The Best Retail POS Systems for US Businesses

Square is the best POS system for retail, according to our research and testing. It offers free, retail-specific POS software, affordable yet stylish hardware, paid plans geared towards growing businesses and a free online store builder. This makes it the most scalable and best value-for-money POS system we’ve looked at.

That said, larger retail businesses looking for advanced customer engagement and retention tools might find that Clover or Shopify are better fits than Square.

We know that modern retail POS systems aren’t just for managing stock and monitoring sales, but are also used to improve marketing and connect online and in-person sales. That’s why we took those features and more into account when evaluating retail POS systems.

The Best Retail POS Systems: At a Glance

Check out the table below for a quick overview of the POS systems for retail stores, and keep reading for detailed reviews of each.

1. Square: Best All-around Retail POS System

Square has a dedicated retail POS system, which includes a completely free software plan that’s a great option for new businesses, and affordable paid plans with more advanced features for established stores.

Why we recommend Square for retail

Square’s free POS plan is a great place to start if you’re a new or small retail business. You’ll be able to easily add existing products by scanning their barcodes and inputting their details, or import them in bulk if you prefer. Plus, you’ll get access to core tools like exchange and refund management.

Square also has an excellent free online store builder, which syncs with the POS system, allowing one to manage in-store and online sales from the same interface. You can even allow customers to schedule in-store pickups for online orders with this tool.

You’ll need to pay $89 per month for more comprehensive retail features, such as advanced inventory tools and reporting, and multi-location management. This is still fairly affordable compared with other POS systems. Shopify, for example, charges $89 per month, per location, making it more expensive than Square if you have more than one store.

Square also has some of the most affordable hardware on the market, with card readers starting from $59, and its iPad POS stand is available for $149. The latter offers integrated contactless and chip payment options to use with an iPad (not included) and Square’s iPad-based POS system, plus a swiveling design for customer-facing transactions.

Meanwhile, its countertop kits start at $579, whereas you’d be paying $1,799 for Clover’s equivalent.

Our experience with Square

We found Square generally very easy to use. The backend was quite intuitive, and we had no trouble creating menus or listing items. We appreciated the search function, which helped us find tools quickly.

However, we did struggle with more demanding tasks, such as adding discounts at checkout. It took a little digging in the checkout menu to find this function, since it wasn’t clearly visible on the main checkout screen. We also found the process of cancelling orders and adding staff accounts to be overly complicated.

When it comes to hardware, we tested the Square Terminal, its portable POS device, and card machine. While it was easy to access inventory and process payments from the device, we did have issues with the physical design. The card machine was quite wide, so it wasn’t easy to hold in one hand, making it better suited to countertops.

Square’s shortcomings

Although it is a fairly versatile POS system, capable of handling both small and medium-sized retail operations, it does have its limits.

Its profit management tools aren’t extensive, for example, which could be an issue for businesses taking lots of payments at multiple locations. Shopify has a better set of tools to help businesses manage multi-channel and multi-location sales, including online orders.

There’s also no training mode for employees. This might not be an issue, since Square was one of the easiest systems to use that we tested. But if you have a large staff team and need to get them up to speed quickly, you might benefit from a system like Lightspeed Retail, which does allow for training.

Lastly, Square’s card processing fees are a tad on the expensive side, at 2.6% + $0.15 on the free plan. You can get fees as low as 2.3% + $0.10 with Clover, which is a better value if you have a high sales volume.

2. Clover: Best for Managing Rapid Retail Expansion

Clover is the best POS system for managing rapid retail expansion, thanks to its three-tier pricing plans, extensive app store full of useful software add-ons, and excellent range of hardware.

Why we recommend Clover for retail

In our testing, we found it to be very intuitive to use, striking a good balance between advanced functionality and usability. Clover’s POS system inventory tools allow you to track stock across locations, set low stock alerts and track cost versus profit.

Another useful tool for growing retail businesses is a feature to create customized reports that lets you break down sales by category, item, or even employees across multiple locations.

Instant updates to your inventory are made possible with a barcode scanner on the $749 Clover Flex, a handheld POS device that syncs with the main system. This handy device allows you to take payments on the go, and is a good fit if you want the ability to take payments on the shop floor – or you can simply use it for inventory purposes. Its countertop systems, the $1,799 Station Solo or $1,899 Station Duo, come with a fingerprint login, making it easy for employees to log in and quickly process a sale.

Clover also has some low processing fees. At 2.3% + $0.10 for in-person transactions on its Standard or Advanced plans, it’s got cheaper fees than any provider on this list.

Clover also has an extensive app store, which features many native Clover tools, allowing businesses to build the perfect EPOS system. Native Clover tools include employee time clocks, customer loyalty programs and cash tracking.

Our experience with Clover

Clover has remained consistently easy to use in our testing, despite offering advanced features. We particularly like Clover’s frontend, which is highly intuitive and makes great use of color to highlight features.

That said, it wasn’t quite smooth sailing when it came to certain backend features. For example, we had trouble finding where to set up discounts and loyalty programmes, and real-time syncing issues disrupted the overall smoothness of the experience.

When it comes to hardware, we were particularly impressed by how light the Clover Flex, Clover’s handheld POS device/card machine, was. Despite its size, it fit easily in our hand and didn’t feel cumbersome, making it a great option for taking payments on the shop floor.

Clover’s shortcomings

Clover’s great hardware comes at a hefty price, and its software plans, barring its Starter plan, aren’t cheap either. This means it’s not the best option for small or new retail stores. You’ll get better value for money with Square, which has very affordable hardware.

3. Shopify: Best for Managing In-store and Online Sales

Shopify is the best solution for managing both in-store and online sales, thanks to its integrated ecommerce and POS systems.

Why we recommend Shopify POS for retail

Primarily an ecommerce website builder tool, Shopify has become a popular solution for omnichannel sellers. With its app-based software, you’ll get access to a unified dashboard, where you can manage inventory and sales across channels.

Useful features include the ability to accept in-store returns for online purchases, and low-stock reports that take both online and in-person sales into account. You can also create customer profiles that sync in-person and online purchase history, making it easier to reward customer loyalty.

Plus, like Clover, Shopify also has an extensive app store, allowing you to tailor both your online store and your POS system to your needs. It integrates with over 8,000 apps, far more than the 1,300 runner-up Square integrates with. These include loyalty tools, CRM software and social media integrations.

Shopify’s hardware offering is also quite decent. It doesn’t sell physical terminals, since its software operates via an app, but it does have a pretty wide selection of POS accessories, from receipt printers to barcode scanners.

Our experience with Shopify POS

While we found Shopify’s frontend easy to navigate, we had a little more trouble navigating the backend.

What made the frontend easy to use was the intuitive layout of the checkout page, product library and discount buttons. Plus, the addition of an AI assistant allowed for quick troubleshooting and feature lookup. We also generally liked the sleek and modern appearance of the frontend, which made subtle use of colour to make features stand out.

However, we had more trouble using the backend, mainly due to the sheer volume of features and menus (Shopify’s backend is for managing sales across multiple channels, after all). The abundance of menus and submenus made finding features such as staff accounts and discount settings difficult, leading us to rely on the AI assistant a lot.

Shopify’s shortcomings

One of Shopify’s main downsides is that using its POS system also requires you to pay for a Shopify online store, on top of the $89 per month you’ll be paying for the POS, and that doesn’t come cheap. Online store plans range from $39 to $399 per month.

If you’re not interested in an online store but still want great functionality, we’d recommend Clover instead. If you do want an online store, but don’t want to pay Shopify’s hefty fees, then you should consider Square. It has free plans for both its POS software and ecommerce software, and its paid plans work out cheaper than Shopify’s.

Shopify’s processing fees are also quite high, starting at 2.6% + $0.10 for in-person transactions, although some ecommerce packages come with lower fees.

4. Lightspeed Retail: Best for Managing Multiple Stores

Lightspeed Retail is the best POS system for managing multiple stores, thanks to its comprehensive inventory management tools and excellent marketing add-ons.

Why we recommend Lightspeed Retail

Lightspeed’s excellent inventory management solutions include being able to track items across multiple locations, and built-in supplier cataloging and cross-site stock reordering, which can help avoid shrinkage.

With Lightspeed Retail, businesses can also get access to B2B categorization, where products uploaded from suppliers are automatically categorized in the Lightspeed Retail POS system.

If you opt for Lightspeed Retail’s Advanced Marketing add-on, you’ll also get access to great loyalty and customer retention tools. These include email and SMS marketing tools, loyalty programmes, automated marketing campaigns, gift card creation, and customer tabs, so you have a history of all previous orders.

Lightspeed also has some great reporting tools. You can run automated reports to analyze sales and customer behavior, allowing you to quickly adapt your operations and maximize sales.

Our experience with Lightspeed Retail

Lightspeed remains a slightly difficult-to-use platform, which is the main reason it slipped down in our rankings during our latest round of testing.

We had a lot of difficulty creating a discount, mainly because the process was overly complex, with too many options for offer time limits. Bulk importing products also took a lot of time and we didn’t like that we weren’t alerted clearly when an import had failed. We also didn’t love that the dashboard menu featured a lot of unlabelled icons that required hovering to interpret.

However, it wasn’t all bad. The frontend was much more intuitive than the backend, and we didn’t have much trouble processing payments or creating customer profiles during a sale. We also appreciated the depth and flexibility of features like the loyalty system and product categorisation, particularly for businesses with complex inventories or advanced needs.

Lightspeed Retail’s shortcomings

Lightspeed Retail’s main shortcoming is that, unlike the other providers on this list, it’s not fully transparent with its pricing. It lets you know how much you’ll pay for its software and basic hardware packages, but not how much additional hardware or add-ons cost.

The provider with the most clearly laid out pricing is Square, which tells you what everything costs, from hardware accessories to add-on software.

Like Shopify, Lightspeed Retail’s POS system is also app-based and requires an iOS tablet; it’s not compatible with Android. So, if you’re looking for a physical terminal and a wide range of hardware, we’d recommend Clover or Epos Now instead.

5. SumUp: Best for Data-Driven Sales Insights

SumUp, like Square, offers both free and paid POS software plans, all of which come with advanced reporting and sales analysis so that you can maximize profitability.

Why we recommend SumUp for retail

SumUp’s free POS software plan comes with the same advanced reporting and analytics features as paid plans, making it a great option for data-hungry small retailers. This includes access to reporting broken down by item, staff member and discounts, as well as data on returns, so you can see what items are your best sellers, and order stock accordingly.

The free plan also comes with a cost versus profit analysis tool, something that’s noticeably absent from any Square retail POS plans, both free and paid. This can help you minimize waste and focus on marketing and selling only your most profitable items.

Our one critique is that SumUp doesn’t present data in graphs or charts, the way competitor Clover does, which slows down data interpretation.

Besides reporting tools, SumUp’s POS system comes with an excellent selection of built-in marketing tools. However, you need to be on one of SumUp’s paid plans to access its full suite of loyalty and marketing tools.

Top features include easy and free digital gift card creation, a loyalty programme, and email and SMS marketing, included at no extra cost, unlike with Square or Lightspeed.

Our experience with SumUp

The frontend of SumUp’s POS system is very user-friendly, but the backend remains hard to navigate.

SumUp’s frontend has a simple, clear and responsive interface, with a minimalist design making finding features such as order cancellation and editing easy. We especially like the “park order” function, which allowed us to quickly adjust items mid-transaction.

However, the backend consistently frustrated us, since its design was much clunkier, and we ran into a lot of slow loading when trying to access reports, bulk imports or user settings. The sidebar menu would also often cover up other navigation elements, which made completing tasks difficult.

SumUp’s shortcomings

SumUp doesn’t have an automatic offline function, which means that if you lose internet access, you won’t be able to keep processing orders. Many competitors, including Clover and Lightspeed Retail, offer this function, since it’s a useful backup in a crisis.

While SumUp offers great marketing features, its gift card creation tool is only for digital gift cards, whereas competitor Square allows users to create both physical and digital gift cards.

Additionally, SumUp doesn’t supply handheld POS devices, which are useful for shops without a dedicated checkout counter. Most competitors offer this type of device, including Square, Shopify and Clover.

6. Epos Now: Best for Convenience Stores With Large Inventories

Epos Now is our pick for convenience stores with large inventories, as its advanced inventory management tools allow users to create and manage a wide variety of item variations.

Why we recommend Epos Now for retail

Epos Now’s software comes with advanced stock management features, such as low stock alerts, bulk inventory uploads, and cost versus profit analysis, perfect for managing large and varied inventories.

Its POS software is also cloud-based, which means you can access it from a desktop, app or the till system, making back office management easy.

When it comes to hardware, Epos Now offers kits, which for retail stores typically include a large touchscreen terminal with a customer display, a receipt printer and a card machine. These are great for traditional convenience store counter setups, with the customer display screen providing transparency for customers.

Epos Now also offers useful accessories, such as barcode scanners for quick order processing and staff swipe cards (the only provider to offer these), which speed up shift changes.

Our experience with Epos Now

Epos Now was one of the more challenging POS systems we tested, mainly because there were so many tools at our disposal. For example, adding products to the inventory was very easy, but creating variants for them wasn’t because of the amount of detail the platform demanded for each variant.

We also found it quite hard to type on Epos Now’s touchscreen-mounted register because the screen was very large and set a little too high for comfort. We think this could easily be improved if the provider made the mount retractable.

Epos Now’s shortcomings

One of Epos Now’s main shortcomings is its total lack of native marketing tools, placing it at odds with all the other providers on this list. However, you can integrate your Epos Now POS system with a variety of marketing apps, such as Mailchimp or Loyalzoo.

Additionally, despite being an affordable option, Epos Now actually isn’t the easiest system to use. It was the one we struggled with the most during testing, so might not be a good fit for novice POS users. For a simple system, we’d recommend Square.

Buying Guide: How to Choose a Retail POS System

If you’ve read all the reviews, and still don’t quite know what POS system is best for your retail business, don’t sweat it.

Here are some of the things you should consider before making a decision:

• Cost and pricing structure: You know your budget better than we do and it goes without saying that you shouldn’t choose a POS system that you can’t afford. We recommend that you look closely at the pricing structure and assess what’s included for free and what comes at an added cost, to get the best deal.
• POS functions and available hardware: Assess your business needs and choose a provider that meets them closely. For example, do you want to sell online or only in-person? Do you need a system that can manage multiple stores or just one? You should also look at the physical equipment that’s available to buy or rent from each POS system provider. If you accept cash as well as card, look for a POS provider that has a till setup.
• Ease of use: As a rule of thumb, the easier a POS system is to use, the better. This will speed up training and service times, and reduce room for error. This doesn’t mean you need to go with the absolute easiest system to use. If you and your employees are experienced with POS systems, you could compromise on ease of use in favor of advanced features.
• Customer support: Good customer support shouldn’t be overlooked when it comes to POS systems. We’d recommend choosing a POS system that has a customer support phone line, since calling is usually the fastest way to get an issue resolved. Live chat channels, help centers and community forums, if the POS system has them, can also be great for quick troubleshooting.

Our Methodology: How We Tested Retail POS Systems