There are lots of free point-of-sale (POS) software on the market. We tested over a dozen of these, evaluating them on the quality of their free features, ease of use, and our expert assessment.
According to our evaluation, the five best free POS software for small businesses include:
- Square: Best overall free POS
- PayPal Zettle: Best for solopreneurs and PayPal users
- Loyverse: Best for quick-service restaurants
- Toast: Best for full-service restaurants
- eHopper: Best for minimizing processing fees
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While all of these software are free, some of them require hardware to start selling—usually a card reader that pairs with the POS app downloaded to a smartphone or tablet.
Although most free POS systems have checkout and basic inventory management functions, the best ones also feature built-in payment processing, ecommerce tools, customer relationship management (CRM), team management, and advanced reporting.
Best Free POS Software Compared
Square: Best Overall Free POS System for Small Business
Pros
- Free mobile POS app
- Free online store
- Free plans available for restaurants, salons, and retailers
- One free card reader
Cons
- Limited support especially for free plan users
- Tied to Square Payments for payment processing
- Loyalty program, payroll, and marketing cost extra
Square Free Features
- Built-in payment processing
- Mobile POS app
- Ecommerce tools with website builder
- Basic invoicing features
- Basic team management
- Basic inventory management
- Some customized reports
- CRM tools
- Magstripe reader
- Retail tools: In-store and curbside pickup, social selling
- Restaurant tools: Menu and table management, ticket management
Square ranked highest in our evaluation of the best free POS software for small businesses, with an overall score of 4.39 out of 5. It offers a completely free POS system for unlimited users and locations. With your free Square POS account, you can sell in-store, online, and via mobile app, and the platform has dedicated POS systems for restaurants, retailers, and salons. Square provides the widest range of free plan options, along with a free magstripe card reader to get businesses started right away. Finally, contactless payments are available for NFC-enabled mobile devices—both Android and iOS.
While its processing fees are more expensive than most―PayPal Zettle offers the least expensive rates―Square’s free plan offers everything you might need to run your business, plus advanced plans and add-ons to support your business as it grows. Also, Square locks users into its built-in payments solution, which some small businesses may find limiting in terms of finding the lowest processing rates possible.
- Basic POS software: $0 per month
- Advanced POS system: $29–$89 (Custom pricing available)
- Card-present processing fee: 2.6% plus 10 cents per transaction
- Keyed-in processing fee and card on file: 3.5% plus 15 cents per transaction
- Online payment processing: 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction
- Card readers: From $59
- Terminals: From $299 (all-in-one payments device)
- 30-day free trial for Plus plans
Add-ons
- Invoicing Plus: $20 per month
- Team Plus: $35 per month, per location
- Payroll: $35 per month, plus $6 per employee (No base monthly fee if you are paying contractors)
- Marketing: Starts at $10 (text message) or $15 (email) per month
- Loyalty program: Starts at $45 per month
Hardware
Square’s free plan includes a mobile POS app, so if you use mobile tap-to-pay, you can start selling even without a card reader. On top of that, it also gives you your first magstripe reader free, while an EMV chip reader costs only $59. POS terminals and kits start at $299. These prices compare well to most of the software on our list. Learn more in our complete guide to Square fees.
User reviews for Square are as follows:
- Apple App Store: 4.8 out of 5 based on 400,000+ ratings
- Google Play Store: 4.8 out of 5 based on 218,000+ reviews
- Software Advice: 4.7 out of 5 based on 2,700+ reviews
- G2: 4.7 out of 5 based on 700+ reviews
Square POS users appreciate its ease of use, suitability for small businesses, affordable costs, and popularity. However, some users also reported mediocre customer service and occasional technical issues such as system crashes and double billing.
Though Square’s free plan features are more than adequate for running a small business, there are still plenty of reasons and ways to upgrade. In addition to upgrading your software plan to get advanced inventory, reports, and team management, there are paid add-ons for loyalty, marketing, and payroll that you can add to any Square account. Once you’ve purchased these add-ons, they appear directly on your POS dashboard, ready for immediate use. No other POS system offers so many native add-ons.
Cost to upgrade: $29 to $89 for software and from $59 for hardware
PayPal Zettle: Best for Solopreneurs & PayPal Users
Pros
- Works for international sales
- Includes PayPal payment processor; PayPal checkout options, peer-to-peer, and QR payments
- Competitive payment processing fees
- No long-term contracts
Cons
- No free hardware
- Only basic employee management tools
- No offline processing
- Limited POS integrations
PayPal Zettle Free Features
- Mobile POS app (Android and iOS)
- Mobile payment processing
- Built-in invoicing features
- Discounted first mobile card reader
- Inventory management
- Basic team management
- Bulk inventory transfers
- Multichannel sales management
- Basic reporting features
- Accounting and online sales integrations
PayPal Zettle is a free, full-featured POS system (replacing PayPal Here) that offers both in-person and online sales solutions. It also allows you to accept card payments, gift cards, digital wallets, and peer-to-peer (P2P) payments, such as Venmo and PayPal quick response (QR) codes. This makes PayPal Zettle a great option for solopreneurs, hobbyists, and other microbusinesses.
PayPal Zettle earned an overall score of 4.18 out of 5, standing out from the other providers in our list for offering integration to PayPal payment options. Popularly known as one of the best alternatives to Square for mobile and POS payments, PayPal Zettle beat Square for its free plan coverage, but fell short due to its pricing structure and lack of free hardware. It also does not support offline payment processing and lacks vendor and loyalty management features.
- POS: Free (no paid advanced plans)
- Card-present processing fee: 1.75%
- Online and invoices processing fee: 2.5%
- Card readers: From $79 (first card reader discounted to $29)
- Ready-made store kits: From $241
Hardware
PayPal Zettle does not have a free card reader like Square does (read our comparison of the two providers), but sells you your first reader at a steep discount. You can use this with your tablet or desktop, but if you want to upgrade to a full countertop setup, Zettle also offers four ready-made POS kits with a combination of touch screen, receipt printer, barcode scanner, or handheld devices. Prices for terminals run from $241 to $764.
User reviews for PayPal Zettle are as follows:
- Apple App Store: 3.0 out of 5 based on 700+ reviews
- Google Play Store: 3.3 out of 5 based on 43,000+ reviews
- Trustpilot: 2.8 out of 5 based on 4,000+ reviews
- Capterra: 4.7 out of 5 based on over 2,000 reviews
PayPal Zettle POS users liked the system’s security and reliability with payments, good customer service, and integration with small businesses, including with tools like QuickBooks. Other users reported frustration with higher fees for online payments, setup difficulties, and technical issues with the card reader.
Zettle has no upgrades or add-ons, except for third-party applications. You can integrate Zettle with ecommerce software like BigCommerce, accounting software like QuickBooks, appointment software like Timely, or even other POS software like Lightspeed and Loyverse. So, if you like PayPal for payment processing but Zettle does not quite fit the bill, consider third-party options. Most of these integrations, however, come with a fee.
Cost to upgrade: Varies; third-party integrations
PayPal Announces New Features
On January 25th, PayPal announced improvements to its online checkout, digital receipts, consumer app, Venmo business profiles, and marketing tools that will roll out throughout 2024. While not specific to PayPal’s POS, local businesses will still benefit from these improvements. Learn more in our recap of PayPal’s new features.
Loyverse: Best for Quick-service Restaurants
Pros
- Community forum and help center for support
- Strong customer management tools
- Choice of payment providers
- Loyalty program included in free plan
Cons
- Limited integrations with required integration fee
- Ideal only for small restaurants, not full service
- No free card reader
Loyverse Free Features
- Free forever POS
- Mobile POS app
- Customer display
- Multiple location management
- CRM and loyalty program
- Basic inventory management
- Restaurant tools: Kitchen Display Screen (KDS), ticket management, ingredient-level tracking, item variants and modifiers
Loyverse earned an overall score of 4.03 out of 5, scoring better than Toast and Square for flexible hardware options and upgrade costs. It is a popular POS system because it offers so much for free: analytics, kitchen display, customer display, ticket and order management, table management, and customer management. The free KDS is one reason we recommend it for quick-service restaurants (QSRs). Loyverse is also the only system on this list that offers a free integrated loyalty program.
If you are running a restaurant and don’t want to use Square as your payment processor, Loyverse is also worth considering because it lets you choose your merchant service.
However, the absence of key tools in the free plan, like employee management and ecommerce (which you get with Square), prevented Loyverse from getting a better score.
- POS: Free (no paid plans)
- Payment processing: Varies―separate merchant account required
- Card readers and POS systems: Depends on provider; Loyverse does not sell devices itself
Add-ons
- Employee management: $5 per month, per employee
- Advanced inventory: $25 per month, per store (Custom pricing if over three locations)
- Integrations: From $9 per month, per store
- 14-day free trial for all add-ons
User reviews for Loyverse are as follows:
- Apple App Store: 4.7 out of 5 based on almost 300 ratings
- Google Play Store: 4.3 out of 5 based on 13,000+ reviews
- Capterra: 4.8 out of 5 stars based on 400+ reviews
- G2: 4.7 out of 5 stars based on about 20 reviews
Loyverse users loved the free POS solution and affordable costs for add-on features. They also liked that the system is straightforward to set up and use on multiple devices. However, users also wished that more features were available, and they wanted greater functionality on the inventory management tools.
Busy restaurants and caterers wanting to track ingredients should consider adding Loyverse’s advanced inventory and employee management, which includes time clocks, sales tracking, and efficiency reports. Better yet, restaurants that have the budget for a paid system should consider investing in one of our recommended restaurant POS systems.
Cost to upgrade: $9 to $25 for add-on software
It is also important to note that Loyverse charges extra for third-party integrations. If you prefer native ecommerce tools, try Square. Additionally, if you need delivery integrations to go with your online store, try Toast.
Toast: Best for Full-service Restaurants
Pros
- Zero upfront cost for pay-as-you-go plan
- Menu, order, and table management in free subscription
- Intuitive interface
- Many available integrations
Cons
- Locked into Toast’s payment processor
- Requires Toast proprietary hardware
- Expensive upgrades (installation fee for add-ons like online ordering and delivery)
- Two-year contract
Toast Free Features
- Hardware + software kit
- Must pay higher processing fee: 2.99% plus 15 cents
- Menu, order, and table management
- Invoicing
- Digital menus
- Reporting and analytics
- 24/7 customer support
Toast earned an overall score of 3.92 out of 5 overall in our evaluation. You would not find another zero upfront cost option with industry-grade hardware and full-featured software anywhere else. However, the processing fee is considerably higher for this pay-as-you-go plan, and the free plan is only meant for single-location access (two terminals). Software and hardware upgrades are also quite expensive, and paid add-ons are required for many functions such as online ordering, delivery, and loyalty.
Still, no other POS on this list makes a pay-as-you-go offer like this. This option makes Toast a great solution for full-service restaurant owners who love the software and hardware, but find it too expensive to pay upfront. Given that restaurants normally spend thousands of dollars for upfront POS costs, going with Toast’s pay-as-you-go system could leave you with a lot of initial capital in reserve.
Pay-as-You-Go Starter Kit
- Includes Countertop, Handheld, or Guest Self-Service Kit
- Upfront cost: $0
- Monthly software cost: $0
- Processing rate: 2.99% plus 15 cents
- Contract length: Two years
- Inactivity fee: $85 per month; fee waived if at least one credit card transaction is processed in the preceding 90-day period
Hardware
The Standard plan countertop hardware kit has an upfront cost of $875, and consists of a Toast Flex POS terminal, router, and tap payment device. The standard handheld kit cost starts at $627 and includes a Toast Go handheld POS device, wireless access point, and router. You can also get a self-service kiosk kit for $1,234, including a Tap payment device, router, and Toast 22” kiosk.
User reviews for Toast are as follows:
- G2: Rated 4.2 out of 5 based on 280+ reviews
- Capterra: Rated 4.2 out of 5 based on 500+ reviews
Toast users appreciated that the software is easy to navigate, and restaurant staff are often able to learn it quickly. Users also liked the robust online delivery platform and overall customizability. However, several users had complaints about Toast customer support, which they reported as slow and unhelpful at times.
Toast’s free plan is perfect for small, full-service restaurants, but you will have to consider upgrading to a paid plan if you find that your business is expanding quickly or you wish to add mobile, online, and delivery to your source of revenue. Additionally, you might want to upgrade if you see a steady increase in your monthly sales from both online and dine-in customers to save on transaction fees.
Cost to upgrade: From $69 for add-on features (Custom pricing available)
eHopper: Best for Minimizing Processing Fees
Pros
- Surcharging and cash discount features let you avoid processing fees
- Inventory and customer management available in free plan
- High-risk processing available
Cons
- POS system is prone to glitching
- Offline mode only works for cash transactions
- Basic reporting only
eHopper Free Features
- Inventory management
- Customer management
- Tip management
- Tax computing
- Full or split payments
eHopper is a POS system that includes many useful features even in the free subscription; but its defining feature is the surcharging and cash discounting tools, which make it possible to reduce or even avoid processing fees. Combined with the free POS plan, you stand to save a lot of capital by choosing this software.
Learn more about these tools are and how to maximize them with our small business guide to cash discounting and merchant’s guide to credit card surcharges.
eHopper is a good choice for a variety of business types, including retail, quick-service restaurants, markets, cafes, food trucks, and other similar food-based businesses. Any store wanting to avoid processing fees would also do well to go with eHopper.
This software scored 3.54 out of 5 in our evaluation. It got high marks for including solid inventory management, CRM, and loyalty features, as well as having an affordable price for plan upgrades. However, eHopper could have scored better if it had better customer support and reporting tools, and more options for integrations.
- POS monthly fees:
- Essential: $0
- Surcharging and cash discounts
- Inventory, customer, and tip management
- Basic reporting
- Omnichannel: $39.99
- Unlimited products and transactions
- Table management and Kitchen Display System
- Online ordering
- Omnichannel + eHopper Payment Processing: $0
- Free Omnichannel POS software and payment terminal
- Essential: $0
Hardware
- Poynt Smart Terminal Wi-Fi + eHopper POS bundle: $99
- All-in-one Touch Screen POS Terminal (T2s Model): $1,259
- All-in-one Touch Screen POS Terminal with Customer-Facing Display: $1,509
User reviews for eHopper are as follows:
- Capterra: 4.1 out of 5 stars based on about 50 reviews
- Apple App Store: 4.0 out of 5 based on 2 reviews
- Google Play Store: 3.6 out of 5 based on 40+ reviews
eHopper users reported that the POS is easy to use, with a clear and professional-looking interface, plus many useful features. On the negative side, users reported unhelpful customer support, a few missing features, and occasional technical issues.
As your business grows and you find yourself needing tools beyond basic reporting and inventory management, consider upgrading to the Omnichannel plan—you’ll get more robust reporting tools, as well as unlimited products and transactions to work with. If you plan to offer online ordering at your restaurant, you’ll need to upgrade your subscription as well.
Cost to upgrade: $39.99 per month (monthly billing) or $29.99 per month (annual billing)
How to Choose Free POS Software
While it might be easy to fixate on the zero-cost software and tools you get with free POS systems, you’ll need to consider other factors when deciding whether to use such systems and which one is best for your business. Free does not necessarily mean great, so examine the following points when deciding on a free POS system.
Free features vs paid features
Just because the base POS software and key features are free doesn’t mean that you’ll get full functionality without paying a cent. POS systems with free options also offer paid plans, which you’ll need to use if you want the full suite of tools. The exact features behind the paywall will depend on each POS provider but often include advanced functions for inventory management, reporting, ecommerce, and location management.
Paid versions of free POS systems will entail a monthly payment, which can vary widely. If you need specific or advanced tools for your business to run smoothly, be sure to check whether these are available in the free plan, or if you’ll need to pay; and if so, how much.
Industry-specific tools
Just like free doesn’t always equal good, free doesn’t necessarily mean flexible. Whether you’re using free POS software or a paid system, make sure that the included tools and features are suitable for your business type.
If you run a restaurant, you’ll need order and table management, digital menus, and online ordering and delivery—all available in the Toast POS. If you want a simple but effective loyalty program and flexibility with payment providers, go with Loyverse. If you run a retail shop and you want multi-location inventory management and basic ecommerce tools, Square is a good bet.
The takeaway here is to take a good look at the industry-specific tools offered by each free POS system and choose the software best suited for your business.
Web-based vs app-based platform
You’ll also need to ascertain whether the POS software you choose is web-based, app-based, or both. Not all systems have a mobile app available, and this can make things more difficult for businesses that need high sales mobility such as large retail shops, those with traveling sales staff, and restaurants with lots of tables to attend to.
Note also that app versions of a POS software may not always have the same features as the web version, and the user experience and user feedback may vary as well.
Hardware
Finally, consider the available hardware for each POS system; free software doesn’t automatically mean free hardware. Providers will vary widely with the hardware they offer: some will provide free hardware, others will not, and full kits are often available for purchase as well as single devices.
In case your chosen provider does not offer free hardware, set aside a portion of your budget to buy the devices you need. Make sure as well that the type of hardware you obtain is suitable for your business—whether that’s card readers, countertop kits, or mobile POS devices.
How We Evaluated the Best Free POS Software
My colleagues and I wanted to give our readers a list of reliable and truly free POS software, so we focused on providers that offer zero upfront costs and no monthly fees. We then compared the quality of features included in each free plan. Five out of a dozen POS systems for a variety of industries stood out as reliable, well-featured systems with strong user approval.
Of these, Square ranks No. 1. This isn’t a surprise—Square also ranks on our lists of best POS software, top-recommended POS systems for restaurants, leading payment gateways, best mobile card readers, and more.
Click through the tabs below for our full evaluation criteria:
30% of Overall Score
Free plans do not mean free everything. We looked at the limitations of each system’s free plan, the cost to upgrade (if applicable), any upfront costs, and hardware. Loyverse came out on top here, closely followed by Square.
20% of Overall Score
This score addressed the tools in the free plan for sales, inventory, customer management, employee management, and loyalty. Square and Loyverse performed the best here, followed by PayPal Zettle.
15% of Overall Score
This section considered added value in the free plan, such as features specific to restaurants or retail, the ability to manage more than one store, the presence of ecommerce tools, and number and variety of integrations. Square leads in this category far and away, scoring 4.5 out of 5.
20% of Overall Score
Free is no good unless it’s also easy. For this category, we considered customer support availability, cloud-based storage, if the POS works on both desktop and mobile, and other features that make the system easy to use. All the providers in our list did well here.
15% of Overall Score
Here we considered the experience of our team, who has decades of personal use and research, and other current users’ reviews of the system. Toast and Square received perfect scores, but all the products did well.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
These are some of the questions we often encounter about free POS software.
It depends on the size of your business, as well as the stage it’s currently in. Smaller businesses that are still figuring out their needs and optimizing their processes can use a free POS. Once the business is on its feet and becoming more successful, consider investing in a paid system.
Many options allow you to set up a POS system for free without any upfront cost. This can be as simple as downloading a mobile POS app, and selling from there. Other providers offer a free card reader (like Square) or an all-in-one zero monthly subscription (like Toast).
Yes. The best POS software typically includes a mobile POS app that you can download and install on your mobile device for free. However, you will need to consider the hardware and software compatibility, as well as the card reader options.
While there are lots of free POS system options, Square is the best in terms of overall value for money. Its free plan comes with industry-specific features and free built-in tools like a website builder, payment processing, and a mobile POS app. You also get one free card reader.
In our evaluation, Square is the overall best free POS software. Its base plan is completely free; upgrades are affordable; the software is flexible and can be used by retailers, restaurants, and service businesses; many add-on tools are available; and the system is intuitive and easy to use.
Research your options and choose one, confirm that the free plan is forever-free (not just a trial), and then sign up. You can often do this directly from the provider’s website. You will sometimes be required to provide information such as your Social Security number.
Bottom Line
If all you need is a basic POS system, there are free ones that do the job. Those listed above are our top picks for POS systems and are great to get you started—and they may be all you need. If not, most offer more advanced features via upgrades or add-ons, for reasonable prices.
We recommend Square as the best free POS software for small businesses because it offers a free version with unlimited uses, reasonable processing fees and an extensive register and inventory feature set for practically all business types. It even has a free online store, so you are not tied to physical sales. Sign up for a Square account to experience all this for yourself.