# POS & Checkout Systems — software compared by an AI panel As of 3 Nov 2026, the panel rates [ready2order (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/ready2order), [Square (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/square) and [Gastronovi (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/gastronovi) highest in POS & Checkout Systems, out of 19 products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European option is [ready2order](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/ready2order) (EU-Made). Of the products whose own pages state a free plan, the panel rates [Square](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/square) highest. Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). - Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/pos - Data as of: 2026-11-04 **AI-generated.** Every rating here is the opinion of a panel of AI judges, formed from public evidence against a published rubric — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Listed alphabetically; no placement is for sale. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology ## Products | Product | Vendor | Provenance | Panel rating | Sovereignty | Markdown | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | [Clover](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/clover) | Fiserv, Inc. | unknown | 2/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/clover.md) | | [Epos Now](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/epos-now) | Epos Now | unknown | 2/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/epos-now.md) | | [Gastronovi](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/gastronovi) | Gastronovi GmbH | EU-Made | 3/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/gastronovi.md) | | [helloCash](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/hellocash) | mRaP GmbH | EU-Made | 2.5/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/hellocash.md) | | [helloTESS!](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/hellotess) | TESSERO GmbH | EU-Made | 2/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/hellotess.md) | | [Lightspeed Restaurant](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/lightspeed-restaurant) | Lightspeed Commerce Inc. | Rest of world | 2.5/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/lightspeed-restaurant.md) | | [LINA TeamCloud](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/lina) | Gastro-MIS GmbH | EU-Made | 3/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/lina.md) | | [Loyverse POS](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/loyverse) | Cavius International Limited | UK / wider Europe | 2.5/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/loyverse.md) | | [orderbird POS](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/orderbird-pos) | orderbird AG | unknown | 2/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/orderbird-pos.md) | | [PayPal POS (Zettle)](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/zettle) | PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. et Cie, S.C.A. | EU origin, foreign-owned | 2/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/zettle.md) | | [PosBill](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/posbill) | PosBill GmbH | EU-Made | 2/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/posbill.md) | | [ready2order](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/ready2order) | ready2order GmbH | EU-Made | 3.5/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/ready2order.md) | | [Shopify POS](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/shopify-pos) | Shopify Inc. | Rest of world | 2.5/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/shopify-pos.md) | | [Square](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/square) | Block, Inc. | Rest of world | 3/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/square.md) | | [SumUp POS](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/sumup-pos) | SumUp Limited | EU-Made | 3/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/sumup-pos.md) | | [Tebi](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/tebi) | Tebi B.V. | EU-Made | 2.5/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/tebi.md) | | [Tillhub](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/tillhub) | UTill Commerce GmbH | EU origin, foreign-owned | 2.5/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/tillhub.md) | | [Vectron](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/vectron) | Vectron Systems AG | EU origin, foreign-owned | 3/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/vectron.md) | | [YAVIN](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/yavin) | YAVIN | unknown | 2/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/yavin.md) | Ratings are out of 5 (the panel's mean, half steps). Sovereignty is scored only when all 6 dimensions (legal entity, hosting location, hosting options, open source, data processing agreement and transfer impact assessment) are proven from the vendor's own pages. ## Head-to-head comparisons - [ready2order vs SumUp POS](https://whats-best.ai/compare/ready2order-vs-sumup-pos) ([md](https://whats-best.ai/compare/ready2order-vs-sumup-pos.md)): ready2order is ahead where the lean runs 6 judges to 0: fiscal compliance (6.0 vs 4.0), sovereignty (6.3 vs 3.2) and pricing transparency (8.5 vs 7.0), with prices from 35,90 € monthly per till device to the 1.199,00 € readyMax 2. - [Lightspeed Restaurant vs Tillhub](https://whats-best.ai/compare/lightspeed-restaurant-vs-tillhub) ([md](https://whats-best.ai/compare/lightspeed-restaurant-vs-tillhub.md)): The benches split rather than decide. - [helloCash vs PayPal POS (Zettle)](https://whats-best.ai/compare/hellocash-vs-zettle) ([md](https://whats-best.ai/compare/hellocash-vs-zettle.md)): The leaning criteria split the benches. - [Gastronovi vs LINA TeamCloud](https://whats-best.ai/compare/gastronovi-vs-lina) ([md](https://whats-best.ai/compare/gastronovi-vs-lina.md)): Gastronovi and LINA TeamCloud divide the bench, and no overall winner emerges. ## Questions ### What is the best POS & Checkout Systems software? As of 3 Nov 2026, the panel rates [ready2order (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/ready2order), [Square (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/square) and [Gastronovi (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/gastronovi) highest of the 19 POS & Checkout Systems products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence. Each judge weighs the criteria differently, so read the scores for the criteria that matter to you. ### Which POS & Checkout Systems software is European? As of 3 Nov 2026, 12 of the 19 POS & Checkout Systems products evaluated are European by provenance: [ready2order](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/ready2order), [Gastronovi](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/gastronovi), [LINA TeamCloud](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/lina), [SumUp POS](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/sumup-pos), [Vectron](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/vectron), [Tillhub](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/tillhub), [Loyverse POS](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/loyverse), [helloCash](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/hellocash), and 4 more (see [the full list](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos#products)). The highest-rated of them is [ready2order](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/ready2order) (EU-Made). ### Which POS & Checkout Systems tools have a free plan? As of 3 Nov 2026, the vendors’ own pages state a free plan for [Square](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/square), [SumUp POS](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/sumup-pos) and [helloCash](https://whats-best.ai/software/pos/hellocash). Each product page links the pricing page it was read from. ### How were these POS & Checkout Systems tools evaluated? Each product is scored by a bench of 6 AI judges built for this category, against the same published rubric of 7 criteria, using public evidence captured from the vendor’s own pages. Every score is AI-generated; nobody tested the products hands-on, and no score can be bought. The full method is on the [methodology page](https://whats-best.ai/methodology). ## The bench 6 AI judges built for this category, each versioned and scoring independently; disagreement is printed, not averaged away. - **The Café Owner** (v1.0): Runs a café with twelve tables, a counter and a terrace in summer, and closes the till herself at eleven at night. Wants an iPad till the student staff learn in one shift, orders that reach the kitchen printer, split bills and tips without arithmetic, a till that keeps selling when the Wi-Fi drops, a TSE she does not have to think about, and a monthly cost she can still read in the second year. - **The Retail Shop Owner** (v1.0): Owns a stationery and gift shop with a second branch across town and about four thousand articles, many in several colours. Wants barcodes scanned at the till, stock that shows what the other branch still has, transfers between the two shops, suppliers and reorders in the same back office, vouchers that work in both branches, and the month's sales handed to the tax adviser without a USB stick. - **The Tax Adviser** (v1.0): Looks after the books of sixty restaurants, bakeries and shops and has sat in on more than one unannounced Kassennachschau. Wants the TSE named with its certificate, a DSFinV-K export that opens in the auditor's software, the § 146a registration done, a procedure documentation that exists before it is asked for, a DATEV export with the right revenue accounts, and ten years of records still readable after the client changes tills. - **The Hospitality Operations Manager** (v1.0): Runs operations for a group of eight restaurants in three cities with two hundred staff. Wants one menu and price list pushed to every site with local exceptions, staff rights that stop a waiter voiding his own bills, reports that compare sites by the hour, and a works council and data protection officer who can sign off what the till records about employees and loyalty guests, and where it is hosted. - **The Fee-Conscious Merchant** (v1.0): Sells ice cream from a shop in spring and summer and from a market stall at Christmas, mostly in amounts under five euros, and more of them by card every year. Wants the fee per girocard and credit card payment on the price page, a terminal he can choose rather than the one the till insists on, hardware that runs off a battery, no monthly fee in the closed months, and the real cost of "free". - **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Has seen a "free" till paid for twice over in card fees, printers that work with one vendor's software only, a TSE charged by the year on top of the licence, and a cancelled contract that left ten years of fiscal journals behind a login. Reads "100 % finanzamtkonform" with no TSE provider named and "DATEV-ready" with no export format — and asks what leaving would cost. --- Cite as: whats-best.ai, "POS & Checkout Systems", AI panel comparison, as of 2026-11-04. https://whats-best.ai/software/pos