Best POS Systems For Mac

The Square For Retail Plus plan includes inventory management features like vendor management, inventory counts, automated purchase ordering, and barcode printing. You can also accept cross-location returns and exchanges on the Plus plan.

Square also offers an appointment booking software for service businesses, Square Appointments.

Note: All free plans apply to single-location businesses only. If you open multiple locations, you must upgrade to a Plus plan.

Popular add-ons include Square Loyalty ($45+/month), Square Payroll ($35+/month), and Square Marketing ($15+/month).

Square has software features for retail and service businesses, but no matter which industry plan you choose, you get these free features:

• Square Online: Free online store builder that allows you to sell items, memberships, and/or schedule appointments
• Square Invoices: Free invoice builder to send estimates, charge deposits, and charge cards on file for things like multi-stage home improvement projects or B2B retail orders
• Unlimited Devices: On the free plan, you can use an unlimited number of tablets at your location
• Square Checkout Links: Accept payments via QR code, hyperlink, email, text, social media profile, or buy button embedded in a website
• Square Dashboard: Manage your inventory, reports, online store, appointments, customer profiles, and your team from anywhere on one tablet dashboard

Square Online store builder on a web browser.

Retail establishments will appreciate the Square social media integrations for selling on Instagram or TikTok, the Google product listing integration, and features like product reviews and saved carts.

Service businesses such as salons (Square is one of the best salon POS systems) or home repair businesses will appreciate the Google appointment booking integration, customer confirmation notifications and automated reminders, retail sales capabilities, and the ability to manage resources like manpower, in-store product usage, and tools.

Square POS on Mac with connected Square Terminal card reader.

You’ll need to connect the $299 Square Terminal to your Mac to take orders and payments in a streamlined way, or you can manually enter customers’ credit card numbers into the web-based POS app to accept payments.

However, if you manually enter card numbers, you will be charged higher payment processing fees.

All Square accounts include payment processing with Square Payments at the following prices:

• 2.6% + $0.10 for card-present payments
• 2.9% + $0.30 for online payments through a Square Online site
• 3.5% + $0.15 for manually keyed-in card payments (using a virtual terminal or card on file)

Square offers monthly contracts that are easy to cancel with no early termination fees.

You will need to purchase the Square Terminal if you want to give customers the ability to pay with chip cards and for a more streamlined POS register payment setup.

Helcim’s POS software is completely free to use. You only pay Helcim’s payment processing fees.

Helcim’s free Mac POS system offers all standard POS functions, and it’s easy for employees to add products, discounts, tips, and customer accounts during transactions. You can also sell individual items and sell to businesses using customer portals and large catalogs.

Helcim’s invoicing and recurring payment features are what sets Helcim apart from the other providers in this list. Helcim’s invoicing features include:

• Custom drag-and-drop invoice creation and payment settings
• Set full and partial invoice due dates
• Send reminders to customers about upcoming and overdue invoice payments
• Set recurring invoice payments with a card or account on file
• Create automated and manual tax settings for invoices

Helcim invoice designer request deposit for B2B wholesale order.

Helcim’s subscription management includes prorated billing, so you only charge customers for the days they use their subscription. It also includes metered billing, so you charge based on monthly usage data and can add one-time fees and add-ons. Customers will get an automated reminder when their card is about to expire.

You can also create free trials for customers. If a customer cancels their subscription, you can get feedback that will help you understand why they canceled to optimize your subscription business.

Helcim’s POS and web pages (including checkout carts, subscription signup, approvals, and client portals) can be built with a drag-and-drop builder, so your pages will have only the information you want, and they will all be custom-branded. This is useful for businesses that only need certain information fields, like those selling services, as you can remove fields like the shipping address.

Helcim credit card reader and POS terminal on a desktop device.

Helcim has a desktop app available on the Mac App Store so you can take sales offline. Helcim’s card reader costs $99 and you just connect it to your Mac via Bluetooth to take payments.

There are also a few compatible receipt printers available.

Helcim offers interchange-plus payment processing for all businesses, small or large. There are no minimum sales volumes or transaction numbers. This is highly uncommon among POS providers.

The company offers a sample “find your custom rate” tool on its website so you can easily see a rate estimate and how much you could save by switching to interchange-plus payment processing.

Similar to Square, Helcim offers very flexible month-to-month contracts with no early termination fees.

Hike POS plans come with one register license per location. Additional registers cost $39/month/device and extra locations cost $99/location/month.

This cloud-based all-in-one POS has several features beneficial to small- to mid-sized businesses.

Standout features include:

• POS inventory management system with tracking across multiple locations, automated reordering, custom barcodes, reminders, and updates
• Customizable loyalty program
• Real-time business analytics and numerous customizable reports
• Integrations including QuickBooks, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Shopify, and Mailchimp
• Customer and employee management
• In-store, online, and Amazon Marketplace sales

Note: If you’re looking for a retail POS system with a built-in online store builder, more online sales marketplace integrations, and better online/offline sales features, look into Shopify POS, one of our best retail POS systems. The POS software runs only on iPad and Android, but purchasing an iPad is worth it for the retail sales feature upgrades.

Receipt printer, cash drawer, Hike POS on Mac, barcode scanner.

Hike POS can be used directly from your Mac through a web browser or offline with the Hike POS app for Mac. Hike also sells various POS equipment, including barcode scanners, receipt printers, label printers, cash drawers, and hardware bundles. Contact the company for more information on hardware pricing.

Hike integrates with several payment processors in the US. Options include Square, PayPal, Elavon, WorldPay, TSYS, and Chase.

Hike POS does not have any contracts or hidden fees.

Make sure to read through any payment processing contracts before signing with any merchant services providers. Many providers have lengthy contract terms and early termination fees, so make sure to negotiate a good merchant agreement.

With Odoo, you get one app for free, so you can get your POS app without spending any money.

The paid plans are as follows:

• Standard: $31.10/user/month ($24.90/user/month with annual billing)
• Custom: $46.80/user/month ($37.40/user/month with annual billing)

With paid plans, you get access to all Odoo apps.

The Custom plan also includes an on-premise local installation offer for offline sales, multi-company management, the Odoo Studio which allows you to create your own Odoo apps, and an external API (application program interface) for even more developer customizations.

Odoo’s POS app comes with built-in inventory management and invoicing. Purchases are called “sessions” and you can create itemized sales or custom payments. Inventory can get very customized, including the ability to print barcode labels in a variety of sizes.

Much like Helcim, Odoo’s invoicing software allows you to create stylized invoice templates, store B2B customer information, and create custom repayment terms. Unlike Helcim, Odoo has expansive accounting software built into the invoicing software, and with some more account setup, you can keep even better track of your business activity.

However, the POS app is average, so we really like Odoo because of the other apps available. This includes HR and payroll software, a customer helpdesk ticket management app, a manufacturing order management app, a quality control monitoring app, and shipping courier integrations. No matter what kind of business you own or how large it is, Odoo has everything you and your employees need to succeed.

Odoo Rental management app item rental calendar.

You can purchase a Stripe Terminal card reader to take in-person payments. Depending on your model, you may spend between $59 and $299.

You can also choose a credit card reader from another third-party payment processing provider.

Odoo users most often use Stripe to process online and in-person payments, so you’ll be subject to Stripe fees. There are no additional fees to take payments through Odoo. You will have to set up the Stripe connection, and while it isn’t straightforward, there are tutorials to show you how Stripe works.

You also have the option to integrate Odoo with one of several payment providers such as Chase, Authorize.Net, and PayPal.

Note: If you’re looking for a highly customizable POS system with a built-in payment processor and you’re willing to move to an iPad-based POS, Revel Systems is a good alternative to Odoo’s POS system.

Odoo is an extremely flexible software provider with no early termination fees, so the only warning we can give is that it will take a little while to fully set up and appreciate all that Odoo has to offer.