Best retail POS systems in 2024

Square is the best POS system for small businesses because its free plan offers all the features you would need for a smaller operation. It also has retail-specific POS plans. Some of the key features included in the free plan are the ability to automatically create items, edit product options, have SKU barcodes and use integrated payment options.

Square also offers a plan that costs $89 per month per location. This plan does come with discounted in-person payment transaction fees. With the free plan, the payment transaction fees start at 2.6% plus $0.10. With the Plus plan discount, that rate is 2.5% plus $0.10. The company also offers a 30-day free trial, which can be a great option for small businesses that are just starting and don’t know much about POS systems.

Square has many ways for your business to customize its system. It has integrations for accounting services, deliveries, e-commerce tasks, inventory management and team management.

Lightspeed offers four different retail-specific plans. Each plan includes a free register, along with the cloud-based POS software. The company offers support 24/7, which can be helpful for retail businesses that are busy during regular business hours. The four plans offered are Lean, ($89 per month), Standard ($149 per month), Advanced ($269 per month) and Enterprise, which you need a quote for.

The basic plan comes with one register, integrated payments and Lightspeed B2B, along with a dedicated account manager and free training resources. If you need advanced reporting and a loyalty program for your customers, you will want to pay for the Advanced plan. If you own a high-volume business, it is best to get a quote for the Enterprise plan.

All plans have the same in-person transaction fee: 2.6% plus $0.10. The most appealing part of these plans is the free register that comes with each one. This can help lower the upfront costs you can incur with your retail business. Lightspeed will also be able to take your previous inventory and data information and migrate it to your new POS system.

Clover POS plans definitely come with some sticker shock at first. However, if you want to mitigate the upfront costs your retail business will face, the company offers financing options. The Starter plan has a $799 one-time hardware fee, along with a $14.95 monthly fee. With financing, you will pay $60 per month for three years.

If you want the Standard plan, it is a one-time hardware cost of $1,799, along with a $49.95 monthly fee. With financing, that will be $135 per month for three years. If you need the highest-tier plan, Advanced, then you will have a one-time hardware fee of $2,398, along with a monthly fee of $64.90. The financing with this plan would be $185 per month for three years.

When it comes to per-transaction fees, no matter the plan, the manually entered fee will be 3.5% plus $0.10. With the in-person fee, it can be anywhere from 2.3% plus $0.10 to 2.6% plus $0.10, depending on the plan you choose.

The company accepts all payment types, even mobile wallets and PayPal. It also has a loyalty program that you can offer your customers, no matter what plan your business has. However, if you don’t want to finance your POS system, Clover POS might not be the best choice.

eHopper definitely has the best free plan out of the competitors on its list. It also has an option for free POS software, free credit card processing and a free e-commerce website. Once you fill out a form with the company, it will give you the steps on how to receive these free items. It will also come with free training and onboarding tools, as well as 24/7 customer support.

The free plan does allow for 50 products, 300 transactions per month, inventory management and tip management. However, if your business needs more features, you will need to choose one of eHopper’s paid plans. These include Freedom, Restaurant and OmniChannel. OmniChannel is the most expensive at $59.99 per month but allows for unlimited products and transactions.

If you can only get the free plan, it does come with a lot of basic features that can help your retail business. However, if your business uses iPads, eHopper won’t be a good choice. The company only integrates with Android and Windows operating systems.

Shopify’s plans can be expensive compared to competitors, but they offer much more than normal POS plans. This is the reason Shopify is best for e-commerce businesses. Its plans offer many e-commerce features, like shipping discounts, USPS Priority pricing, USPS Parcel Select Pricing and shipping insurance.

All plans also come with an online store, unlimited products, 24/7 support and sales channels, as well as the free Shopify POS Lite. The Basic plan is $39 per month with a 2.9% plus $0.30 fee for online transactions and a 2.7% plus $0 fee for in-person transactions. The highest-tier plan is $399 per month, with an online transaction fee of 2.4% plus $0.30 and an in-person transaction fee of 2.4% plus $0.

If you have never used a POS system before, you can try Shopify for free. However, its free plan only lasts three days, which is much shorter than other free trials offered by competitors. The free plan also only offers two staff accounts, which can be difficult for larger businesses.

If you’re looking for a POS system that you can fully customize, Erply might be the best option. It offers flexibility with the hardware options you can use and it offers a 60-day trial, which is much longer than most competitors. With its free plan, you can get all the features you need to run your business.

Its paid plans, starting at $59 per month, will give you more customization options, like a customizable document designer. It also offers comprehensive apps for your iOS and Android devices, which can bring your POS directly to your mobile device.

However, if you want to downgrade your account, the company does make it a bit more difficult. Instead of being able to do so at any time through your account, which is what most companies do, you will need to directly contact the billing department. Erply also doesn’t offer any 24/7 customer service options, which can be difficult for busy business owners.

One benefit of Revel Systems’ cloud POS software is that you can choose your own payment processor. This will give you more flexibility, especially if you already have chosen your payment processing company. Revel specifically helps “specialty retail brands” and has a lot of products to choose from, like a self-service kiosk, online ordering, mobile ordering and loyalty programs.

However, the company isn’t clear on its website about pricing. So, it is hard to know how much a system costs, which is typically a big factor when comparing companies. The company does offer a free demo, but you have to submit your information online and wait for a Revel Systems representative to contact you.

NCR VOYIX is best for its specialized retail plans. For example, it has different features for grocery and drug stores, department stores and gas stations. When it comes to retail stores and department stores, NCR VOYIX has mobile shopping features. These features include supporting mobile devices, integrating with POS systems and loyalty programs and the ability to access and modify shopping lists.

However, there is no pricing information on the company’s website. This can make it tricky when trying to compare it to other competitors. There is also no free trial option, but you can reach out to the company to schedule a demo. This way, you can at least see some of the software’s features. Overall, though, the website just doesn’t have much information.

Korona POS is best for its money-back guarantee, which lasts 60 days, much longer than most other competitors. The company also doesn’t require contracts and offers 24/7 customer support. When it comes to retail businesses, it has advanced inventory management, e-commerce integrations and reporting and analytics. The company also helps you import your data if needed.

If you want the company’s retail-specific POS system, it does cost more at $69 per month. Korona POS does offer a lot of add-on options; however, invoicing, which is included with other competitors’ POS systems, will cost an extra $10 per month per terminal. If you want advanced features like individual store prices and order level optimization, you will need to pay an extra $20 per month per terminal.

PayPal POS is best for its long-standing reputation — most businesses know of PayPal and might feel more comfortable with using this system because of that. The POS software is also free and you can get a discount on your first card reader. You will pay $29 for the first reader, then $79 for any additional card readers you need. PayPal also has lower-than-average transaction fees, starting at 2.29% plus $0.09 per transaction.

If your small business needs a terminal, specifically one with a printer, dock and built-in barcode scanner, it can be an expensive upfront cost. Especially if you need multiple terminals for your business. Terminals with added features can range from $239 to $269 each. The company also doesn’t offer many integrations, only having around five, which is much fewer than its competitors.