Imagine that you have a new or small restaurant. You have great chefs preparing high-quality delicious food. But you do not have a proper billing system and your customers have to wait for an extended period to make the payment. No matter how good your food is, customers will be unsatisfied with your services.
So, what should you do? Should you spend heavily on buying POS billing software that automates most of the manual tasks and reduces chances of errors? Your budget constraints might not permit so.
Thankfully, there are several free billing software for restaurant owners that you can explore and get all your core tasks done. Now, you can satisfy all your customers without going out of your budget.
This article lists popular free billing software solutions that you can use for your restaurant business.
Free restaurant billing software is a great option if you own a small restaurant or are just starting a new venture. It provides all the core functionalities of a paid restaurant billing software for free. This includes managing orders, menus, tips, tables, inventory, payment, and more.
Many software solutions even provide employee management modules to further streamline your daily operations. These can also integrate with your accounting software to streamline the cash flow management and tax filing process. Your staff can focus solely on catering to customers and building relationships with them. It is the best way to maximize your business potential.
Here are some of the best restaurant billing software solutions which offer a free version:
Floreant POS is a free POS billing software for restaurant owners. It is also used in cafes, pizzerias, food trucks, bars, etc. It supports cash drawers, kitchen printers, and touch screen terminals. The administrator can configure the system to manage menu items and their prices.
You can assign several kitchen printers for each item which allow you to print receipts with different text fonts and paper sizes. It is compatible with Mac, Windows, Linux, and Raspberry Pi.
Floreant POS Features
Pros
Cons: Features like variable price items and EoD session wise reports are absent in the free version.
Floreant POS Pricing: It is free and open source restaurant billing software. Plugins for floorplan, inventory, and customer management system start at INR 629.332 per terminal per month when billed annually. The annual subscription of Pro version starts at INR 1510.244 per terminal per month.
Odoo software lets you manage floors and tables to handle customers easily in restaurants and bars. This free restaurant billing software has an in-built search function to help you find products based on name, description, and barcodes.
You can offer loyalty cards and other rewards. The free online restaurant billing software also provides the option to integrate inventory and ecommerce apps for multi-channel stock management.
Odoo Features
Pros
Cons: The free version does not support Android and iOS.
Odoo Pricing: It has a free and open source restaurant billing software: Odoo Community. There is a 15-day free trial for the enterprise version. Pricing starts at INR 453.03 when billed annually.
eHopper enables easier table management and billing for restaurants, bars, food trucks, bakeries, etc. You can assign taxes to items and include them in their price.
You can track orders from start to finish, manage staff tips and ensure that they are evenly distributed. You can also generate reports on inventory, sales, employee activities, and so on.
eHopper Features
Pros
Cons: Only available for iPad and not Mac.
eHopper Pricing: It is a free restaurant billing software for up to 300 transactions per month. Pricing starts at INR 1058.31/ month for a three-year license.
Vyapar POS billing app is popular among small/ medium scale bakery shops and restaurants to automate billing, manage discounts, and calculate GST tax. You can receive orders according to the table number and automatically do total bill calculation for these customers.
The free POS billing software for restaurant tracks the consumption of each recipe to know in-demand items and helps in managing expenses.
Vyapar Features
Pros
Cons: The desktop app works only on Windows. Therefore, you can look into the best Vyapar Alternatives.
Vyapar Pricing: The mobile POS app is free to use, and the desktop app offers a free 15-day trial period. The desktop version is available at techjockey.com starting at INR 1999 for a year.
uniCenta free restaurant billing software is used in the hospitality industry by hotels, cafes, restaurants, nightclubs, and more. You can add items with their quantity, description, and tax-inclusive prices and track their stock levels. It enables businesses to accept payment through several modes including cards, cash, and coupons.
uniCenta Features
Pros
Cons
uniCenta Pricing: The community version is free and open source restaurant billing software. Paid plans of this free billing software for restaurant managers start at INR 6145.79/ year.
Pangea is an all-in-one open source restaurant billing software for restaurants and cafes to manage stock, tables, food recipes with pricing, sales, and more. You can assign both item-wise and ticket-wise discounts. This free restaurant billing software also enables the creation of expense categories, table merge, and takeaway management.
Pangea Features
Pros
Cons: Most suitable for Windows.
Pangea Pricing: All the capabilities are free except support tools for setup. Remote setup starts at INR 7500.50. Lifetime membership for manuals costs INR 377.74.
Suggested Read: 6 Paid & Free Hotel Billing Software in India
myBillBook restaurant billing software enables eateries to manage order tickets, purchases, inventory, and more. You can handle kitchen order tickets for dine-in, takeaway and delivery.
It monitors all kitchen items and sends alerts if any ingredient falls below the threshold level. Owners with multiple outlets can view daily expenditures and keep a check on profit margins.
myBillBook Features
Pros
Cons: Login process is slow
myBillBook Pricing: It has a free version with basic bill themes and reports. Paid plans are available at techjockey.com and start from INR 471/year.
TastyIgniter enables owners to manage multiple restaurant locations via an easy-to-use admin dashboard. This free restaurant billing software focuses on fast online ordering for your customers with options to define delivery times and pickup services.
You can also customize your menu and offer multiple payment options to customers. It supports integration with PayPal, Stripe, Shopify, and so on.
TastyIgniter Features
Pros
Cons: Documentation could be better.
TastyIgniter Pricing: It is free and open source restaurant billing software. You can purchase extensions from the marketplace based on the add-on features you want.
SambaPOS is a free POS billing software for restaurant management and performance analysis. You can search for products on the menu, split or merge orders, verify inventory levels, manage payments via multiple options, and so on. It supports any number of kitchen printers and provides logo-attached receipts for printing.
SambaPOS Features
Pros
Cons: Only supports Windows OS.
SambaPOS Pricing: It has a free version for those who do not want multiple terminals and custom reports. Lifetime license of Pro version costs INR 18837.348.
Toast POS is a cloud-based solution that helps restaurants manage billing, gift cards and loyalty programs, inventory, reports, etc. By keeping the kitchen display and terminal synced, this free POS billing software for restaurant owners reduces wait times.
The free restaurant billing software also offers an easy checkout process, and you can combine or split bills with one swipe.
Toast POS Features
Pros
Cons: Free plan lacks delivery & takeout options.
Toast POS Pricing: It has a free plan which lacks custom hardware integration and integration options. Paid plans of this free online restaurant billing software start at INR 8321.720 per month (+ INR 302.608 per employee/ month).
Imonggo POS lets you manage the customer database, create invoices and receipts, calculate reward points, and more. Its Mesa app helps restaurants in table management for dine-in customers and print orders to kitchen printers. You can also alert waiters if you observe any delay in serving items via this free POS billing software for restaurant owners.
Imonggo Features
Pros
Cons: The solution is not fully optimized for restaurants.
Imonggo Pricing: There is a free plan which includes a one-month free trial of the premium version. The annual subscription costs INR 2070.172/month.
JustBilling restaurant POS billing software is used in coffee shops, bakeries, bars, and restaurants to manage multi-department orders. Thumbnail images make it easier to select products.
You can do promotions via bulk emails and SMS. This free POS billing software for restaurant owners also provides real-time reports and analytics to help you understand your business performance.
JustBilling Features
Pros
Cons: It can get slow sometimes.
JustBilling Pricing: It offers a free solution which allows sharing bills and viewing reports. Paid subscription of this free billing software for restaurant owners starts at INR 14160/ year.
San restaurant POS Software enables businesses to easily handle orders and select products in distinct categories. You can select tables based on the available seats and assign them to customers. The dashboard displays details of all customers, current KOT orders, best-selling items, latest sales, and more.
San Software Features
Pros
Cons: More features could be introduced in the free online restaurant billing software.
San Software Pricing: You can get a free version of this open-source software which provides an overview of your current business performance. Pricing starts at INR 1134.780/month.
The free restaurant billing software you choose must cater to your type of restaurant and have the following features:
Billing: Your restaurant can have dine-in, takeaway, and delivery options. Your software must allow you to create receipts for bills. Templates can make the process faster. It is good to have support for different printer types and online sharing options via email or WhatsApp. The more currencies and the more payment methods it supports, the better it is.
Table management: A proper floor plan and table management are necessary to manage dine-in customers and match their orders correctly for serving and billing.
Order management: The free restaurant billing software must support easy creation and searching of different product categories. It must support images and tax inclusive custom prices for easily taking orders, both on-site and online.
Inventory management: It must take care of ingredient levels to ensure that the restaurant always has sufficient ingredients for the preparation of ordered meals and drinks. Alerts can help in restocking every time an item goes below threshold levels and also tell you about items that are about to expire.
Customer relationship management: You often want to provide discounts, loyalty rewards, and other promotional offers to attract more customers and grow your business. For this, your chosen free restaurant billing software must support custom pricing.
Reporting: The billing software for restaurants must have the option to generate reports for gaining insights on expenses, sales, customer preferences, etc. This will help you in making improvements.
Customization: Free restaurant billing software have limited options that enable you to do core tasks. These functionalities, such as menus, must be customizable to ensure that the software caters well to your specific business needs.
Security: Billing involves accepting payments from customers through different modes. Financial information is overly sensitive, and hence, your billing software must have high-security capabilities.
Technical assistance: You will require help not only during setup but also if you get stuck later. If it is an open source restaurant billing software, there would be community support. But to get quick assistance, you must have support options via email, phone, etc.
Summary
If you are a new or small restaurant business, you do not need to solely rely on manual billing management or spend heavily on buying POS software. You can choose from any of the already mentioned POS billing software to get started and grow your business.
Once your business starts making big profits, you can invest in the paid versions of these free restaurant billing software solutions. However, consider the necessary evaluation parameters before deciding.
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