Matt Sherman

It’s certainly possible to operate without one if you have a very simple establishment, but if you are expanding at all, whether it is to create an eCommerce presence, open a new location, or simply get a little more in-depth information about how your business is functioning, a POS system was literally designed to help you.

Square Payments earns a perfect 5-star rating for ease of use, astounding feature set, transparent and affordable pricing, and overall status as a powerhouse for merchants. While Square’s payment processing service is not appropriate for all business types and lacks the stability and negotiability of a standard merchant account, many small businesses enjoy the predictable pricing and the lightning-quick setup.

NCR Silver gets high marks for its ease of use, flexibility, and built-in marketing tools. Unfortunately, while NCR makes solidly good POS software, its Silver product suffers from other issues — namely, the restrictive service contract foisted on merchants who want to purchase the system.

With a full POS system and free booking site, Square Appointments offers a lot of value for salons and independent stylists. But as with other Square products, it only makes sense if you commit to using Square Payments as well, which can be a great convenience or a severe limitation.

Lightspeed is one of the most robust and easy-to-use solutions in today’s POS market. If you’re looking for a retail system that will likely have every option you could dream up in a POS in both the front and back end, and pricing isn’t a major consideration, Lightspeed Retail should be fairly high on your list.

TouchBistro boasts some of the most customer-friendly software in the point of sale industry. TouchBistro’s innovative software and intuitive design remain highlights for this POS. The company has also bulked up in the past year, adding better in-house inventory and reporting features to make it an even more attractive product.

If you own a small business, Revel is certainly scalable for virtually any size. However, although Revel is a good POS system, using Revel Systems is a long-term commitment.