Shopify POS Review: Is it Right for Your Business?

Shopify is best known for its ecommerce website builder, but it also offers an Electronic Point of Sale System (EPOS), called Shopify POS, which earned a spot in our ranking of the best EPOS suppliers for UK businesses in 2025.

Since Shopify POS is designed to be used alongside a Shopify ecommerce subscription, Shopify POS is the best option for retail businesses that sell online and in-store and want to manage sales from one unified system. You’ll be able to access all data from the same dashboard and track customer purchases across sales channels.

That said, paying for both Shopify ecommerce and Shopify POS quickly gets expensive, so Shopify POS isn’t a good option for businesses looking to reduce costs and who aren’t focused on, or don’t, sell online.

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Our Experience Testing Shopify POS

We tested Shopify POS, and while we found the frontend of the EPOS system (the bit staff will use to process orders) easy to use, we found the backend slightly challenging. That’s because the Shopify POS backend is just one tab in Shopify’s general backend, used as an access point for managing all Shopify products, so it was hard to know where to go to complete certain tasks.

Starting with the positives, what made the frontend easy to use was the intuitive layout of the checkout page, product library and discount buttons.

Plus, the addition of a POS 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 where to edit features such as staff accounts and discount settings difficult, leading us to rely on the AI assistant a lot. That’s because some, such as staff accounts, were housed in the POS dashboard, while others, such as discount settings, were housed in the main dashboard.

How Much Does Shopify POS Cost?

Shopify POS only has one subscription plan, which costs £69 per month, per location. It’s confusingly referred to as both Shopify Retail when marketed as a standalone product, and Shopify POS Pro when marketed as an add-on to Shopify’s ecommerce plans.

Shopify’s EPOS pricing is quite standard for the industry. Competitors Lightspeed and Square both offer EPOS plans at a similar price, although Square also offers free EPOS software plans, whereas for Lightspeed, the £69 per month is its cheapest.

That said, Shopify POS isn’t the only thing you’ll be paying for. Although it’s possible to purchase Shopify POS as a standalone EPOS system, it’s not recommended, since so much of the system is organised around managing both in-person and online sales. This means the cost of Shopify’s ecommerce plans also factors into the total cost of using Shopify POS.

Shopify offers four ecommerce plans, which cost £19 to $2,300 USD per month:

How much are Shopify POS’s card processing fees?

When using Shopify Payments, Shopify’s card payment processing service, you’ll pay 1.5% to 1.7% per in-person transaction.

How much you pay depends on what Shopify ecommerce plan you’re using alongside Shopify POS:

• Shopify Basic: 1.7% per in-person transaction
• Shopify Grow: 1.6% per in-person transaction
• Shopify Advanced: 1.5% per in-person transaction
• Shopify Plus: Custom fees

You’ll pay different rates for online transactions when using Shopify Payments.

If you opt to use a third-party payment provider, you’ll be charged fees of between 2% and 0.2% per transaction (decreasing as you go up in ecommerce pricing) on top of the third-party provider’s card processing fees.

This means it’s generally cheaper to stick with Shopify Payments for payment processing, even if it doesn’t offer the cheapest rates in the business. Competitor Clover, for example, offers rates that start at 1.49% but decrease for high-volume sellers.

How much does Shopify’s POS Hardware cost?

Shopify POS is a tablet-based EPOS system; however, Shopify does sell a range of hardware kits that combine tablet stands, card machines, and other accessories.

Here’s what you can expect to pay:

• Card machines: £59-£239
• Countertop kits (iPad stand + card machine): £179-£335
• Countertop bundles (iPad stands + card machine + acessories): £959

Does Shopify POS have any hidden fees?

Shopify POS does not have hidden fees, since Shopify is very transparent with its pricing.

That said, the fees we’ve discussed above mainly relate to Shopify EPOS products, which means you may be charged fees we haven’t outlined for other Shopify products. For example, when running an ecommerce website with Shopify, you’ll be charged a yearly domain registration fee for keeping your unique website URL.

Shopify’s email marketing tool, Shopify email, also costs extra if you send over 300,000 emails per month. Pricing is volume-based, so it will vary depending on the number of extra emails you send.

What’s the difference between Shopify Starter and Shopify POS Pro/Retail?

If you go on Shopify’s website, you’ll notice a £5 per month Shopify Starter plan advertised alongside the £69 per month Shopify Retail/POS Pro plan.

This plan does not give you access to a fully-fledged EPOS or ecommerce website, which is why we haven’t included it when discussing the main costs of Shopify POS. It’s an extremely limited plan designed for selling via social media and taking contactless payments on your smartphone via the Shopify POS app. It does not give you access to inventory management tools or let you use any Shopify hardware, such as card machines.

What EPOS Features Does Shopify Offer?

Shopify offers essential EPOS features for managing in-person sales, with particularly strong inventory management and reporting tools. And of course, the key appeal of Shopify POS is that it integrates seamlessly with Shopify ecommerce, giving you access to a unified dashboard.

Here’s a closer look at Shopify POS’s key features:

Ecommerce integration

The main draw of using Shopify POS is that it integrates with Shopify ecommerce, so businesses can manage their online store and physical store from the same dashboard. While many modern retail EPOS systems now integrate with ecommerce platforms, they can’t offer the same unified experience that Shopify does, and sometimes require API coding for accurate system integration.

Using Shopify for both EPOS and ecommerce means you only need to list new products once, and choose which platform they appear on (some items can only be available online, for example). You also don’t need to worry about discrepancies between in-store and online sales data, since both types of transactions are tracked by the same system. This makes it easier to generate holistic reports.

Besides Shopify, one of the few other providers to offer fully-fledged and compatible EPOS and ecommerce software is Square. That said, while Shopify is more of an ecommerce first, EPOS second provider, Square is the reverse. That makes it a better option for retailers who primarily sell in person but have a small online presence, while Shopify is best for ecommerce businesses with one or two flagship stores.

Inventory management tools

Shopify POS has some particularly strong inventory management tools. For one, inventory level tracking takes into account both online and in-store sales. This helps avoid an awkward situation where online customers make a purchase only to be told after the fact that their item is out of stock.

Besides tracking inventory both online and in-store, Shopify POS allows you to keep track of sales across multiple physical stores, with all changes to stock levels synced on one unified platform.

Low stock warnings can be set up so you don’t fall behind or run into issues, and you can also create automatic purchase orders, so items are instantly reordered from suppliers as soon as stock levels drop.  You can access inventory analysis, and this will help you decide which items should be reordered and which are not doing as well and are taking up valuable inventory space.

Reporting and analytics

Shopify has advanced reporting tools, and because Shopify POS is integrated into Shopify ecommerce, businesses can access reports and analytics from both their online and physical stores.

These include reports on products, sales, and staff performance, as well as performance broken down by store, channel (online or in-store), and even related to discounts or promotions. This can give you a better idea of not only what your best-selling products are, but what products sell best where. For example, you could notice that a popular product in-store isn’t selling well online, and assess whether updating the product description and images could help boost sales.

Other reports you can access include cost vs profit analysis, helping you identify where you’re making and losing money, so you can accurately price items and make cuts where necessary. This is a step up from Square, which doesn’t offer this same level of cost analysis.

Marketing and loyalty tools

Shopify offers built-in email marketing and gift card functionality; however, you’ll need to integrate with third-party apps to access loyalty programmes. Many competitors, such as Lightspeed Retail and Clover, offer this last tool built-in.

This is a little disappointing, since using Shopify gives you access to a wealth of customer data perfect for creating tailored loyalty schemes. Customers’ in-store and online purchase history is synced under the same customer profile, thanks to the integrated nature of Shopify POS and ecommerce, which means you can reward loyalty very accurately; you just need a third-party app.

Within Shopify, you can save not just customer buying history, but also customer data, such as shipping addresses, and marketing preferences. This allows you to more effectively use Shopify Email, Shopify’s built-in email marketing tool, to craft personalised campaigns.

You also only have to start paying for Shopify email marketing when you send over 300,000 emails per month, unlike with competitors Square and Lightspeed, who charge extra for this feature regardless of the number of emails you send.

What Is Shopify’s POS Hardware Like?

As we’ve noted, Shopify POS is a tablet-based EPOS system, which means that Shopify doesn’t sell physical terminals or registers. Instead, it offers tablet stands, as well as other equipment.

Here’s what’s available:

• WisePad 3 Card Reader (£59): A simple portable card reader by WisePad that connects via Bluetooth to Shopify POS. It has a small screen, a button PIN pad and accepts contactless and chip and PIN payments.
• Shopify POS Terminal (£239): Shopify’s only proprietary piece of equipment, the Shopify Terminal is a countertop card machine with a large, customisable touchscreen display. It connects to Shopidy POS via Wifi or Ethernet, and accepts contactless and chip and PIN payments.
• Countertop kits (£179-£335): Shopify sells four countertop kits that consist of a tablet stand and a card machine (either the WisePad 3 or the Shopify Terminal). Two are for iPads, and two are for Android tablets.
• Countertop bundles (£959): Shopify offers two countertop bundles, both of which feature a tablet stand, Shopify Terminal card machine, barcode scanner, cash drawer, and receipt printer. The difference between the two bundles is that one features an iPad stand while the other features an Android stand.

Overall, Shopify’s hardware range is quite limited, and it doesn’t offer a wide range of accessories. The fact that it only sells accessories as part of a bundle can also feel limiting to some businesses.

If you’d like to pick and choose your accessories and get access to a wider variety of options, we recommend Square as an alternative. It offers both tablet stands and physical terminals, bundles and accessories sold separately, and integrated EPOS software and ecommerce software.

Does Shopify POS Offer Good Customer Support?

Shopify POS offers good customer support overall. Customers can access live support across multiple channels, including phone, email, and live chat, with Shopify’s AI assistant available to help 24/7.

There’s also an extensive knowledge centre for DIY troubleshooting, complete with video tutorials and guides on a variety of topics, from connecting printers and card machines to setting up discounts and gift cards.

Shopify POS’s one weak spot is that it doesn’t come with a training mode, something offered by competitors SumUp, Clover, and Lightspeed. Training modes are useful, since they allow you to train new staff away from the shop floor, rather than on the job, avoiding disruption for customers.

How Does Shopify POS Compare to Competitors?

Here’s a quick side-by-side comparison of the best Shopify competitors:

How does Shopify POS’s pricing compare to competitors?

Shopify POS sits somewhere in the middle when it comes to pricing.

It doesn’t offer a free plan, unlike Square and SumUp, but Shopify’s £69 per month POS plan is priced similarly to the paid options these two competitors offer. It’s also cheaper overall than competitor Lightspeed, which has the most expensive retail plan at £189 per month.

When it comes to card processing fees, Shopify POS is also the only provider to charge an extra fee to businesses that use a third-party payment processor, instead of Shopify Payments. With Clover and Lightspeed, there’s no fee for using another provider to process payments, while Square and SumUp simply don’t integrate with third-party payment processing services.

How do Shopify POS’s software features compare to competitors?

When it comes to features, Shopify POS offers some of the most advanced retail features on the market. Besides Square, it’s the only provider to offer a truly unified system for tracking and managing both in-store and online sales.

It also offers more advanced reporting and analysis features than Square, most notably cost vs profit analysis, making Shopify a better option for larger businesses juggling multiple sales channels.

That said, Shopify could improve its customer retention features by offering a built-in loyalty programme creator, like Lightspeed, Square, or Clover. For now, businesses have to rely on third-party app integrations for this feature.

How does Shopify POS’s hardware range compare to competitors?

Since Shopify POS is a tablet-based system, hardware is a weak point for the provider, and Shopify doesn’t sell physical terminals or registers. It’s not the only provider to do this, with Lightspeed also only offering a tablet-based system.

Shopify does sell a few hardware kits; however, it doesn’t sell accessories separately, and it only makes one type of each accessory (such as barcode scanners and receipt printers).

If you want more choice and freedom around what hardware you purchase, Square offers a wide selection of terminals, card machines, and accessories, all available to purchase separately pr as part of a bundle.

Clover also offers a wide range of their own-brand EPOS hardware and accessories, although pricing is quote-based, while Shopify is transparent on price.

How We Reviewed Shopify POS