Best point-of-sale (POS) systems in 2024

Clover serves as a one-stop shop for all the POS hardware and software that small and midsize retailers, restaurants and service businesses need. The company’s POS solutions aren’t the least expensive of the services we reviewed, nor do they offer the widest range of POS hardware options, but they’re full-featured and reasonably affordable — if your business can do without Clover’s pricey add-ons.

Clover offers its customers four different POS software plans designed to meet the needs of startups and small merchants that don’t require POS hardware (Essentials), retailers that do need POS hardware (Register), fast casual and quick-serve restaurants (Counter Service) and full-service restaurants (Table Service).

Each software plan except Essentials is matched with Clover POS hardware, such as the Mini touchscreen tablet, Flex handheld POS terminal or Station Duo complete POS system with both a 14-inch monitor for staff and an 8-inch customer-facing touchscreen display. Mobile vendors have their POS needs met by Clover’s Go packages, which can be used as standalone systems or integrated with an existing online store.

Clover POS is the best because it puts all the POS pieces together in a way that meets your business needs, though it isn’t likely to be your business’s least expensive POS option. The site’s signup wizard steps you through the available features to match you with appropriate software and hardware. Whether you sell in person, online, mobile or a combination of the three, Clover supports whatever POS functions your operation requires.

Value

Clover’s greatest value is to businesses that aren’t too small — more than a handful of employees — but aren’t too big either, such as those with headcounts into the hundreds, multiple departments to manage, and a growing number of locations to support. Many Clover POS plans are priced for three years at monthly fees ranging from $14.95 for a no-hardware solution to $325 for the Advanced full-service restaurant system.

The only free trial Clover provides is for its Virtual Terminal software, which is free to use for 90 days after applying for a Clover Account experience without hardware. After the free trial, you’ll be charged $14.95 a month if you haven’t purchased any other software from the company.

Businesses don’t save much on credit card transaction fees with Clover’s rates of 2.6% plus $0.10 for in-person sales and 3.5% plus $0.10 for keyed-in sales (restaurant packages and advanced retail plans reduce the in-person fee to 2.3% plus $0.10).

Functionality

Our number one item on Clover’s POS features list is the ability to accept all the payment options your customers prefer. Clover supports credit cards and debit cards with EuroPay, MasterCard, Visa (EMV) chips, swipe cards and contactless Near Field Communication (NFC) cards.

Customers can pay with mobile wallets and even have a check scanned securely. The company’s hardware and software let you sell while offline and sync the transaction data when your network connection is restored.

Clover’s POS systems let your customers place orders, open tabs, split bills, combine orders and add tips with a single touch. You can easily find out what your customers like and dislike and use the built-in customer engagement app to promote your business’ loyalty program with rewards for repeat business. You can also manage your teams by creating and monitoring schedules, setting permissions and tracking employee sales, tips and refunds to reward top performers.

Features of the Standard and Advanced retail POS packages let you track sales in real-time, report taxes and track costs by item. The plans for full-service restaurants come with no-fee online ordering, omnichannel menu management, third-party menu integrations and stock tracking, including sold-out notifications.

Support

Clover POS gives customers four ways to contact its support staff: by clicking the Help button found at the top of their Clover account page; by choosing Help on any Clover POS device’s home screen; by opening the menu in the Clover Go mobile app and pressing Help; and by calling the direct support number that appears on your statement.

Support phone numbers are available for Clover customers in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Austria, Argentina, Germany and Ireland.

Clover recommends that, before contacting the company directly, POS customers visit Clover Help to search for a solution in the resources it provides. Topics covered by help articles include setting up, logging in and using a Clover device. Clover also offers its small business customers a series of guides and resources.

Full-service installation support is available from SMB CompuCom, which provides a certified installer to assist with setting up your company’s POS system and training staff. Lastly, the Clover Care add-on protection plan replaces defective or damaged POS equipment as soon as the next business day.

Learn more: Read our full Clover POS review.

Our editorial team created our expert opinion scores. The expert score contributes to 10% of the data-focused methodology, which underpins our Blueprint rating for each company. The expert score combines first-person experience, subject matter expertise and extensive research to develop these metrics as another source of truth for readers during their decision-making process.

Square’s innovative credit card reader that plugs into smartphones and tablets changed the POS landscape upon its introduction in 2009, allowing anyone to accept payments by credit or debit card from any location using only an app running on a mobile device. Today, Square sells a full range of POS solutions for retailers, restaurants and professional services, but the company’s strength remains its offerings for individuals, startups and very small businesses.

In addition to the company’s POS software and hardware, Square provides management tools for small and midsize businesses, including marketing, shift scheduling, payroll and financial services.

One aspect of Square’s POS service that might give larger companies pause is its reliance on its own payment processing service. Companies that want to use an alternative payment gateway will have to rely on Square’s APIs and software development kits (SDK) to create custom links to their internal systems.

The company that put mobile payments on the map a decade-and-a-half ago is still the go-to POS solution for mom-and-pop operations, low-budget startups and individuals looking to cash in on their million-dollar idea, one credit card payment at a time. While mobile POS remains a mainstay for Square, the company’s offerings have expanded over the years to serve other business-management needs of small businesses.

However, despite its broadened product offerings, Square’s credit card transaction fees can’t compare with the savings available for high-volume sellers from vendors that use interchange-plus pricing models, such as Helcim.

Value

Merchants that can do without a lot of bells and whistles and want to save on their payment processing overhead will appreciate Square’s lowest-cost POS plan, which charges only per-transaction fees and includes the Square Reader that converts mobile devices into POS terminals.

As they grow, the businesses can add payroll processing, email and text marketing, loyalty programs and other options. At some point, however, growing merchants will likely find more affordable plans that include many of these features sold by Square competitors.

Functionality

Square’s POS services support all the payment scenarios a small business is likely to encounter. The company’s solutions let businesses accept payment by credit card and debit card, as well as contactless payment using Apple Pay, Google Pay, Cash App Pay and Tap to Pay.

Customer payment information can be stored securely to speed up future transactions, and the Square Checking service delivers the funds to your account in one to two business days for free (or immediately for an added fee).

All Square plans come with everything a small sales operation needs to get off the ground: an online store, digital invoices, virtual terminal software, online checkout (payment links) and a customer directory. Businesses that need to give employees different levels of access and permissions can sign up for Square’s Advanced Access add-on service, which provides an unlimited number of permission sets as well as team activity logs and sales reports.

The POS hardware sold by Square lacks the breadth of options available from vendors such as Lightspeed, but it does include the Square Register complete POS system, handheld Square Terminal, Square Stand iPad POS, Square Mount wall-mounted POS tablet and the second-generation Square Readerfor contactless payments and reading magnetic strips.

Even though Square has ventured into the realms of marketing support, banking services and staff management, we think the company’s bread and butter remains straightforward POS solutions designed specifically for small businesses. Square is a POS vendor that your business can start and grow with.

Support

Square customers can contact the company for direct support by telephone, live chat or email from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PT Monday through Friday. Square’s support center features descriptions of its platforms and products as well as articles on topics that include fees, refunds and tax reporting. The company also supports a seller community where customers can post questions and browse payment-related discussions.

Learn more: Read our full Square review.

Our editorial team created our expert opinion scores. The expert score contributes to 10% of the data-focused methodology, which underpins our Blueprint rating for each company. The expert score combines first-person experience, subject matter expertise and extensive research to develop these metrics as another source of truth for readers during their decision-making process.

There’s no doubt that modern POS systems are more powerful and functional than their predecessors from a few years back. With that added oomph comes added complexity, which can send the productivity of a merchant’s sales staff plummeting. eHopper distinguishes itself from the POS competition by offering small-business POS solutions that are easy to learn and intuitive to use.

The company’s free POS plan requires that merchants sign up for the company’s credit card processing service, and its entry-level Essentials Plus limits your monthly transactions to 1,000. That means nearly all businesses will choose either eHopper’s Freedom, Restaurant or Omnichannel packages.

Freedom is targeted at retailers, professional services and quick service restaurants; Restaurant is for full-service restaurants; and Omnichannel is for any merchant that wants to integrate an e-commerce site and social media selling with its in-house POS.

eHopper claims that you can start taking payments with its POS system “in minutes” and complete payment transactions quickly using cash, credit cards and debit cards, and electronic benefits transfer (EBT) cards. Businesses can use their current payment processor or have eHopper handle their payment processing.

Few small business owners have the time to spare to train employees on how to use the tools of their trade or troubleshoot the technology the company relies on when things go south. In our opinion, eHopper’s greatest benefit to companies is that it’s as near to plug-and-play as POS technology gets.

The Freedom, Restaurant and Omnichannel packages sold by eHopper also come with a self-service kiosk, low stock alerts and a boatload of other time-saving features.

Value

You’ll find less expensive small business POS systems for sale at vendors such as Square and Stripe, but much of the value a merchant realizes by choosing eHopper’s POS packages is in the time it saves in implementing the system and the productivity boost it can deliver for your staff. For instance, business owners can manage their inventory, track employee time and schedules and access QuickBooks Online from the same portal they use to monitor their sales.

eHopper offers customers a free trial of indeterminate length as well as a 30-day money-back guarantee. The company lets businesses give their customers cash discounts and apply surcharges to recoup some of the cost of accepting credit cards.

By including inventory management, time tracking and employee scheduling, eHopper POS packages reduce a merchant’s software overhead. In addition, eHopper’s POS plans are discounted 30% to 40% when you commit to a year rather than paying month to month.

Functionality

Small business owners benefit from any opportunity to consolidate operations, and eHopper allows for this. We think eHopper’s best feature is that it puts the information and controls you need to manage sales, employees and inventory inside a single POS-focused platform.

The company’s POS software runs on Android and iOS devices and Microsoft Windows PCs and devices, as well as on the Poynt handheld POS terminals that eHopper sells. You can customize the footers of receipts and bills, and add line items or order notes to receipts. The software lets you mark items as tax-exempt or apply discounts and loyalty options.

Full-service restaurants can use the software to plan a table layout, process table orders, print receipts and orders for the kitchen and split tickets by table, item or amount. The Restaurant and Omnichannel packages include a kitchen display system that shows online orders and includes a preparation timer and dark mode to reduce glare.

Support

Only eHopper’s high-end Omnichannel plan comes with 24/7 support by telephone, email and chat. The company’s Freedom and Restaurant packages do include email support. A web form on eHopper’s Contact Us page lets you reach tech support, sales or billing, and it provides a telephone number to call for questions about its products and services.

To determine the best POS configuration for your business, eHopper offers a virtual assistant that steps you through the process of selecting the features you need. Three quick-start guides help get you up to speed on eHopper for Android, Windows and Poynt terminals. eHopper also provides a knowledge base and a video library covering inventory setup, account settings and other aspects of the product.

Our editorial team created our expert opinion scores. The expert score contributes to 10% of the data-focused methodology, which underpins our Blueprint rating for each company. The expert score combines first-person experience, subject matter expertise and extensive research to develop these metrics as another source of truth for readers during their decision-making process.

Most modern businesses have an online presence, but often their e-commerce activities are disjointed. Shopify’s omnichannel POS solutions tie all facets of your business’s sales operations together: in-person, mobile, online and social media.

The products give you a single view of your inventory and order management, including local pickups, deliveries, returns and exchanges. You can also track your customers’ shopping across online platforms and in your store.

Shopify’s entry-level Basic plan is intended for solo practitioners, and the Shopify package is limited to five staff accounts, which means firms requiring more than five additional accounts have to opt for the more expensive Advanced plan, which supports up to 15 additional accounts and costs $299 a month, billed annually. That’s a big investment to make for some SMBs, even with Shopify’s offer of three days free and your first month of service for only $1.

The sweet spot for Shopify POS customers is an organization that needs no more than six accounts, which is the limit with the Shopify package that starts at $105 a month. Taking that big leap up to the Advanced plan gives you custom reports and analytics, added checkout capacity and lower transaction processing fees, but you still have to do without telephone support and pay an extra 0.6% in transaction fees for using a third-party payment processor.

Businesses that haven’t yet created a social media sales operation can risk falling behind their competitors, but they also don’t want to add complexity to their sales management or alienate potential social media customers with poor implementation.

Shopify helps you make the most of your online presence by integrating inventory and order management for in-person operations and e-commerce sales. The relatively high monthly prices for the company’s Shopify and Advanced plans are mitigated by their support for five and 15 additional accounts, respectively.

Value

Shopify eschews per-user monthly pricing in favor of POS plans that support multiple accounts. The company’s Advanced plan features lower per-transaction fees but charges an additional 0.6% for using a third-party payment processor. Shopify also charges $89 a month per location to upgrade from its POS Lite software to POS Pro, which offers faster workflows, added staff permission options and advanced inventory reporting.

Another example of Shopify’s give-and-take on costs is its offer of shipping discounts as high as 88% on DHL Express, UPS and U.S. Postal Service rates while adding a 1% transaction fee for Shopify-synced orders above 50 a month, up to a maximum of $99 per month. Shopify also scrimps on telephone support, which is available only to businesses that sign up for the high-end Plus plan that starts at $2,300 a month.

Functionality

Shopify products cover four key groups that can really leverage its tools to start and run a successful small business:

Startups get help building their brand, creating an online store and sourcing products to sell. They can also register a domain and have their site hosted by Shopify.

Merchants receive an integrated POS system with built-in links to back office operations, one-click checkouts and support for all popular payment methods, including credit cards and debit cards, digital wallets and cash.

Marketers can use Shopify services to boost their brand through content marketing, SEO, targeted ads and social media. Other marketing tools include email, live chat and lead-capture web forms.

Managers benefit from the products’ centralized order and inventory management, processing of returns and refunds, and integrated fulfillment through the Shopify Fulfillment Network. Other management tools include customizable workflow automations using Shopify Flow, prebuilt reports and live metrics that track traffic, reach, orders and revenue in real time.

Support

Shopify’s Basic, Shopify and Advanced plans are supported 24/7 by live chat (“enhanced live chat” with Advanced), while the company’s Plus package adds 24/7 telephone support. The Shopify Help Center features getting-started guides, information on migrating a store to Shopify, B2B sales advice and tips for managing payments and products.

Help is also available from the Shopify Community in the form of discussions, groups, events and a blog. The company lets you view the current status of its servers and lists maintenance, degraded service and outages for various service areas. Lastly, Shopify offers several free tools for businesses, including a logo maker, business name and domain name generators, a QR code generator and a purchase order template.

Learn more: Read our full Shopify review.

Our editorial team created our expert opinion scores. The expert score contributes to 10% of the data-focused methodology, which underpins our Blueprint rating for each company. The expert score combines first-person experience, subject matter expertise and extensive research to develop these metrics as another source of truth for readers during their decision-making process.

Erply’s POS systems are designed primarily for retailers, specifically chain stores, franchises and multi-store operations, where the company’s inventory expertise can be best put to use. The product is less useful for restaurants, even though the free POS software available from Erply includes table management, support for split tickets and kitchen order printing along with a handful of other restaurant-specific features.

The star of Erply’s POS lineup is its Inventory + Retail POS package, which supports two user accounts and manages suppliers, purchases, receiving and other inventory matters. Multi-store retailers can sign up for the company’s Franchise & Chain package, which features Franchise HQ and Chain HQ modules that create a master account that syncs information collected from all stores.

Small operations that don’t require inventory management can use the free version of Erply, which comes with a POS terminal, basic POS software, a mobile POS app and basic customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities. The company doesn’t post its credit card transaction fees but does state that it offers “the best rates for your business, starting at 2.2% plus $0.10 per transaction.”

As the plan’s name suggests, Erply’s Inventory + Retail plan makes POS an integral part of your store’s management of the entire product chain, from wholesaling invoices and supplier tracking to sales commission calculations and customer-facing displays.

The company’s Franchise + Chain package gives firms with multiple stores or locations a master account for monitoring the flow of information within and between each establishment. No other POS vendor we reviewed offers anything similar.

Value

Erply’s free POS package meets the needs of small sellers who don’t need to manage inventory, including mobile POS, a POS terminal and support for multiple payment processors. What you’ll have to do without on this plan is live chat and telephone support (email support only), sales reports and a customer database.

The company’s Inventory for E-commerce package integrates with Shopify but otherwise lacks POS hardware and software integrations. The best value of Erply’s POS systems is found in its plans for retailers that are looking for a single platform they can use to manage their suppliers and wholesalers, inventory and sales and marketing operations.

Businesses with one or a handful of locations can opt for Erply’s Inventory + Retail plan, which includes two user accounts, a POS with a user license, an inventory database and an advanced customer database. Bigger retail operations are the target market for the company’s Franchise & Chain package, which is priced based on a custom quote and features ERP integration. It also has an option for integrating with Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) systems.

Functionality

The four cloud retail plans sold by Erply are designed to meet the needs of four specific types of sellers. The company’s free plan has the tools small shops without inventory will need to accept customer payments, including a POS terminal, basic POS software, a mobile POS app and basic CRM. With this plan, you can send customers receipts through email and add a range of POS hardware from vendors such as Ingenico, Star and Birch.

E-commerce operations can manage products, inventory, suppliers and shipping by using the tools in Erply’s Inventory for E-commerce package, which includes a customizable document designer, mobile inventory management, packing lists, barcode labels and kitting for reduced shipping costs.

Retailers operating from one or a few locations will find all the functions they need for monitoring inventory, suppliers, customers and sales and marketing in the Inventory + POS solution that supports store credit systems, gift cards, promotions and coupons, quotes, sales orders, invoices and other sales management tasks.

If your company has expanded to franchise and chain status or plans to soon, you can sign up for Erply’s Franchise & Chain plan, which features master modules for monitoring all stores, multi-store POS, house accounts, project management and centralized purchasing and reporting. The package comes with a sandbox account, a dedicated service level agreement (SLA) and a dedicated account team.

Support

All Erply plans except the free offering provide telephone support from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. ET seven days a week. Users of all plans, including the free package, can submit their support questions to the company by email. Live chat support is available to customers in the U.S. In addition to the company’s offices in New York City and Providence, Rhode Island, it has locations in Canada, England, Australia, Singapore and Estonia.

The Erply site doesn’t include a knowledge base, but it does provide dozens of user manuals, resources for using the Erply API and information about its security and hosting operations.

Our editorial team created our expert opinion scores. The expert score contributes to 10% of the data-focused methodology, which underpins our Blueprint rating for each company. The expert score combines first-person experience, subject matter expertise and extensive research to develop these metrics as another source of truth for readers during their decision-making process.

E-tailers have plenty of options for creating an online store and populating it with their products and services. The missing ingredient is attracting web shoppers to your e-stablishment. This is where Lightspeed POS separates itself from the competition.

Not only does the company make it easy to start an e-commerce operation from scratch, it lets you connect an existing store to its system for managing inventory and orders while boosting your marketing efforts on social media and online marketplaces.

Lightspeed offers many useful POS features for brick-and-mortar retailers as well, including a variety of POS hardware options such as iPad POS kits and stands and mobile POS terminals. What Lightspeed doesn’t provide is a low-cost POS plan for very small businesses and startups. The company’s least-expensive package costs $89 a month and lacks e-commerce, accounting and advanced reporting features.

When you’re shopping for POS systems, it’s easy to get dazzled by the capabilities of the systems, but it can become equally as easy to get overwhelmed by their complexity. When you consider the impact of a POS crash, you start to appreciate the support you receive from a POS vendor such as Lightspeed.

The company provides 24-hour telephone support Monday through Friday (until 7 a.m. ET on Saturday), as well as extended hours on weekends. It also gives all accounts a dedicated account manager and plenty of training and onboarding resources.

Value

The relatively high prices of Lightspeed’s POS packages suggest that the products represent a value to businesses large enough to squeeze more productivity, efficiency and revenue out of the system’s many features and capabilities.

Small retailers with simple POS needs can find less expensive solutions that are also simpler to learn and use while still providing the features they require. These vendors are less likely to take advantage of Lightspeed’s B2B catalog for selling to other businesses, for example.

Lightspeed offers a 14-day free trial that includes unlimited access to all features. It also provides discounts on the monthly prices of its Lean, Standard and Advanced packages when you sign up for an annual contract. The value of Lightspeed’s POS software is enhanced by the many free tools from the company, which include social media templates, a guide to search engine optimization (SEO) for small businesses and a guide to retail key performance indicators (KPI).

Functionality

At the prices Lightspeed charges for its POS plans, you would expect the products to cover all the payment bases: support for a range of payment options, inventory management and payment processing. You might also anticipate having advanced reporting options for sales trends, more efficient inventory management and insights into customer behavior. Lightspeed checks all these boxes and even adds advanced marketing support and funding for your business through Lightspeed Capital.

The surprise comes when you find some expected POS features missing or limited in Lightspeed’s entry-level Lean and mid-range Standard plans. For example, all POS packages sold by the company include only a single register, and each added register increases the plan’s monthly price by $59. In addition, the Lean plan doesn’t include e-commerce or accounting, and neither Lean nor Advanced comes with advanced reporting or the company’s omnichannel loyalty program.

Support

Much of the value of Lightspeed’s POS systems for SMBs is the quality support the company offers. The more your operation relies on its POS tools, the more damaging an outage can be. Many retailers will find having 24-hour telephone support on weekdays and much of Saturdays and Sundays both a form of insurance and assurance. The company’s support staff can also be reached through live chat that’s accessible from your account’s main menu.

The Lightspeed Help Center is actually a collection of nine separate help centers, each of which focuses on a specific aspect of payment processing for restaurants, retail and e-commerce. The company provides community forums for retail, restaurants, e-commerce and on-site sales. It also has a POS buyer’s guide and information on calculating your sell-through rate, managing inventory and choosing retail accounting software.

Our editorial team created our expert opinion scores. The expert score contributes to 10% of the data-focused methodology, which underpins our Blueprint rating for each company. The expert score combines first-person experience, subject matter expertise and extensive research to develop these metrics as another source of truth for readers during their decision-making process.

Restaurants and retailers that want access to detailed analytics and reporting will appreciate the in-depth analyses delivered by NCR Voyix’s Aloha POS plans. The cloud-based reports available with Aloha Cloud and Aloha Essentials for restaurants make it easy to compare your business’ sales with its goals and forecasts and to anticipate the impact of changes in the weather on your sales.

Retail analytics are hosted by the Google Cloud Platform and include predictive analyses related to loss prevention, cash management and shoppers’ experiences.

Aloha POS software comes in two versions for restaurants — Cloud and Essentials — and one for retailers that services three groupings of stores: grocery, drug and mass merchandise; convenience, fuel and retail; and department and specialty retail. The company also provides digital banking services, but the banking operation appears to be separate from its POS services.

Staying ahead of the competition in the restaurant and retail industries requires taking advantage of every edge you can get. For many establishments, the best way to gain an edge is through the judicious application of technologies that include cloud-based POS.

Merchants looking to leverage the latest technological developments in POS should consider Aloha POS. The company’s systems convert the data they collect about your customers and your sales and other operations into insights that can help guide your business’ decision-making.

Value

Determining the value of Aloha POS services for small businesses is complicated by two factors. The first is the lack of any pricing information on the vendor’s site. You have to call the company’s sales office during business hours on Monday to Friday or complete its online contact form and wait for a response.

Our attempts to call the sales office on a Friday afternoon from the Pacific time zone required that we leave a message. Similarly, after we submitted the form requesting information, we didn’t receive a reply until the following business day.

The second complicating factor is the incomplete information about what POS hardware is included with the company’s various packages and how much the equipment that isn’t included costs.

For example, the page listing the features of Aloha POS’s restaurant plans states that they include “restaurant-grade hardware” and describes three options: a payment terminal from Equinox, a pin pad from Verifone and a countertop card reader with touchscreen from Verifone. It’s anybody’s guess which of these — if any — are bundled with the POS software.

Functionality

Aloha POS designs its solutions specifically for restaurants and retailers. The two restaurant plans are the stars of the show: Aloha Cloud meets the needs of front-of-house staff and back-of-house workers.

In addition to its advanced reporting and analytics, the package provides email marketing and loyalty programs, online ordering and payment processing. The Aloha Essentials plan adds support for off-premise operations and more restaurant management tools, including hundreds of third-party integrations.

The retail POS solution from Aloha POS includes self-checkout, an e-commerce platform, loyalty programs and store virtualization, which leverages the company’s Intelligent Edge technology to streamline your store’s IT operations and reduce overhead.

Other services offered by NCR Voyix include access to retail experts for help with your business’ modernization efforts and data resource management.

Support

Aloha Cloud comes with 24/7 live support, although the form of the support (telephone, live chat, etc.) isn’t explained. The company’s contact page lists telephone numbers for sales and support. When we called the support line, we were told that telephone support is available for Aloha Cloud at all times. You can also contact the company using the web form on its contact page.

The NCR Voyix support page provides articles on logging in to your account, accessing the company’s developer portal and using the online portal to pay invoices. There’s also information about NCR Voyix’s supplier partners and services, but the company doesn’t have a knowledge base or community forum for searching for information on your own.

Our editorial team created our expert opinion scores. The expert score contributes to 10% of the data-focused methodology, which underpins our Blueprint rating for each company. The expert score combines first-person experience, subject matter expertise and extensive research to develop these metrics as another source of truth for readers during their decision-making process.

Retailers need POS systems that work the way they do. It’s unlikely that any POS solution will be ready to go right out of the box. We like the many options that Korona POS gives businesses looking for highly customizable POS software. They can set employee roles for cashiers, inventory management and sales functions and arrange their customer-facing display to show videos and images of products on sale or promote their loyalty program.

Korona POS has solutions designed to meet the needs of specific retail operations. Among these are dispensaries and liquor stores, which feature age-verification tools and integrated state compliance for dispensaries.

POS software is also available for event management, which includes integrated inventory management and ticket sales. However, the only eateries supported by Korona POS’s basic plans are bakeries and coffee shops (the Korona Food add-on for full-service restaurants costs an additional $10 a month per terminal).

You don’t really get the full benefit of your store’s POS system until it has been fine-tuned to give it the look and functionality that matches your way of doing business. Korona POS is the best because it goes further than most other POS vendors to deliver the tools and options that make each customer’s system as close to a perfect fit as possible. This allows your shop’s POS to blend in smoothly with your workflows and decor.

Value

Korona POS takes a cafeteria approach to pricing that charges a flat monthly fee of $59 for the Core package and $69 for the Retail plan, and then lets customers add the options they need. The add-ons are priced from $10 a month per terminal for invoicing to $50 a month per terminal for ticketing.

This approach can save small retailers with simple POS needs money over competing POS vendors, but it can also drive up the bill for businesses looking for a comprehensive, all-in-one solution.

Unlike other POS system providers, Korona POS doesn’t give customers a discount on the monthly fee when they sign up for a year, but the company bends over backwards to make sure you’re happy with your purchase. First, it offers an “unlimited” free trial, which we assume means unlimited features rather than unlimited time. Then it provides a 60-day money-back guarantee. Korona POS wraps it up by requiring no long-term contracts.

Functionality

The Core plan from Korona POS is the baseline designed to serve as your store’s POS platform. The package supports unlimited users and sales, checkout functions, e-commerce, a product database and promotions and gift cards. It features a customizable dashboard, reporting features and manager tools.

Korona POS’s Retail offering adds inventory management, supplier interface integration, price and shelf labels and order automation.

You can add any of six optional modules to the Core and Retail plans. Korona Food’s features for full-service restaurants include server and table management, menu creation, item transfers and ticket splitting. Korona Plus costs $20 a month per terminal and meets the needs of multi-store operations.

Korona Invoicing is priced at $10 a month per terminal and can be used for quotes, rentals and collective invoices. Admission-based businesses can add Korona Ticketing for $50 a month per terminal. Korona Franchise costs $30 a month per franchise and supports international firms. Korona Integrations, which costs $45 a month per token, is intended for businesses needing custom integration development.

Support

All Korona POS plans come with 24/7 support by telephone and email. The company also provides a personalized training demo conducted by a product specialist, as well as help with the installation of the POS hardware you use along with Korona POS’s software.

Other support resources include a POS manual, ebooks and video tutorials. Notably, the company doesn’t have a knowledge base or community forum.

Our editorial team created our expert opinion scores. The expert score contributes to 10% of the data-focused methodology, which underpins our Blueprint rating for each company. The expert score combines first-person experience, subject matter expertise and extensive research to develop these metrics as another source of truth for readers during their decision-making process.

Lightspeed boasts that its restaurant POS systems are “powering the world’s best restaurants.” The company’s focus on fine dining establishments is clear from the restaurant management tools included with its midrange Essential package and high-end Premium plan. These include advanced inventory management, pre-authorized bar tabs and tableside payments. The plans come with a selection of POS hardware.

Lightspeed POS solutions integrate with dozens of services for online ordering, digital menus, reservations and deliveries. However, Lightspeed may not be the best choice for all restaurants, although the company promotes its services for quick-service establishments, cafes, bars, breweries and hotels. Single restaurants with more modest POS needs can find more affordable POS systems from vendors such as Square.

One big reason why Lightspeed Restaurant POS has grabbed such a big share of the market is performance. The company states that its platform is so fast that orders from servers are delivered to back-of-house staff 40% faster than with competing POS systems. Faster orders make for happier customers and quicker table turnover, both of which translate into increased revenue for restaurant owners.

Value

Lightspeed Restaurant POS is more expensive than most of the other POS vendors we reviewed. Its entry-level Starter plan, which costs $69 a month, lacks online ordering, contactless ordering and the ability to submit orders and take payments at the table.

Most restaurants will extract more value from Lightspeed’s Essential and Premium packages, priced at $189 a month and $399 a month, respectively. Among the cost-saving and revenue-enhancing features of Essential are the ability to track inventory in real time and replenish automatically and to get a bird’s eye view of the restaurant’s performance from any location.

The value of the company’s Premium plan comes from its feature for managing multiple revenue and cost centers in a single window. For restaurants with multiple locations, this can be a fantastic tool to have.

Functionality

Lightspeed presents itself as a POS system that benefits restaurant patrons and staff in ways that improve the dining experience for everyone. Optimized menus and ordering options get orders placed faster and more accurately. Customer-facing displays and kitchen display systems (KDS) simplify workflows and give patrons a clear view of their order, including item details, subtotal, tax percentage and total in addition to the final price.

The company’s Starter package is intended for single establishments. It comes with a menu manager and floor plans, integrated payments, takeout and delivery, but it excludes online ordering, contactless ordering and tableside orders and payments, so if your establishment is more than dine-in only, you’ll need to tier up.

Essential adds these features as well as the Lightspeed Live app that gives managers a view of their restaurant’s operation from anywhere. Essential also has advanced inventory management and multi-location management.

We think large restaurant chains and franchises will benefit most from Lightspeed’s Premium package, which lets businesses negotiate transaction processing rates and manage as many revenue and cost centers as the business requires.

Lightspeed’s POS hardware for restaurants includes an iPad hardware kit with a receipt printer, cash drawer, stand and kitchen printer. Individual items are handheld terminals from Verifone, Epson receipt printers and Mobile Tap contactless card reader for iOS devices.

Support

Quality support is a part of Lightspeed’s reputation, and the company lives up to that by offering 24-hour telephone support from Monday to Friday and during extended hours on weekends. The company offers 24/7 live chat support as well as email support that promises a reply for most requests within 24 to 48 hours.

Lightspeed provides Help Centers for each of its POS product lines, including Restaurant POS-K, Restaurant POS-L and Restaurant POS-U. The Lightspeed Community includes a section for restaurant owners and managers. The company also gives restaurants access to free guides and tools such as business plan templates and a food cost estimator.

Our editorial team created our expert opinion scores. The expert score contributes to 10% of the data-focused methodology, which underpins our Blueprint rating for each company. The expert score combines first-person experience, subject matter expertise and extensive research to develop these metrics as another source of truth for readers during their decision-making process.

Whether your business is just getting off the ground or is an established neighborhood institution, one thing you likely don’t have is a lot of spare time. PayPal POS is best for stores and services that want to get their payment processing sorted out quickly, securely and affordably. The company doesn’t charge a monthly fee, so businesses pay only per-transaction fees that vary based on payment type.

PayPal POS doesn’t offer POS systems for restaurants, and its POS hardware options and third-party integrations are much more limited than solutions sold by competing POS vendors. However, businesses that can do without these and other extras can trust that their PayPal POS system will accept the payment types their customers prefer, whether they’re in-store, online or at any location within range of a WiFi signal or cell network.

PayPal is a name businesses and consumers have come to trust. No retailer or service business wants to risk the security of its customers’ financial information to a company without a track record.

Along with the peace of mind PayPal offers, you get a basic-but-functional POS system that installs quickly and simply using your phone or other handheld device. On top of strong security and speedy implementation, you benefit by not having to pay a monthly fee or commit to a lengthy contract.

Value

Even without a monthly fee, you can’t be sure PayPal POS represents value for your business unless you calculate your expected per-transaction fees for credit card and debit card payments. That can be a little tricky with the many different rates PayPal charges based on the type of transaction, especially for stores that rely on international sales.

For example, the rate for standard credit cards and debit cards is 2.99% plus a fixed fee of $0.49 in the U.S. and different rates in other currencies. QR code transactions are charged 2.29% plus the same fixed fee by country, and PayPal Checkout and Guest Checkout, Venmo and other commercial transactions are charged 3.49% plus the same fixed fee by country.

High-volume sellers are most likely to find better deals on their credit card transaction fees from POS vendors such as Helcim and National Processing, which offer interchange-plus rates.

Functionality

PayPal POS isn’t quite a plain-vanilla solution, but nor is it a 32-flavors provider. Stores are able to accept payments by Tap to Pay and other contactless methods using the PayPal Zettle app that runs on iOS and Android devices. PayPal POS can be used to monitor stock levels for products, set prices and add items to your product catalog. You can view sales reports that show your best-selling items and other sales activity.

The hardware options accompanying your PayPal POS are limited to a $29 card reader, a $199 handheld POS terminal and a collection of accessories, including receipt printers and a cash drawer. PayPal Zettle sells a series of POS store kits priced from $249 to $699. The integrations available for PayPal POS are QuickBooks, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, the SalesVU cloud-based ERP system and Hike POS software.

Support

The PayPal Merchant Support Center can be reached by telephone from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. CT, Monday to Friday. The company’s contact page lets you chat with the PayPal Assistant bot or leave a message for an agent. The page also links to the PayPal community, where you can post a question, and to the company’s resolution center to resolve issues related to transactions and accounts.

Self-help resources from PayPal include a knowledge base, tax center and site status page.

Our editorial team created our expert opinion scores. The expert score contributes to 10% of the data-focused methodology, which underpins our Blueprint rating for each company. The expert score combines first-person experience, subject matter expertise and extensive research to develop these metrics as another source of truth for readers during their decision-making process.