5 Best Free POS Software for Small Businesses in 2022
Meaghan has provided content and guidance for indie retailers as the editor for a number of retail publications and a speaker at trade shows. She is Fit Small Business’s authority on retail and ecommerce.
Anna’s experience in business and finance led her to work for a US risk mitigation company in Singapore. She has contributed to POS and payments topics in the Retail section across Fit Small Business.
This article is part of a larger series on POS Systems.
There are several free point-of-sale (POS) software in the market, each offering different sets of functionalities. Most free POS systems have at least register and basic inventory functions, while the best also include built-in payment processing and ecommerce tools, multiple payment methods, customer relationship management (CRM), and reports.
We narrowed our list of top free POS systems to those with forever free plans, then compared each based on the quality of available features.
The five best free POS software for small businesses include:
- Square: Overall best free POS software for small businesses
- PayPal Zettle: Best for microbusinesses and solopreneurs
- Helcim: Best for businesses with large-volume transactions including business-to-business (B2B) sellers
- Toast: Best for free hardware and software solutions for small restaurants
- Loyverse: Best for inventory management
Learn more about POS systems and how to choose the best one for your business.
Top Free POS Systems Compared
Inventory and Transaction Limits | Upfront Cost | Upgrade Cost | Free Hardware | Ecommerce Tools in Free Plan | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Unlimited | $0 | $12 to $72 (software) From $49 (hardware) | Magstripe card reader | ✓ |
 | Unlimited | $29 (discounted card reader) | Integrations | None | ✓ |
 | Unlimited | $109 (card reader) | 0.5% + 25 cents to 1% (ACH option) | None | ✓ |
 | Unlimited | $0 | From $165 (software) | Full starter kit | ✕ |
 | Unlimited | $0 | $5 to $25 (software) | None | ✕ |
There are many low-cost POS systems available with advanced features for less than $100 per month. See our guide to the best POS systems for a peek at the best competitively priced POS systems on the market.
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Square: Best Overall Free POS for Small Businesses
Square
Overall Score: 4.40
OUT OF 5
What We Like
- Free mobile POS app
- Free online store
- Free versions for restaurants, salons, and retailers
- Multiple integrations
What's Missing
- Limited support
- Tied to Square Payments
- Loyalty program costs extra
Square’s free plan includes:
- Built-in payment processing
- Tap, dip, swipe, and virtual terminal payments
- Mobile POS app
- First swipe card reader
- Ecommerce tools with website builder
- Invoicing features
- Basic team management
- Basic inventory management
- Some customized reports
- Retail tools: In-store and curbside pickup, scale integration
- Restaurant tools: Pickup and delivery integration, open ticket management
- Industry-specific free plan options
- Financing and cash management options
Square’s free POS system is robust, with no use limits and features often found only in paid plans. You can sell in-store, online, and on mobile, and the platform has specialty POS systems for restaurants, retailers, and salons. While its processing fees are more expensive than most―PayPal Zettle offers the least expensive rates―its free plan offers great value for the hobbyist selling at the county fair or the brick-and-mortar business with online sales.
Square still leads our list for this update, earning an overall score of 4.4 out of 5. It provides the widest range of free plan options along with a free magstripe card reader to get businesses started right away. It is also the easiest to use, most popular, and best for advanced features—both paid and free. On the other hand, Square locks users into its built-in payments solution, which some small businesses may find limiting.
The free magstripe/swipe card reader is available with a headphone jack or lightning connector and works even if you are online. You can purchase a second reader for $10. (Source: Square)
Square’s free version setup includes a free POS software downloaded on an iOS device and a free magstripe reader. (Source: Square)
You can upgrade your Square POS system with an EMV card reader, Square Terminal, Square Stand, and Square Register. (Source: Square)
Square Pricing
- Advanced POS system: $60 per month
- 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 $49
- Terminals: From $299
- 30-day free trial for Plus plans
Add-ons:
- Team Plus: $35 per month
- Payroll: $34 per month plus $5 per employee
- Marketing: Starts at $15 per month
- Loyalty program: Starts at $45 per month
POS and upgrades: Square’s POS system offers all the functions needed to run your store as well as have an online presence. If you need advanced features, the Pro plan costs $60 a month. This is more expensive than some of the other providers on our list, which have plans of $50 or less. However, the paid plans still offer a good value overall, as comparable systems cost around $75 to $100 per month.
Payment processing: You are locked into using Square for payment processing. The other free POS software on this list either have lower rates or let you bring in a third-party app. However, Square does offer discounts for businesses doing over $250,000 a year in credit card processing.
Hardware: Square’s free plan includes a mobile POS app, so 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 $49. Full POS systems run from $169 to $799. These prices compare well to most of the software on our list.
Notable Square Features
- Restaurants: While we chose Loyverse as the best free POS software for restaurants—mostly because of the free kitchen display system (KDS)—Square is a strong contender as well. It has a KDS and basic time clock functions as well as menu and table management. However, Square KDS requires a Pro plan subscription at $60 per month. Loyverse also lets you choose your payment processor, which could save you money.
- Appointments: For salons, spas, gyms, and other businesses that work on appointments, Square offers a version of its free POS system for one staff calendar. You can schedule appointments, send reminders, and sell items or classes. None of the other POS systems on our list include calendar functions like this.
- Multichannel sales: Like Zettle, Square works for multichannel sales, from the free online store to the Square payments button on your social media. Square also integrates with third-party ecommerce applications. However, one of the best free features of Square is the strong integrated contactless ordering, pickup, and delivery features.
- Integrations: If you need something that Square does not provide, it’s easy to find a third-party integration. Square integrates with more third-party applications than any of the free POS systems on our list.
- Invoicing: Not all businesses work with a register. If you need invoicing capability, then Square can provide this for free. The processing fee for invoice payments is 2.9% plus 30 cents, or 1% if paid by automated clearing house (ACH), which has a minimum of $1. Zettle also offers free invoices with a transaction fee of 2.5% per invoice.
- Mobile app: With a 4.8 out of 5 rating based on about 319,000 reviews, Square POS ranks No. 39 for Business in the Apple App Store. Users on Google Play give it 4 stars with more than 145,000 reviews. Square also tops our list of the best free iPhone credit card readers.
When to Upgrade Square
Unlike the other POS software on this list, Square gives you plenty of reasons and ways to upgrade. In addition to getting advanced inventory, reports, and team management, there are paid add-ons for loyalty, marketing, and payroll. No other POS system offers so many native add-ons. Cost to upgrade: $12 to $72 for software and from $49 for hardware.
What Square Is Missing
- Loyalty program: Square can track customer information, but for loyalty, you need the add-on. Look at Loyverse if you need this feature for free.
- Customized employee permissions: Unless you have the paid Team Management add-on, you can only assign single permission and simple login capability. Helcim includes advanced team management features in its free plan.
PayPal Zettle: Best for Microbusinesses & Solopreneurs
PayPal Zettle
Overall Score: 4.26
OUT OF 5
What We Like
- International scope
- No monthly fees; uses the popular PayPal processor
- Free-forever POS
What's Missing
- No free hardware
- Basic employee management tools
- No offline mode
PayPal Zettle’s free plan includes:
- Mobile POS app
- Mobile payment processing
- Invoicing features
- Discounted first mobile card reader
- International payments processing
- Inventory management (no kitting and vendor management tools)
- Basic team management
- Basic reporting features
- Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and QuickBooks integrations
- Financing and cash management tools
PayPal Zettle replaced PayPal Here as PayPal’s POS solution. PayPal continues to service Here but places new customers on Zettle. Like Here, Zettle is a free, full-featured POS system that offers both in-person and online sales solutions. It also allows you to accept card payments, gift cards, and digital wallets as well as 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.
The software earned an overall score of 4.26 out of 5, maintaining its second-place spot in our evaluation. Popularly known as the best alternative to Square for mobile and POS payments, PayPal Zettle beat Square for pricing but fell short on inventory and sales management tools. PayPal Zettle also does not support offline payment processing and lacks vendor and loyalty management features like Helcim.
PayPal Zettle's mobile card reader includes a PIN pad that allows you to accept payments on its own and wireless connectivity, so you can pair it with your mobile device, computer, and countertop payment terminal. (Source: PayPal Zettle)
You can upgrade to a countertop setup with one of PayPal Zettle’s register kits that starts at $249. (Source: PayPal Zettle)
Accessories, such as thermal printers, barcode scanners, and portable printers with display, are also available. (Source: PayPal Zettle)
Learn more in our Square vs PayPal comparison.
PayPal Zettle Pricing
- Card-present processing fee: 2.29% plus 9 cents
- Keyed-in processing fee: 3.49% plus 9 cents
- QR code processing fee: 1.9% plus 10 cents for transactions of $10.01 and above, 2.29% plus 5 cents for transactions of $10 and below.
- Card readers: $79 (first card reader discounted $29)
- Terminals: From $249
POS: Zettle’s entire POS system is free with the use of PayPal’s payment processing. There are no premium plans like Square but also no limited uses or features.
Payment Processing: PayPal Zettle charges 2.29% plus 9 cents for card-present transactions, and 3.49% plus 9 cents for keyed-in transactions, which are extremely reasonable for flat-rate fees and considerably lower than Square’s fees. Helcim charges interchange-plus rates while Loyverse lets you choose your own payment provider, so you may find better prices with an interchange-plus merchant service.
Hardware: PayPal Zettle does not have a free card reader like Square 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 hardware POS kits with a combination of touch screen, receipt printer, barcode scanner, or handheld devices. Prices run from $249 to $499, which makes them among the cheapest on our list.
Notable PayPal Zettle Features
- Scalable: In many ways, Zettle rivals Square, with versatility being the strongest aspect. This flexible system is good for solopreneurs while large international corporations use PayPal in general. It can be an addition or your main payment system. It is used in 200-plus markets with more than 100 currencies, including bitcoin. While it does not have as many software integrations as Square does, it does work with third-party apps and has greater reach as a payment processor.
- Bulk inventory functions: Zettle lets you load inventory in bulk, make bulk assignments of categories, delete items in bulk, or make edits to multiple items or variants at once. We only found this many bulk features with Square, which is not as easy.
- Multichannel sales: Like Square, Zettle is well suited for multichannel sales, with its own online store or the capability to integrate with popular ecommerce solutions like Shopify and WooCommerce. In addition, PayPal is one of the most commonly accepted payment systems in the world; you can add a PayPal button or link to anything from a newsletter to a website.
- Mobile: PayPal’s Zettle mobile app for Android has more than 40,000 reviews and a score of 4 out of 5. For iOS, there are only about 300 reviews and a score of 3.3 out of 5. Your phone or tablet needs iOS 10 or Android 5.0, or higher.
When to Upgrade Zettle
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, there are third-party options. Most, however, come with a fee. Cost to upgrade: Various third-party integrations.
What PayPal Zettle Is Missing
- Offline processing: Zettle requires a connection to the internet. If you need offline international payment processing, look at Square or Helcim.
- Kitting and vendor management: Zettle’s inventory management function does not include kitting and vendor management tools. Consider Square or Loyverse for alternatives that offer these features.
Helcim: Best for Large-volume Businesses, Including B2Bs
Helcim
Overall Score: 4.24
OUT OF 5
What We Like
- Automatic volume discount pricing
- International payments processing
- Entirely free POS features
- 24/7 customer support
What's Missing
- Expensive card reader
- No free hardware option
- Lacks loyalty management integration
Helcim’s free plan includes:
- Advanced inventory management
- Advanced employee management
- Built-in ecommerce tools including online food ordering
- Easy-to-use checkout and register
- Automatic volume discount payment processing
- Card on file management
- Customer management including Customer Portal
- Complete payment processing options
- Advanced fraud protection program
- Access to developer application programming interfaces (APIs)
Helcim is a popular name in payment processing, particularly for its automatic volume discounts. It makes our list of top free merchant account providers consistently. However, while its POS software has been around for some time, the software received significant updates in July of last year.
Helcim’s free POS now includes advanced inventory tracking, customizable interface, and a user-friendly checkout page. Coupled with its built-in ecommerce tools and customer management features, Helcim is now one of the best free POS systems for large-volume businesses that sell both in-store and online. It also tops our list of best credit card processing for retailers.
Landing right on the heels of PayPal Zettle in our list, Helcim debuted with an overall score of 4.24 out of 5. While its features are not as sophisticated as those of Square, Helcim does provide a complete suite of retailer tools, including a native website builder and free inventory management. However, Helcim lost points for lacking free hardware options, requiring an expensive card reader ($109) as an upfront cost, and limited integrations with other software.
The Helcim 3-in-1 card reader is equipped with a PIN pad for debit card payments and comes with a free stand for countertop setup. (Source: Helcim)
Pair your Helcim card reader with any compatible iOS and Android device as well as Mac and Windows desktops. (Source: Helcim)
Helcim integrates easily with POS hardware, such as printers like thermal printers, which cost $USD79, and barcode scanners that you can order directly from Helcim when you access your merchant account. (Source: Helcim)
Helcim Pricing
- Card-present fee: 0.10% plus 5 cents to 0.30% plus 8 cents
- Card-not-present fee: 0.20% plus 10 cents to 0.50% plus 25 cents
- ACH payment: 0.5% plus 25 cents per approved transaction
- International payment processing: Currency conversion fee of 1% above the daily 5 p.m. Eastern time market rate
- Card reader: $109
POS: Helcim’s point-of-sale software comes free with every Helcim merchant account so, unlike Square, you won’t need to sign up for an upgraded plan or add-ons to access advanced features. Users can have their products and services stored in a catalog while also getting advanced employee management tools, invoicing, and customer management functions without having to pay extra.
Payment Processing: As with Square, users are locked into Helcim’s payment processor, although that may not be so much of a disadvantage considering this is what sets Helcim apart from other merchant providers.
Helcim offers automatic volume discount pricing, which means you get lower credit card processing fees with more sales so that you don’t have to upgrade or apply for discounts. Helcim’s average processing fee comes up to 1.92% plus 8 cents for card-present transactions (vs Square’s 2.6% plus 10 cents) and 2.38% plus 25 cents for card-not-present transactions (vs Square’s 2.9% plus 30 cents for online and 3.5% plus 15 cents for keyed in).
Hardware: Helcim does not provide free hardware, but the free POS software can run on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows so you can use existing desktops, tablets, and smartphones. However, you will need to purchase the credit card reader to start accepting payments with the POS. At $109, Helcim’s 3-in-1 card reader is very similar to PayPal Zettle’s but is not offered with a discount and is among the most expensive on the market.
Notable Helcim Features
- Completely free POS features: Helcim’s full POS software features are completely free. This includes inventory management that comes with variant tracking, bulk updating, and low stock monitoring tools. You can even upload product images, which Square does not have. The software also supports price management features that allow you to set wholesale, promotions, and ranged pricing for certain products. It also includes advanced employee management and reporting tools.
- Native ecommerce tools: Like Square, Helcim is equipped with built-in ecommerce that integrates your online and in-store sales. The free website builder helps you create and customize your online store with Helcim’s easy-to-use theme designer. Advanced store options are also available with tools to track your website’s performance. Although it is more suitable for retailers, Helcim also comes with free online ordering tools ideal for small, busy restaurants.
- Free customer portal: Part of Helcim’s CRM features is a free customer portal, which you won’t always find available in free plans from most popular POS providers. Ideal for subscription-based retailers and those that offer product rentals, this feature allows customers to set up their own account, provide and update their contact details, and set up automatic payments.
- Level 2 and 3 payment processing: Helcim POS comes with a built-in payment processing solution that supports B2Bs. Level 2 is ideal for large volume transactions while level 3 is required when accepting corporate, purchasing, and government credit card payments. Both features tie in efficiently with Helcim’s automatic volume discount processing method that lowers interchange rates significantly.
- Mobile: There is not a whole lot of feedback for Helcim’s mobile app, but those who did leave a review seem to either like the app a whole lot or did not like it at all. It earned 2.9 out of 5 stars from 13 reviews on the Apple App Store and 3 out of 5 stars from 40 reviews on Google Play.
When to Upgrade Helcim
Helcim’s POS software is completely free, so there is no available option to upgrade the system. Invoicing, however, is an optional payment method, which means you can start without paying for this feature and eventually add this payment option as your business grows. It’s also important to note that Helcim’s POS integration is very limited and users may find themselves looking for additional third-party apps to manage a growing business. Cost to upgrade: 0.5% + 25 cents to 1% for additional ACH payment option
What Helcim Is Missing
The overall glaring issue with Helcim is that it has very limited POS integrations. Businesses with a large volume of transactions would naturally handle large inventory and it’s unfortunate that, like PayPal Zettle, Helcim does not offer vendor management tools―not even direct third-party integrations to support this requirement.
The system also lacks loyalty program management tools. If this is a dealbreaker for you, consider Loyverse or upgrading to a paid Square plan at $60 per month. You can also check out our list of top POS inventory systems.
Toast: Best Free Hardware & Software for Small Restaurants
Toast
Overall Score: 3.98
OUT OF 5
What We Like
- Zero upfront cost for pay-as-you-go plan
- Inventory and menu management features included in basic subscription
- Intuitive interface
What's Missing
- Locked into two-year contract and Toast’s built-in payment processor
- Requires use of Toast proprietary hardware
- Inactivity fee $85
Toast’s free plan includes:
- Zero upfront cost
- Zero monthly software cost
- Platform rate: 2.99% plus 15 cents
- Add-ons priced as % on top of payment processing fee
- Includes hardware, software, and payment processing
- Inventory management
- Order and table management
- Reporting and analytics
- Fraud monitoring
- 24/7 Customer support
- Two-year contract
Toast has an impressive pay-as-you-go plan which includes a complete software, payment processing, and hardware solution without an upfront cost or monthly software fee. This is a welcome addition for full-service restaurant owners who love the software but find its hardware requirements too expensive. The Toast hardware kit comes with two options: A countertop kit (Toast POS Flex terminal, Toast Tap payment device, and router) and a handheld kit (Toast Go2, wireless access point, and router).
A full menu and inventory management features come with the free plan, so it’s a great option for small, sit-down restaurants that only need a single checkout. You will have to expect a considerably higher processing fee for transactions (2.99% plus 15 cents), but you would not find another zero upfront cost option with industry-grade hardware and full-featured software anywhere else.
For this update, Toast moved up in our rankings, scoring a 3.98 out of 5 overall in our evaluation. It ranked high in ease of use and expert score while also earning major points for its zero upfront cost feature that includes proprietary hardware. However, upgrades to plans and additional hardware are quite expensive. Its free plan is only meant for single-user access, so you can’t add team management tools. These reasons prevented Toast from moving higher in our rankings.
Toast Flex is a 14-inch touch-screen display, is IP54 spill-proof-rated, and has a height-adjustable stand that can be flipped to adapt to any kind of restaurant layout. (Source: Toast)
The countertop kit is Toast’s latest addition to its pay-as-you-go bundle. It comes with Toast Go2 for handheld POS plus a wireless access point and router. (Source: Toast)
Upgrade your hardware setup with more Toast industry-grade solutions, such as a customer display, kitchen display, thermal, and kitchen printers. (Source: Toast)
Toast Pricing
POS and upgrades: Toast offers two basic plans: the pay-as-you-go and standard plans. Both include a long-term contract, but the pay-as-you-go option doesn’t charge you anything upfront. However, you get higher transaction rates and an inactivity fee of $85. Higher subscription plans range from $165 to $272 per month and give you access to optional add-ons and team management tools instantly.
Payment processing: Transaction fee rates are different for the two basic plans and you get custom quotes for the paid upgrades. A single platform rate of 2.99% plus 15 cents is applied for both card-present and card-not-present transactions if you subscribe to the pay-as-you-go option, and an additional 0.4% if you subscribe to the set of add-on tools. Processing rates for the standard basic plan are 2.49% plus 15 cents for card-present and 3.5% plus 15 cents for card-not-present transactions.
Overall, Toast’s payment processing rates are competitive if you consider options like Square, which has 2.6% plus 10 cents per card-present and 3.5% plus 15 cents per keyed-in transaction.
Hardware: Toast’s POS software can only be used with its proprietary hardware. If you subscribe to the standard basic plan, the upfront cost of $799 comes with a hardware kit, which consists of a Toast Flex POS terminal, Toast Tap payment device, and a router. An optional customer display costs an additional $200. The price is different, however, if you are adding an additional terminal. The Toast Flex POS terminal with a Toast Tap payment device costs $599 plus $45 per month for the software and $200 more for a customer display.
Toast also offers Toast Go 2, a mobile handheld POS terminal priced at $389 plus $50 per month for software fee. Other optional hardware, such as a kitchen display screen ($499 plus $25 per month software fee), kitchen printer ($149), thermal printer ($199), and cash drawer ($119) are also available.
Notable Toast Features
- Toast loyalty: This allows you to sign up your customers from the checkout counter and link their credit cards, so there’s no need for a separate loyalty card. You can also customize your points-based rewards program and offer personalized rewards by analyzing your customer’s buying history.
- Toast marketing: Manage your email marketing task from a single platform with Toast marketing. It allows you to create message templates and customize them according to your customer’s purchase history and track your marketing campaign’s performance in real time.
- Digital ordering: Toast POS software supports online ordering and mobile app orders with the Toast Takeout app. Your inventory is integrated, so available menu items are always updated. If you add Toast Delivery, you have the option to choose between managing your in-house delivery team or integrating with third-party delivery apps.
- Toast Inventory: Included in the baseline plan, Toast Inventory allows you to track ingredients and monitor inventory for low stock. You can manage your menu and sync it in real time, so you don’t display items that are no longer available. With xtraCHEF, you get more insights on menu item performance and improve menu management.
Did You Know?
Acquired in June 2021, xtraCHEF is Toast’s new cloud-based inventory and vendor management tool that will be replacing Toast’s built-in inventory management feature. On top of the usual inventory tracking and reporting tools, xtraCHEF adds the abilities to scan invoices, place orders and payments to suppliers, get rebates from manufacturers, and more.
When to Upgrade Toast
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 $165 for add-on software
What Toast Is Missing
- Employee management in the free plan: Toast’s free plan is meant for a single user. Therefore, it does not support employee and payroll management tools. Consider Loyverse as an alternative because, with its free plan, you can choose to add the feature. (PayPal includes basic team management in its free plan but doesn’t have the restaurant features.)
Learn more in our full Toast POS review.
Loyverse: Best for Inventory Management & CRM for Small Food-based Businesses
Loyverse
Overall Score: 3.94
OUT OF 5
What We Like
- Great customer support
- Strong customer management
- Choice of payment providers
What's Missing
- Limited integrations
- Missing some tools for larger restaurants, like table mapping
- No free card reader
Loyverse’s free plan includes:
- Free forever POS
- Mobile POS app
- Credit card payment capability
- Customer display for CRM
- Multiple location management
- CRM and loyalty program
- Inventory management
- Restaurant tools: KDS, open tickets, and item modifiers
- 24/7 support
Loyverse is a popular free POS system because it offers so much for free: POS, analytics, inventory, kitchen display, and customer display. The free KDS is one reason we recommend it for quick-service restaurants (QSRs), but it also has inventory tools like variants and real-time tracking for small food-based retailers. Loyverse is also the only system on this list that offers a free integrated loyalty program, as most popular POS software charge extra for this feature.
The platform even has excellent register tools and, for $25, you can get advanced inventory features, so you can track ingredients to the last gram, do inventory counts, print product labels, and manage POs from the platform. (You need to upgrade to Square’s paid plan for $60 to get its purchase and vendor management tools.)
Loyverse received an overall score of 3.94 out of 5. Square’s extra free features, such as ecommerce, put it ahead, although Loyverse beat it for pricing and rivals it for restaurant features. The absence of customer service and employee management tools for the free plan put it behind the rest of the providers in our list.
If you are running a restaurant and don’t want to use Square as your payment processor, Loyverse is worth considering because it lets you choose your merchant service.
Loyverse's free POS software is compatible with mobile iOS devices. (Source: Loyverse)
Pair your Loyverse POS software with SumUp, PayPal Zettle, or Worldpay card readers and terminals. (Source: Loyverse)
You can upgrade your countertop setup with Android POS terminals, such as Sunmi, iMin, and P2 Plus. (Source: Loyverse)
Loyverse Pricing
- POS is free
- Payment processing: Varies―separate merchant account required
- Card readers starting at: Not applicable
- POS systems starting at: Varies
Add-ons
- Employee management: $5 per month, per employee
- Advanced inventory: $25 per month, per store
- Integrations: $9 per month, per store
- 14-day free trial on add-ons
POS and upgrades: Loyverse’s POS, dashboard, kitchen display, and customer display programs are all free. The free loyalty program on top of a robust suite of POS features also gives users a huge incentive for choosing Loyverse. Aside from Square’s restaurant version, most of the POS systems on our list with kitchen display options charge or put it in a paid plan, while others need a third-party application.
It has no upgraded POS plan, but if you want to add employee management or advanced inventory, those cost $25 per month. These prices are better than the prices Square and Toast charge for their add-ons. However, Loyverse alone charges for the ability to integrate with third-party systems.
Payment processing: Loyverse works with multiple payment processors and merchant accounts, including Zettle. As such, you can shop around for the best rates. If you get interchange-plus pricing, it may be cheaper than Square.
Hardware: You’ll get a card reader from your payment provider. Square, Toast, and Zettle either give or sell you one. Loyverse, in the meantime, sells its POS systems for $439 and up, which is more expensive than Square or Zettle. The terminals are Android-only. You need a tablet for iOS.
Notable Loyverse Features
- Restaurant features: Loyverse has register and inventory features that make it excellent for restaurants. These include split payments, menu creation, composites for tracking ingredients, kitchen printers, KDS, and tracking stock of items that are produced from ingredients. (Some features may require a subscription to Advanced Inventory.) While the other POS systems on our list have a few of those functions, only Toast comes close. It lacks tools that make it the best POS choice for larger restaurants but, for free, it’s a great choice if you just need the basics.
- CRM and loyalty: Loyverse takes the lead for its customer management and loyalty features, with Zettle a close second. Loyverse not only lets you store customer information and create a points-based program, but it also lets you create loyalty cards and track purchase history. This is part of the free system.
- Multiple integrated payment processing: Unlike Square or Helcim, Loyverse does not tie you to its payment processor. Instead, it offers a number of payment integrations from Worldpay, SumUp and PayPal Zettle. As with integrated payments, you also get top-of-the-line payment security and automatic end-of-day payment reconciliation features.
- Mobile: Loyverse has 4.6 out of 5 stars on the Apple App Store with around 250 reviews and 4.5 out of 5 stars on Google Play with nearly 11,000 reviews. Users say it’s a great app with great customer support.
When to Upgrade Loyverse
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: $5 to $25 for add-on software
What Loyverse Is Missing
- Native ecommerce tools: While Loyverse can integrate with Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce, other providers in our list include native ecommerce tools in their free plan like Square. Also, consider Toast if you want delivery integrations to go with your online store.
- Free integrations: While Square and Zettle let you integrate with third-party software, Loyverse charges extra for the privilege. This is in addition to the price of the software itself.
How We Chose the Best Free POS Software
For this update, we wanted to give our readers a list of reliable and truly free POS software, so we focused on providers that offer zero upfront cost 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 as its POS system is always free and has upgrades to grow with you. It’s ranked on our lists of best POS software, best POS systems for restaurants, best payment gateways, best mobile card readers, and more.
Click through the tabs below for our full evaluation criteria:
30%
Pricing
20%
General Features
20%
Additional Features
20%
Ease of Use
10%
Expert Score
30% of Overall Score
Free plans do not mean free everything. We looked at the limitations of the free plan, the cost to upgrade, any upfront costs, and hardware. PayPal Zettle would have gotten a perfect score, but it lacks free hardware. Square came in second while Loyverse ranked third.
20% of Overall Score
This score addressed the tools in the free plan for sales, inventory, customer management, employee management, and loyalty. Only Helcim scored more than 4 stars in this category while Toast and PayPal Zettle ranked the lowest with 3.5 out of 5 stars.
20% of Overall Score
This section considered added value in the free plan like features specific to restaurants or retail, the ability to manage more than one store, and integrations. Both Square and PayPal Zettle lead in this category, scoring 4.5 stars.
20% of Overall Score
Free is no good unless it’s easy. Here, we considered customer support, storage, if it worked on desktop and mobile, and other features that make the system easy to implement. All the providers in our list did well here, with scores ranging 4 and above.
10% of Overall Score
Here we considered the experience of our team, who has decades of personal use and research, and the reviews of current users of the system. Square and Toast both got perfect scores but all the products did well.
*Percentages of overall score
Bottom Line
If you need 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 reasonable upgrades in plans or add-ons.
We recommend Square as the best free POS software for small businesses because it offers a free version with unlimited uses 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. The processing fees are reasonable, especially for the occasional user.
Sign up for a free account today.
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