Nine free POS apps. The catch behind each one.
“Free” usually means free software with a 2.6% card cut. Some cap your menu at 300 items. Some lock you into hardware. Below: the nine best free POS apps for US restaurants and small shops, plus the one that's actually $0.
Free POS software is point-of-sale software that costs $0 to install and use. The best free POS systems in 2026 are Timeline POS (genuinely free desktop), Square (free cloud POS with 2.6% + 10¢ per card transaction), Loyverse (free mobile POS with paid add-ons), eHopper (free tier for small shops), SumUp and Zettle (free mobile POS with low card fees), and open-source options like Unicenta oPOS and Floreant POS. Timeline POS is the only option on this list with no monthly fee and no transaction fees, because it is a Windows desktop app that does not process payments itself.
For the broader POS comparison covering free, cheapest, restaurant and food-truck systems, see our Best POS Systems 2026 hub.
Leave your name and number and we'll help you get free POS software running, no cost, within the hour.
No spam. We only use your number to reply about your project.
This guide is grounded in three years of hands-on Timeline Digital deployments with USA small-business and restaurant operators. We do not earn affiliate commissions on any third-party POS listed. Pricing claims are sourced directly from each vendor’s rate card as of May 2026.
Every “free” POS is scored against the same six criteria, then we expose the catch behind each free tier. The cheapest headline tier is rarely the cheapest total cost over 12 months once card processing, hardware financing and add-on subscriptions are included.
Authored by the Timeline Digital POS engineering team, makers of Timeline POS and Timeline Restaurants POS. Reviewed by Lead Engineer Usama Asif.
“Free” tiers move fast, vendors quietly cap features, raise per-tx fees, or move features into paid tiers. Here’s every material 2026 change for the systems on this page:
Real pricing model, actual best use case, and the catch behind each “free” tier. Updated April 2026.
| Software | Type | Pricing Model | Best Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Timeline POS | Desktop | Completely free, no transaction fees | Small retail shops, cafés, workshops, and service businesses on Windows |
| Square Free POS | Cloud | Free software; 2.6% + 10¢ per in-person card txn (USA) | US/UK/CA/AU small businesses wanting one app for POS + payments |
| Loyverse POS | Mobile | Free base; $5 to $25/mo for advanced add-ons | Cafés, small restaurants, and retail using iPad or Android |
| eHopper | Hybrid | Free Essentials plan (up to 300 SKUs); $29.99+/mo to scale | Convenience stores, kiosks, and quick-service businesses |
| Imonggo | Cloud | Free for up to 1,000 products; paid tiers from $30/mo | Micro-retailers and single-location shops with light SKU counts |
| Hike Lite | Cloud | Free 14-day trial; Lite plan starts at $59/mo | Retailers wanting deep inventory and omnichannel |
| Unicenta oPOS (Open Source) | Desktop | Free and open source; self-hosted | Tech-comfortable shop owners who want full control |
| Floreant POS (Open Source) | Desktop | Free and open source; premium cloud version paid | Small restaurants, pizzerias, and cafés |
| Korona POS Starter | Cloud | No genuine free tier; trial only | Growing retail chains after trial |
Pricing accurate for USA merchants as of April 2026. Rates in the UK, Germany, Canada, and Australia differ. Check each vendor’s local site.
One-screen verdicts on each free POS system. What it does well, where the free tier breaks down, and the type of business it actually fits.
Completely free, no transaction fees
Built by Timeline Digital as a free tool. No payment processor bundled, no ads, no paid tier.
Best for: Small retail shops, cafés, workshops, and service businesses on Windows
Pros
Cons
Free software; 2.6% + 10¢ per in-person card txn (USA)
Square makes money on payment processing fees, not software.
Best for: US/UK/CA/AU small businesses wanting one app for POS + payments
Pros
Cons
Free base; $5 to $25/mo for advanced add-ons
Free tier drives adoption; revenue from paid add-ons (employee management, kitchen display).
Best for: Cafés, small restaurants, and retail using iPad or Android
Pros
Cons
Free Essentials plan (up to 300 SKUs); $29.99+/mo to scale
Free tier as funnel to paid plans.
Best for: Convenience stores, kiosks, and quick-service businesses
Pros
Cons
Free for up to 1,000 products; paid tiers from $30/mo
Free tier to onboard small businesses; paid plans unlock multi-register and integrations.
Best for: Micro-retailers and single-location shops with light SKU counts
Pros
Cons
Free 14-day trial; Lite plan starts at $59/mo
Not truly free after trial. Listed because it often appears in "free POS" lists.
Best for: Retailers wanting deep inventory and omnichannel
Pros
Cons
Free and open source; self-hosted
Community-maintained open-source project.
Best for: Tech-comfortable shop owners who want full control
Pros
Cons
Free and open source; premium cloud version paid
Open-source core; paid tier for Floreant Cloud.
Best for: Small restaurants, pizzerias, and cafés
Pros
Cons
No genuine free tier; trial only
Listed here because "free POS" searches often surface it. Starts at $49/mo after trial.
Best for: Growing retail chains after trial
Pros
Cons
A free POS is not worth installing if it cannot actually run a business. These are the features we look for. And the ones to avoid signing up for if they are missing.
Fast item lookup, barcode scan, quantity adjustment, discount, tax, and payment. Anything slower than 10 seconds per transaction is a no.
Real-time stock levels, low-stock alerts, product categories, and cost vs. Selling price. Without this, you will run out of your best sellers on the busiest days.
Record customer name, phone, and purchase history. Even a basic customer list is enough to run loyalty offers by SMS or WhatsApp.
Daily, weekly, and monthly totals. Best-selling items. Payment method breakdown. Anything less and you are running blind.
Internet goes down; sales should not stop. Desktop and open-source options handle this natively. Most cloud POS will queue offline and sync later. Check the specifics before committing.
Thermal receipt printer support via USB or Bluetooth. A4 invoice support for B2B. Email receipts for eco-conscious customers.
Separate logins for cashiers and managers, with permissions. Avoid POS systems that cap free users at 1 or 2.
Card reader support. Some free POS systems bundle the processor (Square, Clover); others (Timeline POS) let you pair with your own bank or reader to keep fees low.
CSV export for every table. Products, customers, sales. Portable data means you are never locked in.
Free POS fits certain business models better than others. Here is how we think about who benefits most.
If you are in the first 12 months, every dollar saved on software is a dollar toward inventory. Free POS lets you launch without a subscription hanging over you.
Boutiques, grocery shops, hardware stores, bookshops. Timeline POS handles product catalogue, barcodes, and daily reports at zero cost. Square Free is the cloud alternative.
Loyverse on an iPad or Timeline POS on a Windows till gives you menu management, orders, and end-of-day cash reconciliation for $0.
Salons, repair shops, laundry services, and tutors can use free POS to bill customers and track their history without paying for enterprise CRM.
Mobile free POS on a phone with a SumUp or Zettle reader is the cheapest way to take cards at a stall, event, or seasonal pop-up.
Square Free, SumUp, or Timeline POS on a small Windows device handle order entry and card payments on the go. Critical when every second of queue time matters.
| Dimension | Free POS (Timeline POS / Square / Loyverse) | Paid POS (Clover / Lightspeed / Toast) |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | $0 | $14.95 to $289+ |
| Contract length | None (download) / month-to-month (cloud) | 1 to 3 years typical |
| Transaction fees | $0 (Timeline POS) or 1.69% to 2.9% (others) | 2.3% to 2.9% + fixed fees |
| Hardware | Use what you have, or $39+ reader | $199 to $1,500+ bundles |
| Multi-location | Manual or paid upgrade | Usually included on mid-tier |
| Support | Community / email / optional paid | 24/7 phone with SLA |
| Integrations | Core integrations only on free tier | Deep: accounting, e-commerce, loyalty |
| Data ownership | Local (Timeline POS) or vendor cloud | Vendor cloud (export to leave) |
Honest answers to the questions small-business owners ask before downloading free POS software.
The best genuinely free POS software for small businesses is Timeline POS. A Windows desktop app with sales, inventory, customer tracking, orders and reports, no subscription, and no transaction fees. For cloud-based free POS, Square is the most popular in the USA, UK, Canada, and Australia; Loyverse is strong for cafés on iPad; eHopper covers convenience stores. Open-source options like Unicenta oPOS and Floreant POS are free forever but require more technical setup.
Yes, but it is rare. Timeline POS is one of the few genuinely free options with zero software fees and zero transaction fees, because it does not process payments itself. You pair it with whatever card reader or bank terminal you already use. Most "free" cloud POS tools (Square, Loyverse, eHopper) are free in software but collect transaction fees of 1.69% to 2.9% on card sales, which is effectively a variable monthly cost.
Yes. Timeline POS is the most complete free POS for retail. It supports barcode scanning, inventory, stock alerts, multiple categories, customer profiles, and daily sales reports. Square Free Plan is the best alternative if you want integrated card payments. Unicenta oPOS is the strongest open-source retail POS if you can handle a technical setup.
Yes. Loyverse has a strong free tier for cafés and small restaurants running on iPad. Timeline POS handles menu, orders, customer tracking, and daily reports on a Windows PC with zero cost. Floreant POS is an open-source option purpose-built for restaurants with table management and split checks. Toast Starter markets as $0/month but locks you into payment-processing fees.
Square POS, SumUp, Zettle (by PayPal), and Loyverse are the leading free mobile POS apps. All four run on iOS and Android, all four offer free software, and all four make their money from payment-processing fees on card transactions. Typically 1.69% to 2.75% depending on country and reader. SumUp and Zettle win on hardware cost in the UK and Germany at $39 to $79 for a reader.
Most cloud-based free POS systems (Square, Loyverse, eHopper) need an internet connection and will fail or degrade when offline. Timeline POS runs entirely offline on Windows. Sales continue uninterrupted during internet outages. Unicenta oPOS and Floreant POS are self-hosted and offline-capable. For businesses on unreliable connections, offline capability is essential.
Reputable free POS systems are as safe as paid ones. Timeline POS stores all data locally on your PC, so sensitive sales data never leaves your premises. Square, Clover, and other cloud-based free POS systems are PCI-compliant and encrypt card data in transit and at rest. Always download software directly from the vendor's official website and avoid pirated "cracked" versions of paid POS software. Those are often bundled with malware.
There are four common catches: (1) payment-processing fees on every card sale, which is how most "free" cloud POS vendors make money; (2) feature caps that force an upgrade as you grow (eHopper at 300 SKUs, Imonggo at 1,000 products); (3) lock-in to proprietary hardware or bundled processors; (4) limited support. Free tiers usually get community or email-only support. Timeline POS avoids all four because it is a desktop app built by a services company as a free lead-in to custom work.
Yes. Most paid POS platforms let you export products, customers, and sales history to CSV. Import the CSV into your free POS (Timeline POS supports CSV import on request), update any integrations, and retire the paid subscription. Watch for processor contracts. Some cheap paid POS systems like Clover or Toast lock you into 2 to 3 year payment-processing agreements that are separate from the software subscription.
Yes, for single-location businesses up to roughly $30,000/month in sales. Above that, you often need multi-location sync, advanced inventory forecasting, and dedicated support. Which usually require a paid tier. Timeline POS works well for single-location growth; when you need cloud multi-site, Timeline Digital can build a custom version on top of the same workflows you already know.
Yes. Timeline POS is fully configurable for currency (USD, GBP, EUR), tax rates (US sales tax, UK VAT, German MwSt.), and receipt format, so it runs cleanly in all three markets. Square covers the USA, UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada, France, Spain, and Japan. Zettle is strong across the UK and Germany. SumUp operates in 30+ countries. Loyverse works globally but integrates with local payment partners per country.
Timeline POS is the one free POS on this page with zero monthly fees and zero transaction fees. Sales, inventory, customers, orders, reports. All in one offline Windows desktop app. Install it, add your products, start billing.
Need a custom cloud-synced POS, multi-branch sync, or vertical-specific module? Talk to Timeline Digital.
We build custom software for businesses in the USA, UK and beyond, see what custom software costs in 2026.
Made in Islamabad, Pakistan
For shops and small businesses in Pakistan, Timeline POS is a free Windows option that bills in PKR and works fully offline. It is deployed in shops in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad, and it costs Rs 0 with no monthly fee, while local POS tools often charge PKR 2,000 or more per month.
Free forever with no per-sale cut, compared with Pakistani POS tools that charge a monthly PKR subscription.
Suits kiryana stores, retail shops, pharmacies and small restaurants that need fast billing and stock tracking.
A desktop app that keeps billing during load-shedding or weak connectivity. Data stays on your own PC.
Sales reports support FBR returns, and you can record JazzCash, EasyPaisa or card payments. FBR POS e-invoicing can be added on request.
Setup help on WhatsApp at +92 344 9310484, the channel most Pakistani businesses already use, in Urdu or English.
Yes. Timeline POS is free forever with no monthly PKR fee and no cut on your sales. It bills in PKR, runs offline on any Windows PC, and is built and supported by Timeline Digital in Islamabad, so a small shop pays nothing to run it.
You can record sales paid by JazzCash, EasyPaisa, card or cash as payment types, so your reports reflect how customers actually pay. Timeline POS itself does not process the payment, it records it, so you keep using your existing JazzCash, EasyPaisa or bank terminal.
Timeline POS produces itemised receipts and sales reports useful for FBR returns. Direct FBR POS e-invoicing integration, required for some Tier-1 and Tier-2 retailers, is available as a custom add-on from Timeline Digital. Ask our team on WhatsApp if your category needs it.
Timeline POS is a strong fit because it is free, works offline, and bills in PKR, which suits kiryana stores, retail shops and small restaurants that cannot rely on steady internet. It is supported by a local Islamabad team rather than an overseas vendor.