Let us start with the awkward number, because a comparison that hides competitors’ bargains is useless: Aronium Pro costs 100 dollars a year per store, or about 940 MAD. It is the cheapest paid tier in this entire market. Here is what that gets you, and the three cases where 9,000 MAD paid once is still the better sum.
The short answer
- Aronium Pro: $10 a month or $100 a year, per store. About 940 MAD a year, or 4,700 MAD over five years. It connects several tills to one database.
- Paid plugins are added on top: price lists $5, print stations $5, email reporting $3, per month, or ten times that per year.
- uniCenta remains free software under GPL v3. Their subscription buys support and recent installers; we quote no amount, having been unable to verify one.
- BelloPOS Go: 9,000 MAD once, unlimited users, roles and permissions, invoice export, automatic backups and a month of priority support.
- Over five years, Aronium Pro costs half as much. The choice therefore turns on something other than price, and this article says what.
The solutions compared
Three very different business models for three desktop programs. Free software with paid support, a cheap modular subscription, and a one-off purchase. None is absurd, and the cost table shows exactly where each wins.
uniCenta oPOS
A Java desktop till published under the GNU GPL v3 free licence. Multi-location, multi-terminal, multi-user, 17 languages, backed by a MySQL or MariaDB database. Version 5.4.0 added a WooCommerce integration. The project is distributed on SourceForge, where its last update is dated 10 August 2025.
Aronium
A native Windows till in two editions: Aronium Lite, free and with no registration, and Aronium Pro, which connects several registers to one database. Everything else is added through plugins, free or paid, billed per store.
BelloPOS
Our Windows till software, built in Morocco. It runs 100% offline: no sale depends on the connection. The interface and the receipts exist in French, Arabic and English. Three tiers: Lite free for life, Go and Pro bought once, never subscribed to.
The comparison, criterion by criterion
This time the table covers the paid tiers: the uniCenta subscription, Aronium Pro and BelloPOS Go.
| The criterion | uniCenta oPOS | Aronium | BelloPOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price of the paid tier | Support subscription, amount unverified: their site did not respond on 27 July 2026. | $10/month or $100/year per store, about 940 MAD a year. | 9,000 MAD, paid once, for life. |
| What paying buys | Access to support and recent installers. The software stays free. | Multi-till on a shared database, and access to the Pro plugins. | Unlimited users, roles and permissions, invoice export, automatic backups, activity log, no more watermark. |
| Recurring cost | Annual, for as long as you want support. | Annual, and per store. Two stores means two subscriptions. | None. Once paid, nothing further. |
| Paid plugins | Not applicable, everything is in the software. | Price lists $5, print stations $5, email reporting $3, Fatoora $8, VSMS $10, logo $1. Per month, or ten times that per year. | None. The functions are in the tier. |
| Multi-till | Yes, natively, on MySQL or MariaDB. | Yes, it is the reason the Pro version exists. | Networked terminals on BelloPOS Pro, at 40,000 MAD once. |
| Support included | That is precisely what the subscription buys. | Help centre, documentation and a detailed changelog. | 1 month of priority WhatsApp and phone support with Go, 3 months with Pro, in Darija. |
| Moroccan e-invoicing | No module. | No Moroccan module. | Invoice export included in Go. |
| Onboarding help | Community and documentation. | Documentation. | Loading your first 20 products and 10 categories with Go, 1,000 products and 100 categories with Pro. |
| Receipt languages | Depends on configuration. | Depends on configuration. | French, Arabic, English, built in and tested. |
| Who it suits | A technical business that wants free software with a safety net. | A one or two till business that does not invoice in Morocco and wants the lowest price. | An established Moroccan business that wants to stop paying and print in Arabic. |
What it really costs over five years
Here is the comparison that counts, in dirhams and over five years. The rate used for dollar prices is stated under the table, with its date.
| The solution | Over 1 year | Over 3 years | Over 5 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aronium Pro ($100/year per store) | 940 MAD | 2,820 MAD | 4,700 MAD |
| BelloPOS Go (9,000 MAD, once) | 9,000 MAD | 9,000 MAD | 9,000 MAD |
| BelloPOS Pro (40,000 MAD, once) | 40,000 MAD | 40,000 MAD | 40,000 MAD |
| Moroccan reference: Caisse Manager, till only (250 MAD/month) | 3,000 MAD | 9,000 MAD | 15,000 MAD |
The amounts above are worked out from the public prices recorded on 27 July 2026, with VAT added where a price is quoted excluding tax, and with no commercial discount. For prices in dollars, the rate used: 1 USD = 9.4 MAD, recorded 27 July 2026. Redo the sum with the day’s prices before you decide: they move, and it is your money.
Let us look at these figures squarely. Aronium Pro comes to about 4,700 MAD over five years, against 9,000 MAD for BelloPOS Go. Over that period they are cheaper, and no arithmetic overturns that. The crossover only arrives around year ten, or sooner if you add two paid plugins or open a second store, since their price is per store and ours is per licence.
Three reasons to pay 9,000 MAD when 940 MAD a year exists
The question is legitimate and deserves a precise answer rather than a sales pitch. Here are the only three reasons that hold, and if none applies to you, Aronium Pro is objectively the better buy.
- Invoicing and Arabic. Aronium has no Moroccan module and its Arabic printing depends on your configuration. If you invoice businesses in Morocco and your receipts have to come out in Arabic on a thermal printer, that is work you will do yourself with them, and which is already done with us.
- The number of stores. Aronium’s price is per store. Three stores is 300 dollars a year, about 2,820 MAD, every year. A BelloPOS Go licence is paid once. The sum flips faster the more outlets you have.
- Support in Darija, on a Saturday night. Aronium offers documentation and an online help centre, both well made. We offer someone on the phone who speaks your language, on a priority line, for a month with Go and three months with Pro. Those two offers do not cost the same to produce, and are not worth the same depending on your situation.
The real price of the plugins, worked out honestly
Aronium’s model is to keep the software cheap and charge for specialised functions. That is perfectly defensible, but it changes the sum as soon as you take two or three. According to their own page, paid plugins are billed per store, per month, or ten times that per year: price lists at 5 dollars, print stations at 5 dollars, email reporting at 3 dollars, Fatoora at 8 dollars, VSMS at 10 dollars and the custom logo at 1 dollar.
A restaurant taking Aronium Pro plus print stations and price lists therefore moves from 100 to 200 dollars a year per store, about 1,880 MAD, which is still very reasonable but doubles the bill. Do that sum with your actual plugins before comparing, not with the headline price.
What the uniCenta subscription actually buys
A note on method, because it matters to a buyer. On 27 July 2026, unicenta.com did not respond from our network, neither directly nor through a second route. We therefore worked from the project page on SourceForge, which shows a last update of 10 August 2025 and points to version 5.4.0. The software exists, it is actively distributed, and this outage may be temporary. But a POS project whose site is intermittent is useful information before building your business on it, and for that reason their support subscription amount remains unverified: we will therefore quote none.
How to choose: the twenty-minute method
For a paid tier, the general method applies with particular emphasis on the five-year sum and on the number of stores.
- Count your real needs before you look at a single price. How many tills, how many users, do you invoice businesses, do you need stock, do you take delivery orders. Five answers, and half the offers rule themselves out. Our guide to choosing a till works through this questionnaire.
- Test the checkout, not the demo. Ask to ring up ten items, one return and one split payment, yourself, and time it. A well-rehearsed demo tells you nothing about what your cashier will face on a Saturday.
- Pull the internet cable and try to sell. That one test splits the whole market in two, and it takes thirty seconds. We go through it in detail in our offline or cloud POS comparison.
- Ask for an export of your own data before you pay anything. Products, customers, sales, in a file you can open. If the answer is vague, you already know how this ends.
- Add up five years, not one month. A subscription is compared with a one-off purchase over the time you will actually use it.
- Check that the receipt prints correctly in Arabic before you commit. On a thermal printer that is not a given, and it takes a minute to see.
- Ask who answers the phone on a Saturday at 8pm, and in which language. That is exactly when a till breaks.
- Multiply by your number of outlets. A per-store price and a single licence do not compare in the singular.
- List the plugins you will actually need and add them to the base price before any comparison.
What each solution does better
uniCenta oPOS
Its licence. uniCenta oPOS is free software under the GNU GPL v3: you can install it on as many machines and in as many shops as you like, with no licence fee, and nobody can withdraw your right to use it. The database is yours, readable, on your own server. If independence from a software publisher matters to you more than anything else, this is the right answer and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Its multi-location support and its fifty reports are serious work, and rare at this price.
Aronium
Its plugin model, and its value for money. Aronium Lite is free, complete and asks for no registration: you download it and you sell. Aronium Pro at 100 dollars a year per store is honestly cheap for what it does, and the free plugins (stock control, expiry dates, named orders, takeaway, notes, dual currency) cover needs that others charge for. The publisher keeps a detailed changelog, which is a good sign about a piece of software’s health.
Mistakes to avoid
- Comparing $100 a year with 9,000 MAD without stating the period or the number of stores. Those are the two variables that decide.
- Forgetting Aronium’s price is per store. With three outlets, the reading changes completely.
- Taking the headline price without the plugins. Two plugins often double the annual figure.
- Paying for a support subscription you never use. Check first whether the free documentation is enough for you.
- Ignoring exchange rate risk. A dollar price moves with the rate, a dirham price does not.
Frequently asked questions
What does Aronium Pro cost?
$10 a month or $100 a year, per store, according to their own pricing page. At the rate of 27 July 2026, that is about 940 MAD a year per store. Paid plugins are added according to your needs, between 1 and 10 dollars a month each.
Is Aronium Pro cheaper than BelloPOS Go?
Over five years, yes, and clearly: about 4,700 MAD against 9,000 MAD. The relationship reverses around year ten, sooner if you have several stores, since their price is per store while a Go licence is paid once.
What does the uniCenta subscription cost?
We do not quote it, because we could not verify it: unicenta.com did not respond from our network on 27 July 2026. What is certain is that the software itself is free under GNU GPL v3 and that the subscription buys support and installer access, not the right to use the program.
What does BelloPOS Go add over Lite?
Unlimited users, removal of the watermark, roles and permissions, invoice export, automatic backup and restore, the activity log, a month of priority WhatsApp and phone support, and help loading your first twenty products and ten categories.
Are the Aronium plugins compulsory?
No. Eight plugins are free, including stock control, expiration dates, named orders and the takeaway option. The paid ones cover more specialised needs, such as kitchen print stations or multiple price lists.
Which tier for two tills in one store?
Aronium Pro does it for 100 dollars a year, which is the cheapest. With us, networked terminals are in BelloPOS Pro at 40,000 MAD, which only makes sense if you need that tier’s other functions, such as the restaurant module or the kitchen display.
Our recommendation
If you do not invoice in Morocco and have one or two stores, take Aronium Pro. At about 940 MAD a year per store, it is the best price-to-features ratio in this comparison, and claiming otherwise would be dishonest.
If you invoice businesses, print in Arabic or have several outlets, take BelloPOS Go. 9,000 MAD paid once, with no renewal, no exchange rate exposure and support that answers in Darija.
If you want free software and can administer a database, stay with uniCenta oPOS and pay for their support only if you need it. The GPL v3 licence guarantees you will never be locked in, and that is a real value.
Sources
Every claim made here about a competing product comes from its publisher’s own public page, consulted on 27 July 2026. No figure is taken from a review aggregator or another comparison.
- uniCenta oPOS: https://unicenta.com/
- uniCenta oPOS: https://sourceforge.net/projects/unicentaopos/
- Aronium: https://www.aronium.com/
- Aronium: https://www.aronium.com/en/plugins
- BelloPOS: https://bellocommerce.com/fr/bellopos/
- BelloPOS: https://bellocommerce.com/fr/bellopos/pricing/
The trademarks named here belong to their respective owners. They are mentioned for the purpose of comparison, and this article implies no partnership with or endorsement by them.
Compare before paying anything
Start with BelloPOS Lite, free for life. A week will tell you whether moving to Go is justified, and you will then compare on facts rather than on tables.
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