Accepting Monero (XMR) at the point of sale is one of the few places where you can offer customers genuine payment privacy and keep 0% in fees. The good news: there’s a real, mature ecosystem of self-hosted Monero POS tools. The catch: most of them are built for one specific shape of sale — a terminal, in person, over your local network.
Here’s an honest map of the options, and where a phone-hosted approach fits.
The existing self-hosted Monero POS tools
If you’ve researched this, you’ve met these projects. They’re open source, self-hosted, non-custodial, and 0-fee — all good:
- XMRpos — a point-of-sale app for accepting Monero in person.
- Monero SuperPay — a self-hosted payment gateway/POS for merchants.
- Pago — a clean self-hosted Monero POS for taking payments at a counter.
- Plus XMRetail, Kasisto, and monero-merchant in the same family.
They all share a philosophy worth defending: you hold the keys, no company sits in the middle, and there are no processor fees. If you run a shop with a fixed counter and you want a dedicated Monero terminal, any of these is a solid choice.
What they’re built for — and the gap
Almost all of these tools assume the same setup: a terminal at a counter, where the buyer is physically in front of you and pays on a tablet or a screen you control, often over a LAN. That’s perfect for a café or a shop till.
But a lot of selling doesn’t look like that:
- A customer who wants to order from a link — from across a market, from their own phone, or before they arrive.
- A seller who wants a browsable catalogue — products, prices, images — not just a “enter amount → show QR” terminal.
- Someone who wants to accept Bitcoin and Monero, and let the buyer choose.
- A pop-up seller who wants the whole thing to go live for an afternoon and go offline afterward.
That’s the gap NodeBooth was built to fill.
NodeBooth: the phone is the server
NodeBooth is a self-hosted Monero (and Bitcoin) shop that runs entirely on an Android phone — no counter terminal, no LAN, no separate server:
- The phone hosts the shop. A small web server runs inside the app and serves your storefront while it’s open.
- A tunnel gives you a public URL. So the customer orders remotely — from their own browser, wherever they are — not just face to face at your device.
- It’s a catalogue, not just a terminal. Add products, prices, and images; buyers browse and check out.
- BTC and XMR. Enable Bitcoin, Monero, or both, per shop. The buyer picks at checkout.
- Ephemeral by design. Open the shop, share the link, close it when you’re done — nothing left running.
You still hold the keys: the app generates your Monero and Bitcoin wallets on the device and shows you the recovery seed. Every payment goes straight to a wallet only you control. And you don’t need to already own crypto — the wallet is created for you, exportable by seed.
How the options compare
| XMRpos / SuperPay / Pago | NodeBooth | |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted | ✅ | ✅ on your phone |
| Non-custodial | ✅ | ✅ |
| Fees | 0% | 0% |
| Monero (XMR) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Bitcoin (BTC) | usually XMR-only | ✅ both |
| Sale model | in-person terminal | remote link + in person |
| Product catalogue | typically amount-entry POS | ✅ browsable shop |
| Runs on | tablet/PC/LAN | Android phone + public URL |
| Ephemeral pop-up | — | ✅ open/close on demand |
Which should you pick?
- Fixed counter, XMR-only, dedicated till: an established Monero POS like Pago, XMRpos, or Monero SuperPay is a great, focused choice.
- Selling remotely, or at a market/pop-up, with a real catalogue, and you want Bitcoin as well as Monero: that’s where a phone-hosted shop with a public link — NodeBooth — does something the terminal tools don’t.
These aren’t really competitors so much as different shapes of the same values: self-custody, no account to approve, and 0% fees. Pick the shape that matches how you actually sell.
FAQ
Does NodeBooth need a Monero node? No node to run or sync yourself — you install the app, enable Monero, and open your shop.
Can customers pay in Monero without me owning any first? Yes. Your XMR wallet is generated on your phone; incoming payments land there and you export it by seed whenever you like.
Is a self-hosted Monero POS legal? Accepting Monero as payment is legal in most places, the same as accepting any cryptocurrency — check your local tax and reporting rules. Self-hosting simply means you, not a processor, run the software.
The bottom line
The self-hosted Monero POS world is healthy, and the terminal tools are good at what they do. If your selling is remote, catalogue-based, pop-up, or BTC-and-XMR, NodeBooth brings those same values to a shop that lives in your pocket.