8 Best POS Systems in Australia of 2026

Square is the simplest place for most Australian businesses to start, because the software is free and the in-person fee is one number. Square's Australian pricing page lists a Free plan at $0 per month plus processing fees, and charges 1.6% per in-person transaction whether the customer taps Visa, Mastercard, eftpos or American Express. Online sales through Square Online or invoices cost 2.2%. Customers can pay with Afterpay, though Square lists the merchant fee at 6% + 30¢ per transaction excluding GST, so it is worth pricing that into larger baskets. Offline payments are stored for up to 24 hours, which helps market stalls and food trucks, but eftpos-only cards, gift cards and Afterpay cannot be taken offline. Hardware is sold outright in Australian dollars, from Square Reader at $65 to Square Register at $1,099. The Plus plan, at $40 per month, adds features designed for your industry and can be cancelled anytime. Bigger venues should compare Lightspeed and H&L.

Hike POS fits Australian retailers that sell physical stock and want the features local shops ask for. Its pricing page lets you pick Australia as a region, and the hardware is priced in Australian dollars, from the HikePay Reader at $114 AUD to the Hike Register at $1,508 AUD. The Essential plan, $59 USD per month billed annually, covers one outlet with unlimited products, users and turnover, plus lay-by, back-orders, stocktakes, purchase orders and composite products. Plus, at $99 USD per month billed annually, is the plan most growing shops will want: it adds multiple outlets, stock transfers, loyalty, gift cards, quotes, on-account sales and Hike's own online store. Integrations with Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks Online are sold as an add-on, and the Deputy and Unleashed links come with Plus. HikePay terminals charge 1.5% per in-person transaction, and Hike lists 0% fees of its own on the software. The main limit is that Essential is strictly single outlet.

Loyverse is the cheapest serious POS for an Australian cafe or small shop, because the parts most small businesses use are free. The point of sale, essential inventory with low-stock alerts, a loyalty program, a customer display, a kitchen display and multi-store management all cost nothing, and the app runs on a phone or tablet you already own. Paid add-ons fill the gaps: unlimited sales history is $7 per month per store, Employee management is $25 per month per store, and Advanced inventory adds purchase orders and stock transfers. Every add-on starts with a 14-day free trial and includes 24/7 live chat support, and Loyverse notes that prices exclude taxes. For Australian payments, Loyverse integrates with Tyro EFTPOS terminals so the sale amount is sent to the terminal automatically, but that integration currently works only on iOS. The trade-off is depth: free reports stop at 31 days, and the pricing page does not list lay-by or table management of the kind Hike and Lightspeed document.

Zeller POS is a newer option from Zeller, the Australian EFTPOS and business banking provider, and its pitch is price. The POS software has no setup fee and no monthly fee, and when you sell through Zeller POS with a Zeller Terminal, the in-person card fee drops to 1.2%, compared with Zeller's standard 1.4% for all cards. The feature set is aimed at cafes, coffee bars and quick service: items with modifiers and add-ons, discounts, tabs, variable pricing, kitchen dockets routed to coffee, bar or kitchen stations, and a free kitchen display system. Team roles control what staff can see. Zeller says it can go live in hours without an on-site technician, and that more than 110,000 businesses trust Zeller. The gaps are real for now: table assignment and inventory tracking are both marked coming soon on Zeller's own page. Retailers that need stock control, purchase orders or lay-by should look at Hike or Lightspeed Retail.

Shopify POS is the obvious pick for an Australian brand that already runs a Shopify store and wants a counter or a pop-up. Every Shopify plan includes basic in-person selling, and the Australian pricing page lists Basic at $56 AUD per month paid monthly, with lower prices for yearly billing. In-person card rates start at 1.85% on Basic, 1.75% on Grow and 1.65% on Advanced. The strength is one catalog: products, stock and customer profiles are shared between the website and the shop. The catch is that serious retail use needs POS Pro, which costs $129 AUD per month for each location and adds staff management and a fuller in-store feature set. Basic also charges 2% on top when you use a third-party payment provider, so most merchants stay with Shopify Payments. For a shop that does not sell online, Hike or Square cost less for the same counter features.

Lightspeed Restaurant suits Australian restaurants and bars that need table service, bar tabs and several venues under one login. The US pricing page lists Starter at $69, Essential at $189 and Premium at $399, while Lightspeed's Australian page lists Starter at $79 per month, Essential at $179 and Premium at $359, each with 1 register. The plans list a customizable POS, menu manager, floor plans, takeout and delivery workflows, single-view reconciliation, pre-auth bar mode, and order and pay at table, along with offline mode and 24/7 support. The plan table also lists multi-location management, advanced inventory and raw API access. Extras add up: a Kitchen Display System is $30 per screen per month, and Lightspeed Reservations is an add-on on every plan. For a single cafe, Square or Zeller cost far less; for a pub group or a busy restaurant with a bar and a kitchen pass, the bar mode, floor plans and multi-venue reporting are worth the monthly fee.

Lightspeed Retail is the strongest choice for Australian retailers with a big catalog and regular supplier orders. Lightspeed notes that its prices reflect Lightspeed Retail (X-Series), and every plan includes inventory management, purchase orders, access to supplier catalogs, built-in Lightspeed eCommerce, in-store and online loyalty, and 24/7 chat and phone support. The US page lists Basic at $89 per month billed annually, Core at $149 and Plus at $289; on Lightspeed's Australian site the same tiers are 129, 229 and 329 AUD per month. The plan table also lists API access, custom user roles, forecasting insights and single sign-on for higher tiers. Each plan includes 1 register, and extra registers and locations are charged per month. That makes Lightspeed expensive for a single-counter shop: Square or Hike cover the basics for less. For a bike store, homewares chain or fashion group that buys from many suppliers, the purchasing tools justify the price.

H&L POS is an Australian hospitality system built for venues where a cheap app is not enough: hotels, pubs, clubs, stadiums, events and bottle shops. Its software covers front of house point of sale, the Sysnet back of house system, stock and inventory management, an Order Display Monitor for the kitchen, and dashboards with sales and tender reports you can filter and download. H&L lists over 150 integrations, including me&u for order and pay, HungryHungry for online ordering, SevenRooms for bookings and roomMaster for hotel property management, and it offers H&L Payments. Client quotes on its site come from venues in Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. The downside is transparency: H&L does not publish prices, so you book a demo and receive a quote, and the system is heavier than a cafe or market stall needs. For a pub group or a club with a bistro and several bars, it is built for that scale.