The 5 Best POS Systems for Small Businesses in Canada

When choosing a POS system suitable for a small business, it’s important to find a balance between price and functionality. Bearing this in mind, we awarded SpotOn the top spot in our ranking of the best POS systems for small businesses in Canada. A relative newcomer – it’s only been around for eight years – it’s creating stirs in the industry with its free plan that includes both hardware and software.

This makes it the most affordable POS solution for small businesses, bumping Square – which has a free software plan but still charges for hardware – down to second place.

In 2024, POS systems are for far more than just taking payments. At their core, they help businesses run smoothly by tracking orders and inventory, and even by facilitating marketing through loyalty programs. They’re an essential part of any small business’s tool kit, from restaurants and coffee shops to convenience and apparel stores. So, along with SpotOn, here are four of the best:

The Best POS Systems for Small Businesses in Canada: Side-by-side Comparison

Here’s a quick summary of what you’ll get for your money with each POS system:

1. SpotOn: Best for Simplifying Staff Scheduling and Communication

Price from: $0 per month software and hardware, $99-$135 per month (premium software only)

Key features

• Free plan that includes hardware (pay through transaction fees)
• Cloud-based platform (view data from anywhere)
• Automatic offline functionality
• $1,000 one-off setup and onsite training fee
• App for managing shifts, tips, and payroll

SpotOn is the best POS system for staff scheduling, thanks to its proprietary “Teamwork” app. It integrates seamlessly with the POS system, and acts as a unified platform for shift and tip management, payroll administration, labor costs projection, and employee communication.

You’ll get access to the Teamwork app on the $99 per month Counter-service and $135 per month Full-service plans, but you’ll need to pay for it as an add-on on the free Quickstart plan.

This doesn’t mean you’re getting a sore deal with the Quickstart plan. It’s a free POS solution that offers both software and hardware, payed for in slightly high transaction fees. We haven’t found anything like it in the industry.

SpotOn’s also has some nifty features. There’s a drag-and-drop function for bill splitting, making it easy to assign items to specific customers, and the system can generate reports in charts and graphs form, for clear visualization.

However, it doesn’t have the most extensive hardware selection, which is limited to two countertop terminals and a handheld POS device. KDSs are available through SpotOn’s partnership with Fresh KDS, but that’s it. And, while SpotOn offers onsite training for both you and your employees, this and the setup costs will set you back around $1,000.

2. Square for Retail: Best All-around Retail POS System

Price from: $0-$79 per month for software only, plus custom plan

Key features

• Free software plan (does not include hardware costs)
• Tablet-based software app
• Retail specific package
• Wide range of hardware (from terminals to barcode scanners)
• Free online store builder

Square for Retail is the best POS system for small retail businesses. It’s managed to stay on our list for several years thanks to its integrated free retail POS software and free online store builder.

Free doesn’t mean substandard with Square. Its free POS software plan comes with premium features such as multi-site stock tracking, employee management for up to five members (shift tracking and scheduling), and customizable gift card creation. And if you sell online via a Square online store, you’ll be able to seamlessly track orders and sales across platforms.

You’ll still have to pay for equipment, since hardware isn’t included in the free plan, unlike with SpotOn. However, since Square is a tablet-based POS system, if you already own an iPad, you could limit your purchases to the $69 Square reader, or the $249 iPad stand with a built-in reader.

Square is also a scalable option. As your business grows, you can upgrade to the $79 per month Plus plan, or even the custom plan, and get access to advanced inventory management and reporting features, such as stock forecasting (recommendations on what to reorder), supplier management, and profit forecasting.

There is a limit to Square’s scalability. The reporting tools on the Plus might not be able to manage more than three locations, so you’d be quickly forced into unknown pricing territory with the custom plan. Square’s transaction fees are also quite high, at 2.6% even on the paid Plus plan, which could eat into your profits.

3. Toast: Best for Established Restaurants with Complex Operations

Price from: $120-$220 per month for software and hardware, plus custom plan

Key features

• Dedicated restaurant POS system
• Available through hardware and an Android app
• Extensive cost management features
• Online and mobile ordering (paid add-on)

Toast is the best POS system for restaurants with complex operations because it has a large array of inventory and profit management tools. These include food and recipe cost management, low stock alerts, and kitchen productivity reporting (only available on the Essentials plan).

The $120 per month Starter plan is better value for money than the $220 per month Essentials plan, since both plans have almost exactly the same features. The main difference between the two is that the Essentials plan comes with a handheld POS device and a KDS, as opposed to just a POS terminal.

Whichever hardware kit you choose, you should rest easy knowing that, since Toast is engineered for restaurants, all its hardware is built to withstand heat, grease, and spills.

You can also take your restaurant online with online and mobile ordering, using Toast’s delivery services and takeout app, a recent addition to its Canadian suite. However, this is an add-on, so it costs extra, and Toast isn’t transparent about how much add-ons cost. Other useful add-ons whose price isn’t disclosed include employee scheduling, gift card creation, and built-in integrations.

Given its high starting price and the fact that you might need to pay extra for features like marketing or scheduling, Toast is on the expensive side when it comes to restaurant POS systems. So, if you’ve got a simple menu, you’ll do better with SpotOn.

4. Clover: Best for Professional Hardware

Pricing: Custom (monthly plans for hardware and software, or upfront hardware purchases)

Key features

• Cloud-based (access data from anywhere)
• Custom POS hardware and software packages
• Low transaction fees
• Fingertip login
• Wide range of hardware (from terminals to barcode scanners)

Clover is the best EPOS system for small businesses seeking professional hardware that can handle any environment, from retail stores to coffee shops and restaurants.

The most popular piece of kit is the Clover Station Duo, which is a countertop POS terminal that comes with an employee and customer-facing screen, a card machine, and a cash drawer. It’s got a sleek design and responsive touch-screen, and fingerprint login, so your staff can quickly enter in orders. You can also customize the customer display and use it to show off promotional items.

Another popular item is the Clover Flex, a small handheld POS device that can be used on its own, or paired with larger Clover terminals. It’s especially great for serving customers on the shop or restaurant floor.

Clover’s unified cloud-based system can be used to track inventory, profits, and employee performance across multiple locations. We also found it quite easy to use, despite its advanced features such as stock alerts and profit tracking.

The system is, however, missing a key tool for restaurants. It has no automated tip sharing, a feature you can get with Toast. Additionally, Clover’s opaque pricing can understandably put some small business owners off.

Clover used to advertise its pricing for Canada, but now only does so for the US market. Based on the US prices, we’d say it’s in the same range as Toast, so, on the expensive side. To offset this, Clover has cheap processing fees, around 1.0% + 10¢ per transaction, far less than SpotOn or Square’s fees.

5. Epos Now: Best for New and Small Retail Businesses

Price from: $1,499 upfront software and hardware fee ($799 in recurring sale)

Key features

• Available through hardware and IOS, Android, PC, and Mac
• No monthly costs, one upfront payment
• Extensive range of hardware and accessories
• Cost & profit management tools
• Accessible back office from the POS terminal

Epos Now is a great POS system for new or small, single-location retail stores, since you can get access to its hardware and software for one upfront fee, with no recurring monthly costs. While the $1,499 price tag on Epos Now’s POS kit might seem like a lot, the provider basically has a permanent sale on, which means what you’ll actually pay is closer to $799 (equivalent of $50 per month – but for just 16 months).

Epos Now’s terminal is a 15.6-inch HD touchscreen, with a large customer display, so everything is clearly visible. There’s also a host of accessories available, such as barcode scanners, card machines, and receipt printers, making it a one-stop shop for small businesses just setting up.

However, in our testing, we found that Epos Now was slightly more difficult to use than its competitors, so it might not be the best option for businesses with zero previous POS experience. To circumvent this, Epos Now does offer personalized unlimited training, at no extra cost, unlike SpotOn.

The system also doesn’t come with built-in marketing tools, unlike Square, although it does integrate with apps like MailChimp and Loyalzoo. On the flip side, you can get access to advanced inventory management tools, such as detailed product categorization and barcode scanner management at no extra cost, with Epos Now, whereas with Square, these features are only available on the $79 per month Plus plan.

How to Choose a POS System for Your Small Business

Here’s what you should consider:

1. Price and budget: work out how much you’re willing to and can spend, and whether you want to go with a system that has monthly fees, or want to spend more on one upfront purchase. Some POS providers also handle payments, so take a lot at their transaction fees, as these can eat into profits overtime.
2. Core software functions: consider what tasks you want your POS system to perform for you, whether you’re willing to pay more for certain features, and what ones you can do without.
3. Hardware: if you have existing hardware that you’d like to keep, make sure your new POS system is compatible with it. Additionally, check the provider’s hardware offering, and make sure it can supply you with almost everything you need
4. Ease-of-use: how easy a system is to use id quite subjective, and highly depends on you and your team’s experience. If you’re inexperienced, it’s more important to pick a POS system that has a reputation for being simple to operate

How We Test POS Systems

To bring you this list, the Expert Market team researched and tested 16 different POS systems, and evaluated them based on how closely they met the needs of the average small business.

Using our in-house scoring system, we generated an overall score for each POS system based on the following:

• Software functionality: the breadth of features included in the POS software, and how valuable they are to the average small business
• Hardware/equipment: the variety of equipment available to purchase or rent, with special importance given to key items, such as KDS, receipt printers, and barcode scanners
• Ease-of-use: how easy the system is to use, navigate, and customize
• Help and support: how effective and reachable the customer support teams are, with bonus points given to EPOS systems with help centres and training modes
• Costs: the price of the system, how it compares to competitors, and whether it’s good value for money

We gave each EPOS system a score in each category and combined them to produce an overall score, which was used to rank them.