Epos Now is a UK built till sold in Australia, and the interesting thing about it is not any single capability. It is the delivery model. Of the 43 capabilities on this page, only 9 are included in the till you buy. Thirteen arrive as a separate product from their app store, one sits on a paid add-on, 2 are done in part, 4 are a plain no, and 14 are not what the product is for. Say that once and be fair about it: a not what it does row is a scope statement, not a failing.
Thirteen is the number to sit with. It is nearly a third of everything on this page, and none of it is a switch you turn on. Each one is a decision, a signup, a setup and a line on a bill.
The till underneath is a real till
What is included is included properly. The touchscreen register handles counter and table service, card, cash, split and part payments, a table plan with open tabs, stock counts with low stock alerts, discounts and happy hour and price levels, refunds and voids, and cash up at end of day. Sales and end of day reporting is there, and so is reporting on your phone, which is a full yes for them and only part of the job for us: Allvio reporting runs in a phone browser rather than a native app. Their hardware and software bundles are pitched hard at operators watching every dollar, a positioning independent software review sites consistently confirm, and for a small shop that wants a pos system for small business and nothing else, the base product does the till job.
Capability | Epos Now | 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 | Another product, a kitchen display app | 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 | Another product, an app from the store | Yes |
Refunds, voids and exchanges | Yes | Yes |
Cash up and end of day | Yes | Yes |
Online ordering | ||
QR ordering at the table | Another product, an ordering app | Yes |
Pickup and takeaway from your own site | Another product, the online ordering app | Yes |
Menu built and changed in one place | Another product, the menu lives there | Yes |
Modifiers, sizes and dietary flags | Another product, in the ordering app | Part of it, no nested modifiers yet |
Online payment and split bills | Part of it, customers can pay online | Part of it, no online bill splitting yet |
Upsells and promo codes | Another product, an app from the store | Part of it, no automatic upsell prompts yet |
Orders land straight in the kitchen | Another product, needs the ordering app | Yes |
Bookings and reservations | ||
Booking diary | Not what it does | Yes |
Floor plan and table assignment | Not what it does | Part of it, no floor plan designer yet |
Bookings from your own website | Not what it does | Yes |
Deposits and no show protection | Not what it does | Part of it, deposits yes, no automatic fees |
Waitlist and walk ins | Not what it does | Yes |
Confirmations and reminders to guests | Not what it does | Yes |
Ticketed events and set menus | Not what it does | Part of it, set menus yes, no ticket tiers |
Availability rules and trading hours | Not what it does | Yes |
Knowing your customers | ||
One customer record | Part of it, basic customer details | Yes |
Visit and spend history | Costs extra, on the loyalty add-on | Yes |
Notes, preferences and allergies | No | Yes |
Segments such as regulars and lapsed | Another product, an app from the store | Yes |
Loyalty and rewards | Another product, the loyalty app | Yes |
Marketing | ||
Email campaigns | Another product, an app from the store | Yes |
SMS campaigns | No | Not yet live |
Automated messages such as birthday and win back | Another product, an app from the store | Yes |
Campaign results tied back to spend | Another product, an app from the store | 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 | No | Yes |
Payroll and payslips | Not what it does | Yes |
GST and BAS figures | No | 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 where the app store becomes your problem
Online ordering, all of it, the exact job a proper online ordering system is built to do. Six of the seven ordering rows are another product, part of what Epos Now itself describes as an extensive appstore rather than a built in feature. QR at the table, pickup and takeaway from your own site, modifiers and dietary flags, upsells and promo codes, orders reaching the kitchen, and the menu itself. That last one is the sting. Because the ordering menu lives in the separate app, a price rise is typed at the till and then typed again online, and the day you forget the second one is the day you sell a parma for last winter's price all night.
Kitchen screens and gift cards. Both are separate products rather than parts of the till. A kitchen screen is not a nice extra in a busy kitchen, and a gift card program is the thing every venue is asked for in December. Two more signups before you can say yes to either.
Knowing your customers. The base record does part of the job with basic customer details. Visit and spend history sits on the paid loyalty add-on. Segments and loyalty are separate products again. Notes, preferences and allergies is a plain no, which means the regular with a nut allergy is remembered by a person rather than by the system. If they resign, so does the memory.
Marketing. Email campaigns, automated birthday and win back messages and campaign results tied back to spend are all another product. SMS campaigns are a no. So the till that knows exactly who spent what cannot, on its own, tell any of them anything.
Reading the totals honestly
One row, one capability, judged on what Epos Now publishes and nothing else. Fourteen rows of not what it does describe a narrower product, and narrow is a legitimate choice; the question is only who buys and runs the rest. The three kinds of gap are what actually matter here, and they are deliberately kept apart in the table. 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, a second setup and a second support number, and Epos Now has 13 of those.
Allvio publishes its own numbers, so you can cost your venue without a call. Complete is $399 per month ex GST for one location plus $299 per month for each extra location, every app switched on, no per user charge, and the same subscription carries invoicing, pay runs and BAS figures. Build your own starts at $20 per month per app. Thirty days free, no card. Hardware outright: $1,499 ex GST single station, $1,869 retail, $2,499 restaurant.
Who should still buy Epos Now
A single site newsagent, bottle shop or small takeaway that needs a reliable counter till, wants the cheapest way onto decent hardware, and genuinely does not need online ordering, bookings, guest records or campaigns will do fine here. The app store is a real strength if you only ever tick one box in it. If you expect to tick five, count the signups, not the features.
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.
FAQs
Does Epos Now include online ordering in the base till?
No. QR ordering, pickup, the menu, modifiers and orders reaching the kitchen all live in a separate ordering app you buy from their app store, not in the till itself.
Can Epos Now track customer notes, preferences or allergies?
No. There is no field for this at all, so the regular with a nut allergy is remembered by whoever served them last, not by the system.
Are email and SMS marketing included with Epos Now?
Email campaigns, birthday and win back messages, and campaign reporting all require a separate app from their store. SMS campaigns are not offered at all.
Who is Epos Now actually built for?
A single site business like a newsagent, bottle shop or small takeaway that wants a reliable, affordable counter till and does not need online ordering, bookings, guest records or marketing running through the same system.