Retail point-of-sale systems, often called POS systems, allow retailers to efficiently manage in-store sales and operating tasks. We looked at the most popular options and rising stars and decided to review Square POS, Lightspeed Retail, and ShopKeep. These companies covered the range for small retail businesses in terms of price, sales and inventory tools, and management features. Read on for our comparison and review of these three options, as well as our top recommendations.
Best POS System for Small Retailers & Boutiques: Square POS
Square is our top POS system pick for small retailers and startups since it offers an impressive array of sales, inventory, and business management features an unbeatable price: Free! Square POS has no monthly fees but offers loads of functionality like multi-location management, inventory tracking, and even a free online store. All you pay for is credit card processing fees of 2.75%, needed equipment, and optional add-ons. Click here to check it out:
Best POS System for Retailers with Large Inventories: Lightspeed Retail
Lightspeed is our top POS system pick for sellers managing large inventories in one or many locations. With Lightspeed, you can manage thousands of items at a very detailed level, plus handle bundled items, manage parts, create purchase orders, and much more. Add to this Lightspeed’s cutting-edge sales management features, robust reporting tools, and omnichannel sales tools, and you get a lot for the price.
POS System Comparison Table: Square vs. Lightspeed vs. ShopKeep
 Square POS |  Lightspeed Retail |  ShopKeep |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Costs Learn More | $0/month | From $99/month 14-day free trial | From $69/month 14-day free trial |
| Credit Card Processing Learn More | Square Payments: POS sales: 2.75% | Pick your own. We recommend Payline Data with competitive Interchange+ rates | Pick your own. We recommend Payline Data with competitive Interchange+ rates |
| Hardware Costs Learn More | iPad POS iPad Stand & Card Reader: $169 With iPad: $498 | iPad/Mac/PC POS Stations start at $1100 Lease from $89/month | iPad POS Stations start at $1000 |
| Setup & Use Learn More | Easy | Medium | Easy |
| Key Features Learn More | Inventory: Basic Customers: Lists, Email marketing & Loyalty built-in Employee: Advanced tools + payroll built-in | Inventory: Advanced Customers: Lists & Contact emails. Email marketing & Loyalty via 3rd party Employee: Advanced tools, payroll via 3rd party | Inventory: Mid-range Customers: Lists & Contact emails. Email marketing & Loyalty via 3rd party Employee: Advanced tools, payroll via 3rd party |
| Integrations Learn More | Ecommerce: Free Square Online Store, plus top store platforms Accounting: QuickBooks and Xero | Ecommerce: Lightspeed eStore $59/month, plus top store platforms Accounting: QuickBooks and Xero | Ecommerce: BigCommerce Accounting: QuickBooks via 3rd party $29/month |
| Customer Support Learn More | M-F 6-6 (PST) phone, email, and Twitter support. | 24/7 phone support. Email and live chat during business hours. | 24/7 Phone and email support. Live chat during business hours. |
| www.SquareUp.com | www.Lightspeed.com | www.ShopKeep.com |
Best POS System for Small Retailers & Boutiques: Square POS
We recommend Square POS for small retailers because it offers an intuitive, reliable, and secure POS system at an unbeatable price: free! Unlike Lightspeed and ShopKeep, Square’s base POS system has no monthly fee, yet is packed with many great features.
You also can extend Square’s capabilities with paid add-ons for advanced employee management, payroll, email marketing, or a customer loyalty program. But even then, you only pay for what you actually use, so Square can still cost less than our other top picks. One thing that won’t cost you extra is an online store. Square’s free online store ties directly to your inventory and sales data, making it a snap to expand into online sales. Here, Square pulls ahead of both Lightspeed and ShopKeep
Square’s point-of-sale hardware costs are reasonable, too. Square POS is iPad-based and if you have an iPad already, the Square POS checkout stand and card reader will run you just $99 to $169, depending on the card reader you choose. Speaking of card readers, mobile selling is another area where Square tops Lightspeed and ShopKeep since neither directly support mobile payments. This is nice if you sell where a POS checkout stand isn’t feasible, like markets or fairs. Plus, you can access Square’s POS dashboard from any computer, tablet, or smartphone.
Where Square POS falls short of our other top picks is primarily in credit card fees and inventory features. Square is a credit card processor, so you can’t shop around for lower rates from other providers. For low-volume sales, under about $18K or so per month, Square’s 2.75% credit card processing fee is competitive. But if your credit card sales top that per month, you can find lower rates with other processing providers, which both Lightspeed and ShopKeep support.
For inventory, Square POS handles basic stock tracking like item counts and variations, but Lightspeed is famous for its stellar inventory system. It supports advanced tracking, product bundling, departments, purchase orders, and multi-store inventory, and much more. ShopKeep also has more robust inventory features than Square POS, but is not the equal of Lightspeed.
Best POS System for Retailers with Large Inventories: Lightspeed Retail
We recommend Lightspeed for stores that stock large inventories, or that need to directly connect to supplier inventories. With more than 3000 wholesale and parts catalogs integrated into Lightspeed, it leads the pack for convenient, seamless purchase order creation and stock management. Add to that advanced in-store inventory tracking features, reporting capabilities, work orders/service tracking, and multi-store support, and Lightspeed delivers everything that growing stores, small retail chains, and service centers need.
Clearly Lightspeed tops our other picks in inventory features, but what’s equally impressive is how Lightspeed balances such complex features with ease of use. Most POS systems with similar inventory features are confounding to the new user, especially when it comes to adding items and managing inventory. But Lightspeed’s inventory tools and entire back end is quite intuitive and easy to navigate. Plus the checkout screen is equally simple which makes sales clerk training a breeze. Here, Lightspeed is on par with Square and ShopKeep since all three have very intuitive user screens.
For the many powerful features it provides, Lightspeed is one of the least expensive POS system options, which is another reason it made our list. Though it’s the most expensive of our three out of the gate, it’s far cheaper than other systems with similar advanced features. Most of those start at nearly double the monthly cost.
Lightspeed is also the only one of our top picks that lets you choose an iPad tablet or a Mac or PC computer for your register station. Square and ShopKeep only have iPad registers. Add great customer service to the mix and Lightspeed is a budget-friendly top-of-the-line system with the tools to take your business to the next level.
For some small businesses, Lightspeed’s robust features can be overkill, especially considering the $99/month starting price tag. For businesses that have small inventories, practically zero-cost Square POS is the smarter choice. Or, for stores that need a little more than Square offers, but at a lower cost than Lightspeed, our third pick, ShopKeep, fits the bill.
Another Top POS System for Small & Specialty Retailers: ShopKeep
ShopKeep neatly fills the gap between the free Square POS system and Lightspeed, which starts at $99/month. With a starting price of $69/month, ShopKeep offers more inventory, employee management, and customer tracking features than Square’s base POS, but these features aren’t quite as advanced as Lightspeed.
ShopKeep packages a full host of sales and business management tools into in an easy-to-use interface. Like Square, ShopKeep’s checkout register is iPad-based, though you can access the store management dashboard via any computer or smartphone. Here, Lightspeed beats them both since it lets you use an iPad, PC, or Mac computer as your checkout register.
Like Lightspeed, ShopKeep integrates with several third-party apps for features like loyalty programs, accounting, and ecommerce. ShopKeep is the only one of our three top picks that doesn’t offer a built-in online store option, though it does integrate with a top-rated ecommerce platform, BigCommerce, for online sales. In contrast, Square’s built-in loyalty, marketing, and online store features are more easily managed in one seamless system.
ShopKeep does have one costly downside. If you need to connect to QuickBooks, it will cost you an additional $29/month. This puts you in the same price range as Lightspeed, which connects to QuickBooks for free and has more advanced features. If you need to connect QuickBooks, Lightspeed is obviously the better value. But If you don’t, ShopKeep delivers a powerful package for $30 less per month than Lightspeed.
Other POS Systems for Specific Needs:
Most POS systems offer a good set of core point-of-sale, inventory, customer, employee, and reporting features, but some meet specific selling or business management needs better than others. In addition to our top three picks, the following four POS systems truly stand out for specific user needs.
Other POS Systems to Consider
| Retail POS | Price | Meets this special need: |
|---|---|---|
| Square for Retail | From $60/month + equipment costs | Extends Square’s features for Square users who want more without switching. Square for Retail is the advanced inventory and retail sales version of free Square POS. It adds barcode inventory management, purchase orders, forecasting, and more. |
| Shopify POS | $49/month + equipment costs | Integrates with Shopify Stores. Shopify POS adds a full-featured POS system to your Shopify ecommerce store inventory, customer contacts, and sales data. You can even add mobile payments to sell anywhere. |
LivePOS | From $99/month + equipment costs | Chain retailers, service centers, and franchise retail models. LivePOS has a vast array of features and is ideally suited for managing sales, advanced inventory, and employees for retail chain stores, service and repair shops, and franchise operations. |
| Quickbooks POS | From $1,800 1-time fee + equipment costs | Integrates directly with QuickBooks to support retail sales. Retailers who use QuickBooks to manage their business will appreciate the seamless workings of QuickBooks POS for managing retail sales |
In-Depth Review: Square POS vs. Lightspeed Retail vs. ShopKeep
Monthly Costs
Of our three, Square is the only POS system that has no monthly fee for the base system. Here’s how all three stack up in monthly fees. Note, hardware costs are not included in monthly costs. We detail those in a later section.
Square POS
Square POS does not charge a monthly fee for its base system which offers a lot: sales, credit card payments, unlimited products, basic inventory, customer tracking, multi-store management, employee features, software upgrades, and support. Square offers its POS for free since it really makes its money through credit card processing, which we discuss next. It also offers several optional features with monthly fees.
Square POS System Add-on Services & Monthly Fees
| Feature | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|
| Square POS | $0 unlimited registers, items & employees |
| Square Appointments | $30 & up |
| Square Email Marketing | $15 & up |
| Square Loyalty | $25 per location |
| Square Employee Management | $5 per employee |
| Square Payroll | $25 for service + $5 per employee |
For more advanced management needs, see a full list of all Square POS features and costs.
Lightspeed Retail
All Lightspeed Retail POS plans include unlimited products, advanced inventory features, customers lists, sales, multi-store management, as well as software upgrades and premium support.
Lightspeed Retail POS System Plan Levels & Costs
| $99/month | 1 | 5 | ||
| $169/month | 2 | 10 | ||
| $289/month | 4 | 20 | $9 per employee/month | $51/month |
ShopKeep
ShopKeep’s POS pricing is simple. Its monthly fee per checkout includes all features, sales, credit cards payments, unlimited products, advanced inventory, customer tracking, multi-store management, employee features, and 24/7 customer support.
ShopKeep POS System Plan Costs
| Feature | Cost |
|---|---|
| ShopKeep POS | $69 per checkout register |
Credit Card Processing
Of our three top picks, only Square handles credit card payment processing with their own flat-rate processing fees. Lightspeed and ShopKeep both let you choose your own payment provider, which gives you the opportunity to compare prices and possibly get lower rates that Square.
Square POS
Square POS is its own payment processor, meaning that you have to use Square’s credit card processing service. It’s easier to configure than third-party processors, but you have no outside options. It can be more costly compared to rates using your own provider with Lightspeed and ShopKeep. Overall, Square POS makes its money by charging more for payment processing rather than a monthly POS account fee.
Square POS Credit Card Processing Fees
| Type of transaction | Fees |
|---|---|
| POS Register & Mobile Payments | 2.75% |
| Virtual Terminal Online Payments | 3.5% + 15¢ per transaction |
| Online Store & Online Invoice Payments | 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction |
Lightspeed Retail
Lightspeed lets you pick your own payment processor, but recommends Cayan as the primary option for their POS customers. Mercury Payments is another option. Lightspeed also works with any processor that operates on the Authorize.net payment gateway, like our recommended provider, Payline Data.
We recommend Payline Data because it offers simple and competitive interchange+ credit card processing rates based on your volume.
Payline Data Interchange+ rates range from:
0.3% + 20¢ per transaction to 0.5% + 20¢ per transaction
ShopKeep
ShopKeep has the most payment integrations and works with a wide variety of payment processor partners using BridgePay as their gateway. This includes Chase Paymentech, Sage, Heartland, Global Payments, and more. ShopKeep also integrates with Paypal and the PayPal Mobile Payment app.
ShopKeep also supports our recommended processor, Payline Data, which offers simple and competitive interchange+ credit card processing rates based on your volume.
Payline Data Interchange+ rates range from:
0.3% + 20¢ per transaction to 0.5% + 20¢ per transaction
Hardware Costs for Checkout Registers
The good news is you can build the exact checkout register you need with all three of our top picks. Want to keep it all iPad-based? You can do that. Or add printers, barcode scanners, cash drawers, etc., as needed. Of the three, only Lightspeed supports iPad, Mac, and PC as a checkout register. ShopKeep and Square both support only iPads on their register stands.
Square POS:
Build an iPad checkout with peripherals as needed.
Square iPad Stand & Card Reader without iPad: $169
Stand & Card Reader with an iPad: $498
iPad system supported: 3rd Gen iPads (IOS 9) & above
Source: Square
Lightspeed Retail:
Build an iPad, Mac, or PC computer checkout with peripherals as needed
Buy bundled checkouts: From $1100
Lease a checkout: From $89/month
Systems: 3rd Gen iPads (IOS 9) & above, MAC & PC
Source: Lightspeed
ShopKeep:
Build an iPad checkout with peripherals as needed
Buy bundled checkouts: From $1000
System: 2nd Gen iPads (IOS 8.2) & above
Source: ShopKeep
Ease of Setup and Use
When it comes to ease of setup and use, Square POS is the most intuitive, with ShopKeep as a close second. Lightspeed is a bit more complicated, simply because it has a bigger set of features, but is still simple enough that most business owners should not have a problem configuring the system, especially when you factor in the free tutorial session Lightspeed provides each new user.
Key Features
In this case, the phrase “you get what you pay for” is actually pretty accurate.
Inventory Management
All three of our top picks do some level of inventory management and tracking. Square POS is pretty basic, just keeping track of inventory items, counts, item variations, and that is about it. ShopKeep adds some handy features like parts tracking and low barcode tracking. But Lightspeed is certainly the winner, with a POS system that’s built specifically to give small businesses an inventory management and tracking edge over their competition.
Employee Management
When it comes to employee management features, all three systems are surprisingly neck and neck, with Lightspeed having a slight edge with more in-depth user permission settings. Learn more about employee management and scheduling.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Square POS has some nice built-in CRM features, like email marketing and a loyalty program, but these come with monthly fees. ShopKeep offers more functionality than Square POS via added apps, but Lightspeed is definitely the hands-down winner when it comes to CRM features and functionality.
Integrations for Ecommerce & Accounting
All three of our top picks integrate with ecommerce platforms to support online sales and with accounting software including QuickBooks and Xero. Some of these integrations are free and some carry added costs, which we detail below.
Square POS
Square POS has a vast array of integration partners, and also provides a built-in free online store. Below are some of the top integrations retailers use with Square.
Square POS Ecommerce & Accounting Integrations
| Integration | Platform / Software | Integration cost |
|---|---|---|
| Ecommerce Platforms | Free Square Online Store plus top online store platforms including Ecwid for WordPress, and many more | $0 |
| Accounting | QuickBooks & Xero Others via 3rd party apps | $0 Varies per software provider |
Lightspeed Retail
Like Square POS, Lightspeed has many integration partners. It also provides a built-in online store via Lightspeed eCommerce, but unlike Square it’s not free. Below are popular integrations retailers use and their costs.
Lightspeed Retail Ecommerce & Accounting Integrations
| Integration | Platform / Software | Integration cost |
|---|---|---|
| Ecommerce Platforms | Lightspeed eCommerce Other top online store platforms via 3rd party apps | $59/month Varies per integration needs and platform |
| Accounting | QuickBooks & Xero Others via via 3rd party apps | $0 Varies per software provider |
ShopKeep
Of the three, only ShopKeep doesn’t have a built-in ecommerce solution, but that’s covered in its direct integration with top ecommerce platform BigCommerce. ShopKeep also differs in its QuickBooks integration. It’s the only one of our three to charge a fee for this. Overall, ShopKeep offers the fewest ready integrations, but the ones it supports work well.
ShopKeep Ecommerce & Accounting Integrations
| Integration | Platform / Software | Integration cost |
|---|---|---|
| Ecommerce Platforms | BigCommerce | Online store plans start at $29.95/month |
| Accounting | QuickBooks | $29/month |
Customer Support
When it comes to customer support, Lightspeed and ShopKeep are neck and neck, both with 24/7 customer service that is very well reviewed. Square POS has not historically had the best customer support reputation, but user reviews have improved in recent years and my experience was positive.
All POS Systems Reviewed
For the average small business owner, either Square POS, Lightspeed Retail, or ShopKeep will provide a POS solution that fits your business needs and budget. They are really the best options available at each price point.
However, in certain situations, there may be a reason to go with a different POS system. There are many options on the market and we considered several when creating this guide. Below, we list all of the POS systems we reviewed and note when they might be a better fit than our top picks.
POS Systems Reviewed for this Guide
| POS System | Best For |
|---|---|
| Square POS | Small retailers needing a low-cost, full-featured POS system and payment provider |
| Lightspeed Retail | Sellers needing advanced inventory, customer, and store management features |
| ShopKeep | Stores needing something in-between Square POS and Lightspeed |
| LivePOS | Those managing sales, advanced inventory, and employees for retail chains and franchises |
| Square for Retail | Square POS users needing advanced inventory features |
| SalesVu | Sellers looking to craft a low-cost POS a-la-carte |
| Lightspeed Restaurant | Restaurants needing to manage table layouts, configure menus, manage tickets and more |
| Shopify POS | Ecommerce sellers who want to add in-store sales to existing online operations |
| Paypal Here | Existing PayPal users needing a basic POS for in-person payments |
| Quickbooks POS | QuickBooks users wanting to add an integrated POS checkout |
| ERPLY POS | Large stores with many locations needing accounting, PO creation, multi-store inventory & more |
The Bottom Line
If you just need a basic POS system on a budget, Square POS is hard to beat. ShopKeep is a solid choice, but the $29 QuickBooks integration fee makes it a less viable middle-of-the-road option if you use QuickBooks. For most small business owners needing a full-featured POS with advanced inventory, employee, and sales features that can grow with the business, Lightspeed is the way to go.
Kumaresh Biswas
Thanks for sharing helpful information, I really like your all post. I will bookmark your blog for future updates.
Thanks for reading! I hope the information was of use. Cheers, Krista
Daisy Bennett
Great review. But the point of sale I’m using in my store is LivePOS. We’ve got no problem with their system, it’s actually very helpful for me in running my business.
Live POS is another that gets top reviews, especially for managing small chains and multiple locations. Glad you found a winner. Cheers! Krista
Sky Bright
Nice review. I use LivePOS system in my store. It does a lot to help me run my business every day.
Thanks! Live POS is a popular choice, too. Cheers, Krista
Jason Feemster
Hello, great comparison article on POS systems, I enjoyed the read. I would just add that a majority of these systems are cloud-based. I’m assuming the Quickbooks POS you’re referring to is Revel? So if you’re considering purchasing one of these systems, make sure you have the network infrastructure in place to handle the bandwidth required to run these apps. I’ve seen it happen too many times where someone may have slow or spotty internet and that time and money investment to get everything implemented is gone, only to have to revert back to a more “traditional” hardwired POS system for reliability and stability. You may think your internet speed is awesome, but how reliable is it really and are you going to trust it with the life of your business? Just something to consider. Cheers – Jason.
Hi Jason,
That’s definitely a consideration for any SaaS system including POS systems. I know some store owners who had success with signal boosters, but any shop running multiple stations needs a higher-bandwidth connection. Great point! Cheers, Krista