Hospitality software pricing is a mess.

Some tools quote per location. Some quote per user. Some have "starter" plans that lack essential features, pushing you to plans that cost three times more. Some don't show pricing at all - the dreaded "contact sales" page.

After 17 years running cafés and trying most of the tools available in the UK, here's my honest breakdown of what food and hospitality software actually costs in 2026 - and what you should expect to pay.

The Pricing Models

Before comparing specific numbers, understand the four pricing models you'll encounter:

Per Location / Per Month

You pay a flat fee for each site, regardless of how many staff use the system. This is the simplest model to budget for. Example: Jelly at £129/month per location

Per User / Per Month

You pay for each person who accesses the system. Costs scale with team size, which can be unpredictable. Example: Deputy at £3.50/user/month. A team of 15 = £52.50/month

Modular / Per Feature

You choose which features you want and pay only for those. The most flexible model but requires you to understand what you need. Example: Brikly at £39/month per Brik

Tiered Plans

Multiple plan levels with increasing feature sets. The cheapest plan usually lacks the features you actually need, pushing you to mid or top tier. Example: Many POS and accounting platforms

What UK Restaurant Software Actually Costs

Here's the real-world pricing for the main categories of software an independent café, coffee shop, or restaurant might use:

Food Costing & Recipe Management

Tool	Monthly Cost	What's Included
Spreadsheets	Free	Everything is manual
Brikly CostingBrik	From £39	AI invoice processing, recipe costing, price alerts
Jelly	£129/location	Costing, invoices, POS reports, stock, ordering, cookbook
MarketMan	£150-300+	Inventory, costing, procurement, POS integration
Kafoodle	£200-400+	Recipe management, allergens, nutritional analysis
Nory	£250-500+	AI forecasting, costing, labour planning

Staff Scheduling

Tool	Monthly Cost (15 staff)	What's Included
WhatsApp + paper	Free	Chaos
RotaCloud	~£37+	Rota, time tracking, holiday
Planday	~£45+	Scheduling, revenue targeting, payroll integration
Deputy	~£52+	Scheduling, time clock, staff app, integrations
Brikly StaffBrik	£39	True cost of employment, NMW compliance, cost analysis

Accounting

Tool	Monthly Cost	Notes
Xero (Growing)	£36	Most hospitality integrations
QuickBooks (Simple Start)	£14	Growing UK market
Sage Business Cloud	From £14	UK institution, fewer integrations

POS Systems

Tool	Monthly Cost	Notes
Square	Free (transaction fees apply)	Popular with independents
Lightspeed	From £59	Restaurant-specific features
ePOSnow	From £25	UK-based
Toast	From £69	Growing in UK

The Full Stack Cost

Here's what gets sobering. A typical independent café or restaurant's software stack adds up:

Budget setup:

Software	Monthly
Square POS	Free + fees
Brikly CostingBrik	£39
Xero	£36
RotaCloud	£37
Total	~£112/month

Mid-range setup:

Software	Monthly
Lightspeed POS	£59
Jelly	£129
Xero	£36
Planday	£45
Total	~£269/month

Premium setup:

Software	Monthly
Toast POS	£69
Nory	£350
Xero	£36
Deputy	£52
Total	~£507/month

That's a range of £1,344 to £6,084 per year in software costs for a single-site independent. For a business doing £300k turnover with tight margins, the difference between the budget and premium setup is meaningful.

When Is Expensive Software Worth It?

Higher-priced tools aren't automatically a waste of money. They're worth it when:

You have the volume to justify the cost. A business doing £800k turnover can absorb £129/month for food costing easily - it's 0.2% of revenue. The same tool for a café doing £200k is 0.8% of revenue and harder to justify.

You'll actually use all the features. Jelly at £129 includes recipe costing, invoice processing, stock counting, supplier ordering, and a digital cookbook. If you use all of that, it's good value. If you only need recipe costing, you're paying for five features to use one.

The ROI is measurable. Any food costing tool that helps you improve gross profit by 2 percentage points pays for itself many times over. The question is whether the expensive tool delivers measurably better results than the cheaper one.

You have the team to support it. Enterprise tools like MarketMan or Nory assume you have someone to manage the implementation, train the team, and maintain the system. If that person is you - and you're also head baker, barista, manager, and bookkeeper - the tool's complexity becomes a cost in itself.

When Is It Not Worth It?

When you're paying for features you don't use. This is the most common scenario. You wanted invoice processing and recipe costing, but you're paying for inventory management, supplier ordering, and demand forecasting you've never opened.

When the implementation cost exceeds the first year's benefit. A tool that takes 8 weeks to set up and requires training across your team has a hidden cost. If you're a single-site operator, that implementation time might cost more than the annual subscription.

When cheaper alternatives exist. This sounds obvious, but it's worth stating. If a £39/month tool does 80% of what a £250/month tool does, and the extra 20% is features you don't need, the expensive tool is objectively the wrong choice.

The Modular Approach

This is where I'm going to be transparent about why Brikly works the way it does.

Most hospitality software follows the "all-in-one" model. One price, every feature, take it or leave it. The argument is simplicity - one login, one bill, everything in one place.

The problem is that this model is designed for the vendor's benefit, not yours. It's easier to sell one product at one price than to let customers pick and choose. And it means you pay £129/month even if you only need one feature.

Brikly's modular approach lets you start with what you need:

Just need recipe costing? CostingBrik from £39/month
Want to add menu engineering? Add MenuBrik
Need staff cost management? Add StaffBrik
Want the full picture? Combine all Briks at a bundled rate

You start small, see value, and expand when you're ready. No commitment to £129+/month upfront. No paying for supplier ordering when you don't want supplier ordering.

Is this approach right for everyone? No. If you genuinely need every feature that Jelly or MarketMan offers and you'll use them all, their all-in-one pricing might be more convenient. But most independents I've talked to over 17 years use maybe 30-40% of whatever tool they're paying for.

What You Should Actually Do

Step 1: List the specific problems you're trying to solve. Not "business management" - the actual problems. "I don't know my real food costs." "I spend 8 hours a month on invoices." "I can't track what my baristas and kitchen staff actually cost me."

Step 2: Find the cheapest tool that solves those specific problems. Not the tool with the most features. Not the one your friend uses. The one that solves your problems at a price that makes sense for your turnover.

Step 3: Calculate the ROI before committing. If a £39/month tool saves you 8 hours of manual work and helps you find a 2% margin improvement on a £300k turnover, that's £6,000/year in value for £468/year in cost. If a £250/month tool delivers the same improvement, it's the same value for £3,000/year in cost. Both are positive ROI, but one is dramatically better.

Step 4: Start with the minimum and expand. You can always add more software. You can't always easily cancel, migrate data, and start again.

We built several free tools to help you explore before committing to anything:

Recipe Costing Calculator - Cost your recipes for free
Menu Profit Simulator - Model your menu profitability
Pay Rise Planner - See the real impact of the April 2026 NMW rise

Try the free tools, understand your numbers, then decide what's worth paying for.

Ed O'Brien has run Hunters Cake Company for 17 years across cafés in Witney, Burford, and a bakery in Carterton, Oxfordshire. He's building Brikly - modular tools that give independent café owners the same data the big chains have, without the big chain price tag.