How much does POS software cost in Pakistan?

What does POS software cost in Pakistan?

POS software in Pakistan is sold two ways: a monthly subscription per shop, or a one-time licence fee paid up front. NexusTill is a monthly subscription: Rs 2,999 a month for Starter, Rs 6,999 for Growth and Rs 11,999 for Scale. There is no setup fee and no per-terminal charge inside your plan's limits. On top of the software, a shop that wants to print receipts and scan barcodes needs hardware: a thermal receipt printer, a barcode scanner and a cash drawer. You buy these once, from a local supplier, at that month's market rate.

One-time licence or monthly subscription: which is cheaper?

A one-time licence looks cheaper because you are comparing one payment against twelve. Usually it isn't. A licence covers the software as it is today. Updates, support and any server it needs are normally charged separately, often as an annual maintenance fee. A subscription includes those, but you pay it every month for as long as you use it. To compare fairly, price both over three years with support and updates included in each.

• One-time licence: a big first payment, then usually an annual maintenance or support fee. It is often installed on one machine, so your data lives on that machine. If the machine dies, getting the data back is your problem.
• Monthly subscription: a small, predictable payment. Updates and support are normally included, your data is kept in the cloud, and you can stop paying if it isn't working out.
• Free or "lifetime free" software: it exists, but the cost moves somewhere else. Usually that means paid support, paid printing, or a limit on products, users or invoices that you hit just as the business grows.

Neither option suits every shop. A shop that will run one till for ten years and never needs help can do well on a licence. A shop that expects to change, add staff or call someone for help usually does better on a subscription.

What does each NexusTill plan include?

There are three plans, priced per month in rupees. Every plan includes offline billing, unlimited products and customers, barcode scanning, inventory with low-stock alerts, quick and tax invoices, the customer credit ledger with email reminders, and the daily cash-up. The plans differ in how many people and tills they cover, and in how much reporting and AI help you get.

Starter: Rs 2,999 a month

One till and two users (you and one other person), each with their own login. Everything listed above, plus 90 days of report history. The AI assistant is not included. This plan suits a shop where one or two people ring up every sale.

Growth: Rs 6,999 a month

Everything in Starter, plus up to 5 tills and 5 staff with their own accounts and roles, purchase orders and suppliers, analytics with profit, margin and dead-stock reports, promotions and gift cards, barcode label printing, 2 years of report history, and 30 AI assistant questions a day. Restaurant mode starts on this plan: recipes, food-cost %, cook-to-order stock, raw materials and wastage, dining tables, the kitchen display and item modifiers.

Scale: Rs 11,999 a month

Everything in Growth, plus unlimited tills, staff and branches, multi-branch and warehouses, stock transfers between branches, branch-scoped managers, full double-entry accounting, unlimited report history, priority support, and 100 AI questions a day. If you run more than one shop, this is the plan you need.

What are the hidden costs of a POS system?

The costs that surprise shopkeepers are rarely the software price itself. Ask the vendor about each of these before you sign anything.

1. 1Setup or installation fee: a one-off charge to get you running. Ask whether there is one and what it covers.
2. 2Per-terminal or per-user fees: some systems charge again for a second counter or a second cashier. Check what your price covers before you add a till.
3. 3Training: whether staff training is included, charged per session, or not offered. If the software really needs a week of training, that week costs you even when nobody sends a bill.
4. 4Support: is it included or charged as a yearly percentage of the licence, and will a person answer during your shop hours?
5. 5Data export if you leave: can you take your products, customers and sales out in a normal file? If you can't get your data out, you are locked in, and that has a cost too.
6. 6Hardware replacement: printers and scanners wear out over the years. Budget to replace them at some point.

What hardware do I need to budget for?

You can start with the device you already have. NexusTill runs in a browser on a laptop, tablet or phone, so there is no minimum machine to buy. What you add depends on how your counter works. Prices vary by brand, city and supplier, so get a current local quote instead of trusting a number you read online.

• A thermal receipt printer: the most useful purchase for most shops. It prints a clean receipt in a second and uses paper rolls, with no ink.
• A barcode scanner: pays for itself in a shop with packaged, barcoded goods. Of little use in a shop that mostly sells loose items by weight.
• A cash drawer: useful if you take a lot of cash and want it locked and tied to the till. Skip it if your current cash setup works.
• Receipt rolls: a small, ongoing cost that people tend to forget.
• A UPS or power bank: in an area with load-shedding, this may matter more than the scanner, because it keeps you selling.

Our advice: buy the printer first, run the shop for a month, then decide whether you need the scanner and the drawer. Shops that buy everything at once often end up with something still in its box.

How should you budget for a POS?

Work out the monthly software cost for the plan you need, not the biggest one. Add the hardware as a one-time cost, then anything the vendor charges for setup, training or support. That total over a year is the real price. Compare that figure across vendors and the quotes become comparable.

Before you spend anything, run the software in your own shop, on your own connection, for a few days. NexusTill has a 7-day free trial with no card needed to start, and it doesn't turn into a paid plan on its own. When the week ends, you decide.

The cheapest POS is the one your cashier can use on a busy evening.

Written by The NexusTill team.