Best Retail POS Systems

Other Square POS costs include:

• POS Hardware: Ranges from $59 (Square card reader) to $1,959 (Square register kit)
• Payment Processing: 2.5%-2.6% for in-person transactions; 2.9% + $0.30 for online transactions
• Additional Registers: $0/device on free plan; $40/device/month on paid plan
• Additional Locations: $0/location on free plan; $89/month/location on paid plan

Square earns a 4.2/5 pricing score, mostly losing points because you are required to use Square as a payment processor. However, Square’s payment processing rates are pretty standard and you get a discounted rate on higher-level plans.

Retailers may also want to consider these popular Square add-ons:

• Square Loyalty: $15+/month
• Square Payroll: $35+/month
• Square Marketing: $15+/month
• Square Invoices Plus: $20/month
• Square Online (Paid Version): $29/month Plus plan; $79/month Premium plan

Related: Read our Square Online review.

Square’s free retail POS features include:

• Mobile POS app for selling on the go
• Free Square online store builder
• Free employee time clock, scheduling, and reporting (up to five team members)
• Unlimited number of POS registers on the free plan
• TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook shoppable posts
• Free invoicing and online appointment setting
• No monthly fee for Square physical and eGift card sales

Paid plans offer more inventory features including connecting vendors to products in your catalog, making reordering items easier. You can also manage inventory and employees in multiple locations on the Square Plus plan.

Related: Compare Square with our other choices for the best thrift store POS system.

KORONA earned a 4.9/5 pricing score because the company offers an unlimited free trial, affordable monthly plans, and compatibility with any POS hardware provider and payment processor.

Optional KORONA add-ons include:

• Plus: $20/month/terminal; includes advanced inventory management features like order level optimization and the ability to create different product pricing for each location
• Invoicing: $10/terminal/month; includes features like quotes, rentals, and invoicing
• Ticketing: $50/month/gate; includes features like ticket tiers and printing, customer management, and entry gate management
• Franchise: $30/month/franchise; includes features like automated royalty payments and consolidated inventory management
• Integration: $45/month/integration via KORONA’s open API

Self-serve kiosk hardware and software require a custom quote.

You’ll get a custom payment processing fee and POS hardware pricing from your chosen third-party payment processor and POS hardware provider.

While KORONA earned a 3.7/5 in features overall, the software ranks very highly for register features and store management features, which is why we recommend KORONA POS for businesses selling mostly in person.

KORONA’s best features include:

• Integration with any payment processor
• Software works with most POS hardware available
• Strong cash drawer security and reporting
• Require manager approval for voids, price changes, returns, and inventory changes
• Create manager override cards and user codes
• Shrinkage reports help detect internal employee theft
• Mandatory ID verification and ID scanners for regulated items
• RFID tagging integration so businesses will be alerted if a customer tries to steal something
• Self-checkout kiosk hardware that has built-in theft prevention
• Integrations with marketing software for regulated industries (alcohol, vape shops, etc.)

The software includes advanced inventory management for its price point, including price and shelf labels, barcode generation, automated product reordering, and inventory counts.

The KORONA Plus add-on offers inventory performance reports, multi-store management, and order level optimization, among other useful inventory management and reporting features.

Related: Compare KORONA POS with our other choices for the best convenience store POS systems.

The pricing above is for Shopify eCommerce plans, which include the free Shopify POS Lite.

Additional Shopify fees include:

• Payment Processing: 2.4%-2.6% + $0.10 for in-person transactions; 2.5%-2.9% + $0.30 for online transactions
• POS Hardware: Ranging from $49 (Shopify card reader) to $459 (Shopify retail kit)
• Shopify POS Pro: $89/location/month
• Transaction Fee: 0.6%-2%

The optional Shopify POS Pro plan offers more inventory and employee management features, and the transaction fee only applies to retailers that use a payment processor other than Shopify Payments.

Expert Tip: Unless you get a great payment processing rate from a third-party payment processor or have a high-risk business that does not qualify for Shopify Payments, stick to Shopify’s payment processor to avoid transaction fees.

Shopify includes these best omnichannel sales features:

• Buy online for in-store pickup, local delivery, or ship-to-customer
• Online store using beautiful Shopify store builder
• In-app Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Twitter, and WhatsApp sales (so you can sell directly within static and video posts)
• Etsy, eBay, and Amazon marketplace sales
• Dropshipping and wholesale purchasing

In-store features include accepting deposits and partial payments, putting items on layaway, scheduling discounts and coupons, and accepting gift cards and custom payment types.

Shopify’s new Shopify Markets tool allows international business owners to:

• Automatically translate their store into multiple languages
• Accept local currency types
• Create shipping settings for different geographical areas
• Limit content and product offerings by region
• Manage duties and taxes

Some of Shopify’s best features come from 8,000+ Shopify add-on apps available.

Related: Compare Shopify with our other best POS systems for a clothing store.

Other Clover POS features include:

• POS Hardware: Ranging from $599 (Clover Flex) to $1,799 (Clover Station Duo)
• Payment Processing: Depends on payment processor
• Clover Apps: $0-$400 per app

Read our Clover pricing guide for more information on how Clover software, hardware, and payment processing fees are connected.

Clover retail software itself is a pretty straightforward offering, with an online ordering page for pickup or delivery, in-store discounts and promotions, physical and eGift cards, and an offline payments mode so you can still check out customers even if your store’s Wi-Fi stops working.

Whatever advanced or specialized features you want will come in the form of a Clover app. There are 450+ apps available in Clover’s app store for any function, from accepting EBT payments (great for a grocery store POS system) to scanning IDs (great for a winery POS system) and more.

Clover is also special because you can get a merchant account with one of several Clover hardware/software resellers, meaning that you can find great payment processing fees and contract terms (so long as you get your Clover setup from one of these best Clover merchant account providers).

Helcim’s POS software is completely free to use. You only pay Helcim’s payment processing fees, which are transparent and fair.

Helcim’s free features and transparent interchange-plus payment processing make this POS provider one of the best credit card processing companies.

Helcim earns a perfect 5/5 score in invoicing features, which is great for creating custom orders and charging wholesale accounts. Helcim’s best invoicing features include:

• Quote to invoice generation
• Add line items and discounts to invoices
• Accept invoice payments in person and through a virtual terminal
• Set payment terms and accept deposits
• Charge a card on file
• Send B2B invoices to new and established corporate clients

You can generate a catalog of your brands and collections for B2B clients and end consumers. Customers can create online accounts and order single items or wholesale.

We also like Helcim’s AI-powered Level 2 and 3 transaction data capture (e.g. data like freight information, tax ID) to improve transaction security and decrease B2B/B2G payment processing fees from card-issuing banks.

Additional Lightspeed Retail POS fees include:

• POS Hardware: $299 for card reader; $329 for iPad; $199 for iPad stand
• Payment Processing: 2.6% + $0.10 for in-person transactions; 2.9% + $0.30 for online transactions
• Additional Registers: $59/register/month
• Additional Locations: $69-$269/location/month
• Lightspeed Add-Ons: Varies

We rated Lightspeed a 3.7/5 price score. It earned points because Lightspeed is a low-cost iPad POS hardware and offers industry-standard payment processing, but lost points because of an early termination fee and some undisclosed fees.

Lightspeed has high scores in register, store management, and niche features, which include:

• Layaway purchases
• B2C and B2B online accounts with custom price lists
• Create bulk and bundle discounts
• Start returns and exchanges online, then ship or bring items back into the store
• Inventory matrixing to sell in one or multiple departments
• Low-stock alerts and set minimum inventory levels
• Automated purchase orders via email or supplier website
• Inquiry forms for custom quotes that can be converted into orders
• Rental POS system app to manage rental windows, fees, etc.
• Loyalty program (available on the Advanced plan or as a separate add-on)
• Extensive customer and inventory reporting

Multi-location businesses will especially appreciate these special Lightspeed features:

• Stock transfers across locations
• Pricing modifications that are dependent on location
• Master inventory, purchase order, and item performance dashboard
• Lightspeed Loyalty program cross-location sync so customers can earn points no matter their location
• Buy online, pick up in any store

Related: Read our Lightspeed eCom review.

PayPal’s only other mobile POS costs are:

• Payment Processing: 2.29% + $0.09 per in-person transaction; 2.99%-3.49% + $0.49 per online transaction
• POS Hardware: $29-$79 for basic card reader; $199-$239 for handheld PayPal Zettle terminal

Related: Read up on the best mobile POS systems.

The best PayPal Zettle retail features include:

• Dynamic micropayments program for automated lower payment processing rates
• QR code payments for easy on-the-go payments
• Tap-to-pay contactless payments on iPhone and Android devices
• Print and email receipts
• Built-in inventory management with barcodes
• Apply item discounts
• Generate business reports

PayPal Zettle also connects to the company’s suite of products including integrations with eCommerce store builders and invoicing.