POS system in the UAE for retail and service shops: seven options compared (2026)

Every owner we talk to asks the same thing in different words: which POS software in Dubai or Abu Dhabi will not cause trouble. The honest answer is that most of them work. What differs is the pricing unit, what sits behind a paid add-on, and who helps you when a receipt will not print.

This page covers shops that sell goods or time: small retail counters, rentals, repair, salons and car washes. If you run a salon, our salon software comparison goes deeper on bookings. Restaurants and cafes are a different market and not what this page is for.

How was this list checked?

We opened each vendor's own pricing or product page on October 5, 2026 and quote a price only where the vendor shows one, in the currency it shows. We compared the pages, not review sites. Several vendors show different currencies by region, so the figure on your screen in the UAE may differ from ours. We are not ranking anyone, and we did not test every product on a live shop floor.

Which POS software has a free plan for a UAE shop?

Loyverse. Its pricing page lists a free till that runs on a phone or tablet you already own, with sales analytics for the last 31 days, essential inventory, a loyalty program, multi-store management and integrations. Three add-ons are optional: unlimited sales history (view and export reports beyond 31 days) at US$7 per store a month, employee management at US$25 and advanced inventory at US$25, each with a 14-day trial and 24/7 live chat support stated for the add-ons. Prices exclude taxes. The payment integrations named on the page are Shift4, SumUp, Tyro, Zettle and Yoco, and we did not see a UAE card provider among them, so card payments would run through your own terminal. Best for a single counter that wants to start at zero and can live without reports older than 31 days, or pay US$7 to keep them.

Zoho POS. Its UAE pricing page shows a Free plan (AED 0, one register, one user, 50 POS transactions), then Standard at AED 39 per location a month billed yearly (3 users, unlimited transactions, offline billing), Professional at AED 79 (3 registers, 10 users) and Premium at AED 129 (5 registers, 15 users). Billed monthly the same plans are AED 49, 99 and 159. Local taxes are charged on top. Loyalty is listed on Premium as an early access feature. The product page names invoices and messages by email, SMS and WhatsApp and an integration with Zoho Books. Support is listed by phone, email, live chat, WhatsApp and remote assistance, around the clock five days a week and 7:30 to 16:30 Gulf time on weekends, and the page mentions a Jumpstart service where a team visits your space to help set up. Best for a retail shop that wants AED pricing and an accounting link from the same vendor.

What do Odoo POS, Lightspeed Retail and Shopify POS cost?

Odoo Point of Sale. On Odoo's pricing page, One App Free gives one app to unlimited users on Odoo Online, and POS can be that app. Standard is US$13.50 per user per month billed yearly (US$16.90 billed monthly) with all apps, and Custom is US$25.50 yearly (US$32.00 monthly) with hosting options. The POS page names loyalty programs, offline payments that sync later, and invoices sent by email or QR code. Odoo POS is one app inside a full business suite, so the cost is set-up time: someone has to configure it. Best for a shop that also wants purchasing, accounting and inventory in one system and has a partner to configure it.

Lightspeed Retail. Its pricing page shows Basic at US$89 a month, Core at US$149 and Plus at US$289, with one register included. Annual billing saves up to 18%, and extra locations and registers are priced through sales. The page lists built-in loyalty, onboarding services, and 24/7 chat and phone support. We found no AED price and no UAE region on that page, so ask the vendor or a local partner what applies here. Best for an established retail counter with several registers that wants a known retail product.

Shopify POS. The UAE pricing page shows Shopify plans from US$24 a month billed yearly (Basic, US$32 billed monthly), US$69 (Grow) and US$299 (Advanced), with POS Pro as an add-on at US$89 a month for physical stores. Online card rates start at 2.9% plus AED 1.00 on the entry plan. The POS page says Shopify POS can be used in nearly every country, and recommends Shopify Payments for the full benefits. Best for a shop that also sells online and wants stock shared between the two.

Is Square POS available in the UAE?

No. Square's help page on where it is available lists eight countries: Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. The UAE is not among them. A Square Community reply says the global Square POS app can record sales and issue receipts in the UAE without card processing. That reply is older and secondary, so check the current app before relying on it. If you searched for Square POS, the practical answer is one of the products above.

Where does Foodics fit?

Foodics. Built for restaurants, cafes and cloud kitchens, so outside the shops this page covers. Its UAE pricing page shows Starter at AED 199 a month, Basic at AED 375 and Advanced at AED 556, all billed annually, with inventory, loyalty and API access depending on the bundle. We list it because people searching for a POS system in Dubai often land on it.

How do they compare?

What do owners complain about after they sign?

Before writing this page we read 168 public one and two star reviews of four POS and accounting apps on Google Play, posted between 2020 and 2026. The complaints are rarely about the idea of a POS. These themes came up again and again, across products:

• Support that does not answer once the account is open.
• Reports or CSV export that sit behind a paid add-on.
• An Android app that lacks features the iPhone app has.
• Back office screens showing blank sales.
• No plain way to share a receipt on WhatsApp.

We are not saying any one product on this list does these things, and fee structures differ by plan and agreement. The point is where owners get stuck: after the purchase, alone, in the middle of a Saturday.

What should you check before you sign a POS contract in the UAE?

Do you know who sets it up?

A free till is free to install and costs time to configure: products, VAT, receipts, staff, devices. Ask who does that, how long it takes and what you pay. Zoho POS names a Jumpstart visit on its page; Lightspeed names onboarding services; with Loyverse and Odoo you or a partner do it.

Who answers on a Saturday, and in what language?

Support hours are on the vendor's page for some products (Zoho POS lists weekend hours; Lightspeed lists 24/7 chat and phone; Loyverse states 24/7 live chat for its paid add-ons). Ask whether free users get the same line, then send a real question on a Friday evening and time the reply.

Can you get your own data out, and for how long?

Loyverse shows 31 days of sales analytics free and charges US$7 per store a month to view and export beyond that. That is a clear fee structure, and the question is whether you know your own number. On day one, export your last 90 days. If the export is missing or limited, price the add-on before you commit.

Does the same account work the same on Android and iPhone?

Install the app on the devices you will actually use at the counter, on the day of the trial. Run a sale, a refund and an end of day report on each.

Does the receipt work as a UAE tax invoice?

Run a test sale with 5 percent VAT and check that the receipt shows the VAT amount and your TRN, then ask your VAT adviser whether it meets the tax invoice rules for your business. On e-invoicing: sales to consumers stay outside the UAE mandate for now. If you also invoice other businesses, ask how the product will connect to an accredited e-invoicing provider. Businesses under AED 50 million in revenue appoint one by March 31, 2027 and go live on July 1, 2027, and we cover what that means in our e-invoicing integration guide.

Can you send a receipt on WhatsApp?

Customers in the UAE live on WhatsApp. On the pages we read, Zoho POS names WhatsApp for invoices and messages, and Odoo names email and a QR code. Try it with your own number. Our guide to what WhatsApp messages cost in the UAE explains the fees behind it.

What happens when the internet drops?

Zoho POS lists offline billing from its Standard plan and Odoo lists offline payments that sync later. For any product, unplug the router during the trial and ring up a sale. We wrote a full guide to POS offline mode in the UAE.

Should you buy POS software or have a till built?

Buy one if a product on this page covers your counter as it is today. The free tiers are hard to beat for a single shop with ordinary products and a card terminal. Our custom versus off the shelf guide has the full decision.

Build when the cost is the work around the till: pricing that does not fit a product list, invoices retyped into accounting, a loyalty card that lives somewhere else, follow-up messages sent by hand. That is where we work. We set up the till, the invoicing, the loyalty card and the follow-up messages for a shop, connected to each other, and we support it after launch. Projects start at 7,000 AED and most land between 10,000 and 35,000 AED.

Here is what that looks like. For a repeat-visit shop in the UAE we built a till that prices each visit from the time it ends, sends a tax invoice into the owner's accounting system for every payment, and connects a loyalty card in the customer's phone wallet. It is not live yet, so we describe what it does and make no claim about results. On an earlier project, a one-page registration cut the time at the counter from 7 minutes 15 seconds to 1 minute 10 seconds, 84 percent faster.