed's interface is well-designed, though it requires more initial setup time. Epos Now claims new staff can be trained in 15 minutes on its Countertop 2 system. Ease of use matters most during busy service, so a system your team can navigate confidently in the first week delivers more value than one with extensive features that takes a month to configure.
Is restaurant billing software free?
Some systems offer free or pay-as-you-go plans. Square's free tier and Zettle's basic pay-as-you-go model are the most notable examples. However, free plans typically carry higher transaction fees and limited functionality. Advanced features such as table management, kitchen display integration, and multi-location reporting generally require a paid subscription. Entry-level tablet-based systems for a single site typically cost £30–£60 per month for software, while full-featured enterprise systems for multi-site groups can run £150–£350 per month per site. Always calculate total cost of ownership including transaction fees, hardware, and add-ons before committing.
What back-office software should I use alongside my billing system?
Front-of-house billing systems capture sales data but do not manage supplier invoices, track ingredient price changes, or calculate dish-level profitability. Jelly fills that gap. It automatically scans every line item of supplier invoices, updates dish costs in real time as ingredient prices change, and works alongside major billing systems to deliver live gross profit margins per dish. Jelly also integrates with Xero for accounting and charges a flat rate of £129 per month per location with no per-user fees. Operators then benefit from the admin savings and margin gains described earlier.
Conclusion: Pair Your Billing System with Jelly for Margin Control
The systems profiled here, including Square, Lightspeed, Epos Now, SumUp, Toast, and Zettle, are all viable front-of-house options depending on your operation type, volume, and budget. Evaluate them on UK-specific factors such as VAT and MTD compliance, payment integration, table management, and total cost of ownership including transaction fees and hardware.
Billing tools handle orders and payments, while Jelly manages supplier invoices, ingredient price fluctuations, and real-time dish profitability. Pair your chosen billing system with Jelly to turn sales data and supplier invoices into actionable margin insights, building on the admin savings and margin improvements highlighted above.
Talk to our team about transforming your back office and boosting margins.