Best Mobile POS Systems | Features & Pricing Breakdown

The best mobile POS system for business is Clover, thanks to its ultra-low learning curve, impressive in-house stock and loyalty features, and its expansive app store. Its dedicated mobile app, Clover, lets users take payments on the go easily too, making it a solid option for mobile and pop-up sellers.

If you aren’t willing to invest in one of Clover’s packages, Square POS offers a user-friendly mobile app that lets you sell for free. The POS even throws in a card reader at no cost, earning its title as the most affordable option on this list.

If you’re in the market for a cost-effective and user-friendly mobile POS, this authoritative guide ranks and reviews the top options out there, based on the independent findings from our research team. Read on to learn how each mobile POS service compares to the rest and which is right for your business.

Once you’re ready for the next step, take a minute to fill out our form and get quotes custom-fitted for you.

In this guide:

• Top 5 Mobile POS Systems
• What Is mPOS?
• What Are the Benefits of mPOS?
• Verdict: The Best Mobile POS
• Our Methodology
• Frequently Asked Questions

1. Clover

• Best mobile POS app overall
• Price from: $14.95 per month
• Payment processing from: 2.3% + 10¢

Who should use Clover?

• Sellers wanting low processing fees
• Businesses that are growing fast
• Businesses with large or complex inventories

Who shouldn’t use Clover?

• Small mobile or pop-up vendors
• Sellers looking for rock-bottom monthly fees
• Businesses that rely heavily on help and support

The Clover POS has great features across the board, including low stock alerts, and itemized returns and exchanges for retail stores, and table management and delivery options for food service businesses. If you don’t want to get started with one of Clover’s handheld devices, it’s dedicated mobile app – Clover Go – offers businesses an easy way to make orders and take payments on the go.

Since Clover only offers hardware and software packages, retail and food businesses can expect to spend a minimum of $60 to $90 per month — making the system a lot costlier than lots of its competitors. However, if you sell in large volumes, its compatively low transaction fees will save you more in the long run, helping to justify its comparatively high monthly fees.

Clover POS let me track business performance in real-time with its advanced reports. Source: Tech.co’s user testing

Clover POS features

Clover offers more detailed reports than all top mobile POS systems but Square, with options for sales reports and overviews, and the ability to track tender and card types, item sales, order types, discounts, and taxes. Staff performance tracking is also feature-rich, logging number of transactions, amount collected, and refunds given, amongst more.

Key features:

• Staff management
• Customer reward program
• Split partial payment
• Menu editing
• Website integration
• Sales reporting
• Loyalty and CRM
• Role based permissions
• Real time reporting

Clover’s offline mode is impressive, with a unique ability to accept payments within the offline mode for up to 7 days — a clear benefit for a mobile-first business with shaky internet access.

Pricing

If you run a professional service business like an accounting, legal, or architecture firm you can get started with Clover’s Professional Services for as little as $14.95 per month.

However, with retail packages starting at $60 per month, and restaurant plans starting at $90 per month, Clover definitely isn’t the most affordable POS on the market. If your main concern is pricing and value, our researchers found that Zettle and Square POS are the industry leaders in this respect.

However, it’s important to note that Clover’s monthly prices include hardware costs too, explaining its steep fees and making the POS a solid option for businesses without existing devices.

2. Square

• Best free POS mobile app
• Price from: Free
• Payment processing from: 2.6% + 10¢

Who should use Square?

• Pop-up and mobile sellers
• Businesses looking to get selling for free
• New businesses getting started with a POS for the first time

Who shouldn’t use Square?

• Businesses that regularly onboard staff
• Larger retail businesses and full-service restaurants
• Sellers wanting ultra-low processing fees

Managing a business is hard enough as it is without the interference of complex software. Fortunately, if you’re looking for a simple way to take orders and accept payments on mobile devices, we would recommend using Square. Second to Clover it’s the best mobile POS system we’ve reviewed, and it’s user-friendly and affordable too.

The service has a retail-specific software and a restaurant-specific one, each ranked by our experts as the top in their respective industries, and it’s best for mobile as well, thanks to hardware designed specifically for mobile and tablet use, and its stripped-back interface that’s extremely easy to navigate.

Check out our full guide to the best POS systems for food trucks.

Square POS features

Square’s POS features are a cut above its competition. Due to the strength of its business management, stock management, and business development features, it’ll be able to meet the needs of most sellers getting started with a mobile POS system.

While Square POS’s features are strong across-the-board, its payment options stood out to our researchers in particular. Aside from standard payment options like cash, credit and debit cards, and mobile payment apps, Square POS accepts digital invoices, QR code payments, and invoices, and even links up to third-party BNPL services.

Adding products to Square’s app is straightforward, even for beginners to POS software. Source: Square

Square’s customer loyalty program is also highly customizable too. For businesses looking to drive up purchases, the POS lets you choose a loyalty system that works best for you, choose specific terminology like ‘stamps’ and ‘stars’, and select multiple different reward levels.

Compared to competitors like Lightspeed, Clover, and Epos Now, Square’s till features fall slightly short. This is because Square doesn’t offer a training mode to help staff learn the software: In fact, Epos Now is the only POS offering in this guide that does offer one.

Key features:

• CRM and Loyalty
• Detailed reports and analytics
• Sales forecasting
• Staff management and scheduling
• Inventory management
• Online orders
• Booking features
• Modify items straight from dashboard
• Schedule an Automatic Restock

The automations and ability to modify items while on the go both help make Square simple and easy: Perfect for small and mobile-only operations.

Square POS pricing

If you’re looking to keep overheads as low as possible, Square’s system can be used for absolutely free. With Free, users will only be charged a per-transaction fee (2.6% + 10¢ for card-based and 3.5% + 15¢ for keyed-in sales), saving them from costly overhead prices. Paid plans with 24/7 support are available for $60 per month.

For more details on Square’s pricing plans, fees, and a hidden charges, check out our full Square POS review.

3. Lightspeed

• Best for customer loyalty features
• Price from: $69 per month
• Payment processing from: 2.6% + 10¢

Who should use Lightspeed?

• Sellers serious about expanding their customer base
• Businesses with large or complex inventories
• Businesses that rely heavily on customer support

Who shouldn’t use Lightspeed?

• New businesses with smaller budgets
• Users that are new to POS software
• Businesses that need assistance with setting prices

Lightspeed offers an integrated customer rewards system alongside omnichannel loyalty tools, and it has customer insight tools as well, which can help managers better target customer segments. While these services might be too granular for a small operation, they’re great for larger businesses.

Another big benefit: Lightspeed POS has an impressive support, scoring 4.8/5 in Tech.co’s testing. That’s second only to the Square mobile POS, with round-the-clock live support on weekdays and set hours on weekends as well.

Lightspeed POS features

Lightspeed may not be the best retail POS system we reviewed (that accolade goes to Square), but the mPOS did perform well in our research.

In Tech.co’s impartial POS testing, Lightspeed earns perfect scores (5/5) for its business management tools because of its advanced reporting and analytic features which let you measure customer demand and gain tailored marketing insights, and its powerful staff performance capabilities.

Lightspeed let me add notes to specific sales receipts to keep customers informed about changes. Source: Tech.co testing

If your business stocks large or complex inventories, you’re in luck too, as Lightspeed offers a number of unique stock management features like stock transfers, product categorization and supplier returns. All features that competitors like Square and Clover lack.

Lightspeed also does well with till and business development features, meaning it can easily accept any major form of payment and has tools to help keep audiences engaged and growing. The service’s mobile processing tools let you sell items easily, and extras like delivery support and online ordering open up new market segments.

Key features:

• Inventory alerts
• Margin reports
• Online ordering
• CRM and Loyalty
• Sell on the go
• Delivery support
• Set up and monitor staff goals
• Bulk product editing

The system includes one unique inventory feature, too: It tracks how long an item has been shelved, labelling the oldest items “dusty inventory.”

Lightspeed POS pricing

Lightspeed offers three distinct pricing plans for retail and hospitality businesses.

Businesses can get started with its Basic plan ($89 per month), Core plan ($149 per month), or Plus plan ($239 per month).

While its entry-price might seem high, adding additional licenses is less costly, as each terminal after the first is just $29 per month, and its stellar features, support, and customer satisfaction still make it a great mobile pick for businesses that are willing to make the investment.

Check out how the provider’s retail plans compare in our table below, or read our full Lightspeed POS review for a more detailed breakdown of the system’s price points and features.

For more details on what the service offers, read our full Clover POS review.

4. Epos Now

• Best inventory management features
• Price from: $39 per month/ $449 (one-time fee)
• Payment processing fees: Dependent on card processor 

Who should use Epos Now?

• Stores or food businesses with large or complex inventories
• Businesses waiting to minimize monthly overheads
• Businesses that onboard staff regularly

Who shouldn’t use Epos Now?

• Mobile or pop-up sellers
• New businesses wanting to avoid up-front costs
• Users that are new to POS software

Epos Now is a feature-rich mobile POS app suitable for retail and food and beverage businesses. Epos Now’s app, which is available on Android and iOS devices, will be a great option for businesses with large or complex inventories, as it offers one of the most comprehensive stock management tools out of any other POS mobile systems we’ve tested.

For those downloading a POS app for the first time, it may be best to pick an alternate option as its interface isn’t as easy to use as platforms like Clover and Square. Epos Now is unique in that it lets businesses cover their costs up-front as well, giving them an option to avoid recurring monthly fees. So, if you’re able to front a slightly larger fee to ease costs down the line, Epos Now may be a good choice for your enterprise.

Epos Now POS features

Epos Now’s feature package gives leading systems like Square and Lightspeed a run for their money. From sophisticated inventory management features like real-time stock updates and cost-profit reporting, to staff training features that can get new recruits up to speed in minutes, the POS app will lend itself well to more established retail stores and full-service restaurants.

The POS app even lets you access and edit reports from any device you download it on, making it easy for you to track important business insights on the go. You’re also able to access advanced security controls from the app itself, and Epos Now automatically backs up data onto the cloud, safeguarding important transaction and performance data.

Users can manage their stock and control business operations easily though the Epos Now mobile app. Source: Epos Now

While Epos Now’s mobile app offers just about every POS capability in the book, its feature-rich software does come at a slight cost to the overall user experience. When we used Epos Now’s app in our user testing, it took us a little bit longer to carry out simple tasks like applying discounts and managing table plans compared with other systems. There was a slight delay when logging orders too, which could easily get frustrating for small and fast service businesses under pressure to serve customers quickly.

Key features:

• Cost-profit stock controls
• Manage reports on the go
• Staff training
• Online ordering
• Barcode ticket scanners
• Advanced analytics
• Real-time stock updates
• Loyalty tools

We found managing guest information with Epos Now straightforward. Image: Tech.co testing

Epos Now POS Pricing

Epos Now lets you get started for a one-time fee of $449. This gives you access to the POSs full range of features and lets you download the software on a range of devices, including PCs iPads, and smartphones.

If this upfront fee is too high, you’re also able to split the cost into installments by paying $39 per month.

Epos Now doesn’t currently offer a free package like Square. However, if you aren’t ready to commit to a long-term contract Epos Now also lets users get started with a 30-day free trial.

Check out our guide to all the best restaurant POS systems.

5. Shopify

• Best for ecommerce integrations 
• Price from: $5 per month
• Payment processing: From 2.6%+10c

Who should use Shopify?

• Growing retail businesses
• Stores that also sell online
• Retail stores that rely on customer support

Who shouldn’t use Shopify?

• Food businesses like restaurants
• Mobile and pop-up sellers
• Stores that want ultra-low transaction fees

Shopify is a retail-focused POS system that lets businesses seamlessly sync up the app to their popular ecommerce platform. Despite Shopify’s impressive raft of features – including stand-out capabilities like low stock reports, granular selling reports, and offline cash transactions, we were pleasantly impressed with how easy the platform was to navigate when we tested it out for itself.

Even if you don’t sell goods across multiple channels, Shopify’s integrated payment options and broad selection of mobile-compatible hardware, like WisePad portable card reader, make it a good option for casual mobile sellers – as long as they’re willing to front its relatively high card transaction fees.

Shopify POS features

Shopify’s real strengths come from its omnichannel selling toolkit. Stores can use the POS app to view orders taking plans in-person and online. The platform even lets sellers accept online orders, manage pick-up orders, and even ship goods to customers, making it the number one POS solution for retailers selling goods online across channels.

Like Lightspeed, Shopify also shines when it comes to inventory management. Aside from standard capabilities like real-time stock tracking, Shopify offers inventory analysis tools to help you work out which products are worth reordering, demand forecasting features to get older suggestions based on product performance or seasonality, and purchase orders to the supplier purchase process more streamlined.

See how the POS compares to Shopify in our Lightspeed vs Shopify review.

We found the ordering interface for the Shopify POS simple and straightforward. Image: Tech.co testing

Due to Shopify’s industry-leading ecommerce and stock management features, the POS app is ideal for brick-and-mortar sellers with an online store – especially if they have complex inventories and sell in high volumes. Most of Shopify’s advanced features are only available to Pro users, however, making the app less accessible to smaller sellers who are just starting out on their journey.

Key features:

• Seamless ecommerce integrations
• Demand forecasting
• Local delivery
• In-store pickup
• Sale item suggestions
• Staff management
• Custom printed receipts

Shopify POS Pricing

Shopify offers two main POS plans, Starter ($5 per month) and Retail ($79 per month). However, we’d avoid opting for the Starter plan unless you’re only looking to sell online via social media, and you’re willing to put up with pretty extortionate transaction rates starting at 5%.

Shopify Retail package will be a safer bet for most businesses, with the plan giving users access to a much broader array of inventory controls, employee management, and ecommerce features, unlimited POS logins, and one POS Pro location.

What Is mPOS?

An mPOS, or mobile point of sale system, refers to the software and hardware that allows merchants to accept payments from their phone or tablet.

A traditional POS will use a terminal, the display screen and keypad you’ve likely seen whenever you go through a checkout line. A mobile POS uses a smaller hardware module that allows you to accept credit and debit card payments, combined with an iOS or Android app that gives the user access to core POS functions including sales management, inventory management, and analytics.

Recent mobile payment statistics show how the use of mPOS systems has been steadily on the rise over the past decade. However, the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated their growth dramatically as businesses across the US were forced to adapt to contactless methods. Their popularity isn’t fading either, with Statista projecting that the US mPOS market size will double from 2020 to 2025.

What Are the Benefits of mPOS?

• Flexibility – mPOS systems can be fixed in one destination, or used on the go. This makes the solution much more flexible than fully fledged POS systems.
• Value – mPOS systems don’t require bulky expesive hardware. This makes them much more cost-effective than regular point-of-sale systems.
• Shorter wait times – Unlike regular POS systems, mPOS devices allow you to take payments anywhere. This allows you to serve customers when they’re in the queue, keeping the line moving and minimizing wait time as a result.
• Scalable – While mPOS are a great launch pad for small businesses, most providers let you upgrade to larger software and hardware packages if your needs evolve.
• Quick set up – mPOS systems are easy to transport and can be set up in no time, making it easy for you work from multiple locations. They’re straightforward to use too, with 62% of retail workers claiming that they’ve made their life easier.

More businesses than ever are embracing m-payments. Learn about the facts and figures in our mobile payment statistics round-up.

Our Methodology

Tech.co’s research team settled on our mobile POS ranking after an intensive period of testing and analysis. First, we isolated the six core research areas that matter when it comes to a point of sale system. Here’s what we mean by each:

• Till features – The POS system’s ordering and payment processing ability, which covers payment types, receipts, and perks like bill splitting or QR codes.
• Business management features – The system’s business operation functions, including types of reports, performance tracking, and sales forcasting.
• Stock management features – The system’s inventory management tools, from tracking and adding items to barcode creation.
• Business development features – The system’s customer relationship tools, like loyalty programs, ecommerce integrations, and brand awareness benefits.
• Price – The system’s cost in relation to the value it provides.
• Help and support options – Types of support offered, including phone, email, live chat, knowledge center, and whether the hours for live support are 24/7.

We ranked each POS with a five-star scale in each category, before compiling all six scores to arrive at a single overall score for each provider.

Frequently Asked Questions