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SpotOn is one of our top-rated small business POS options, offering some of the most affordable pricing across our research thanks to a robust free plan that includes hardware. It’s largely geared towards restaurants but does offer some functionality for retail businesses to accept payments.
We found SpotOn provides some of the best labor management options in the industry. The SpotOn Teamwork app makes swapping shifts, managing payroll, and staying in touch with your team really easy. This makes it a solid option for hospitality businesses with multiple sites, large teams, and varied shift patterns.
In this review, we’ll cover the features, pricing, pros, and cons of SpotOn POS, as well as how it compares to other POS systems so that you can make the right decision for your business.
Pros:
- Top tier free plan for small businesses
- Affordable hardware add-ons for in-person selling
- Automatic offline functionality without internet connection
Cons
- Few hardware options
- Expensive paid plans for restaurants
- Limited retail functionality only suited for small shops
- Free plan includes hardware
- Small Business: Starts at $25 per month
- Restaurant: Starts at $99 per month
- Transaction fees from: 1.99% + 25¢
SpotOn POS: Quick Fact-File
Here’s a round-up of SpotOn’s main deciding factors, to help you understand its offering at a glance.
- SpotOn POS offers a great free plan that provides hardware, but you will have to pay transaction fees.
- SpotOn POS caters mostly to restaurants but does offer some limited options for retail businesses.
- SpotOn POS pricing for retail businesses starts at $25 per month but goes up to $99 per month for restaurants.
- SpotOn POS has limited hardware options and no accessories available for purchase.
- SpotOn POS offers no tablet payment functionality for its POS system.
Read on to get a deep dive into the pricing, features, and other aspects of SpotOn POS.
Why Should You Trust Us?
The Tech.co team pours hundreds of hours into researching the best POS systems because it’s the only way to ensure we’re providing our readers with the most accurate, up-to-date information possible.
We’ve spoken to daily POS users working in restaurants, retail and more, and have tested out more than 20 point-of-sale platforms ourselves, paying close attention to everything from the quality and feel of the hardware to how easy the software is to use, to help you make a clear decision for your business needs.
Head over to our methodology section to learn more about our product review process, which is one of the reasons more than one million users consult our articles every month.
SpotOn POS: Pricing & Plans
SpotOn POS pricing is quite competitive, offering a range of affordable plans for both restaurants and retail businesses. Here’s a breakdown of SpotOn pricing breaks down across all plans:
- Terminal ($25 per month) – The only retail option for small businesses, the Terminal plan from SpotOn allows you to take payments, print receipts, and view sales reports.
- Counter-service ($99 per month) – This option is for counter-service restaurants, adding some guest and employee management features, like online ordering, tip management, and access to the Teamwork mobile app.
- Full-service ($135 per month) – This plan is for full-service restaurants, adding a kitchen display system, as well as digital and tableside ordering features, like QR ordering and digital menus.
- Customize your own (Custom) – Customizable plan that allows you to pick and choose what kind of hardware and software tools you need for your restaurant.
Check out how these pricing plans match up in the table below:
| Plan | Price Monthly cost of the software. | Transaction fees | Benefits | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Quick Start | Terminal | Terminal + Website | Counter Service | Full Service | Customize Your Own |
| Free | $25/month | $90/month | $99/month | $135/month | Custom pricing |
| 2.89% + 25¢ | 1.99% + 25¢ | 1.99% + 25¢ | 1.99% + 25¢ | 1.99% + 25¢ | 1.99% + 25¢ |
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Does SpotOn have a free plan?
Yes, SpotOn has a free plan, called Quick Start, and it’s one of the best free POS software, according to our research. It allows for all the basic functionality, like POS ordering, payments, and menu and floor plan management, as well as reporting and analytics tools. You’ll also still get access to the 24/7 support, which is available in the paid plans.
Perhaps the biggest pro of the SpotOn POS free plan, however, is that it offers a hardware solution at no cost to the business. That’s right, you’ll be able to get set up with a terminal without incurring any additional monthly charges. You will, however, have to pay for the terminal with transaction fees that are noticeably higher than the paid plans, at 2.89% + 25¢ per transaction.
SpotOn transaction fees
If you choose to use SpotOn’s in-built payment processor, the POS charges two different rates depending on the payment type. On top of the monthly fees, businesses can expect to pay:
- 1.99% + 25¢ for most card transactions
- 2.99% + 25¢ for rewards, international, corporate, AMEX, or keyed card transactions
Software add-ons and extra fees
While SpotOn is one of our top picks for price, there are some hidden fees and add-on costs that you should be aware of before you set your budget.
For starters, both paid restaurant plans (Counter-service and Full-service) come with an additional $3 per month per employee cost, so you’ll want to factor that into your monthly charge before moving forward.
Also, if you’re interested in launching a website alongside your POS system, SpotOn can help for a cost. The provider offers a $90 per month Terminal + Website plan, which gives you access to the Terminal plan software and a professional website, search engine optimization (SEO), hosting, and online dashboard included.
This is a sample of a website that SpotOn can create for your business. Source: Tech.co testing
On top of all that, it’s important to remember that none of the charges listed above include hardware, except for the free plan. This means you’ll have to pay a bit more to get a terminal that works with SpotOn. There are a few options that range in price from $200 to $1,350, and financing is available to keep the upfront charges to a minimum.
Is SpotOn a good value?
Our research found that SpotOn actually offers one of the best values when it comes to POS. This is largely because it offers such a stellar free plan that includes hardware, albeit with more expensive transaction fees.
Beyond that, though, it’s retail pricing is quite competitive at $25 per month, especially compared to Square for Retail, which starts at $89 per month, or Clover, which starts at $60 per month. Even Shopify pricing starts at $29 per month, which means SpotOn is a clear affordable pick for retail businesses.
For restaurants, that’s another story. At $99 per month for counter-service and $135 per month for full-service, SpotOn is a bit pricy for restaurants compared to other options, like Toast ($69 per month) and Square (also $69 per month). Still, you get a lot of functionality in these more expensive plans, most notably access to the Teamwork app, which helps with staff scheduling and communication.
Staff management
In our research, we found that SpotOn was notably great when it came to staff management. It allows for helpful functionalities like automatic tip sharing and gratuity reports, which is not available on either Clover or Lightspeed, so you can monitor numbers across your team. We were also able to check out team member-sales reports with SpotOn POS, making it easy to see how well our team is performing over a certain period.
One of the more valuable aspects of staff scheduling that is built into SpotOn is the ability to view schedules across multiple locations. This means you’ll be able to check the availability of staff at your other restaurants and mix and match when you’re in a pinch.
There’s a lot of information you can keep track of for staff. Source: Tech.co testing
SpotOn Teamwork app
One serious main reasons SpotOn is so great for staff management is the SpotOn Teamwork mobile app, which is available on both iOS and Android. This app can be used by your entire team to clock in, coordinate schedules, request time off, and even track your tips.
The SpotOn Teamwork app also has built-in two-way messaging that can help you stay in touch with your team without having to give our personal phone numbers or emails.
Offline functionality
If you don’t want to worry about what you’ll do if the Wi-Fi goes out, SpotOn POS might be your best bet. It offers some of the best offline functionality across our research, switching automatically to offline mode when it loses connection, which other top choices like Toast do not offer.
Even better, the POS allows users to take card payments offline that are automatically processed once you re-establish a connection.
Ease of use
In addition to the litany of helpful features, we also found SpotOn POS to be decidedly easy to use. In fact, it was the most intuitive POS system to navigate, allowing for easy access to all relevant areas needed for setup. Both the front end and back end were comprehensive, with our research team experiencing a low error occurrence rate.
On top of general navigation being simple, we also found that the interface was quite customizable, allowing for basic changes like dark mode and font size changes, so you can put everything in its proper place for your team.
We found the SpotOn interface quite customizable with thorough modifiers for each item, even in dark mode. Source: Tech.co testing
Help and support
SpotOn has substantially improved its help and support options over time. Our last round of research showed it was one of the worst, offering only knowledge base functionality and virtually no means of getting in touch with a representative.
That is decidedly not true anymore, as SpotOn offers robust help and support options, allowing users to reach out via live chat, email, and phone. You can even reach out via social media, which neither Lightspeed, Clover, or Toast offer. On top of that, you’ll get in-platform assistance if you need it, and the knowledge center obviously didn’t go anywhere.
SpotOn Hardware Options
As we’ve mentioned a few times, SpotOn doesn’t offer a lot when it comes to hardware options, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to find exactly what you’re looking for. Here’s a breakdown of the hardware solutions available from SpotOn:
- SpotOn Station POS – This all-in-one stationary POS system offers a 15-inch display with flexible mounting options and a 7-inch customer-facing display for easy transactions.
- SpotOn Counter POS – Ideal for restaurants with limited counter space, this smaller POS offers a 10-inch display with the same 7-inch customer-facing display.
- SpotOn Handheld – This restaurant-focused handheld can accept payments and lasts a long time with all-day battery life. Plus, it’s IP54 water resistant, so no need to worry about spills.
- Small Business POS – The only retail-facing option from SpotOn, this handheld POS can accept digital payments and has a built-in printer.
In addition to offering a limited hardware selection, SpotOn offers no accessories that can be added to its devices, so if you need some extra functionality, it might be best to look elsewhere.
How Does SpotOn Compare to Other POS Systems?
SpotOn is one of our top options for restaurant POS systems, but there are a lot of other options out there that might be a better fit depending on your needs. Take a look at some of the top POS systems from our research, and check out our best POS systems for restaurants guide for a more in-depth look at your choices.
| Starting price The typical lowest starting price. The lowest price available for your business will depend on your needs. | Free trial | Additional costs Any additional costs you'll need to pay to get started | Key benefits | Get started | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Free (but transaction fees apply) | ||||||
| | | | 90 days | 14 days | 30 days | |
| Loyalty programs cost extra | Digital ordering, third party delivery, email marketing, and catering/events cost extra | Loyalty program: $45 per month | Accounting integrations cost extra | $40 per additional register per month | Single training costs $175 or $35 per month for unlimited sessions (as per most recently available figures) | |
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| Compare Quotes | Try Toast | Try Square | Compare Prices | Compare Quotes | Compare prices |
We take our impartial research and analysis seriously, so you can have complete confidence that we're giving you the clearest, most useful recommendations. After identifying the most relevant, popular POS platforms on the market, we put them through their paces with hands-on testing to better understand their strengths and weaknesses.
In total, we put 16 POS systems to the test, with a vigorous research and testing methodology. We carried out 40 user testing sessions, which amounted to 720 hours of testing in total. In these sessions, participants were asked to carry out tasks on POS software and describe their user journey, to help us understand what it's like to use the systems first-hand. In addition to first-hand testing, we developed a detailed methodology that focuses on six categories of investigation, including criteria like software features and help and support centers.
These categories were broken down into a further 41 subcategories, so we were able to drill down further into certain topics, to make our insights as granular and useful as possible. Here’s an overview of our main testing categories for POS systems:
- Software features: The capabilities provided by the POS product. Includes general features like ordering and payment functionality, as well as industry-specific tools like KSU uploads, and inventory-level stock tracking KDS software.
- Hardware: The quality of a POS’s hardware selection. The presence of an own-brand terminal, as well as hardware accessories like kitchen display systems, receipt printers, and barcode scanners.
- Pricing: The cost associated with acquiring and using the POS system, such as the initial purchase cost, transaction fees, licensing fees, subscription plans, and any additional charges or ongoing costs.
- Ease of use: We test out the software to gauge how intuitive and easy to navigate it is. We also consider how easy the software is to navigate, and whether any errors took place during testing.
- Help & Support: The assistance and resources available to users when they encounter issues or need guidance while using the POS system, including documentation, tutorials, or knowledge bases.
- Customer satisfaction: The aggregate score from customer review sites like Trustpilot and TrustRadius, to understand how POS providers are viewed by their own customer bases.
When it comes to calculating a product's final score, not all testing areas are weighted evenly, as we know some aspects matter more to our readers than others, For example, we’ll prioritize certain industry-specific features for specific reviews, like an offline mode when reviewing POS systems for food trucks, or kitchen display systems (KDS) when reviewing restaurant POS systems.
At Tech.co, we have a number of full-time in-house researchers who re-run this testing process regularly to ensure our results remain reflective of the present day.
Final Thoughts – Is SpotOn POS Right for You?
SpotOn is one of our top POS systems for food and beverage services, excelling when it comes to staff management, analytics, and help and support. On top of that, it offers some of the best pricing available, largely thanks to its robust free plan that includes hardware.
It’ll suit hospitality businesses that are tired of paying monthly fees on top of transaction fees and want a cheaper POS option that can still handle the demands of a reasonably large restaurant.
However, SpotOn certainly isn’t perfect. While its hardware is free, the options are limited and there are few add-ons available. What’s more, SpotOn doesn’t provide much retail functionality beyond the basics. If those are important to you, there are plenty of other robust POS solutions for retail businesses out there that might be a better fit.
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