The 3 ways a POS claims to be free
- Free with commission per sale. They give you the software at no monthly cost, but charge 1-3% on every transaction. If you sell 500 to $1,500 in commission every month. Not free.
- Free for a limited time (trial). They give you 14 or 30 days at no cost, then you pay or it shuts off. Useful to test, not a free plan.
- Permanent Free plan with limits. They let you run forever at no cost in a trimmed version (fewer products, one location, basic reports). This is the only model you can honestly call “free” to get started.
What a serious free plan must include
To actually be useful without paying:- Unlimited sales (not “20 tickets per month”)
- Product catalog without artificially low caps
- Access to your basic data (how much you sold, what sold)
- Zero commission per sale
- No credit card required to activate
El Nido’s Free plan
When you grow and need multi-location, recipes with cost, KDS or AI assistant, you move up to the plan that fits.
When the Free plan is enough
- Single-person or couple-run business.
- Under 50 products in catalog.
- One location only.
- No CFDI invoicing needed yet.
- Cash and card sales without complex tipping.
When you should pay
- You are growing (more than one location, employees taking shifts).
- You need CFDI 4.0 automatic on every ticket.
- You want recipes with profit calculation per product.
- You run a restaurant or café and need KDS for the kitchen.
- You want Pío AI to ask your business questions instead of reconciling reports.
When the Free plan does NOT cut it
- You manage complex inventory with shared ingredients.
- You sell from several physical points or employees rotate shifts.
- Your customers expect automatic invoicing.
- You want retention or cohort analytics.
Start on the Free plan
No credit card. No trial. Forever.