This page sets Abacus, now part of Nomni Group, next to Allvio across the same 43 things an Australian hospitality owner asks a system to do in a normal week. Of those 43, Abacus includes 24 outright. Three it does part of the job on, at no extra cost. Six sit behind a paid Online Reservation add-on. One is a plain no, one cannot be established from what they publish, and eight are simply not what the product is for. That last group is not a criticism, and it only needs saying once: a hospitality till is not pretending to write your roster, and marking it down for that would be dishonest.
One more thing belongs at the top, honestly stated. Abacus and Liven are merging into Nomni, and that work is still in progress, so the platform you sign for today is being assembled while you use it.
Abacus covers the counter and the ordering page properly
Start with where their column is a clean run of yeses, because there is a lot of it. All nine selling and payment rows of a proper hospitality POS system are included: the touchscreen till for counter and table service, card, cash, split and part payments, table plan and open tabs, kitchen screens and dockets, stock counts with low stock alerts, timed happy hour pricing and price levels, gift cards, refunds and voids, and cash up at close. All seven online ordering rows are included too, which very few tills in this category can say. QR at the table, pickup from your own site, one menu behind both, modifiers and dietary flags, online payment and split bills, upsells and promo codes, and orders landing straight in the kitchen.
Their marketing is real as well. Email campaigns, SMS campaigns, automated birthday and win back messages, and campaign results tied back to spend are all included, alongside segments and loyalty. On three of those ordering rows and on stock counts, Abacus is a full yes where Allvio only does part of the job: we do not yet have nested modifiers, online bill splitting, automatic upsell prompts on the ordering page, or a stocktake at the register. They also have a yes for reporting on a phone, where ours is the browser rather than a native app. Those are their rows, not ours.
Capability | Abacus (Nomni) | Allvio |
|---|---|---|
Selling and taking payment | ||
Touchscreen till for counter and table service | Yes | Yes |
Card, cash, split and part payments | Yes | Yes |
Table plan and open tabs | Yes | Yes |
Kitchen screens or dockets | Yes | Yes |
Stock counts and low stock alerts | Yes | Part of it, no stocktake at the register yet |
Discounts, happy hour and price levels | Yes | Yes |
Gift cards | Yes | Yes |
Refunds, voids and exchanges | Yes | Yes |
Cash up and end of day | Yes | Yes |
Online ordering | ||
QR ordering at the table | Yes | Yes |
Pickup and takeaway from your own site | Yes | Yes |
Menu built and changed in one place | Yes | Yes |
Modifiers, sizes and dietary flags | Yes | Part of it, no nested modifiers yet |
Online payment and split bills | Yes | Part of it, no online bill splitting yet |
Upsells and promo codes | Yes | Part of it, no automatic upsell prompts yet |
Orders land straight in the kitchen | Yes | Yes |
Bookings and reservations | ||
Booking diary | Costs extra, Online Reservation add-on | Yes |
Floor plan and table assignment | Part of it, table maps you lay out yourself | Part of it, no floor plan designer yet |
Bookings from your own website | Costs extra, Online Reservation add-on | Yes |
Deposits and no show protection | Costs extra, deposits in the add-on | Part of it, deposits yes, no automatic fees |
Waitlist and walk ins | Costs extra, Online Reservation add-on | Yes |
Confirmations and reminders to guests | Costs extra, Online Reservation add-on | Yes |
Ticketed events and set menus | Check with them | Part of it, set menus yes, no ticket tiers |
Availability rules and trading hours | Costs extra, Online Reservation add-on | Yes |
Knowing your customers | ||
One customer record | Part of it, contact fields at the till | Yes |
Visit and spend history | Part of it, through the loyalty module | Yes |
Notes, preferences and allergies | No | Yes |
Segments such as regulars and lapsed | Yes | Yes |
Loyalty and rewards | Yes | Yes |
Marketing | ||
Email campaigns | Yes | Yes |
SMS campaigns | Yes | Not yet live |
Automated messages such as birthday and win back | Yes | Yes |
Campaign results tied back to spend | Yes | Yes |
Your team | ||
Rostering | Not what it does | Yes |
Clock in and out | Not what it does | Yes |
Timesheets ready for pay | Not what it does | Yes |
Leave and availability | Not what it does | Yes |
Staff app on their own phone | Not what it does | Part of it, phone browser, no native app |
Back office | ||
Invoices and quotes | Not what it does | Yes |
Payroll and payslips | Not what it does | Yes |
GST and BAS figures | Not what it does | Yes |
Seeing how you are doing | ||
Sales and end of day reporting | Yes | Yes |
Reporting on your phone | Yes | Part of it, browser on a phone, no native app |
The rows that will actually decide this for you
The booking diary itself, what most owners are really shopping for when they look at a restaurant booking system. Six of the eight booking rows sit on the paid Online Reservation add-on: the diary, the booking page guests reach from your website, deposits, guest confirmations and reminders, the waitlist and walk ins, and the availability rules and trading hours that decide when you can be booked at all. If you take table bookings, that is not an optional extra you might get around to. It is the job, and it arrives on a separate line and a second setup evening.
Notes, preferences and allergies. This is the one plain no in their column. The regular with a nut allergy is remembered by whoever is on shift, and forgotten the night they are rostered off. Visit and spend history is there but comes through the loyalty module rather than the plain customer record, so the base record is contact details.
Rostering, clock in and out, timesheets and leave, the core of any payroll and rostering software. Five rows Abacus does not set out to do. For a two person cafe that is fine. At eleven casuals it means a second company, a second login, and a bill that never comes back down.
Ticketed events and set menus. Their reservation material does not mention paid experiences, ticket inventory or a set menu attached to a booking, so we cannot mark it either way. If you run long lunches or Christmas sittings, check with them before you buy.
Where those numbers come from, and what they are not saying
Every count above is one row per capability, taken from published material only. A vendor with eight rows of not what it does is not a worse product, it is a narrower one, and the only question that matters is who buys, runs and pays for the rest. The distinction worth reading carefully is between the three kinds of gap. Part of it means the product does some of the job and it is already inside what you pay. Costs extra means the capability exists but on an add-on. Another product means a second signup entirely. Six of the Abacus booking rows are the middle kind.
Allvio Complete is $399 per month ex GST for one location, plus $299 per month for each extra location, with every app switched on and no per user charge, and that one subscription is also where invoicing, pay runs and BAS figures sit. Build your own starts at $20 per month per app. The trial is 30 days and needs no card. Hardware is bought outright, $1,499 ex GST for the single station, $1,869 retail, $2,499 restaurant.
When Abacus is still the right buy
A counter service cafe or quick service shop that does not take table bookings and does not roster more than a couple of people will get a lot from Abacus. The till, the kiosk, the ordering page and the campaigns all arrive together from one Australian group, and their ordering side is stronger than most, a reputation independent software review sites back up. If bookings, rosters and guest notes are part of your week, price the add-on column before you compare anything else.
Every cell above comes from each vendor's own published material, checked in August 2026. Products change constantly: always confirm current capability directly with each vendor before deciding.
FAQa
Does the Abacus subscription include a booking diary and reservations?
No. The diary, the booking page on your website, deposits, guest confirmations, the waitlist and the trading hours all sit on the paid Online Reservation add-on. It is a separate cost on top of the core subscription.
Can Abacus handle staff rostering and payroll?
No. Rostering, clock in and out, timesheets, leave and payroll sit outside what Abacus sets out to do. You would need a second system and a second bill for that side of the business.
What is the one clear gap in the Abacus customer record?
Notes on preferences and allergies. There is no field for this in Abacus, so a regular guest's allergy is remembered by whoever is on shift and lost the night they are not rostered on.
Is Abacus a good fit if I run a cafe or quick service shop with no table bookings?
Yes. If you do not take table bookings and do not roster more than a couple of people, Abacus covers the till, the kiosk and the ordering page well, and its ordering side is stronger than most.