Club Bar

Club Bar is an open-source point-of-sale system for sports clubs and member organizations that run a bar or canteen. It is best for clubs willing to manage their own hosting and terminal hardware. Its strongest case is member-tab checkout that can keep working offline; the trade-off is responsibility for deployment and backups.

Overview

Unlike a general retail till, Club Bar centers checkout around club members and their tabs. Members can identify themselves with an RFID or NFC card and view their personal tab at the terminal. That focus makes it a natural fit for a volunteer-run bar or canteen, but less compelling for a business seeking a hosted service that handles its own infrastructure.

Key features

The terminal caches data locally, allowing checkout to continue without internet access and synchronize after connectivity returns. It also checks product minimum ages at checkout; when offline, it can use a member’s birth date to refuse a sale. These safeguards are useful for clubs with patchy connections, although they do not remove the need to maintain the local terminal setup.

The admin panel combines member and product management with settlements, reports, a transaction journal and audit history. Settlement exports are available as XML or CSV, and the backend can generate pain.008.001.08 XML for SEPA direct debit. Email notifications are queued and retried, including SEPA pre-notifications, cancellations, tab statements and security alerts. Together these tools cover much of the recurring administration around member sales.

Security provisions include mandatory TOTP two-factor authentication for administrators, role-based authorization, encrypted IBANs, audit logging and terminal anomaly detection. Member management includes GDPR export and anonymization workflows. Backup handling calls for particular care: backups are sealed-box encrypted, and a recipient key must be configured or no backup is written. Clubs should treat key setup and recovery as part of deployment, not an optional afterthought.

Hardware integrations include RFID/NFC readers and, optionally, an ESP8266 controller for an Azkoyen Hopper token dispenser. The dispenser communicates over local WiFi using HTTP REST, without a cloud dependency. SMTP email and REST APIs are also supported.

Pricing

The Self-hosted plan costs free, with no subscription. That suits clubs with existing hosting and hardware, but the price reflects a self-managed arrangement rather than a turnkey service: the club supplies the hosting and equipment.

Platforms

Club Bar supports API, Linux, macOS, web and self-hosted deployments. The terminal is a Flutter desktop app targeting embedded Linux, and the installation guide covers Raspberry Pi OS on Raspberry Pi 4 or 5. Hosting requires PHP 8.3 or later, MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.5+, and Apache mod_rewrite; clubs without compatible hosting or the capacity to maintain it should look elsewhere. The project is open source under the Apache-2.0 license.

Who it's for

Club Bar is suited to sports clubs, community centers and member organizations that want to run their own bar or canteen, especially those needing member tabs, offline checkout, age checks or SEPA settlement workflows. It is a weaker fit for teams that want a provider to host the system or do not have someone able to handle server configuration and encrypted backups.

Pros and cons

Pros: Offline checkout and later synchronization help keep sales moving during internet outages.

Pros: Member tabs, age checks, settlement exports and SEPA direct-debit generation address club-specific bar operations.

Pros: Administrative security controls and GDPR export and anonymization workflows support responsible handling of member and payment data.

Cons: Self-hosting requires compatible PHP, database and Apache setup, plus club-provided hardware.

Cons: Encrypted backups depend on configuring a recipient key; without it, no backup is written.

Alternatives

Gym POS Software is a broader category to compare if Club Bar’s canteen focus is not the right fit.

GymPoint is worth considering for organizations that need a wider member platform: its free plan includes unlimited members and core tools for billing, scheduling, POS, kiosk and portal, but requires GymPoint Payments.

ParallelPOS is a paid option for clubs seeking a broader operations suite across POS, inventory, HR, expenses, reports and CRM; its Basic plan is $149.99 a month per location.

OpenEOS is another self-hosted choice, with a free forever plan that includes all features and unlimited events, or a SaaS plan at €25 as a one-time purchase.

MyStudio is a paid alternative for organizations focused on students, class schedules and rank or belt tracking, starting at $79 a month for Essentials.

Waresport Pro Shop POS may suit teams that want athlete-focused POS: its Team plan is $69.99 a month for up to 75 athletes, while Club is $129.99 a month for up to 300 athletes.

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

Clubspeed is a paid alternative with POS, booking and gift-card tools; Core costs $319 a year with annual billing.

Owners Inventory Gym POS offers a web-based alternative with a free plan and paid store plans.

Verdict

Choose Club Bar if your club wants member tabs, offline checkout and club-oriented settlement tools without a subscription, and can take responsibility for hosting, hardware and backups. Look elsewhere if you need a provider-managed system or cannot maintain the server and terminal setup.