5 Best Retail POS Systems: Features and Pricing Compared

1. Clover POS: Best for Growth and Customer Engagement

• Starting price: $14.95 per month
• Free plan: No

Clover ended up as our top choice for retail POS systems for a wide range of reasons. For starters, it offers a wide range of built-in tools for multi-store inventory management and employee oversight, which are ideal features for businesses that are interested in growing their operations beyond a single location.

On top of that, Clover proved to offer a massive app library with a plenty of third-party integrations for customer engagement like loyalty programs, which is a free add-on for Clover and a paid add-on for all other POS systems on this list.

Check out our Clover review to learn more

Why you should choose Clover

Beyond the top tier growth features available, Clover shines in a lot of other areas too. The hardware was a serious bright spot for Clover, with a range of high quality devices — from handheld card readers to full-on desktop terminals — that features advanced features like contactless payment and tactile feedback. They’re a bit expense, but there are financing options, so small businesses can use them too.

Another boon for retail shops that choose Clover are the low processing fees. In fact, Clover had some of the lowest in our research at only 2.3% +10¢ at their lowest. Only Epos Now has lower transaction fees, and the feature drop off between the two is substantial.

This suite of Clover POS products includes a tablet, card scanner, and mobile device. Source: Tech.co testing

Who should use Clover?

• Medium to large retail stores
• Businesses looking for low processing fees
• Users getting started with a POS for the first time

Who shouldn’t use Clover?

• Retailers with simple or small inventories
• Small pop-up retail stores
• Retailers that don’t want hardware and software bundles

Clover POS retail pricing

Clover offers three combined hardware and software packages for retail businesses. Below, we explain how much the monthly software fee will be, as well as how much they hardware will cost:

• Starter (free) – $349 for Compact terminal system
• Standard ($84.95 per month) – $1,899 for Station Duo POS
• Advanced ($104.90/month) – $2,648 for Station Duo and Flex POS

Each of the hardware options in these plans offer financing plans to pay a monthly fee for a set number of months to pay it off if you can’t afford the upfront cost. The Compact terminal, for example, is available for $16 per month for 36 months or $15 per month for 48 months.

Check out our Clover POS pricing guide to learn more

2. Square POS: Best for Ease of Use

• Starting price: $29 per month
• Free plan: Yes

Square POS is a clear choice for smaller businesses for one big reason: it’s free. That’s right, you can get access to the Square POS system with no monthly cost, thanks to its free forever plan. You will, of course, still have to endure transaction fees that are a smidge higher than other paid plans on this list, but if you’re trying to avoid upfront costs, Square is the way to go.

Additionally, Square POS proved to provide the easiest to use interface across our research, offering users an intuitive interface that wasn’t complicated to get the hang of. The navigation was straightforward and it was one of the only POS systems in which researchers made no errors while accomplishing tasks.

Check out our Square POS review to learn more

Why you should choose Square POS

If the free plan and the ease of use aren’t enough to attract you to Square POS, there are plenty of other reasons why you should choose the popular system. The hardware rivals Clover in quality, with barcode scanners and terminals that offer advanced features like customer displays and are compatible with Android and iOS apps.

Square POS is also an excellent system if you’re trying to combine your in-person selling with your online store. The POS integrates with virtually every website builder under the sun, and even offers its own website building functionality to get an online store up and running.

Square’s POS Terminal lets you take payments and print receipts on the go. Source: Tech.co testing

What we don’t like about Square POS

Like Clover, there isn’t a whole lot that’s bad about Square POS, but again, no system is perfect, and there are some pitfalls to watch out for. The big one is the processing fees, especially for the free plan. At 3.5% + 15¢, you’re going to be paying quite a bit per sale, so it might be better to go for a paid plan if you’re a store that sees a high volume of purchases.

Another reason why larger businesses might not view Square POS as the best choice is that it’s lacking some of the more advanced features for long-term success. Square POS offers limited cost and profit management tools, so you won’t be able to analyze your success as effectively as you can with other POS systems.

The Square POS includes reports like this sales summary. Source: Tech.co testing

Who should use Square?

• Small brick-and-mortar stores or pop-up sellers
• Businesses that want a stripped-back user experience
• Sellers looking to integrate with their online store

Who shouldn’t use Square?

• Stores that want a training mode
• Businesses that need cost and profit management tools
• Retailers that want ultra-low processing fees

Square POS retail pricing

Square is one of our top picks because it offers the Free plan that allows users to get their retail selling started without any upfront costs. You will have to pay transaction fees, which are 2.6% + 15¢ for in-person purchases.

Square POS also offers the Plus plan, which will cost you $89 per month, but you will get lowered transaction fees of only 2.5% + 10¢ for in-person purchases. This plan also adds more advanced features like cross-location returns, product bundles, and vendor management.

Finally, the Custom plan from Square POS does not offer publicly available pricing and transaction fees, so you’ll have to reach out to the sales team to learn more.

Check out our Square POS pricing guide to learn more

3. Shopify: Best for Dual Online and In-Store Operations

• Starting price: $5 per month
• Free plan: No

Shopify matched Clover when it came to it’s software functionality, offering a huge range of POS features from gift cards and inventory tracking to employee management and customer engagement. It does lack substantially when it comes to hardware, though, with no POS terminals available from Shopify.

While Square is definitely a respectable option when it comes to selling in-person and online at the same time, it’s hard to beat Shopify when it comes to creating an online store. The platform offers a top-of-the-line ecommerce website builder, which effectively integrates with the providers POS system, creating a unified dashboard of online and in-person sales.

Check out our Shopify POS review to learn more

Why you should choose Shopify

Not only was Shopify one of the easier POS systems to use across our research, but it also offered some of the best help and support options. You can reach representatives via phone, email, or live chat, and the providers knowledge center made it easy to solve problems on your own with a huge library of information.

Additionally, if you’re a smaller business, we loved that Shopify offered a paid pricing option for only $5 per month, making it the most affordable starting price on the list. Granted, you only get one user with this plan and other features are pretty limited, like no omnichannel selling or retail reporting tools, but still, at that price, you could do a lot worse.

Users can add customer profiles within the Shopify POS for better tracking and engagement. Source: Tech.co’s user testing

What we don’t like about Shopify

As we mentioned, Shopify lacks pretty severely when it comes to hardware options. In fact, there are no terminal options available from Shopify. Subsequently, if you’re looking for some first-hand devices, you’re going to have to look elsewhere. It does offer a handheld card reader, but you’ll have to go third party for anything else.

On top of that, Shopify has some potentially hefty transaction fees at 5% + 30¢, which is far and away the most expensive in our research. Still, that’s only for the $5 per month Starter plan, so you’re saving money on the monthly subscription to pay more on transaction fees.

I found it easy to add products to the Shopify POS with this simple field. Source: Tech.co user testing

Who should use Shopify?

• Omnichannel sellers, especially if they already use Shopify
• Retailers with large or complex inventories
• Multi-store retailers

Who shouldn’t use Shopify?

• Businesses that want a physical POS terminal
• Sellers looking for low processing fees
• Retailers than need a training mode

Shopify POS pricing and fees

Shopify offers only two software pricing plans for its retail POS customers, making it a fairly easy choice depending on your particular needs. Here’s how much each plan costs and how many users you get with each plan.

• Starter (1 user) – $5 per month
• Retail (Unlimited users) – $89 per month

In addition to the additional users, the Retail plan also gives you access to one POS Pro location, which adds features like staff and inventory management, analytics, customer profiles, and omnichannel selling.

Check out our Shopify POS guide to learn more

4. Epos Now – Best for Small Stores and Startups

• Starting price: $39 per month
• Free plan: No

Epos Now is a capable point-of-sale system that offers all the retail-focused features you can find with Square – including granular stock controls and customer loyalty tools – alongside an excellent range of hardware options. Businesses can also pay for their packages upfront, allowing them to bring down their overheads by avoiding monthly costs. Epos Now makes it easy for retailers to add new locations too, which is why we think the POS is one of the best choices out there for businesses that are just starting to expand. 

Despite Epos Now’s clear suitability for growing retail stores, it lacks a dedicated training mode and its pricing structure might be a dealbreaker for new stores or pop-up sellers that don’t have lots of capital to invest upfront.

Check out our Epos Now review to learn more

Why you should choose Epos Now

From advanced inventory management tools like low stock alerts and bulk uploads to multiple location stock syncing abilities, the POS should be able to easily meet the needs of retail businesses that handle large, or complex inventories. The POS even offers a cost-profit calculator to help stores price items competitively – a benefit that leading systems like Square currently lack.

Epos Now Loyalty lets you create a point-based loyalty scheme that aligns with your business model, and analyze shopper behavior through a Loyalty dashboard. Businesses using the system can also request their own customizable loyalty card that can be scanned via Epos’s swipe and card reader. It is a paid add-on, though, so keep that in mind.

The Epos Now countertop terminal is designed to accept point-of-sale transactions from a fixed location. Source: Tech.co user testing

Who should use Epos Now?

• Businesses happy to pay up-front
• Established retail stores
• Growing retailers looking to set up a second store

Who shouldn’t use Epos Now?

• Small retailers and pop-up sellers
• Businesses after a strong in-house customer loyalty system
• Businesses looking to avoid hefty start-up costs

Epos Now POS pricing

Last time we spoke to Epos Now directly, they confirmed an entry price of $349 up-front plus a $79 per month subscription, or $39 per month for just the software. However, it feels like EPOS Now changes its pricing every week, so keep an eye out for different pricing options!

If you’re interested in learning more about Epos Now’s pricing tiers, we break them down in our table below

5. Lightspeed Retail – Best POS For Multi-Branch Stores

• Starting price: $89 per month
• Free plan: No

Lightspeed Retail is an iPad-based POS system designed for medium to large retail stores. The POS boasts nearly as many software features as Clover and Shopify, packed with advanced stock management capabilities and customer loyalty features aimed at supporting business growth. It also offers multi-site inventory and employee oversight tools make it especially useful for retailers with multiple locations.

Lightspeed Retail also claimed the top spot for the best help and support across our POS research, with available reps across phone, live chat, and email and a helpful knowledge center for self-service fixed. On top of that, it’s the only POS that offers a training mode for its system.

Check out our Lightspeed Retail review to learn more

Why you should choose Lightspeed Retail

Lightspeed Retail has a lot of same upsides as Shopify. It offers a huge selection of software features, like built in email marketing, gift cards, and loyalty program functionality, as well as top tier customer support that is available across many channels and an actually helpful knowledge center. Being the lone POS on this list to offer a training mode doesn’t hurt either.

Businesses with multiple locations should specific choose Lightspeed Retail because of its inventory management features, though, which can be viewed across all stores on a single, comprehensive dashboard.

We found the ordering system on Lightspeed Retail clear and concise. Source: Tech.co testing

What we don’t like about Lightspeed Retail

If you’re looking for hardware, Lightspeed Retail isn’t for you. Just Shopify, it doesn’t offer any terminal devices for in-person selling, and even worse, it offers no customer-facing displays that can accept payments. It does offer a barcode scanner, but the service is typically used with iOS mobile devices rather than dedicated POS tech.

The other thing we don’t like about Lightspeed Retail is the price. In fact, it was one of the most expensive options across our research, with a high starting price, and even higher upper-level plans.

Lightspeed Retail lets you create customer profiles and send buyers marketing and promotional emails. Source: Tech.co testing

Who should use Lightspeed Retail?

• Retailers with more than one location
• Sellers that want to attract a loyal community
• Medium to large retail stores

Who shouldn’t use Lightspeed Retail?

• Small stores with limited budgets
• Retailers that require an extensive hardware set-up
• Managers who need assistance with setting prices

Lightspeed Retail pricing

Lightspeed Retail pricing offers three different plans that you can choose from. The prices listed below denote the lowest possible price for each plan, with one register in one location. The prices do increase as you add locations and registers.

• Basic – $89 per month
• Core – $149 per month
• Plus – $289 per month

As you can see, Lightspeed is not cheap, which is one of the reasons it fell so far down our rankings for retail POS systems. Still, with a huge selection of software features, the platform is still quite popular and effective for retail shops if their budget can handle it.

How to Choose a Retail POS System

If you’re just getting started with your search for a good POS system, you might not know what to consider when it comes to choosing the right provider. Here are some factors to consider when choosing the right retail POS system for your business.

Price

Cost is always a good place to start when it comes to any business software including POS systems. If your budget is tight, starting with a free plan that only charges transaction fees might be your best bet. On the other hand, paid plans can get you more affordable transaction fees, as well as more features for reporting retail sales and managing sales and discounts.

Business size

You’ll need to consider the size of your business carefully when choosing a new POS system. Some are more natural fits with startups and SMBs, while others are designed to be scalable and better suit larger organizations. For instance, our top pick Square is perfect for smaller sellers starting out, but Shopify’s strong ecommerce integration may make it more suitable for bigger businesses.

Software features

The best POS systems for small businesses will log the number and value of the sales you’ve made, track your inventory, and let you know when to restock. It’ll also help you analyze sales and refunds so you can maximize profits.

If you’re new to retail-centric POS systems, here are some features to look out for for your store:

• Quick keys – Also known as product lookup, quick keys is a till shortcut that lets you log popular products quickly without having to search through the full catalog.
• Low stock notifications – Low stock alerts send you pop-up notifications to let you know when an item is running out, prompting you to order more.
• Barcode inventories – Barcoded inventory systems let you track products using scannable codes, offering real-time visibility into the location of each item.
• Multi-store stock transfers – For stores with more than one branch, this feature helps you relocate stock between locations easily.
• Ecommerce integrations – If stores also have a virtual shopfront, ecommerce integrations let you manage sales across multiple channels from one platform.

Learn more about important store-front capabilities in our POS features guide.

Hardware components

Unless you plan to rely on a simple iPad setup, your business will also need to invest in physical hardware. Here’s an example of some retail-specific devices to consider.

• Barcode scanners – A barcode scanner or reader is a handheld device that lets you ring up purchases quickly, without having to enter items into your system manually.
• Weighing scales – If your store calculates the price for certain items based on weight, you may need to integrate weighing scales into your POS.
• Receipt printers – This device prints receipts for customers and vendors, providing a record of the transaction and facilitating the return process.
• Mobile card readers – Otherwise known as contactless card readers, this payment device accepts payments via tap and chip and pin. It’s best suited to small retail stores, market stalls, or pop-up vendors.
• Countertop card terminals – This payment device is capable of accepting just about every method of digital payment – including swipe – and is best suited to permanent brick-and-mortar locations.

How Much Does a Retail POS System Cost?

Small business POS system costs normally sit somewhere between $15 and $100 per month for a system with a single cash register. Larger businesses, on the other hand, might be looking at costs between $100 and $300 per month, with additional one-time hardware purchases that typically cost in excess of $2,500 per location. That said, businesses with small margins can always opt for free solutions like Square, which only charges transaction fees.

Industry-specific systems will likely cost more, with major POS providers like Lightspeed and Vend offering plans that start at $69 per month, and more advanced features costing a premium. However, as inflation rates are forcing business owners to be even more mindful of their bottom line, lots of low-cost and free retail-specific systems exist too.

What’s more, retail POS systems will almost always be a better value than general-purpose systems as they’re packed with more industry-specific features and specialist hardware — from inventory and sales tracking to barcode scanners and weighing scales.

Whether you choose a one-size-fits-all POS or a specialized system, the month-to-month pricing, plus the transaction fees, can seem high at first. However, the right system will make your business far more efficient and profitable in the long run, so investing in a top solution really is a no-brainer.