We have reviewed the main point-of-sale systems for bars and restaurants in Spain. Find the right POS for your business.
The point-of-sale (POS) system is the operational heart of any hospitality business. It processes every sale, manages tables, sends orders to the kitchen and prints the receipts. Choosing the right POS has a direct impact on the speed of service and on your customers’ experience.
The hospitality POS market has changed radically: we have gone from closed systems with perpetual licences to cloud solutions with monthly fees, tablet apps and open ecosystems full of integrations. You have more options than ever today, but that also makes the decision more complicated.
In this comparison we look at 7 POS systems popular in the Spanish market, from international giants such as Lightspeed to local Spanish solutions such as Glop or ICG. An important note: Zindra is not a POS but back-office management software that integrates with several of the POS systems mentioned here.
Revo XEF is a Spanish iPad-based POS that is very popular with modern, design-led restaurants. It offers a polished interface, visual table management and integrations with delivery platforms. It is one of the most widely used options in premium hospitality in Spain.
Lightspeed Restaurant is a Canadian cloud POS with a strong international presence. It offers a complete ecosystem with point of sale, integrated payments, inventory management and loyalty. It is one of the most complete solutions on the market.
Glop is Spanish POS software that has been on the market for more than 20 years. It is a robust, low-cost solution that is very popular with bars, cafés and small restaurants. It has a wide network of resellers in Spain offering local support.
Square is the American solution that brought payments and POS within reach of small businesses. Its free plan with per-transaction fees makes it very attractive for businesses just starting out. However, its hospitality-specific features are more limited.
SumUp started out as a card reader and has grown into a full POS for small businesses. Its strengths are simplicity and a low cost of entry. It is not the most powerful POS for restaurants, but for simple businesses it is hard to beat on ease of use.
Ágora, a long-standing Spanish POS, is one of the most widely installed systems in Spanish hospitality, with decades of experience. Its reseller network gives it a local presence that is hard to match. It is robust software, although its interface is showing its age.
ICG (Informática de Gestión) is a Spanish company that has been developing POS software for more than 30 years. Its FrontRest solution is a classic of Spanish hospitality, particularly popular in Catalonia and the Valencia region (Levante). It offers a complete solution, but with a traditional approach.
The best POS depends on the size and type of your business. For modern restaurants that value design and experience, Revo is the safest bet in Spain. If you want a very complete international ecosystem, Lightspeed is excellent, though more expensive. For small bars and cafés, Glop or Square offer good value for money. And if you are starting out on a minimal budget, SumUp lets you take card payments from day one. Remember that a good POS works best alongside back-office management software (such as Zindra, which integrates with several of the POS systems mentioned) so you have full control over inventory, purchasing and staff.
Dig deeper into the key concepts behind this comparison.
Answers to the most common questions about this category.
It depends on your volume. If you take less than €3,000/month in card payments, per-transaction fees (Square, SumUp) may work out cheaper. Above that volume, a fixed monthly fee with low or zero transaction fees (Lightspeed, Revo) is usually more cost-effective. Run the numbers with your real figures before deciding.
Yes, solutions such as Revo, Lightspeed and Square run on iPad. The advantage is lower hardware costs than proprietary terminals and an intuitive touch interface. The drawback is that an iPad is a consumer device that may not stand up as well to the daily wear and tear of a kitchen. Many restaurants opt for rugged cases.
In most cases, yes. The POS handles the point of sale (payments, receipts, kitchen orders), but running the business as a whole (detailed inventory, supplier purchasing, cost control, staff management) calls for specialist tools. Solutions such as Zindra complement your POS with all the back-office management you need.
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