How much does a POS system cost in South Africa?
6 October 2026 · 7 min read
A small shop in South Africa can start taking card payments for R699 and no monthly fee. A proper till with stock control, staff logins and more than one register usually costs between R249 and R2 000 a month in software, plus hardware from R699 to about R3 000, plus 2% to 3% of every card sale. The card percentage is usually the biggest number over a year, so it's the one to look at first.
Below are published prices from Yoco, iKhokha and BigPlus, checked on their own pages in September 2026, and a way to add them up for your own shop. We sell a till too, as part of Sirat Retail OS, and our prices are further down with everyone else's.
What are you actually paying for?
A point of sale (POS) system is the till: the screen where a cashier rings up a sale, takes payment and prints or sends a receipt. The cost comes in four parts.
- Hardware. A card machine, and sometimes a tablet or countertop screen, a receipt printer, a cash drawer and a barcode scanner.
- Software. The till app and the back office where you load products, see sales and count stock. Usually a monthly fee, sometimes per till.
- Card fees. A percentage of each card payment, charged by whoever processes the card.
- Anything added on top. Some systems take their own cut of each sale, or charge per payout to your bank.
Most comparisons only quote the first line. The third one is where the money goes.
What do the card machines cost?
These are the published prices on the providers' own pages, checked September 2026. Providers quote them excluding VAT; our prices below have nothing added.
| Provider | Device | Once-off price | Monthly fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yoco | Khumo 2 | R699 | none |
| Yoco | Khumo Print 2 (prints receipts) | R1 499 | none |
| Yoco | Yoco Counter (countertop POS) | R2 999 | R0 software on the Core plan, plus a data fee if you use its SIM |
| iKhokha | iK Flyer Lite | R699 | none |
| iKhokha | iK Flyer | R1 499 | optional R75 a month for a data SIM |
You own these machines outright. Neither provider rents them to you.
A receipt printer, cash drawer and barcode scanner bought separately vary a lot by brand and supplier, so we haven't put a number on them. Ask for a quote with the exact models listed.
What do card fees cost?
This is the line that grows with your business. On the lowest plans, checked September 2026:
| Provider | Local card, in person | Online card payment | Other charges |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yoco Core | 2.30% up to R50 000 a month, 1.35% (debit) from R50 000 to R200 000 | 2.95% | none listed |
| iKhokha | 2.75% up to R40 000 a month, dropping in steps to 2.5% at R80 000 to R100 000 | 2.85% | R2.50 per payout to your bank |
Both offer custom rates at higher volumes: Yoco above R200 000 a month, iKhokha above R100 000.
To see what this means for you, take last month's card takings and multiply. A shop taking R40 000 a month on cards pays Yoco about R920 a month on Core (2.30%), or about R1 100 on iKhokha (2.75%) before payout fees. Over a year that's R11 000 to R13 000, more than most shops spend on the hardware and software together.
What does POS software cost?
Some card machines come with a free till app. Yoco's Core plan includes its POS software, with products, variants, stock tracking and low-stock alerts, for R0 a month. Yoco then sells two paid plans that also lower your card rate:
| Yoco plan | Monthly fee | Local debit card rate (up to R50 000) | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core | R0 | 2.30% | POS software, payment links, invoices |
| Plus | R249 | 2.10% | Loyalty, multi-location management, appointments |
| Pro | R499 | 1.95% | Free fast payouts, accounting integrations, table ordering, staff permissions |
Source: Yoco pricing, checked September 2026.
Do the sum before you upgrade. At R40 000 a month on cards, Plus saves you R80 in card fees and costs R249, so Core is cheaper. The paid plans pay for themselves only when your card takings are high enough, or when you need the features.
Standalone retail POS software is priced differently. BigPlus, a South African retail POS, charges per shop location, and each includes one register:
| BigPlus plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing (per month) | Extra register |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | R895 | R795 | R295 a month, or R250 on annual |
| Standard (adds Shopify and Xero links) | R1 695 | R1 555 | same |
| Advanced (adds integrated payments and API access) | R1 995 | R1 795 | same |
Checked September 2026. A second shop pays the base fee again. You still pay card fees to whoever processes your cards.
Where does an online store fit in?
If you also sell online, most shops end up with two systems: a till in the shop and a separate online store, each with its own stock count. Someone then has to keep them in step, or the website sells the last jersey that walked out the door an hour ago. We wrote about that problem in Can my shop tills and online store use the same stock?
The online store also has its own card fee. Yoco's online rate is 2.95%, higher than its in-person rate, and other gateways have their own. Which payment gateway should a South African online store use? works through them.
What does our till cost?
Our till is part of Sirat Retail OS, which is an online store and a POS on one stock count. It isn't sold on its own as a card machine.
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Setup, once-off | Quoted after a 20-minute call, because it depends on the design and what the store needs. It covers design in your brand, the store build, payments, domain and staff training |
| Starter plan | R400 a month (1 branch, 2 staff logins) |
| Growth plan | R900 a month (3 branches, 5 staff logins) |
| Pro plan | R1 500 a month (5 branches, 10 staff logins) |
| Till | Pro only, with one till included. More tills are priced with you on an Enterprise plan |
| More branches | Move up a plan. Past Pro's five, we price an Enterprise plan with you |
| Our cut of each sale | 0% |
Yearly billing is 10 months' fee. The till runs on a tablet, with receipts, cash-ups and shift reports. For the card payment itself, you keep your card machine and its provider's fee. We don't add a percentage on top of it, online or in the shop.
So a single shop with a website and our till pays R1 500 a month to us on Pro, plus its card provider's fees. A shop that keeps its card machine and only wants the website can stay on Starter at R400. Setup is the big once-off cost. We quote it per store, since it depends on the design and what the store needs, and it buys the online store as well as the till.
Which one should you pick?
A market stall, a salon or a small shop that doesn't sell online: a Yoco or iKhokha card machine and its free app is enough. Spend R699 on a card machine, not on setting up a store system. We'd tell you the same on the phone.
One shop with lots of stock and a few registers, no online store: a dedicated POS such as BigPlus, or Yoco Plus or Pro, is built for this. Compare their monthly fee against what your card rate saves.
A shop that also sells online, or wants to: this is where our system fits. The till and the website sell from one stock count, and you don't pay a second subscription for marketing apps. If you're weighing this against the Yoco you already have, read I already have Yoco. Do I need a POS system?
How to work out your own number
Write down four figures for a year:
- hardware, once-off
- software, the monthly fee times 12, per till and per shop
- card fees: your monthly card takings times the rate, times 12
- anything else: payout fees, data SIMs, a percentage on sales
Add them up for each option. The cheapest card machine is often not the cheapest year.
If you'd like us to do the sum with you for your shop, including where our store and till system would and wouldn't save you money, get an estimate or WhatsApp us on +27 73 453 8352. We reply within one working day.