Square vs Clover: POS Comparison 2022

When it comes to Square vs Clover, Square wins hands down, being one of the best all-round POS systems on the market and offering an impressive free version (just transaction fees apply). In contrast, Clover's lowest monthly price is $4.95 (with fees), and it can’t quite cut the mustard with its online-focused features, either. Square also offers 24/7 support, where Clover doesn't, making Square almost always the better choice for a small business.

Our researchers at Tech.co have sunk thousands of hours into studying the POS market, the needs of businesses, and which providers are the best on the scene. Let’s take a look into the findings.

• Major Differences: Square vs Clover
• Pricing and Plans
• POS Hardware
• Core Software Features
• User Experience
• Alternatives to Square and Clover
• The Verdict
• Research and Methodology
• Square vs Clover FAQs

Major Differences Between Square and Clover

Square is one of the biggest and most recognisable brands in the world of POS, and rightly so. Square and Clover both allow restaurants and retail businesses to accept and track payments through their respective POS software. However, the companies go about it in slightly different ways, and we think Square's methods are superior.

Square doesn’t charge any monthly fees. Instead, you pay transaction fees on each sale – 1.75% on card-based transactions, and 2.5% on manual keyed-in sales. Clover, meanwhile, charges for its POS software packages, as well as charging transaction fees on top of those monthly payments.

Square POS is also a smoother operation for online sales, working with the impressive Square Online website builder and ecommerce platform. Clover, while brilliant for accepting online orders, requires you to create a website with another platform first.

Square’s hardware packages tend to be cheaper than Clover’s as well, which might make a big difference if your business is just starting out. It may seem too good to be true, but you can even get your first Square card reader for free.

All told, there are precious few circumstances in which we would choose Clover over Square.

Square vs Clover: Pricing Compared

Square and Clover are similar in a number of respects. Both charge transaction fees on every sale you make, and both have dedicated plans for restaurants and retail businesses. However, with Square, you can get started with a fully functioning POS for free, and you can't with Clover. On the other hand, Square's first paid plan costs significantly more than Clover's, coming in at $60/month vs Clover's $4.95. So how do they compare? Let’s take a closer look at each company’s pricing structure and software plans.

Find out more – How Much Does a POS System Cost?

Square vs Clover Pricing Plans

Square and Clover both offer five different packages at varying price points.  Square's plans include Square Free, Retail, Retail Premium, and Restaurant, while Clover's include Payments Plus, Register Lite, Register, Counter Service Restaurant, and Table Service Restaurant.

For retail

Retail businesses can get started with Square's Free plan, and benefit from plenty of features that are essential for running a restaurant in 2022. However, Square Retail is also available for $60 per month, and also offers much more comprehensive features like improved inventory and reporting tools, 24/7 support, and more sales functions. Finally, Square also has a Premium plan with custom pricing per location transaction processing rates.

In contrast, Clover offers an entry-level Payment Plus plan for $4.95 per month with cloud-based payment features and employee and customer management tools. The provider also offers a Register Lite plan for $9.95 per month with basic inventory tools and partial access to Clover's vast app market, and a Register Plan for $39.95 per month with enhanced inventory and management tools and lower transaction fees. 

Square’s free plan is easily the most cost-effective way small stores can get trading, and its feature package isn’t short of Clover’s Payment Plus plan, either. However, for retail businesses in need of more comprehensive software, the verdict isn’t as clear. 

Both Square Retail Plus and Clover Register offer 24/7 support, give users access to their app store, and offer advanced order management and inventory tools. Square’s premium plan does offer more advanced tracking capabilities though, but scheduling, marketing, and invoice tools are only available as add-ons, unlike with Clover Register. With this in mind, the most suitable retail plan really will depend on your business's needs. 

For restaurants

Just like its retail customers, restaurants can also get started with Square's software for free. But for food venues looking for a more specialized solution, Square for Restaurant offers much stronger reporting tools, live information on sales, and improved seat and table management — all for $60 per month. There’s also Square for Restaurants Premium which is designed for larger restaurant chains and offers pricing on request.

But how do Clover's restaurant plans compare? Well, smaller food venues can also use the Payments Plus package for $4.95 per month and benefit from cloud-based payments and basic employee management and order tools.

However, Clover also offers an all-inclusive ‘Table Service Restaurant' tier for $69.95 per month with floor planning and improved ordering features, and a ‘Counter Service Restaurant' plan for $39.95 per month with built-in online ordering and partnerships with third-party delivery services.

For food businesses looking for a simple yet effective POS system, Square will be the safest bet. With strong employee management, stock, and ordering features, Square for Restaurant will also suit the needs of restaurants. However, when you put Square’s and Clover’s paid plans head to head, we think  Clover’s Table and Counter Service Restaurant packages come out on top because of they offer more specialist features at a slightly lower price. 

Square vs Clover Fees

We’ve compared Square’s and Clover’s pricing plans, but how do their fees compare?

Transaction fees

Square and Clover actually charge pretty similar transaction fees, with Square charging businesses 2.6% + 10¢ for card-based transactions, and Clover’s Payment and Essentials plan doing the same. This rate, however, drops to 2.3% +10¢ for users of Clover’s more premium Payments Plus, Register, Quick-Service, and Full-Restaurant plans. 

Square charges a slightly higher 3.5% +15¢ for manual keyed-in sales, while Clover’s fees rise to 3.5%+10%. However, if your business processes more than $250,000 in card sales and an average ticket size of more than $15, you might be eligible for custom rates from Square.

Add-ons

Unfortunately, many of Square’s features are only available as add-ons. These include important scheduling, marketing, loyalty, and payroll tools. The price of these apps will vary depending on their function, but for example, additional payroll capabilities can be purchased for $35 per month. 

Clover charges you for lots of features too. The full version of its loyalty program retails for $99 per month, and advanced inventory tools will cost businesses extra too.

Square vs Clover: POS Hardware

Square and Clover both offer stylish hardware to accompany their POS offerings. There's precious little to choose between the pricing for each company’s hardware offerings, but Square's system runs best on iPads, so you’ll want to factor the cost of those in before getting started.

Card readers

Clover charges businesses $69 for its Go chip and contactless payment reader, whereas Square's Card Reader is available for free to all new customers. This is a great perk for businesses just getting started. Beyond this, Square card readers for magstripe cost as little as $10 per go, and plug directly into iPads, while standalone readers for contactless and chip transactions cost $49.

Terminals

For smaller businesses looking for an all-in-one POS device, Clover Flex carries out register, terminal, and printer functions, all for $499. Also, The Clover Mini, which costs $749, functions both as a touchscreen interface for you and your employees to enter transactions, as well as a chip and contactless reader (pictured below).

The Square Terminal is a similar device that also takes payments and takes receipts, and is available to businesses from $299. Although, you’ll need to pay an extra $39 if you want to connect it to the internet using an ethernet cable.

Hardware kits

For slightly larger businesses, Clover offers two hardware main kits, Clover Station Solo and Clover Station Duo. Station Solo features a 14″ display screen, and a cash draw and receipt printer and is available for $1,349. Station Duo, on the other hand, is a two-screen POS system with an additional receipt printer, cash draw, and card reader. This kit will cost businesses $1,799.

Alternatively, Square's Stand Kit starts at $619 and includes a Square stand, cash draw, receipt paper, and printer, while Square's Register Kit features a register, cash draw receipt printer for $1,389 (pictured below).

As Square POS runs best on an iPad, though, you’ll need to have one of those to get started, if you don’t already – with the cheapest new iPad starting at $329.

All told, Square and Clover are pretty similar when it comes to hardware – though Square’s reliance on iPads might convince some that Clover is the better, more cost-effective option. However, in our opinion, Square is still the provider to go for, especially as you’ll recoup the cost of an iPad by not having to pay Clover’s monthly fees.

If you already own an iPad you can use for your business, it’s a no-brainer. With that — and Square’s free card reader — you may be able to avoid paying for any new hardware at all.

Square vs Clover: Core Software Features

Let’s take a look at the core features that both companies offer and see who is better at what.

Sales

Both Clover and Square allow you to accept the same payment methods, including Visa, Mastercard, and American Express cards all at the same rates — and even Apple and Google Pay contactless transactions. For businesses after more advanced payment capabilities, Clover also offers additional digital receipts and one-touch tipping tools.

What's more, both Square and Clover allows you to process refunds and returns easily and accept online orders and digital gift cards, and Square even lets you store your most regular customers' card details on file.

Analytics and reporting

With Square, you’ll be able to track all your sales through the Square Dashboard. It shows you everything from your profit and loss to your inventory, and much more besides. Plus, you’ll be able to gain valuable sales insights from the dashboard, as well as export it to dive deeper into your data.

Similarly to Square, Clover’s analytics tools also allow you to track and analyze sales in real-time. Plus, you’ll be able to see sales across your locations, check tips and server totals, and even see the volume of credit card transactions per card type.

Customer feedback

The Square Customer Directory manages all your customer information in one easy place – you can even use it to see customer spending habits and send them individual messages.

Through Square’s digital email receipts, you can start private conversations with unhappy (or happy) customers before they start ripping into your business online.

Similarly to Square, Clover offers almost exactly the same set of features – you can communicate directly with customers, as well as rewarding them with perks and discounts, or driving more traffic with promotions.

Integrations & Add-Ons

Both Square and Clover have some of the best app marketplaces in the industry. Square’s App Marketplace has a range of apps that you can connect to your POS to give it more features. For example, you can connect it to a BigCommerce or Wix website. You can even integrate CRM tools such as Mailchimp to make your customer communications even better, or take orders through fulfillment providers such as Ecwid.

Similarly to Square's, Clover's large app store covers everything from payroll apps such as Gusto to recruitment apps such as JazzHR. It also accounts for the more typical ecommerce, CRM, and customer reward apps. However, Clover limits users’ access to the app store depending on their pricing plan, which seems a bit up-selly to us.

Square vs Clover: User Experience

Square and Clover both pride themselves on being extremely customer-focused. But which service provides the best overall user experience?

Ease of use

Square’s iPad and iPhone based setup make it a breeze for most people to get their heads around – piggybacking on a popular mobile operating system certainly helps reduce the learning curve.

Like its hardware, Square’s software is also incredibly minimalist and sleek. You won’t find yourself confronted with loads of options on every screen – instead, things are pared back and digestible. This, of course, makes everyday tasks super easy. However, it can mean that more advanced jobs can require a fair amount of tapping through different menus.

How Square's backend looks on a tablet

Clover’s UI is slightly more complex, but should be eminently digestible for most people.

All told, there’s not a lot to choose between the two providers. However, we think Square will likely be easier for most people to get to grips with quickly.

How Clover works on two of its terminals

Customer service

Both Clover and Square offer all US customers 24/7 support irrespective of what pricing plan you might be on, and a dedicated online help center that can assist you in using all of their products. Moreover, Clover has an extra FAQ page, blog, and developer page to help with any issues you might be facing.

Clover and Square POS Alternatives

Clover and Square aren’t the only POS providers on the market. In fact, there are more POS options for growing businesses than you can count.

For Restaurants

Scoring an impressive 5/5 for price and 4.8 for restaurant features, Square is our top choice for restaurant businesses. It has dedicated solutions for table and counter service restaurants, as well as bars, clubs, food trucks, bakeries, and coffee shops. Square has impressive menu, inventory, and layout management tools — and they're all included on the free Square plan.

If you're, somehow, not convinced by Square, Clover is a strong second choice — especially for larger food businesses. Clover's price score is as strong as Square's, and its restaurant features and customer score is also more competitive that other providers we've researched.

For Retail

Square is our favorite retail POS system. With such a generous free plan, its value for money is unbeatable. Its reporting and inventory features are also remarkable and its extensive app market can help you integrate platforms from Mailchimp to BigCommerce or Wix.

Our research suggests that Clover is second best, with an equally strong value-for-money rating and an app store that can give Square a run for its money. However,  Vend is another great retail POS system with a great range of affordable pricing plans (including a completely free version), fantastic sales and payment features, and CRM tools on all of its pricing plans.

Want to know more? Check out our guide to the Top 10 Retail POS Systems

Research and Methodology

We don't just throw out verdicts at Tech.co. All of the products we feature have been researched extensively by our in-house team of experts, so we're able to provide you with the most valuable information possible. We shed a little light on our research process below.

Before we make POS recommendations, we identify the top solutions on the market and compare them across six main areas. They are as follows:

• Till features – How strong is the providers till features? Do they offer advanced functions like transaction processing and bill splitting?
• Business management features – What business management tools does the software offer and are they of a high quality?
• Stock management features – Does the system allow businesses to manage their inventories effectively? Do they offer barcode features and account for product variants?
• Business development features – How equipt is the system at helping businesses grow? I.e, does it offer good loyalty, CRM, and ecommerce tools?
• Price – How much is the provider's average price plan? Does it offer a free plan or a temporary trial?
• Customer score – How competitive are the system's help and support options? Are customers happy with the product?

After researching the providers against these main criteria, we award each POS system an overall 5-star rating and issue them scores for each category. By doing so, we're able to see which solutions are stronger for businesses of different sizes and across different industries. These scores can also be used to help businesses decipher which POS system might best fulfill their requirements.

FAQs