What a POS actually costs in Saudi Arabia: the three-year number

Vendors compete on the monthly subscription because it is the smallest number they can show you. Here is the full arithmetic, over three years, for a two-terminal shop doing SAR 250,000 a month with 70% card payments.

Figures are researched from public sources in August 2026. Asterisked numbers are third-party. Confirm anything decisive with the vendor.

The five lines

1. Subscription — monthly, sometimes per user, sometimes per site
2. Hardware — purchase, or "free" against a contract term
3. Payment processing — a percentage of everything you sell on cards
4. Implementation — training, configuration, partner fees
5. Exit — data export, contract buy-out, hardware return

Worked example: Wameed

• Subscription, mid tier: SAR 349 × 36 =SAR 12,564
• Hardware, two Landi C20 Pro terminals: free with the subscription,SAR 0
• Payments: SAR 175,000 card volume a month. mada at 0.8% capped at SAR 40 ≈ SAR 1,400/month →SAR 50,400
• Implementation: self-service,SAR 0
• Exit: data export included, the devices go back, no term and no exit charge,SAR 0

Three-year total ≈ SAR 62,964.

Worked example: a typical mid-market competitor

Using Foodics list pricing as the benchmark:

• Subscription, mid tier: SAR 742 × 36 =SAR 26,712
• Hardware, two iOS terminals: ~SAR 3,500 × 2 =SAR 7,000\*
• Payments: comparable rates →SAR 50,400
• Implementation: varies
• Exit: check the contract

Three-year total ≈ SAR 84,112 before implementation.

The gap is roughly SAR 16,000 over three years, and almost all of it is subscription.

Worked example: a payments-funded system

Geidea or Hala, where software is waived above a card-sales threshold:

• Subscription:SAR 0 (you are above the threshold)
• Hardware:SAR 0 (provided)
• Payments: mada 0.8% ≈ SAR 50,400, plus credit at 1.75–3% on the credit share
• Exit: the device goes back

Three-year total ≈ SAR 50,400–58,000, and it is the cheapest of the three —for this shop.

Change the assumption to a shop that is 30% card rather than 70%, and the payments-funded model stops working: you pay the software fee because you never cross the threshold, and you have none of the features.

The per-user trap

Odoo prices per user: roughly SAR 51 each at the low tier, SAR 77–96 higher up. Count honestly — two cashiers, a shift supervisor, the owner and the accountant is five users. At SAR 77 that is SAR 385/month, SAR 13,860 over three years, and it grows every time you hire.

Subscription per site is predictable. Subscription per user is a cost that rises exactly when you can least afford it.

The contract-term trap

"Free hardware on a two-year plan" is a loan, not a gift. Work out the implicit interest: if the device retails around SAR 3,500 and the plan is SAR 100/month more expensive than the equivalent without hardware, you are paying SAR 2,400 over two years for a SAR 3,500 device — a good deal. If the difference is SAR 250/month, you are paying SAR 6,000 for it — a bad one.

And ask what happens if you leave in month 14.

The line nobody quotes: switching cost

If the system does not work out, what does it cost to leave?

• Can you export products, customers, sales history and invoices in a standard format?
• Is the export included or billed?
• Does the hardware work with anything else?
• How many staff hours will re-training take?

Get the export format in writingbefore you sign. A vendor that will not put it in writing has told you something important.

The summary table

Our own pricing is published on thepricing page, including what each tier does and does not include.