The best builders merchant software in 2026 — and how PlanIt EPOS compares

How we judged it

We are one of the systems on this page, so we have tried to make the test one you could run yourself. A builders merchant lives or dies on five things, and any system worth the name has to do all of them without a bolt-on:

1. The counter. Can a member of staff serve a walk-in with a barcode and a PIN in twenty seconds, take a split tender, and put a trade customer’s order on account with their price applied — without a second product on the desk?
2. Credit. Are limits, terms and on-stop enforced at the moment goods are about to leave, not discovered at month-end? Do statements and chasing happen without someone remembering to do them?
3. Deliveries. Is there a van board — a day, a vehicle, the drops in order — with picking lists and delivery notes that come off it, part deliveries, and a way to split a big order across loads?
4. Stock and purchasing. Per-branch stock, bins, supplier price lists, purchase orders raised from what is short, and goods-in that lands on the ledger rather than on a spreadsheet.
5. Cost and time to go live. What it costs a month all-in, whether the price is published, how long between signing and trading, and what happens if it is not right for you.

We have left out the things that only matter to a minority — batch and serial tracking, timber tallies, multi-currency, manufacturing — and say plainly below which systems have them, because if you need them that decides it on its own.

The shortlist

Klipboard K8 (formerly Kerridge Commercial Systems)

K8 is the system most people mean when they say “merchant software”. Kerridge Commercial Systems rebranded as Klipboard during 2025, and K8 remains the sector default for builders, plumbers and timber merchants: stock, pricing, trade counter, purchasing, a full nominal ledger and ecommerce in one platform, with a lighter K8 Trader edition aimed at small-to-medium businesses. It is the safe choice for a multi-branch group with an IT function. Pricing is on quotation only, implementation is a project rather than an afternoon, and the depth that makes it right for a twelve-branch group is the same depth a one-yard merchant pays for and never opens.

Merchanter (Ten-25 Software)

Merchanter is the closest thing to PlanIt EPOS on this page: a cloud ERP built for independent merchants, strongest in timber and builders merchants, sold as a per-user subscription. Ten-25 publish a starting price of £90 per user per month across four editions (Trade, Enterprise, Forward Trade and Forward Enterprise, the Forward editions adding forward contracts and agency sales for hardwood traders), on an annual contract, with hosting, updates, backups, support and implementation included. It integrates with Xero, Sage, QuickBooks and iplicit rather than carrying its own ledger. We compare it with PlanIt in detail further down.

GenetiQ (formerly Intact Software / Intact iQ)

Intact Software rebranded as GenetiQ; Intact iQ is now GenetiQ On-Premise, alongside GenetiQ Cloud and the smaller Xline product. It is a configurable ERP for wholesale, distribution and merchant businesses — trade counter, multi-location stock, drag-and-drop delivery scheduling, customer pricing, B2B web ordering and financials — and its selling point is that it can be shaped around a non-standard process rather than the other way round. The company cites 1,700 customers over 32 years and a 98% retention rate. Pricing is on quotation. It suits a merchant who has outgrown a rigid system and has the appetite to configure the replacement.

CounterAct (Border Merchant Systems)

Border Merchant Systems have written software for builders’, plumbers’ and timber merchants from Monmouth since 1990 and have been part of Shuttleworth Business Systems since 2013. CounterAct covers point-of-sale trading, accounts, stock control, price book and special customer terms, purchasing, quotations, CRM and delivery scheduling, and their customers run from single-site family businesses to multi-branch groups. It is a mature, sector-specific system with a long customer list. Pricing is on quotation.

Unleashed

Unleashed is on most merchants’ shortlists because it is easy to buy and well known, but it is an inventory and purchasing system, not a till. There is no PIN-locked counter, no cash drawer, no cash-up and no split tender, so a merchant serving walk-ins runs a second product alongside it and keeps two catalogues in step. Its published UK price on 9 September 2026 was £269 a month for Unleashed Core (three users and 100 sales orders a month), with more orders, extra users, the warehouse app, customer ordering, analytics, support and onboarding each charged on top. We have a page on moving from Unleashed to PlanIt EPOS, including the import that does it.

Side by side

Prices below are the vendors’ own published figures as read on 20 September 2026, excluding VAT. Where a vendor does not publish one, it says so. Check them before you rely on them; they change.

Two rows need a word. “Works offline” for PlanIt EPOS means the till, catalogue, account balances and order book live on the device, so it sells through a broadband outage and syncs when the line is back. “Published price” for PlanIt EPOS is £149 a month with one till and unlimited users, £59 a month for each extra till, every module included, with Accounting Connect — Xero or QuickBooks Online — the one optional add-on at £15 a month.

PlanIt EPOS against Merchanter, the closest match

Both are cloud systems built for independent merchants rather than cut down from an enterprise product, both post to an external accounts package rather than carrying a ledger, and both are sold on a subscription with support and onboarding included. That is where the resemblance ends, and the differences are the ones that decide it for a yard.

What it costs a five-person yard

Merchanter is priced per user. Ten-25’s own pricing guide gives £88 to £132 per user per month depending on edition, from £90, on an annual contract. A yard with an owner, two on the counter, one in the yard and one doing the books is five users: £450 a month on the lowest edition, £5,400 a year committed. PlanIt EPOS is priced per till, not per person: £149 a month with one till and as many staff logins as you want, £59 a month for each extra till, with a three-month minimum and then monthly. The same five-person yard with two tills is £208 a month. Add another driver or a Saturday lad on PlanIt and the bill does not move.

Where Merchanter is ahead

• Timber. Merchanter grew up in softwood and hardwood trading: tallies, lengths and the Forward editions’ contracts and agency sales. PlanIt EPOS sells timber by the length as a product with a unit, and that is as far as it goes. A timber merchant should look at Merchanter first.
• More accounts packages. Merchanter links to Sage and iplicit as well as Xero and QuickBooks. PlanIt EPOS posts to Xero or QuickBooks Online; Sage users get Xero-ready CSV, not a live link.
• Longer track record. Ten-25 have been selling to merchants for decades. PlanIt EPOS moved its first builders’ merchant off Unleashed in September 2026. We would rather you knew that than found it out.

Where PlanIt EPOS is ahead

• The counter keeps selling offline. PlanIt EPOS is a local-first app: the till, the catalogue, the account balances and the order book are on the device, it sells when the broadband drops and syncs when it is back. Merchanter is cloud-hosted and, as far as its published material says, trades through the browser — which means through the connection.
• The van board is the yard’s morning. Name your lorries and vans once, put each on the day with a Load number, drag the drops on, split an order across up to twelve loads with a date and slot each, deliver part of a load at the door and invoice only what went, mark a load full, leave notes for the driver, and print run sheets that say “on account — get a signature” rather than a balance the customer does not owe. Supplier collections and return pick-ups sit on the same board. We wrote up what changed in September.
• Cash pays before goods leave. A walk-in delivery order has the delivery charge on it the moment Delivery is chosen and cannot be taken short of the total; the picking list, delivery note and van slot stay locked until it is paid. Trade accounts go on terms with a live credit bar.
• Goods-in from a photograph. Photograph the supplier’s delivery note; the lines are matched to your products and reviewed before they land. Supplier price lists in PDF, Excel or CSV match on their part number and yours, with cost changes reviewed before they apply.
• The price is the price. Published, per till, unlimited users, every module in, a 7-day trial without a card and a three-month minimum instead of a year.

When PlanIt EPOS is the wrong answer

We would rather say this here than on a call after you have exported your data.

• You need batch or serial traceability, multi-currency, manufacturing or bills of materials, or timber tallies and forward contracts. Look at K8, GenetiQ or Merchanter.
• You want the nominal ledger inside the system rather than in Xero or QuickBooks. K8, GenetiQ and CounterAct carry their own; PlanIt EPOS and Merchanter do not.
• You need an integrated ecommerce storefront today. PlanIt EPOS takes customer orders at the counter, by phone and by approved quote, not from a web shop.
• You are a group with an IT department and a change programme. K8 exists for you.

What an independent yard actually gets

For the merchant the five tests were written for — one or a few yards, trade accounts, deliveries most days, an accountant on Xero — this is what £149 a month buys, all of it in the price:

• A trade counter till with PIN lock per sale, barcode scanning anywhere on the screen, quick keys, split tenders, cash drawer, X and Z reads and cash-up with variance
• Trade accounts with credit limits enforced at the counter, on-stop, aged debt, statements, automatic chasing to the accounts contact, and terms including “30th of the month following”
• Quotes with an Approve link the customer taps, converted to orders at the quoted price; customer orders with deposits and stock reserved as it arrives
• The van board: named fleet, loads per vehicle per day, split loads, part deliveries, run sheets, delivery notes, supplier collections and return pick-ups
• Per-branch stock with multiple bins per product, stock takes, transfers, reorder suggestions from your own sales rate and lead times, purchase orders in the supplier’s unit, PO approval over a value you set, landed cost and supplier returns
• Trade bands, customer contract prices per product or category, quantity breaks, and product rules — minimum sell price, minimum quantity, pack sizes — enforced on the till
• Goods-in from a photographed delivery note; supplier price lists imported from PDF, Excel or CSV; a built-in import from Unleashed
• Accounting Connect — Xero or QuickBooks Online — for invoices, credit notes, payments, refunds, bills and a daily stock journal, with a reconciliation view; Xero-ready CSV without it
• Offline-first on any device, updates that install themselves, support included