Club Bar

Overview

Club Bar is a self-hosted point-of-sale system for clubs and member organizations that operate a bar or canteen. It is a strong fit for groups that want member tabs and control over their own checkout infrastructure; the trade-off is that the club must supply and maintain the hosting and hardware.

Key features

Members can identify themselves with RFID or NFC cards and view their tabs at the terminal. Local caching lets checkout continue without internet access, with data syncing again after connectivity returns. That resilience suits venues with unreliable connections, though it does not remove the need to provision a compatible terminal.

The administration panel brings together member and product management, settlements, reports, a transaction journal, and audit history. Settlement exports in XML or CSV and generated SEPA pain.008.001.08 direct-debit files can fit clubs’ existing financial workflows. Queued, retried emails cover SEPA pre-notifications, cancellations, periodic tab statements, and security alerts.

Checkout enforces minimum ages for products, including an offline refusal based on a member’s birth date. Privacy workflows support GDPR data export and anonymization. Administrator accounts require TOTP two-factor authentication; role-based authorization, encrypted IBANs, audit logging, and terminal anomaly detection add safeguards suited to handling member and payment data.

Backups use a sealed-box encryption design, but a recipient key must be configured or no backup is written. That makes key setup an operational requirement, not an optional refinement. An optional ESP8266 controller can run an Azkoyen Hopper token dispenser over local WiFi through HTTP REST, without a cloud dependency.

Pricing

Self-hosted: free, with no subscriptions. The club runs Club Bar on its own hosting and hardware, so there is no recurring software charge but infrastructure and administration remain the club’s responsibility. The project is open source under Apache-2.0.

Platforms

Club Bar supports API, Linux, macOS, self-hosted, and web environments. Its terminal is a Flutter desktop app aimed at embedded Linux; the installation guide covers Raspberry Pi OS on Raspberry Pi 4 or 5. The maker documents shared-hosting deployment requiring PHP 8.3 or later, MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.5+, and Apache mod_rewrite. Those requirements make it a better match for clubs comfortable managing a web host and terminal hardware than for organizations seeking a turnkey hosted POS.

Who it's for

Choose Club Bar if a sports club, community center, or member organization needs a canteen till tied to member tabs, offline checkout, age checks, and club-managed settlement workflows. It is less suitable for teams that cannot take responsibility for deployment, compatible equipment, backup-key configuration, and ongoing operation.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Member tabs and offline checkout work together, helping preserve sales during internet outages.
• Pros: SEPA file generation, XML and CSV settlement exports, and targeted email notifications support routine club administration.
• Pros: Age checks, GDPR workflows, and administrator security controls address practical risks in member-operated venues.
• Cons: Self-hosting requires specific PHP, database, and Apache capabilities, plus club-provided hardware.
• Cons: Encrypted backups depend on configuring a recipient key; without it, backups are not written.

Alternatives

GymPoint is worth considering for clubs that want a free platform spanning members, billing, scheduling, POS, kiosk, and portal across Android, iOS, API, and web. Its free plan requires GymPoint Payments as a payment processor.

OpenEOS suits organizations seeking self-hosted event management with unlimited events and community support on its free plan; its SaaS option costs €25, paid once.

ParallelPOS is a paid option for teams needing a broader location-based POS suite with inventory, HR, expenses, reports, CRM, and 24/7 tech support copilot; its Basic plan is $149.99 a month per location.

Bepoz Club POS is another paid club POS option, with custom pricing.

Clubspeed is a paid choice for operators seeking POS, booking, e-giftcards, integrated payments, and business-hours support; Core costs $319 a year.

clubcloud is a paid club-management alternative with custom pricing based on club volume, programming mix, and growth plans.

Posso is a paid golf-club option with a finance plan from £24.92 a month over 12, 24, or 36 months, subject to status.

Waresport Pro Shop POS has paid Team and Club plans for sports organizations, priced at 69.99 USD and $129.99 a month respectively.

Browse Gym POS Software for more options.

Verdict

Club Bar is a compelling free choice for member organizations that want tab-based canteen checkout, offline operation, and club-specific administration without a subscription. Pick it when your club can handle self-hosting and hardware; look elsewhere if you need a managed deployment or cannot take ownership of secure backups and ongoing infrastructure.