Restaurant POS pricing in the UAE: what it really costs

"How much does a restaurant POS cost in the UAE?" is a harder question than it looks, because the monthly subscription is only one of four things you actually pay for. Here is the full picture — so you can compare like for like and avoid the surprises that show up after you have signed.

The four things a POS charges for

• The subscription — a monthly or annual software fee.
• A per-transaction fee — a percentage taken from every single sale. This is the one that hides.
• Hardware — terminals, printers, kitchen screens; often a few thousand dirhams upfront.
• Setup and add-ons — onboarding fees, and modules like inventory or loyalty billed on top.

Subscription vs a cut of every sale

A flat subscription is predictable: you pay the same whether you have a quiet Tuesday or a packed weekend. A per-transaction fee does the opposite — it grows exactly as your restaurant gets busier, so success costs you more. For a venue doing real volume, a 1–2.5% cut of every sale can dwarf the monthly fee over a year.

The hardware question

Some systems require proprietary terminals you must buy and maintain. That is real money upfront and a lock-in later. Others — foodash included — run on an iPad you already own, in landscape, so your only hardware decision is whether you want a receipt printer.

Published price vs "request a quote"

Many UAE POS vendors do not publish a price — you fill in a form and wait for a quote that depends on how you negotiate. There is nothing sinister about it, but it makes honest comparison hard and puts the smaller operator at a disadvantage. Transparent, published pricing means the café down the road pays the same rate as a group with a procurement team.

What foodash costs — in full

• AED 400/month, or AED 349/month (6-month prepay) or AED 300/month (annual prepay).
• One user included; extra users AED 50/user/month; Loyalty is an optional AED 50/month add-on.
• No setup fee, no per-transaction cut, no forced hardware. A 2-day free trial.
• Prices exclude 5% UAE VAT. POS, KDS, inventory, loyalty, reports and five AI agents are all included.

That is the whole number, on one page, before you talk to anyone. Compare it against the fully-loaded quote from any other system — subscription plus transaction fees plus hardware plus setup — and judge on the total.