Free restaurant POS

Free restaurant POS system for UK cafés and restaurants

DineKit includes a genuinely free point of sale, built into the same free plugin as your menu, bookings and online ordering. Order pad, open tabs, split bills, cash and card-present payments, tips, X/Z cash-up, void/refund with a manager PIN, loyalty points and QR order-at-table — running on your own WordPress site, with no monthly software fee.

Install from WordPress.org → Try the order demo →

What a restaurant POS costs

Most café and restaurant point-of-sale systems bundle three separate costs together, whether you use all of it or not.

Monthly software fee — typically around £69–£119+ per month, per till or location.
Proprietary terminals — usually £600–£1,000+ each, and most sites need more than one.
Card processing — around 1.75–2.5% + a small per-transaction fee on top.

Add a contract and hardware lock-in on top, and a “free trial” till can end up costing a small café several thousand pounds in the first year before it’s even taken an order. None of that means those systems are bad — a proper enterprise POS with integrated hardware is a real product. But plenty of small and mid-size sites are paying for scale they don’t need.

DineKit’s POS is free, full stop — no monthly software fee. You either take pay-by-QR with no hardware at all, or bring your own low-cost Stripe smart reader for card-present payments. No proprietary terminal to buy from DineKit, no contract, no lock-in.

DineKit vs a typical paid POS

Where the free option genuinely holds up — and where a paid system still has an edge.

What you need	DineKit	Typical paid POS
Monthly software fee	£0 — free	~£69–£119+/mo per till
Hardware	None needed for pay-by-QR; a low-cost Stripe smart reader for card-present	Proprietary terminals, ~£600–£1,000+ each
Contract / lock-in	No contract, no lock-in	Typically a contract + hardware lock-in
Card processing	Standard Stripe rates, your own account	~1.75–2.5%+ through their processor
Menu & ordering built in	Yes — same free plugin	Usually a separate module or add-on cost
Own your data	Open-source, self-hosted on your site	Hosted on their platform
Card-present method	Your own Stripe smart reader, or pay-by-QR	Their proprietary integrated terminal

What DineKit’s free POS does

A real till, not a stripped-down demo — free, on your own WordPress site.

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Order pad & open tabs

Ring up orders fast, keep tables open, add items as the table orders more and settle up whenever they’re ready.

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Split bills

Split evenly, by item, or by guest — no awkward maths at the till when a table wants separate bills.

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Cash & card, tips included

Take cash or card-present payments via a Stripe smart reader (or pay-by-QR with no hardware), plus tips and service charge.

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X/Z cash-up & manager PIN

Run X and Z reports for shift and end-of-day cash-up, with void and refund locked behind a manager PIN.

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QR order-at-table

Diners can order and pay straight from the table by QR code — no hardware needed, and it feeds the same order pad.

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Loyalty points

Reward repeat customers with loyalty points earned through the POS — built in, no separate app or card scheme.

Common questions

Is DineKit’s POS really free?

Yes. The order pad, open tabs, split bills, cash and card-present payments, tips, X/Z cash-up, void/refund and loyalty points are all free today, with no monthly software fee and no contract. You just need your own Stripe account for card payments, and a Stripe smart reader only if you want card-present — pay-by-QR needs no hardware at all.

What card reader do I need?

DineKit’s POS works with your own Stripe smart reader (for example a BBPOS WisePOS E or Reader S700) for card-present payments. If you’d rather not buy any hardware, diners can pay by QR instead — no reader required either way to get started.

Can it split bills and do cash-up (X/Z)?

Yes. Bills can be split evenly, by item or by guest, and the POS runs X reports for mid-shift checks and Z reports to close out the day’s cash-up. Voids and refunds are locked behind a manager PIN.

Is it a full Toast/Square replacement?

For most single-site cafés and restaurants, largely yes — DineKit’s POS covers the till, cash-up and payments most sites need day to day, free. What it doesn’t do is supply fully integrated proprietary hardware or enterprise, multi-site scale as one vendor-supported package — that’s where Toast or Square for Restaurants still have an edge. See the full features overview for everything else DineKit does.

Do I need WooCommerce?

No. DineKit’s POS and ordering run on their own, with no WooCommerce required — just install the plugin on your WordPress site.

A free till, on your own site

No monthly software fee, no proprietary terminal to buy, no contract. Install DineKit free and take your first order today, or try the order demo first — see the download page for setup steps.

Install from WordPress.org →