Comparison Report · July 2026
A straightforward look at how HDS Cloud Apps stacks up against Loyverse across the features that matter most to UK and European hospitality operators.
Loyverse is a free-to-start POS platform used by over one million small businesses across 170 countries. Its free entry point and simple setup make it genuinely attractive for micro-businesses and market stalls. But as a venue grows — adding sites, serving table covers, needing recipe-level food costing, running staff rotas, or demanding real-time AI-driven insight — Loyverse quickly reveals the limits of a product built for casual simplicity rather than serious hospitality operations.
Head-to-head
| Feature / Criterion | HDS Cloud Apps | Loyverse |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost (entry) | From £49/month — one unified platform with all core hospitality tools included; no hidden per-feature add-on costs | Free base POS; but £20/store for employee management, £20/store for advanced inventory, £5/store for full sales history — add-ons stack to £45/store/month for a basic fully functional setup |
| Software deployment | ✓ Fully browser-based progressive web app — no software to install; runs on any internet-connected device including iOS, Android, Windows and Mac | iOS and Android apps; no browser or Windows desktop support |
| Payment provider flexibility | 9 providers — Global Payments, Viva, Dojo, Musqet, Trust Payments, WorldPay, Take Payments, DNA Payments, Teya — switchable at any time | Dependent on regional third parties (SumUp, PayPal Zettle, Teya for UK/EU) — no single integrated solution and transaction rates are non-negotiable via Loyverse |
| Alternative payment types | Card, cash, QR, voucher, on-account / cost centre, gift card / RFID tag, Bitcoin & Lightning Network via Musqet | Card and cash only via connected PSP; no on-account or alternative digital payments |
| Floor plan & table management | ✓ Full visual floor plan editor, table status, covers count, course management (starters/mains/desserts), table splitting, configurable spending limits per table | ✗ No visual floor plan — open named tickets only; no table status view, no covers tracking |
| Recipe & ingredient-level inventory | ✓ Recipe costing with ingredient-level depletion (recalculated every 15 minutes from sales); wastage recording; batch management; supplier management with goods receiving and quality gate | ✗ No recipe or ingredient-level inventory — basic stock management only; critical gap for any food operation with food costing requirements |
| Native online & QR ordering | ✓ Native QR code and mobile table ordering, fully integrated with the EPOS and KDS | ✗ No native online or QR ordering — entirely dependent on third-party marketplace apps (Fuudey, MENU TIGER, Instalacarte etc.) |
| Kitchen display system (KDS) | ✓ Native browser-based KDS with full EPOS integration, course and section routing, real-time updates on any screen | ✓ Free KDS app on iOS/Android — functional for simple operations |
| Self-service kiosk | ✓ Hospitality and retail self-service kiosk — full product catalogue, order and pay, routes to kitchen display | ✗ No self-service kiosk |
| AI & conversational reporting | ✓ Google Gemini AI assistant — staff-facing upsell coaching at the till and admin back-office business insights covering sales, inventory, staff activity, loyalty and compliance | ✗ No AI features of any kind |
| UK compliance (allergens, VAT) | ✓ Allergen and dietary filtering (vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free) on customer-facing menus; per-product VAT rates (0%–20%); wet/dry split for licensed premises; VAT number on receipts | ✗ No allergen filtering confirmed; basic tax configuration; no wet/dry split reporting for UK licensed premises |
| On-site installation | ✓ HDS engineers attend every installation as standard | ✗ Entirely self-install — download the app and configure yourself |
| Phone & 24/7/365 support | ✓ Direct UK phone line, answered by a person, around the clock | Chat support (24/7 tied to paid add-on subscribers); no phone support; free tier support access unclear |
| Dedicated account management | ✓ Named UK account manager from day one | ✗ No account management — entirely self-serve |
| Staff management | ✓ 6 user roles (Admin, Manager, Staff, EPOS-only, Kitchen, Kitchen+Reporting); PIN clock-in/out; weekly hours totals; mobile staff tracker app; manager override at till; payment method permissions per user | Clock-in/out and timecard tracking on paid tier; no rota scheduling or role-based till permissions |
| Staff rota & scheduling | ✓ Visual weekly rota builder; shift scheduling with colour-coded staff view | ✗ Tracks clock-in/out and timecards but has no shift scheduling or rota-building tool |
| Loyalty & customer marketing | ✓ QR-code sign-up, points catalogue, tiered member discounts, Apple Wallet and Google Wallet digital cards, bulk CSV customer import, charity donation option | Basic points programme included free — no customer tiers, no Apple/Google Wallet, no automated marketing campaigns |
| Accounting integration | ✓ Xero — automatic daily export with category-to-chart-of-accounts mapping and VAT breakdown; Sage in development; custom integrations available for any system that supports CSV or API import | ✗ No accounting integrations; CSV export to spreadsheet is the only option |
| Hotel PMS integration | ✓ StayNTouch and GuestLine — real-time room-charge posting, guest lookup by name from the till | Room charge via Hotefy or Room Charge marketplace apps — not native; integration quality varies |
| Reporting depth | ✓ Live sales dashboard; Z-reports and X-reports; grouped sales with wet/dry split; custom reports scheduled by email (daily/weekly/monthly to any address); staff sales attribution; CSV export | Basic operational reports (sales trends, employee sales, tax summaries) — no wet/dry split, no scheduled email delivery, no staff attribution by role |
| Biometric payments | ✓ Fingo fingerprint integration — pay by fingerprint, no card or phone needed | ✗ Not available |
| Google Cloud hosting | ✓ Official Google Partner, 99.999% uptime SLA | Cloud-hosted; infrastructure and uptime SLA not publicly specified |
| Multi-site pricing transparency | Published pricing for all site counts; volume pricing available and clearly structured | Pricing goes ‘contact us’ above 3 stores — no transparency for growing groups |
| Reservations integration | ✓ Native reservation management and waiting list | ✗ No confirmed reservations integration |
Loyverse earns its place as a genuinely useful free tool for a coffee shop, market stall, or single-site casual café that wants to get started quickly at zero cost. But for any UK hospitality operator running a restaurant, bar, hotel, golf club or multi-site group, the gap is significant: no floor plan, no recipe costing, no self-service kiosk, no native QR ordering, no AI, no phone support, no allergen filtering, no rota scheduling, no Xero integration, and pricing that turns opaque the moment you grow beyond three locations. HDS Cloud Apps is a fully browser-based platform purpose-built to handle everything a serious hospitality business needs — not just the easy parts — backed by on-site engineers, a dedicated account manager, and a platform that evolves specifically for the UK and European market.
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