The best open-source POS systems in 2026 are Open Source Point of Sale (OSPOS) for a single shop, NexoPOS for a modern, modular till, Odoo or ERPNext when sales must flow into a full ERP, Dolibarr for small firms that also want CRM and invoicing, and URY for restaurants. All of them are free to self-host.
"Free POS software" usually means a free trial or a free tier that locks you into one payment processor. The projects below are different: the code is on GitHub, you can run it on your own server or a mini PC behind the counter, and nobody can raise the subscription price on you. We checked every project's repository, licence and documentation, and dropped any that were archived, unlicensed or inactive for more than a year.
The open-source POS systems at a glance
Star and commit figures are GitHub snapshots from early October 2026; each app page shows live numbers.
| App | Best for | Stars | Commits (12 mo) | Licence | Stack |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open Source POS | Single retail shops | 4,420 | 290 | MIT + footer clause | PHP, CodeIgniter 4 |
| NexoPOS | Modern UI, modular growth | 1,269 | 401 | GPL-3.0 | PHP, Laravel, Vue |
| Odoo | POS inside a full business suite | 54,848 | 10,679 | LGPL-3.0 (Community) | Python |
| ERPNext | POS with full open-source ERP | 39,821 | 6,664 | GPL-3.0 | Python, Frappe |
| Dolibarr | Small firms wanting ERP + CRM + POS | 7,686 | 8,073 | GPL-3.0 | PHP |
| Lakasir | Simple shops, USB receipt printing | 911 | 155 | GPL-3.0 | PHP, Laravel, Filament |
| URY | Restaurants on ERPNext | 382 | 717 | AGPL-3.0 | Python, Frappe |
You can browse every app in the Point of Sale category.
Open Source Point of Sale (OSPOS): the complete free core
OSPOS is the long-running default for a reason. It is a web-based POS written in PHP on CodeIgniter 4 with MySQL or MariaDB, and its core already includes stock management with item kits, multi-tier taxes (VAT and GST), a sales register, receipts, quotations and invoices, gift cards, rewards, restaurant tables, SMS messaging and barcode printing. A public demo resets whenever new code lands, so you can try it before installing.
- Pros: everything most shops need is in the free core; an official Docker Compose setup, including an Nginx variant with Let's Encrypt HTTPS; the wiki documents Raspberry Pi installs and supported receipt printers and scanners.
- Cons: the interface is built on Bootstrap 3 and looks dated next to newer tools; the MIT licence adds a condition that the opensourcepos.org footer must stay visible on every page, so you cannot fully white-label it.
NexoPOS: modern and modular
NexoPOS is a Laravel, Vue and Tailwind POS for retail stores, restaurants, cafés and warehouses. The core covers products, taxes, registers, payments, refunds, inventory, procurement, customer groups, rewards, coupons and barcode or scale-barcode support, with roles and activity tracking.
- Pros: the most modern interface here; a module system lets you add features without forking; a ready-made NexoPOS for Windows package bundles everything for a single counter PC.
- Cons: restaurant (Gastro), multi-store, booking and several other features are separate modules from the NexoPOS Marketplace, so check what you need before you commit; self-hosting needs scheduled tasks and a queue worker, not just a web server.
Deciding between the two? Read our Open Source POS vs NexoPOS comparison.
Odoo Point of Sale: POS as part of a bigger suite
Odoo's Point of Sale app and its Restaurant add-on are part of the LGPL-3.0 Community edition, and they share products, stock and customers with Odoo's inventory, sales and website apps. If you want your till, online shop and stock in one system, this is the most polished way to do it.
- Pros: huge ecosystem and partner network; one database for in-store and online sales; official Docker images.
- Cons: several Odoo apps and features are Enterprise-only, so your total cost depends on which modules you end up needing; it is far heavier than a dedicated POS.
ERPNext: POS with a fully open ERP behind it
ERPNext ships a Point of Sale screen in its GPL-3.0 core, alongside accounting, inventory, manufacturing and purchasing. POS sales feed the same stock and accounting records as the rest of the ERP, and there is no closed edition to upgrade to.
- Pros: the strongest accounting and inventory of any option here; everything is open source; official Docker setup through frappe_docker.
- Cons: you are running a full ERP (Python, MariaDB, Redis) to ring up sales, which is overkill for a single small shop. Older alternative POS front ends for ERPNext, such as POS Awesome and TailPOS, have not been updated in over a year, so we left them out.
If you are weighing the two big suites, see Odoo vs ERPNext.
Dolibarr TakePOS: the easiest all-rounder to host
Dolibarr is a modular PHP ERP and CRM, and its built-in TakePOS module turns it into a point of sale. Because you only switch on the modules you need, it can be a POS plus invoicing, stock and a customer database for a small business.
- Pros: runs on ordinary PHP hosting with MariaDB, MySQL or PostgreSQL; DoliWamp and DoliDeb packages and an official Docker image; over 1,000 add-ons on the Dolistore.
- Cons: the POS is one module in a large suite, so it is less specialised than OSPOS or NexoPOS. See ERPNext vs Dolibarr for how the two ERPs differ.
Lakasir: simple POS with browser printing
Lakasir (from kasir, Indonesian for cashier) is a deliberately simple Laravel and Filament POS. It handles sales, products with unit-based pricing, discounts, purchasing, stock-taking, receivables, vouchers, basic income and expense accounting, and a real-time dashboard.
- Pros: prints to USB thermal printers directly from Chrome or Firefox via WebUSB; barcode support in POS, purchasing and stock-taking; Dockerfile and Compose file in the repo.
- Cons: smaller community and a slower release pace than OSPOS; the README is most of the documentation.
URY: a restaurant POS on ERPNext
URY is a restaurant management app built on ERPNext. Its POS handles dine-in, takeaway and delivery with an offline mode and printer management, URY Mosaic adds a kitchen display system, and the analytics include a P&L dashboard.
- Pros: the only restaurant-first option here, with kitchen display and order routing included under AGPL-3.0.
- Cons: it needs an ERPNext site underneath; the README warns that it is in active development and backward compatibility may break before a stable release (the latest tag is a 3.0 beta).
For more restaurant options, see our Toast alternatives.
What "free" POS software still costs
Open-source POS removes the software subscription, not every cost:
- Hardware: a PC, tablet or mini PC at the till, a receipt printer, a barcode scanner and a cash drawer. Most of these systems run in a browser, so existing hardware often works.
- Card payments: you still need a payment processor or terminal. Hosted systems such as Square bundle this; with self-hosted POS you choose your own provider.
- Hosting and backups: a small VPS or an on-site server, plus a backup routine. Sales data is your business record, so test restores.
How to choose
- One shop, want it working this week: Open Source POS. Its official Docker setup is the quickest route to a working till.
- Want a modern UI and may grow into more stores or a restaurant: NexoPOS, budgeting for the modules you need.
- POS is part of running the whole business (stock, purchasing, accounting): ERPNext if you want everything open source, Odoo if you value its ecosystem, Dolibarr if you want the lightest suite to host.
- Restaurant: URY on ERPNext, or Odoo's Restaurant add-on.
- Replacing a specific product: see our open-source alternatives to Square POS, Shopify POS, Lightspeed and Toast.
Once sales are flowing, you will want proper books too. Our guide to the best open-source accounting software covers that side.
Projects we checked and left out
We only list maintained, properly licensed software. Store-POS has no licence file, so nothing grants you the right to use or modify it. TailPOS (last updated 2022) and POS Awesome (last updated August 2024) are inactive. Both may still work, but we would not start a new shop on them.
