Yoco vs iKhokha vs digabloPos: Free POS for SA 2026

Yoco and iKhokha are South Africa's best-known card-machine companies. Both give you a physical card reader plus free POS software, and earn through a fee on every card transaction (iKhokha from ~2.75%, Yoco ~2.95% plus a R2.50 daily device fee). The hardware is a one-off purchase — from a R599 entry reader up to the R2,999 Yoco Counter.

digabloPos is a free point of sale app. It runs on the Android phone or tablet you already own, accepts card payments through its native Stripe Connect integration (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Apple Pay, Google Pay — with Stripe's transparent rates and no digabloPos markup), and records cash, EFT, instant payments, and SnapScan as separate methods. There is no monthly fee and no device to buy.

In short: Yoco and iKhokha are card terminals with free software; digabloPos is free software that also accepts cards — on hardware you already have. This guide compares them fairly.

Yoco / iKhokha — a dedicated card reader is the centre of the product. Tap, chip, and swipe all run through their terminal, settled to your bank, with their per-transaction rate. Great if card is the bulk of your sales and you want a purpose-built device.

digabloPos — card payments go through Stripe Connect (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Apple Pay, Google Pay), with Tap to Pay turning a supported Android phone into the reader — no separate terminal. Stripe handles PCI-DSS; fees are Stripe's published rates with nothing added by digabloPos. Cash, EFT, instant payment, and SnapScan are logged as their own methods so your daily report reconciles cleanly. (Stripe availability and payout timing depend on your country; South Africa is supported.)

For a small South African shop, the cost picture is what decides it:

- Hardware: Yoco/iKhokha — a once-off reader (R599–R2,999). digabloPos — R0, it runs on your phone (add an optional ~R500 Bluetooth printer only if you want printed slips). - Software: all three are free. But Yoco adds a R2.50/day device fee on days you trade (~R900/year). - Card fees: all three charge a percentage on card sales — Yoco/iKhokha at their rates, digabloPos at Stripe's. None of them is "free" on card processing. - Cash / EFT / instant payment: with digabloPos these cost nothing — you just record them. A card machine adds no value here.

So if a meaningful share of your sales is cash, EFT, or instant payment, a free software-first till like digabloPos avoids hardware and daily device fees entirely.

All three are built for South African power cuts. Yoco and iKhokha devices have batteries and mobile connectivity. digabloPos works fully offline on your phone or tablet battery — you keep selling, managing stock, and printing receipts during loadshedding, and everything syncs when power and the network return. No grid, no problem.

Choose Yoco or iKhokha if: card payments are the core of your business and you want a dedicated, purpose-built card terminal (plus their business-funding offers).

Choose digabloPos if: you want a free, full till — sales, stock, staff, reports — that runs on the phone you already own, accepts cards via Stripe with no device to buy and no monthly or daily software fee, and records cash, EFT, and instant payments cleanly.

Many shops run both: digabloPos as the free POS and stock manager, and a card reader for tap payments if they want one. Start free with digabloPos and add hardware only if your card volume justifies it.