Free Restaurant EPOS

Free restaurant EPOS system — no monthly fees, no contract

DineKit is a free, open-source EPOS that runs on your own WordPress site. Take orders at the table or counter, run tabs, split the bill, take cash and card, add tips and a service charge, then close off with proper X and Z reports and a cash-up — all without a monthly till licence or a contract tying you in.

Get DineKit — Free ▶ Try a live order

✅ £0 monthly licence ✅ No contract ✅ VAT-inclusive receipts ✅ X/Z cash-up built in

The till trap

What a traditional EPOS costs

Most UK restaurants and cafés end up renting their own till.

A traditional EPOS provider will typically charge:

£30–£70 a month, per till, just for the software licence
£600–£1,200 upfront for the terminal hardware, or £20–£40/month to hire it
A 12–36 month contract, often with an early-exit fee if you want to switch
Extra modules — split bills, loyalty, reporting — sometimes charged separately on top

Run two or three tills and that’s easily £1,000–£2,000 a year before you’ve served a single table — locked in for years, on hardware you don’t own.

Compare it with free restaurant POS software →

Side by side

DineKit EPOS vs. a traditional paid EPOS

Same job — cash-up, VAT receipts, split bills — for a very different price.

What you need	DineKit EPOS	Traditional paid EPOS
Monthly licence per till	£0 — free forever	£30–£70/month, per till
Hardware	Your existing phone, tablet or laptop, plus an optional Stripe smart reader (from around £49) for card-present, or pay-by-QR with no extra hardware at all	Proprietary terminal — £600–£1,200 upfront, or hired at £20–£40/month
Contract	None — cancel any time	Usually 12–36 months, often with an early-exit fee
Cash management + X/Z reports	Built in — float, pay in/out, no-sale, X (mid-shift) and Z (end-of-day) reports	Usually included
VAT-inclusive receipts	Built in, with a full VAT breakdown on every receipt	Usually included
Split bills & tabs	Included	Often a paid add-on module
Own your data	Yes — it’s your own WordPress database	No — held in the vendor’s cloud

To be fair: DineKit is a software EPOS, not a hardware manufacturer. Card-present still needs a Stripe smart reader (e.g. BBPOS WisePOS E or Reader S700) or pay-by-QR — there’s no proprietary terminal to buy from us because there doesn’t need to be.

On the till

Everything a busy shift needs

The full run of the room, front of house to cash drawer. See the full features overview →.

🧾

Order pad + tabs

Ring in items at the table or the counter, open a tab per table or customer, and keep it running until they’re ready to settle.

➗

Split bills

Split evenly across the table or by item, across cash and card in any combination — no awkward maths at the till.

💷

Cash management

Set a starting float, log pay-ins and pay-outs, and record no-sales — a proper paper trail for every drawer open.

📊

X/Z cash-up

Pull an X report mid-shift without resetting totals, then a Z report at close to reconcile the drawer and end the day.

🙌

Tips + service charge

Take tips on card or cash and add a discretionary service charge — tracked separately from the bill for easy payout.

🧮

VAT receipts

Prices are VAT-inclusive throughout, with a clear VAT breakdown printed or emailed on every receipt.

Questions

Straight answers

Is the EPOS really free?

Yes. The DineKit plugin — order pad, tabs, split bills, cash management, X/Z cash-up and VAT receipts — is free and open-source on WordPress.org, with no monthly per-till licence and no contract. You only pay standard card processing fees if you take card payments.

Does it do X and Z reports and cash-up?

Yes. Pull an X report at any point in the shift to check totals without resetting anything, then run a Z report at close of business to reconcile the drawer against the day’s takings — the same routine as a traditional till, built in for free.

How does it handle UK VAT?

Menu prices are VAT-inclusive, and every receipt shows a clear VAT breakdown, in pounds, so your figures are ready for your bookkeeping or accountant without extra work.

What hardware do I need for card payments?

DineKit is a software EPOS, so card-present payments go through a Stripe smart reader (for example the BBPOS WisePOS E or Reader S700), or you can take card payments with no extra hardware at all via pay-by-QR. Cash and tabs work on whatever phone, tablet or laptop you already have.

Is it a full till-hardware replacement?

It replaces the till software and the monthly licence, not a physical terminal manufacturer. Most venues run it on a tablet behind the counter with an optional Stripe reader for card-present — no proprietary till box to buy, hire or get locked into.

Run your till for free — from today

Order pad, tabs, split bills, cash management and X/Z cash-up, with VAT-inclusive receipts. No monthly licence, no contract.

Get DineKit — Free

Switching from Toast? See our Toast POS alternative guide →