Small business owners, don’t get left behind! Learn how you can get one of the best Point of Sale software for your small business that is free and won’t break your bank account. Includes features and pricing that will ensure that your small business has a way to operate and succeed.
In this post, I will be taking you on a journey to know the best features in your next POS software purchase.
Lightspeed Retail: Best for Inventory Management
Overall Score: 4.13 OUT OF 5 i
- Detailed inventory and analytics tools
- Robust ecommerce platform
- 24/7 support and onboarding
- Expensive for small businesses
- User interface hard to navigate
Lightspeed Retail Pricing
- Monthly software fees: $69–$199 paid annually, or $79 – $239 paid monthly. Fees are higher if you opt out of Lightspeed Payments.
- Additional registers: $29 per month
- Payment processing: 2.6% + 10 cents per transaction
- Operates on iPads and desktops
- 14-day free trial
Though not on this list, Lightspeed Restaurant is our recommended POS for quick-service restaurants.Read Full ReviewVisit Lightspeed Retail
Lightspeed Retail is the best POS system for product management, especially for businesses with large or complex inventories and specialty shops needing to manage custom orders. The software lets retailers create product bundles, categorize with multiple variants, and manage purchase orders with a built-in catalog. Lightspeed also offers one of the most sophisticated analytics platforms for small businesses with customizable dashboards and reports, along with insights into what each metric means.
Lightspeed earned a 4.13 out of 5 in our evaluation. Lightspeed scored very highly for management tools, register functions, and customer support. However, pricey subscription plans and add-ons resulted in a low pricing score, which dragged down Lightspeed’s overall score. While Lightspeed starts at $69 per month, its best features, including analytics, loyalty, and ecommerce require more expensive plans.
In the News: Lightspeed Acquisitions
Within the last year, Lightspeed POS has acquired ShopKeep (Nov. 5, 2020), Upserve (Dec. 1, 2020), and Vend POS systems (March 11, 2021).
Lightspeed’s granular inventory control is ideal for businesses with lots of SKUs, varients, bundled products, or custom orders. Swipe to see more Lightspeed Retail features. (Source: Lightspeed)
Lightspeed Retail offers a powerful POS for managing in-store and online sales. Swipe to see more Lightspeed Retail features. (Source: Lightspeed)
Build an ecommerce website that’s integrated with your POS system, including synced stock control and order management. Swipe to see more Lightspeed Retail features. (Source: Lightspeed)
Lightspeed offers some of the most powerful analytics available to small shops. Swipe to see more Lightspeed Retail features. (Source: Lightspeed)
Run Lightspeed on a tablet, laptop, or desktop computer. Lightspeed’s integrated payment processing with contactless options and wireless Bluetooth barcode scanner makes checkout a breeze. Swipe to see more Lightspeed Retail features. (Source: Lightspeed)
Design and manage your ecommerce website from your Lightspeed dashboard. Choose from mobile-responsive themes and upload inventory in one-click. Swipe to see more Lightspeed Retail features. (Source: Lightspeed)Lightspeed’s granular inventory control is ideal for businesses with lots of SKUs, varients, bundled products, or custom orders. Swipe to see more Lightspeed Retail features. (Source: Lightspeed)Lightspeed Retail offers a powerful POS for managing in-store and online sales. Swipe to see more Lightspeed Retail features. (Source: Lightspeed)Build an ecommerce website that’s integrated with your POS system, including synced stock control and order management. Swipe to see more Lightspeed Retail features. (Source: Lightspeed)Lightspeed offers some of the most powerful analytics available to small shops. Swipe to see more Lightspeed Retail features. (Source: Lightspeed)Run Lightspeed on a tablet, laptop, or desktop computer. Lightspeed’s integrated payment processing with contactless options and wireless Bluetooth barcode scanner makes checkout a breeze. Swipe to see more Lightspeed Retail features. (Source: Lightspeed)Design and manage your ecommerce website from your Lightspeed dashboard. Choose from mobile-responsive themes and upload inventory in one-click. Swipe to see more Lightspeed Retail features. (Source: Lightspeed)Lightspeed’s granular inventory control is ideal for businesses with lots of SKUs, varients, bundled products, or custom orders. Swipe to see more Lightspeed Retail features. (Source: Lightspeed)
Lightspeed Retail Features
- Inventory management: Bulk upload up to 10,000 SKUs at once, manage variants, create bundles, and track unit costs, layaways, and special orders. Streamline purchase orders with built-in product catalog and low-stock alerts. Lightspeed has the most sophisticated integrated product ordering on this list, largely because of the built-in supplier network.
- Supplier Network: Retailers can discover products, submit purchase orders, and track stock shipments from within Lightspeed POS.
- Reporting and analytics: Lightspeed offers the most powerful analytics platform available at a small-business-friendly price. It includes over 40 built-in reports, allows retailers to build custom reports and view data in visual forms like graphs and charts, and offers tips on how to interpret the data.
- Marketing: Lightspeed has a built-in loyalty program. Create a tiered rewards system for both in-store and online purchases, send one-time deals for birthdays or to VIP customers, and design emails with templates or a drag-and-drop builder.
- Ecommerce: Lightspeed Ecommerce syncs with POS data, offers over 50 professional themes, and includes full shipping and order management tools, marketing, CRM, and SEO features.
What Lightspeed Is Missing
Lightspeed has a lot of functionality, and its ease of use suffers because of it. It’s best suited for countertop registers and checkout processes that can benefit from attaching customers to sales. If you need a snappy mobile POS, consider Square or Shopify for a simpler user interface.
BEST VALUEeHopper
Inexpensive software with everything a small business owner needs to run a company.Pros
- Most affordable POS system
- Built-in inventory management
- Works with most tablets
Cons
- No gift card management
- Credit card processing fees charged to customers
For nearly 15 years, eHopper has provided an affordable alternative to pricey POS software. Its low-cost plans give entrepreneurs access to customer and inventory management tools, making it a clear winner in our best value category.
The eHopper POS system offers four plans, all of which include integrated credit card processing features. Currently, the merchant fees are passed to customers via a surcharge. With all versions, you’ll get features like:
- Inventory management
- Print or email receipts
- Tip management
- Reporting options
- Customer management
Each of the four plans provides extra features, and the cost covers one POS system. The four programs are:
- Essential: The free plan helps you easily adjust inventory, manage customer accounts, or create barcode labels for your products.
- Freedom: For $29.99 a month, you get employee time tracking options, low stock alerts, and QuickBooks integrations.
- Restaurant: It’s $39.99 a month for menu building, table management, and floor planning tools, along with standard POS features.
- OmniChannel: The regular cost is $49.99. This plan adds loyalty, e-commerce, and enables Meta sales.
With eHopper, you can use existing hardware or Android tablets, iPads, Windows PCs, and Poynt terminals. But, eHopper offers a variety of hardware options for sale, including:
- Hardware bundles
- Thermal printers
- Cash drawers
- Credit card terminals
- Scanners
- Tablets
- Stands and accessories
You won’t get many integrations with eHopper, but you can add an additional loyalty package to your plan. You can call, initiate a support ticket, or chat with customer service for help with your POS system. The company also offers an online knowledge base.
BEST FOR RESTAURANTSTouchBistro
TouchBistro supplies restaurateurs with cloud-based analytics to boost their food and beverage sales.Pros
- iPad POS system
- Integrated credit card processing
- Easy-to-use interface
Cons
- Must use mostly Apple products
- Customer support isn’t always responsive.
In business since 2010, TouchBistro offers software designed specifically for the restaurant industry. TouchBistro is our top pick for the best restaurant POS system with restaurant inventory management tools and restaurant-specific hardware.
TouchBistro POS software licenses start at $69 per month. With a TouchBistro system, you’ll get various tools and features to support your operations, such as:
- Intuitive touch controls for table management
- Remote menu management
- Add recipes to manage inventory costs
- Access data and reports via the cloud portal
You can add services to get more from your restaurant POS, which are available through TouchBistro, including:
- Reservations system for $229 per month
- Online ordering for $50 a month
- A gift card program for $25 per month
Choose your own hardware or buy from TouchBistro’s hardware partners for equipment such as:
- iPad
- Apple Mac Mini computer
- Apple TV
- AmpliFi MeshPoint HD
- Kitchen and thermal printers
- Cash drawers
- Networking hardware
- iPad stands
- Payment devices
TouchBistro integrates with many popular programs, including QuickBooks, Sage, and 7Shifts.
If you run into problems, TouchBistro provides plenty of self-service options. You can also contact them via email, chat, and 24/7 phone support.
BEST FOR RETAILVend
Trusted retail software that your employees will learn how to use in minutes.Pros
- No limits on products
- Works offline (Limited functions)
- Simple interface
Cons
- Lite plan has a $20,000 turnover limit
- Gets costly when adding registers
Founded in 2010, Vend is a reliable provider of POS systems that are easy to use and compatible with many equipment types. With advanced inventory management and analytics, Vend wins our best POS system for retail.
Vend offers three plans that cover one register and one location. All versions give you features that are easy to use and support your retail operations, such as:
- Real-time inventory management
- Unlimited products and employees
- Customizable receipts for email or print
- Total cash management
- Inventory control levels
- Easy-to-personalize reports
- A mobile dashboard
While the Lite plan has a monthly turnover limit of $20,000, the other programs are unlimited. It’ll cost you $49 a month for an extra register when paid yearly or $59 with monthly payments. Your plan options include:
- Lite: For $99 when paid annually or $119 for monthly payments, this version contains all standard features and small business analytics.
- Pro: It’s $129 per month when paid yearly, or $159 with monthly payments, for advanced reporting, e-commerce options, and gift card features.
- Enterprise: Call for a custom quote for an enterprise plan that offers a dedicated account manager and onboarding program.
You can choose from tons of hardware options or use your existing equipment. Vend offers bundles, and you can use Mac or Windows systems. This POS software integrates with nearly all credit card processing companies, along with top retail programs like:
- QuickBooks Online
- Xero
- WooCommerce
- BigCommerce
- Shopify
- Mailchimp
Get the customer service your retail store needs with Vend’s responsive support systems, including 24/7 online or in-app live chat support, email, phone center, plus a full knowledge base.
Clover: Best for Connecting an Existing Merchant Account
Overall Score: 3.79 OUT OF 5 i
- Choose your own payment processor
- Flexible POS features
- Inexpensive software
- Hardware is tied to merchant account – can’t switch processors
- Little oversight of clover resellers
Clover Pricing*
- Monthly fee: $9.95+
- Card reader: $69
- Card-present transactions: 2.7% + 10 cents
- Keyed-in transactions: 3.5% + 10 cents
- No free trial
*Pricing from Clover website. Available at different rates through resellers and other merchant service providers.Read Full ReviewVisit Clover
Clover is a POS app that operates a little differently than the others on this list. It runs on proprietary Clover hardware and comes pre-programmed with merchant services on it. Clover is made and sold by Fiserv; however, there are also many Clover resellers, including many popular merchant services. So, you can choose your payment processor and purchase Clover POS from them.
This setup is ideal for businesses looking to upgrade from a cash register and want to stick with their current merchant account. In our evaluation, Clover earned a 3.79 out of 5 with fairly average scores across the board. Like Square, Clover offers POS solutions specifically for retail, restaurants, and service providers. It also offers a popular mobile card reader, which earned a spot on our list of the best mobile processors and the best POS mobile apps.
The biggest drawback to Clover is that your prices and overall experience can vary widely depending on where you purchase the system and your agreement terms.
Clover Station Pro adds on a customer-facing display for a full countertop POS solution. (Source: Clover)
Clover has a popular mobile app and card reader called Clover Go. (Source: Clover)
Similar to Square Terminal, Clover also offers a handheld POS and payment processor. (Source: Clover)
Clover Mini is a small-footprint countertop POS that can be programmed for retail, restaurant, and quick-service functions. (Source: Clover)
Clover Station is a larger countertop POS for retail, restaurant, and quickservice. (Source: Clover)Clover Station Pro adds on a customer-facing display for a full countertop POS solution. (Source: Clover)Clover has a popular mobile app and card reader called Clover Go. (Source: Clover)Similar to Square Terminal, Clover also offers a handheld POS and payment processor. (Source: Clover)Clover Mini is a small-footprint countertop POS that can be programmed for retail, restaurant, and quick-service functions. (Source: Clover)Clover Station is a larger countertop POS for retail, restaurant, and quickservice. (Source: Clover)Clover Station Pro adds on a customer-facing display for a full countertop POS solution. (Source: Clover)
Clover Features
- Mobile POS: Clover Go has several iterations for iOS and Android. In addition to the mobile app and card reader, it comes with a web-based dashboard to monitor sales, customer, employee, and inventory reports.
- Customer management: Like Square, Clover lets you set up customer profiles from payment methods. Track customer sales histories, names, and birthdays, and save photos so you can greet customers by name. Also similar to Square, Clover has reward and loyalty programs you can add on, and the ability to collect customer feedback through digital receipts.
- Employee management: Enter unlimited employees and set permissions to limit access to what each worker needs for their job. Clover also includes the free version of Homebase (our favorite employee scheduling software).
- Apps and add-ons: Clover has over 200 apps and add-on integrations available to meet just about any business need. Popular categories include inventory management, accounting, employee scheduling, online sales, and invoicing.
What Clover Is Missing
Through Clover’s extensive app market, you can add on just about any feature. So, in that sense, it is not really missing anything. However, it lacks native invoicing functions and its inventory tracking is fairly limited, with no low-stock alerts. For these features, check Lightspeed or Square.
However, the biggest reason to choose a Clover alternative is if you do not already have a merchant account that you are happy with. If that is the case, it would be easier to choose a POS with built-in processing like Square, Lightspeed, Shopify, or Toast. While the rates might not be the lowest on the market, you have the simplicity of only dealing with one tech company. And, most POS systems now offer volume discounts so you can save on transaction fees as you grow.
Conclusion
A few weeks ago, when I needed to introduce costs for my small business, I googled “point of sale software fre” and began reviewing the choices in order to choose one. And my reaction was: oh, my GOD! There are so many! And I spent couple of days looking at various POS programs. Some were free, some weren’t free, but they were all too complicated for me. These tools here, are the best out there!