What does a POS machine cost in Uganda?
On Jiji Uganda, read on 9 August 2026, an all-in-one Android POS terminal with a built-in thermal receipt printer was advertised at USh 2,000,000. Separate parts were much cheaper: thermal receipt printers between USh 175,000 and USh 750,000, and barcode scanners between USh 250,000 and USh 400,000.
The first thing worth separating is that a "POS machine" and "POS software" are two different purchases. The machine is hardware: a screen, a keyboard or touchscreen, usually a receipt printer. The software is what actually rings up the sale, subtracts the item from stock and remembers who owes you. You can buy them together as one sealed terminal, or you can run the software on a computer you already own.
Do you actually need to buy a machine?
Often not. Stem runs on any ordinary Windows computer, and there is a browser till that needs nothing installed at all, so a laptop already sitting in the shop can be the counter. That is usually the single largest saving available to a small shop, and it is worth checking before spending two million shillings on a sealed terminal.
What a dedicated terminal buys you is tidiness and durability. It is one box instead of three, it is built to sit on a counter all day, and there is no laptop screen to be knocked over. Those are real advantages in a busy shop. They are just not advantages you need on day one, and a shop that is unsure whether it will still want a till in six months should not be buying hardware to find out.
A receipt printer is the one piece most shops do end up wanting, because handing a customer a printed receipt changes how the shop is seen. Even that can wait: a sale is recorded whether or not it is printed.
What does POS software cost in Uganda?
Two different models are sold here, and comparing a price from one against a price from the other is the most common way people confuse themselves.
A one-off licence. You pay once and install it, usually on a single computer. On Jiji on 9 August 2026, POS and accounting packages were advertised between USh 100,000 and USh 1,500,000, with a great many sitting at USh 350,000.
A monthly subscription. You pay every month for as long as you use it, and updates are part of the arrangement. Stem works this way, with a free plan that does not expire.
| Route | Up front | One year | Three years |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-off licence, at the commonly advertised 350,000 | 350,000 | 350,000 | 350,000 |
| Stem Free | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Stem Basic | 0 | 240,000 | 720,000 |
| Stem Standard | 0 | 660,000 | 1,980,000 |
The arithmetic is not flattering in every row, and it is not meant to be. A one-off licence at 350,000 costs less than Stem Standard within the first year, and less than Stem Basic after about a year and a half. If the only question is what leaves your pocket over three years, and the shop is one till that never changes, a one-off licence can be the cheaper answer.
What the monthly fee is buying is the part that is not a number: updates as they ship, your shop syncing across more than one device and more than one branch, and no second purchase when the software moves on. Whether that is worth it depends on whether you need any of it. A single kiosk that will still be a single kiosk in three years probably does not.
Stem Free is on that table for a reason. It covers one till, offline, with no expiring trial, so the cheapest honest way to find out whether a till suits your shop is to run one for nothing before spending anything on hardware or a licence.
What should you actually buy first?
- Start with the computer you own. If it runs Windows, it can run the till. Prove the shop wants a till before you buy anything.
- Add a thermal receipt printer next, if customers expect receipts. This is the purchase that most changes the counter, at the lowest price.
- Add a barcode scanner when your product count makes typing the bottleneck. A shop with forty lines does not need one. A supermarket does.
- Consider a dedicated terminal last, when you know the shop keeps a till permanently and you want the counter tidy.
Buying in that order means every shilling is spent on something you have already proved you need. Buying in reverse order is how a shop ends up with a two-million-shilling terminal running software nobody was ever trained on.
What does Stem cost?
Stem is priced in shillings and paid by MTN or Airtel mobile money. The Free plan covers one till and does not expire. Paid plans are USh 20,000, USh 55,000 and USh 100,000 a month, and every figure is published on the pricing page rather than held back for a quote.
Before you compare that against anything else, be clear about which job you are buying for. A till is not accounting software and will not do payroll or produce formal financial statements. Our guide on accounting software in Uganda and whether you need a POS system instead sets out that boundary item by item, including what Stem does not do at all.