Takeaway EPOS vs Online Ordering System: Which Do You Need?

An EPOS is the till: your staff use it to key in counter and phone orders, take payment and see what sold. An online ordering system is the website or app where customers order and pay for themselves. A takeaway needs an EPOS once counter trade outgrows a ticket pad and a card machine, and an online ordering system once it wants customers ordering direct rather than through a marketplace. Most busy takeaways need both, so the real choice is one product or two connected ones. Prices below come from each provider's own UK pages, checked 28 October 2026.

What an EPOS does, and what an online ordering system does

The two products overlap in the middle, which is why they get confused. Both hold your menu and both get orders to the kitchen. The difference is who places the order, and where.

A card machine on its own is not an EPOS: it takes the payment but does not know what was bought, so it cannot count Friday's large pizzas or split takings by VAT rate. Nor are the Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats tablets an ordering system of your own: the customer orders through the marketplace's account, so the relationship stays with the marketplace.

Do I need an EPOS for my takeaway?

Not always on day one. A new takeaway with one person on the counter can run on a card machine, a ticket pad and a spreadsheet. The case for an EPOS builds as soon as one of these is true:

• More than one person takes orders, and you need to know who rang up what and who gave a discount.
• Handwritten tickets are causing mistakes: the wrong size, a missed extra, a meal deal charged as separate items.
• Your accountant wants takings split by payment type and VAT rate, and you are adding up card machine slips by hand.
• You want stock counts, so you spot a chicken or pizza box shortage before Friday night, not during it.
• You run, or plan to run, a second branch and want one menu and one set of reports.
• You take phone orders for delivery and need the address, order and payment status in one place.

If none applies yet, put the money into online ordering first and add the till later. If several apply, an EPOS should save time on mistakes and cash-ups every busy weekend.

Do I need an online ordering system?

You need one if customers already want to order without walking in: the phone rings unanswered during the rush, or regulars use a marketplace because it is the only way to order you online.

The money argument is about the marketplaces. A regular's order through Just Eat, Deliveroo or Uber Eats carries the marketplace's commission; an order through your own website or app carries a card fee and your system's fee. What ‘commission-free’ ordering really costs per order adds those fees up for each pricing model. Our Just Eat commission guide sets out the published rates, and the savings calculator works out the difference with your own numbers. Your own system also gives you the customer list, for offers and loyalty when customers agree to hear from you.

Four ways to run both

Once you need both, there are four common set-ups. The difference is where the joins sit and who looks after them.

Published prices: Epos Now, Square, SumUp, Lightspeed and Aexir

Figures from each provider's own UK pages, read on 28 October 2026. Quotation marks show the provider's wording; "not stated" means the page does not say. Hardware is left out because prices change with promotions; each source shows the current figure.

Two things stand out. The EPOS providers charge for online ordering by the order, so the monthly figure understates what a busy online channel costs. And none of the four EPOS pricing pages lists an app published under your restaurant's name: their ordering runs as a web page or QR link, and Epos Now's listing says customers scan a QR code or click a link, with "No customer app download".

Worked example: 400 online delivery orders of £20 in a month

A worked example, not a quote: one takeaway, 400 online delivery orders a month at £20 each (delivery because Epos Now publishes its rate per delivery), with each plan's published monthly fee added to its published fees on those orders. Counter card fees, hardware and the cost of the delivery itself are left out, and prices are used as published, so some are ex VAT and some do not say.

On these figures Aexir costs the most of the plans that can be worked out: both Square plans, Epos Now Micro and SumUp come out lower in published fees, because 2.5% + 30p per order is more than any of their published per-order fees. The money buys different things. Aexir's figure includes an ordering website under your restaurant's name, promo codes and delivery settings, and on Pro your own App Store and Google Play app with loyalty and push notifications; Square lists Square Loyalty "From £25/mo. per location". Run the sum with your own order count, order value and counter card rate.

The integration question

If your till and ordering system come from different companies, the join between them decides how hard the counter works on a Friday night. Before you sign, get written answers to five questions:

1. Does an online order reach the kitchen printer or till without re-keying?
2. If I change a price in one system, does the other update, or do I keep two menus?
3. Do online orders show in the EPOS reports by item and VAT rate?
4. What does the connection cost a month, and who do I call when it breaks?
5. Are marketplace orders included, or sold separately?

Marketplace orders reach a till through middleware such as Deliverect or Otter, or through the EPOS provider's own integration: Lightspeed lists third-party ordering integrations, naming Uber Eats, as an add-on on Basic and Core and included on Pro. Our Deliverect comparison and Otter comparison set out what each publishes.

An all-in-one system removes the join between your own website or app and the till, but not every join. Aexir's POS on the Go is not connected to Epos Now, Square, SumUp or Lightspeed, and runs alongside Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats rather than connecting to them, so marketplace tablets stay on the counter.

Which set-up suits which takeaway

• Mostly walk-in trade: an EPOS with its own card reader. Square's free plan and Epos Now Micro are the lowest published monthly prices here, with online ordering to switch on later.
• Mostly phone, delivery and collection orders: an ordering system with the till built in, plus a card terminal if the till has none; UK ordering systems ranked on price names the cheapest single fee for app, website and till.
• Tied into an EPOS contract: keep the till until the term ends and run online ordering alongside. Epos Now's terms (eposnow.com/uk/contact-us/about/terms-website, checked 28 October 2026) say its software licence runs "a minimum period of 12 months" and renews for 12 months at a time unless cancelled in writing at least 30 days before renewal.
• Table service with courses: a hospitality EPOS. Square lists course management and floor plans on Plus; SumUp's £19 Hospitality Module lists table management.
• Two or more branches: compare the cost of each extra site. Square's Free plan lists "Unlimited locations" and Plus is £69 a month per location; Lightspeed publishes £39 per extra register but no per-site price; Aexir charges £1 a day per additional location.
• A busy card-heavy counter: compare in-person rates. Epos Now publishes 1.2%, SumUp 1.69% pay-as-you-go, Square 1.75%.

Where Aexir fits

Aexir is an online ordering system for independent restaurants and takeaways: their own branded iOS and Android ordering app, ordering website and browser till (POS on the Go), for a flat monthly fee at published prices. Two plans include the till: Web at £30 a month ex VAT (ordering website plus POS on the Go) and Pro at £50 (adding your own app). Starter (£30) and Plus (£40) are app plans without it.

POS on the Go runs in a web browser on a tablet, laptop or phone. Website, app and QR table orders land on one live board beside counter and phone orders, with menu editing, stock counts, refunds, delivery settings, offers and reports alongside. UK partner courier delivery is charged per delivery if used, and Aexir does the setup, including the menu build.

What it does not do matters as much. It has no card reader of its own, so counter cards go through a separate terminal; Aexir publishes no offline mode, so it needs an internet connection; and there is no floor plan or course timing. The takeaway EPOS page lists every feature and how printing works, and the pricing page shows every plan.