Retail businesses rely on their point-of-sale (POS) system to keep their businesses running smoothly. Customer management, inventory control, payment processing, and employee management—retail POS systems need to cover a lot of ground. To help you find the best POS system for your retail business, we reviewed the top retail POS systems on the market and, using our expert analysis and in-depth evaluation, narrowed them down to the top five options.
Based on our findings, the top five retail POS systems are:
- Square for Retail: Best overall retail POS system
- Shopify POS: Best for omnichannel sales
- PayPay Zettle: Best for microbusinesses and solopreneurs
- Clover Retail System: Best for flexible payments
- Lightspeed for Retail (R Series): Best for managing complex inventories
In this guide, we will examine each of the top POS systems, reviewing and comparing them based on their strengths, weaknesses, best applications, pricing, and key features.
Square for Retail: Best overall retail POS system
Pros
Cons
Our Rating: 4.38/5
- Simple, customizable checkout: Customize your Square checkout screen with hotkeys that put your most used functions and products front and center for easy access. Create customer profiles and tie every transaction to a shopper.
- Inventory management: Add inventory with detailed product information to your product catalog. Track your inventory across multiple locations, keep track of your product orders, set low stock alerts, perform inventory counts, and run reports to get performance insights.
- Square Online: Square’s free ecommerce site builder includes tons of templates and a simple system for building your online store.
- Square Payments: Every Square account comes with Square Payments, meaning you can start making sales as soon as you sign up. Square charges a competitive flat rate processing fee for all payment types.
- Afterpay integration: Every Square POS comes with an Afterpay integration for both in-store and online sales.
- Square POS app: Square offers a POS app for both Android and iOS devices so you can complete transactions straight from your mobile device. Additionally, Square recently rolled out its tap-to-pay feature, allowing you to accept payments via the POS app with no additional hardware.
Expert Tip
Square also has a restaurant POS system with tools and features perfect for running your restaurant. Check it out and other restaurant POS system options with our guide to the Best Restaurant POS Systems.
There are three plans, including a bespoke plan for enterprise businesses.
- Free: $0/month
- Plus: $89/month
- Premium: Bespoke pricing based on needs
Square also requires that its users use Square Payments to process their transactions. Square Payments has a flat-rate pricing model for different transaction types, and rates vary based on your software plan.
- In-person: 2.5%–2.6% + 10 cents
- Online: 2.9% + 30 cents
- Manual entry: 3.5% + 15 cents
- Afterpay: 6% + 30 cents
Additionally, Square offers several hardware options that can either be paid for outright or via monthly financing. Other than the options below, you can purchase accessories to use alongside Square software or in tandem with your personal computer or tablet.
- Square Register: $799
- Square Terminal: $299
- Square Stand: $149
Expert Tip
We ranked Square No. 1 for the best POS hardware. See why and who it outranked with our guide to the best POS hardware.
Along with its POS software, Square also offers add-on tools available for all plans:
- Square Online Plus: $29 per month (billed annually)
- Square Marketing: $15 per month for email marketing; $20 for text message marketing
- Square Loyalty: Starts at $45 per month
- Square Payroll: $35 + $6 per employee monthly
Team Plus: $35/month per location (included free in the Retail Plus plan)
As our top choice for retail POS systems, Square for Retail hit every mark, from affordability and tools to customer reviews and ease of use. The Square for Retail POS includes inventory management with tools for ordering, adding, and tracking your products; customer management tools like customer profiles and loyalty programs; employee management for scheduling, payroll, and access; and a simple, customizable checkout. For online, Square also includes a website builder and ecommerce integrations. Square really offers anything you might need to keep your store up and running.
What really set Square for Retail ahead, however, was its fully equipped basic plan—meaning you don’t need to pay for an upgrade to access any of the basic features for running a retail business. If you do need additional tools and more advanced functionality, Square can also support that, both through its Plus plans and its bespoke Premium option. This makes Square a perfect platform for retailers big, small, and everything in between.
Pricing: 4.69/5
Hardware: 4.75/5
Software features: 4.03/5
Support & reliability: 3.75/5
User experience: 4.38/5User scores: 4.67/5
Square for Retail is Square’s industry-specific retail POS system complete with all the tools retailers need to run their stores smoothly, all starting at $0. As with all of Square’s free plans, the Square for Retail base plan includes integrated payment processing, an ecommerce site builder, a magstripe reader, multilocation management, and basic inventory, CRM, and reporting tools.
The great thing about Square is that while all its base plans are free, you have the option to upgrade to a Plus plan that can support you as you grow. With more advanced employee management tools, inventory controls, and reporting, Square’s Plus plans are designed to support larger multilocation, omnichannel businesses. And you can’t forget all of Square’s add-ons for tools like loyalty programs, invoicing, team management, and more.
Read more: Best 6 Square Alternatives & Competitors for 2024
Shopify POS: Best for omnichannel sales
Pros
Cons
Our Rating: 4.12/5
- Simple, customizable checkout process: Shopify’s POS has a near-foolproof checkout workflow, with functions to complete returns, add discounts, create customer profiles, and even customizable keys where you can add your most-used functions and products.
- Staff management tools: Create employee logins (only one login for Lite), track individual performances, and control access with permissions.
- Inventory management (Pro): Create detailed inventory pages to add to your catalog, perform counts, create and track purchase orders, receive low stock alerts, and view reports.
- Customer profiles: Create simple (Lite) and detailed (Pro) customer profiles during the checkout process or in your customer directory. Then, track behaviors and view reports on customer loyalty and patterns (Pro).
- Retail analytics (Pro): View daily sales reports about your net sales, average order value, and average items per order. You can also compare data over time and see long-term reports.
- Omnichannel selling: Shopify has tools to integrate all your sales channels onto your POS, so you can unify inventory, staff, and customer management everywhere you sell. Shopify includes sales channels for your online store, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, eBay, Google, Amazon, and more. Simply add the sales channels you want to track and Shopify will take care of the rest.
- Online store: Every POS account comes with a very basic online store builder where you can create your ecommerce shop. In addition to the ecommerce store that comes as part of your POS account, you can also upgrade to one of Shopify’s ecommerce plans for access to the best ecommerce platform in the game that will seamlessly pair with your POS.
- Shopify app store: You can integrate hundreds of third-party tools to your Shopify POS for things like loyalty programs, inventory management, outreach marketing, analytics, and more via the Shopify app store. Note, however, that many of these tools come with their own monthly fee.
- Shopify Payments: Shopify Payments is integrated into every POS, so you can start taking payments and completing sales immediately when you create your POS account.
Shopify has two POS plans, with the Lite plan including very limited tools and the Pro plan including all the features listed above.
- POS Lite: $5/month
- POS Pro: $89/month
Shopify also has three ecommerce plans. Each plan comes with the Lite POS system, but you can also upgrade to the POS Pro for an additional $89/month.
- Basic: $39/month
- Shopify: $105/month
- Advanced: $399/month
Along with its two software plans, Shopify also offers a number of hardware options for both in-store and mobile operations. Alternatively, if you need to complete a mobile sale and are away from your store, you can use the Shopify POS app to complete sales from your mobile device, including tap-to-pay functionality and barcode scanning. Shopify’s hardware options include:
- Countertop kit: $459
- POS Go: $299
- Shopify Tap & Chip Reader: $49
- POS accessories: $0–$89
Shopify POS is a top choice for retail businesses that focus more on ecommerce, social, and marketplace selling but still need a POS system to support in-person sales. The Shopify POS system has everything you need to complete transactions, keep track of your customers, manage your inventory, and take your business on the go.
What makes Shopify stand out from the rest is its omnichannel selling tools. No other POS system on the market has so many sales channel integrations, meaning you can sell your products practically anywhere, and Shopify will track your sales and inventory on one platform. The Shopify app store also has hundreds of add-ons that seamlessly integrate with your POS, so you can customize your toolkit based on your unique business needs.
Pricing: 2.81/5
Hardware: 4.75/5
Software features: 4.44/5
Support & reliability: 3.75/5
User experience: 4.38/5
User scores: 4.57/5
Shopify is the leading ecommerce platform, but it also offers a fantastic POS system that you can purchase as a standalone product or as part of an ecommerce subscription. Plans start at $5 (Lite), but you can also subscribe to POS Pro for an additional fee to gain access to more advanced features. With a simple checkout workflow, payment processing, tools for integrating every sales channel you can think of, and basic inventory, CRM, and employee management tools, Shopify’s POS system is top of the line.
Shopify’s POS comes with all the tools you need to manage your in-store operations along with an ecommerce site builder. You do, however, have the option to upgrade your POS or ecommerce plans to more advanced versions. Shopify’s greatest strength is its tools for unifying in-store with online, perfect for sellers looking to sell across multiple channels.
PayPal Zettle: Best for microbusinesses and solopreneurs
Pros
Cons
Our Rating: 4.4/5
- Simple checkout: Zettle’s checkout interface is easy to use whether you access it via your personal mobile device or the Zettle terminal. You can easily add discounts, remove products, and send receipts via email.
- PayPal Zettle POS App: PayPal Zettle offers a POS app for both Android and iOS devices, allowing you to complete sales right from your phone. The app allows you to scan barcodes and has a tap-to-pay feature where customers can simply tap their card to your device to pay with no additional hardware needed.
- Inventory management tools: PayPal Zettle offers basic inventory management tools including the ability to add products to your product catalog, including tons of detailed information. The POS system will also track your inventory and provide reports on best- and worst-sellers.
- Reporting: PayPal Zettle will generate reports on your sales, products, and inventory segments.
- PayPal integration: Because the system is part of the PayPal ecosystem, PayPal is integrated into your checkout page. This means that customers can pay through PayPal, giving them access to PayPal’s financing options like pay-in-four and PayPal Credit.
PayPal Zettle’s POS software is completely free with no monthly fees. All you have to pay for each month are your processing fees—and even those are low. PayPal Zettle processing fees are:
- In person: 2.29% + 9 cents
- Online: 3.49% + 9 cents
- Manual entry: 3.49% + 9 cents
- QR code: 2.29% + 9 cents
- Invoicing: 2.99% – 3.49%+ 49 cents
PayPal Zettle also offers two hardware options that you can choose from, along with accessory options. However, you do not need to purchase any hardware to operate your Zettle POS—it operates just as well from your personal iOS or Android mobile device via the free PayPal Zettle POS app.
- Card reader: $29 for your first reader, $79 for additional readers
- Terminal: $199–$239 (includes built-in barcode scanner)
While the PayPal Zettle POS system is a simple one, its pricing reflects this, and the costs associated with running a retail business with the Zettle system are guaranteed to be low. This is ideal for businesses that are just starting out, microbusinesses, and solo operations. For businesses that don’t need all the bells and whistles, PayPal Zettle is a fantastic choice.
The system is extremely easy to use, can operate completely from your mobile device, and its hardware options are incredibly affordable. This makes PayPal Zettle ideal for businesses that only need to process sales, minimally track their inventory, and don’t need granular reporting.
Pricing: 4.69/5
Hardware: 4.75/5
Software features: 2.08/5
Support & reliability: 3.75/5
User experience: 4.38/5User scores: 4.60/5
PayPal Zettle, formerly iZettle, is PayPal’s free POS system. Like Square, PayPal Zettle only charges transaction fees with no monthly software fees. The POS system has all the basic features a small retailer needs to complete sales, track inventory, manage customers, and take their business on the go. Additionally, because the system is tied to PayPal, the processing rates are extremely low—perfect if you need to keep expenses down.
The biggest drawback of using Zettle is that there are no additional plans or features to support you as you grow. This means that if you outgrow the basic functionality of your Zettle POS system, you will have to look to a different POS provider. Additionally, there is limited ecommerce and no social media or marketplace integrations.
Clover Retail System: Best for flexible payments
Pros
Cons
Our Rating: 3.88/5
- Inventory management: Create inventory and store it in your inventory catalog, and Clover will track its levels and performance. Clover also includes order management for new inventory orders, the ability to create item variants, and item scale and weight metrics.
- Reporting: Clover generates real-time sales reports, sales reports that look at product performances and sales over time at a granular level, along with tax reports.
- Ecommerce: Clover offers an ecommerce platform for an additional fee, but also integrates with existing online stores so you can track your online and in-person sales all from one place.
- Payment processing: Clover offers payment processing via Clover Payments or you can configure your system to use any other payment processor of your choice. Be warned, however, once your POS is set up with one merchant, you cannot change to another.
- Customer management: Create customer profiles that store contact information and purchase histories, store them in your customer database, and learn more about your shoppers with customer reporting.
- Promotional and marketing tools: Create promotions, use Clover’s free included loyalty program to drive repeat visits, offer both physical and digital gift cards to shoppers, and promote user reviews with review prompts that are built into your digital receipts.
- Employee management: Create individual log-ins and permissions and manage your employees’ shifts. Note that there are no permissions or access controls.
- Rapid deposits: For an additional 1.5% processing fee, you can receive rapid deposits, meaning you can get your money within minutes of any credit card sale.
Clover’s Retail System consists of three plans that vary based on both the tools and hardware included. These plans are priced monthly, with one rate based on if you are paying for your hardware as part of your monthly fee and another for if you paid for your hardware outright and are only paying for the software. These plans are priced as follows:
- Starter: $60/month for 36 months or $799+ $14.95/month
- Standard: $135/month for 36 months or $1,799+ $49.95/month
- Advanced: $185/month for 36 months or $2,398+ $64.90/month
Every Clover plan includes some hardware in its pricing, but you can also purchase additional Clover hardware if you need it. Clover’s hardware offerings include:
- Clover Go: $49
- Station Duo: $1,799 or $135/month 36 months
- Station Solo: $1,699 or $125/month for 36 months
- Clover Mini: $799 or $45/month for 36 months
- Clover Flex: $599 or $35/month for 36 months
Clover is unique for two reasons. First, unlike the other options on our list, Clover’s plans include both software and hardware. And second, Clover does not require you to use an in-house payment processor and will let you integrate any third-party merchant account for no additional charge. This makes Clover ideal for businesses that want to take care of their hardware and software needs with a single plan, or for businesses that could benefit from being able to choose their own payment processor.
Clover is also unique because it offers a free loyalty program and more advanced promotional tools in all of its plans. However, you might look to a different option, like Shopify, if you are most focused on online sales, as Clover is best suited for primarily brick-and-mortar retailers.
Pricing: 3.44/5
Hardware: 3.75/5
Software features: 3.47/5
Support & reliability: 4.38/5
User experience: 4.38/5
User scores: 3.90/5
Clover is a POS system provider that bundles its hardware and software and includes a retail-specific POS system. It offers great tools for creating and tracking your inventory, managing customers and staff, completing sales, and sleek hardware to house it all. Clover offers three retail POS plans to support you as you grow, plus add-on tools for things like payroll and an online store builder, so you can get the tools you need as your business expands.
The system also lets its users choose any payment processor to be custom-integrated into their retail POS systems, meaning you can shop rates and find the best merchant account for your business. Clover does, however, offer its own processing, Clover Payments, if you want to go with an in-house option. Clover is also unique because, when you sign up, you not only are signing up for POS software, but you will also need to get Clover’s proprietary hardware. This means you won’t need to shop around or run the system from your personal devices—everything is included in your Clover plan.
Lightspeed for Retail (R Series): Best for managing complex inventories
Pros
Cons
Our Rating: 3.81/5
- Customizable checkout: Customize your checkout screen with your most used functions and products.
- Inventory management: Lightspeed offers granular matric inventory management, perfect for large, complex inventories with lots of product variations. Additionally, there are built-in purchase ordering and tracking functions, special orders, bulk action tools, low stock alerts, and counting tools.
- Lightspeed B2B: Lightspeed has a built-in product catalog where you can shop for items and place orders right from your POS. The items are automatically tracked and added to your inventory catalog with complete product details upon arrival.
- Accounting integration: Integrate your accounting software on your POS so you can do your bookkeeping right from your Lightspeed dashboard.
- Ecommerce: Lightspeed can integrate with a number of major ecommerce platforms, and its Standard and Advanced plans include Lightspeed’s in-house e-commerce platform.
- Loyalty program: Lightspeed offers a customizable loyalty program that tracks and rewards customers across all your sales channels.
- Reporting: Lightspeed provides tons of reporting tools for all of its users including custom reports, and its Advanced plans include analytics with actionable insights and advice based on your performance.
- Marketing tools: Lightspeed offers some great marketing features, including tools to collect customer reviews, segment your shoppers, and send out automated alerts and promotions, and SMS marketing.
Lightspeed for Retail offers four software plans that vary based on the tools they include, with higher plans including more advanced features. Lightspeed R Series plans are priced as follows:
- Lean: $89/month
- Standard: $149/month
- Advanced: $269/month
- Enterprise: Custom
In addition to its software options, Lightspeed also offers a number of hardware options for both an iPad and desktop setup. Lightspeed does not disclose its hardware options or pricing—you have to reach out to a rep who will assess your needs and circumstances to pair you with the best hardware for your business.
Lightspeed for Retail is an ideal POS system for businesses with large, complex inventories that require high levels of reporting. With its granular matrix inventory management, analytics, built-in product catalogs, vendor management, and other highly advanced reporting and inventory tools, Lightspeed is an incredible asset for keeping track of stock and identifying additional opportunities.
However, Lightspeed is on the more expensive side, and its inventory and reporting tools are incredibly advanced—more advanced than many businesses actually need. For businesses that have simple inventories, Lightspeed might be more than you need.
Pricing: 2.81/5
Hardware: 3.75/5
Software features: 4.17/5
Support & reliability: 4.38/5
User experience: 3.75/5User scores: 4.03/5
Lightspeed is a popular POS system for all kinds of businesses, including retailers. Lightspeed’s retail POS system has everything a retailer needs to run their business, including some of the best inventory management tools in the industry, CRM tools, advanced reporting and analytics, a customizable loyalty program, ecommerce, and other tools to support you as you grow.
Of all the options on this list, Lightspeed probably has some of the most advanced tools available. The software is especially strong when it comes to inventory management and reporting, with tools for managing complex inventories, keeping track of your vendors, integrated purchase ordering tools, and even built-in product catalogs where you can shop and order goods right from your POS account. Not only that, Lightspeed’s reporting tools create incredibly high-level reports and provide actionable insights and suggestions based on your performance.
Key components of POS systems for retail
When you are looking for a POS system for your retail business, below are the tools you should look for. While you might not need all these tools now, the POS provider you choose should offer them for you to consider as you grow.
- Payment processing: Some providers require you to use an in-house payment processor, and others allow (or require) you to use a third-party merchant instead. Consider which option is better for you. High-volume businesses typically get better value when they can choose their own merchant account.
- Hardware: The best POS systems for retail offer hardware for in-store and on-the-go sales that you can pay for via monthly financing so you don’t run yourself dry before ever making a sale.
- Mobile compatibility: To ensure you can complete sales anywhere, your POS should be mobile compatible.
- Inventory management tools: Your POS should have tools for placing and tracking orders, adding inventory to your catalog, and integrated tracking as products sell across all locations and channels. Additionally, you should be able to view inventory reports and analyses.
- Reporting: Retail POS systems should offer reports on your inventory, staff performance, marketing initiatives, customer relationships, and your sales channels. The best systems will also offer custom reporting options and actionable analyses of your performance.
- Customer relationship management tools: Your retail POS system should have tools for creating customer profiles that log their purchases, contact information, and relevant notes. The best systems will also include tools like loyalty programs and customer segmentation reports.
- Marketing features: Marketing tools for sending texts and emails should be integrated into your retail POS. Additionally, more advanced systems will have tools for measuring the success of your marketing campaigns and suggestions for how to improve.
- Multilocation management: Your retail POS system needs to be able to track inventory and sales across multiple locations and create reports for both cumulative performance and individual stores and sales channels.
- Omnichannel sales: Along with managing multiple store locations, your retail POS system should also be able to manage all your additional sales channels, including your online store, any social media shops, and marketplaces like Amazon and Google Shop.
- Integration options: If you have an existing online store or particular tools that you want to be able to use alongside your POS system, be sure they integrate or there is a custom API option so you can keep all your tools on one platform.
Read more: POS Data Guide for POS Analytics
Expert Tip
Learn about other types of POS systems and the features they include with our guide to the different types of POS systems.
Finding the right retail POS system for your business
As you are looking at the retail POS system market, there are tons of options for you to choose from. Based on our expert evaluation, the best retail POS system overall is Square. However, the additional providers on this list are also top-notch, especially for niche tools and applications.
For retailers looking for a simple and affordable option for their budding solo business, you have PayPal Zettle. If you need to manage lots of different sales channels, then Shopify will be your best bet. For retailers that want the flexibility to choose their own merchant account, look no further than Clover. For anyone with a large, complex inventory, Lightspeed will be your guy.
At the end of the day, there are great POS options for every kind of retailer. It’s just a matter of determining your needs and deciding on what features are most important for your success.
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