Square vs Servio: an honest comparison for UK venues
Square is excellent general-purpose payments technology with a POS attached, backed by an enormous ecosystem and polished hardware. The question for a hospitality venue is what the per-device pricing and the add-ons come to once you total them up.
Last updated · prices checked against published UK rates
The short version
Square is excellent payments technology with a POS attached, and on the software line it is the cheaper of the two: £69/month against Servio's £219. On the total bill it usually isn't. Matching Servio's included features means adding inventory and loyalty, a typical hardware kit is about £1,687 one-off, and on £40,000 of monthly card sales the worked total comes to roughly £1,092 against Servio's £999. The deciding question is whether you want table ordering and a kitchen screen in the box, or are content assembling them from add-ons.
| Criterion | Servio | Square |
|---|---|---|
| Software price | Growth £219/mo, QR, KDS, inventory and analytics in the plan (pilot venues: £109/mo first 6 paid months) | Restaurants Plus £69/mo, per location |
| Add-ons to match features | £0. QR ordering, KDS, inventory and analytics included | MarketMan inventory £79/mo + Loyalty £25/mo (Team Plus is already in Restaurants Plus) |
| Hardware | Own tablets (£0). External-reader payments recorded manually; reader integration unverified | Square Register Kit £1,139, Square Terminal £149, 21.5-inch kitchen display £399; kit £1,687 |
| Card fees (online, published UK) | Stripe's published rates, 1.4% + 10p in person and ~1.5% + 20p on QR, with zero default platform markup (configured platform fees may apply) | ~1.4% + 25p |
| All-in on £40k/mo card sales | ~£999/mo | ~£1,092/mo |
| Contract | Rolling monthly; annual also available | No long contract for core POS |
Comparison based on publicly available information and typical configurations. Square's offering varies by plan, hardware and region. Always check current details with Square directly.
Who is Square best for?
You're primarily counter-based retail-style service, you want Square's hardware aesthetic and ecosystem, and your card volume is small enough that the per-transaction economics don't dominate.
Who is Servio best for?
You run table service or mixed service, want QR ordering and a kitchen display without add-on stacking, and take enough card volume that the all-in monthly total matters more than the software sticker price.
How much does Square cost compared with Servio?
Here's the full worked example behind the table, using published UK prices at typical configurations for a full-service venue on £40,000 of monthly card sales. Square: Restaurants Plus at £69/month, MarketMan inventory at £79/month, £25/month for Square Loyalty to match the loyalty programme Servio includes, a hardware kit of £1,687 one-off (Register Kit £1,139, Terminal £149, 21.5-inch kitchen display £399) which spreads to ~£141/month over a year, and ~£778 in card fees (1.75% in person, 1.4% + 25p online), which comes to about £1,092 all-in. Servio Growth: £219/month with nothing extra to add, £0 hardware, and ~£780 through Stripe (1.4% + 10p in person, 1.5% + 20p on QR). That's about £999 all-in, or roughly £68/month less for a comparable feature set. During the founding-venue pilot (£109/month for the first six paid months) the gap more than doubles. Run your own volume through the calculator on the pricing page before deciding. At low card volumes the ranking can flip in Square's favour, and we'd rather you saw that in the calculator than found it on your first bill.
How do I switch from Square to Servio?
Moving from Square is mostly a menu exercise: export your item library (or just share your menu URL), upload it to Servio, and the menu builder recreates categories, modifiers and prices. Servio runs in the browser on any tablet, while payments on an external reader must be handled and reconciled separately. With a 14-day no-card trial and monthly billing, you can run both side by side through one quiet service before committing. Our guide to migrating your menu without the headache covers the details.
What is included in every Servio plan?
Every plan includes the whole platform: a cloud POS till for counter and floor orders, QR table ordering (guests just scan, no app), a kitchen display to replace paper tickets, and owner analytics showing the day in real numbers. It all runs in the browser on your existing iPads and Android tablets. Payments default to Stripe (Servio never touches card data), with external-reader payments recorded as manual tenders, and every price is published on the pricing page. You can also see the wider market picture on our comparison page or check the maths in the UK POS cost guide.
Common questions
Is Square cheaper than Servio?
On the software line, yes: Restaurants Plus is £69/month against Servio Growth at £219 (£109 during the founding-venue pilot's first six paid months). On the total bill, usually not: matching Servio's included features on Square adds MarketMan inventory at £79/month plus Loyalty at £25/month, a typical hardware kit is about £1,687 one-off (the published Register Kit, a Terminal and the 21.5-inch kitchen display), and on £40,000 of monthly card sales the worked total comes to ~£1,092/month for Square against ~£999 for Servio, based on published UK pricing at typical configurations.
Does Servio work with Square hardware?
Default payments run through Stripe in the browser on tablets you already own, with no proprietary Servio till to buy. External-reader payments can be recorded as manual tenders; a complete Square reader checkout and reconciliation flow is not yet verified. This is not a complete reader integration or a hardware partnership. Other reader integrations also require end-to-end validation.
How do card fees compare?
Square publishes 1.75% for in-person transactions and ~1.4% + 25p online in the UK; Servio processes through Stripe at Stripe's published UK rates (1.4% + 10p in person, ~1.5% + 20p on QR) and has zero default platform markup; configured platform fees may apply. Which works out cheaper depends on your ticket size. On a £30 ticket the difference is pennies, and Servio's lower fixed fee favours smaller tickets.
Read the best UK restaurant POS systems 2026 comparison, the restaurant POS cost guide, and how we calculate every figure.