5 User-friendly Cloud POS for 2023

• POS software plans:
  • Free ($0): Unlimited items, low stock alerts, saved carts, discounts, online store, time tracking, sell on Facebook & Google, invoices, eGift cards, customer profiles, sales reports
  • Plus: ($60 per month): Free + exchanges, vendor management, advanced reports, multiple wage rates
  • Premium: (Custom pricing): Plus + gift cards, custom pricing on add-ons
• Hardware costs:
  • Square Stand: $149 (iPad not included)
  • Square Terminal: $299
  • Square Register: $799
  • Card readers: Start at $49 (first magstripe card reader free)
• Processing fees:
  • Flat-rate transactions: 2.6% + 10 cents per transaction (2.5% + 10 cents with Plus plan)
  • Invoices: 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction
  • Ecommerce sales: 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction
  • Recurring billing and card-on-file transactions: 3.5% + 15 cents per transaction
  • Keyed-in payments: 3.5% + 15 cents per transaction
  • AfterPay (Buy Now Pay Later): 6% + 30 cents per transaction
  • Volume discounts: Available for businesses processing over $250,000 in credit card sales

Create an inventory library and create variant products to speed up the process. (Source: Square)

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Create and manage customers straight from your Square account and attach a shopper to every transaction. (Source: Square)

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Square Terminal is an all in one payment solution for payments and receipts. (Source: Square)

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Take your business anywhere with a portable card reader that you can attach to your smart phone or iPad to take payments anywhere. (Source: Amazon)

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• Free plan: Square offers by far the best free plan of those on our list. If your inventory needs are few, then this plan may have everything you need, including an ecommerce solution and time tracking.
• Excellent mobile option: Square is the best POS system for those who want a totally mobile register. The app is highly rated on Android and iOS, and you get all the tools that you would with a register. It’s the best choice for selling at craft fairs or flea markets.
• Industry-specific plans: Unlike Toast and Shopify, Square POS offers paid plans that cater to specific industries. The Restaurant version, for example, includes table management, auto-gratuities, and auto-86ing of items. Meanwhile, Square Appointments lets clients book online, syncs to calendars, has no-show protection tools, and more. While Lightspeed has great versions for restaurant and retail, it can’t beat Square Appointments for spas, salons, and other similar businesses.
• Grows with you: Square is the most versatile of all the systems. While it does charge for some extra tools that you may find included in the other POS software on our list, it alone offers payroll processing, checking and savings, and even loans (Toast has payroll, too). If you like to have one-stop shopping for your business transactions, Square can do it.
• Offline mode: Like Toast, Square can work offline. You can continue to take credit card payments, and Square saves them to upload once you have your connection back.
• Online sales and ecommerce: Square POS has lots of support for businesses that want to sell online. The built-in free Square Online store syncs online and in-person sales data to a centralized location. Square POS also integrates with other ecommerce platforms, including WooCommerce and Wix.

• Limited marketing: For loyalty programs, you need to pay for Square Loyalty, which is an additional $45 per month. If you want to run email and social media campaigns via your Square POS, you’ll also need to add Square Marketing at an additional $15 per month.
• Basic online store: Square’s online store is not especially advanced. If you need a strong ecommerce platform that can handle a high volume of online sales, consider Shopify.

• 14-day free trial
• Retail software subscription plans*:
  • Lean ($89 per register month): POS system, dedicated account manager, 24/7 support
  • Standard ($149 per register per month): Lean + accounting and ecommerce,
  • Advanced ($269 per register per month): Standard + omnichannel loyalty, advanced reporting, and one-on-one onboarding
  • Enterprise (Custom pricing): Advanced + unlimited personalized onboarding, consultation, premium support, reduced Lightspeed payment rated, more
  • Additional registers cost $29 per month
• Restaurant software: Runs $69-$399+ per month and includes take-out and delivery, order at the table, multiple revenue center support, and more
• Golf software (Custom pricing): Includes online booking, Tee-sheets, dynamic pricing, SMS marketing, and more
• Ecommerce: Runs $0-$82.50 and includes online store, social selling, automated taxes, discounts, wholesale prices, subscriptions, abandoned cart saver, and more
• Hardware cost: Runs on iPad and iMac. Custom-quoted hardware kits are available. Card readers and peripherals are bought separately.
• Processing fees:
  • Chip, tap, and swipe payments: 2.6% + 10 cents per transaction
  • Keyed-in payments: 2.6% + 30 cents per transaction
  • Volume discount: Available for businesses processing over $250,000

*Pricing is based on a monthly subscription and requires Lightspeed Payments. Plans cost more if you choose a third-party provider. Lower rates are available with annual billing.

Lightspeed has many inventory control features, so you can take control of your stock and manage how you need to. (Source: Lightspeed)

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Lightspeed makes inventory easy to understand with real-time reports and analysis. (Source: Lightspeed)

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Manage your staff and see how each of your employees is performing. (Source: Lightspeed)

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Lightspeed has many hardware options, and the retail hardware kit is a top choice because it allows you to take payments both from the iPad stand at your cash wrap or around your store by removing the iPad.
(Source: Lightspeed)

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• Inventory management: Lightspeed POS’s inventory management is the best on our list. You can track stock levels across multiple locations, set low stock alerts, and track variants. Advanced inventory features include integrated product catalogs and purchase orders, multiple item variants, aging product reports, work orders, layaway, and detailed product tagging and organization.
• Online sales and ecommerce: Lightspeed offers a robust ecommerce platform that enables businesses to create custom websites with built-in templates. From there, you can sell locally or to an international customer base. Additional features allow you to sell your products on social media channels, like Facebook and Instagram.
• Reporting and analytics: Lightspeed offers over 40 pre-made reports on sales, profits, stock, margins, sell-through, employee performance, and more. It offers some unique reports like “dusty inventory” to show what items are not selling and “commonly bought together” so you can see what items tend to pair. You get reports on customer purchasing history, too. Exporting your data into the reports module provides a more detailed picture.
• Integrations: In addition to Lightspeed’s robust functions, this cloud POS works with more than 80 third-party integrations. Integrations are available for employee scheduling, appointment scheduling, accounting, chatbots, payroll, equipment rental tracking, and third-party delivery platforms.

• Ecommerce with higher plans: Lightspeed’s native ecommerce platform is only available with midrange and higher plans, which can mean you’ll have to spend more to sell online.
• No offline mode: It can’t process credit cards offline. Check Square or Toast for this feature.
• Choice of merchant services costs extra: You pay extra for plans if you don’t use Lightspeed payments. This is similar to Shopify, although it charges an increased monthly fee instead of adding to the payment processing fee.

Shopify online plans:

• Shopify ecommerce plans*:
  • Basic ($39 per month): online store, 24/7 support, social selling, discount codes, abandoned cart recovery, gift cards, marketing automation, international market management (including language and payment)
  • Shopify ($105 per month): Basic + special shipping pricing and insurance, and ecommerce automations
  • Advanced ($399 per month): Shopify + third-party calculated shipping rates, and duties and import tax estimates
• Shopify POS Plans:
  • Lite POS: Included in all ecommerce plans, order and product management, customer profiles
  • POS Pro: $89 per month, per location, or free for enterprise users under the Shopify Plus plan. Lite + scalable to 1,000 locations, unlimited staff, smart inventory management, in-store analytics, and more
• Hardware costs:
  • Bundles: Contact sales; prices start from $219
  • Shopify POS Go handheld: $429 with case
  • Shopify card readers: from $49
• Processing fees:
  • In-person: 2.4% – 2.7%, depending on plan
  • Online: 2.4% + 30 cents – 2.6% + 30 cents, depending on plan
  • Use a third-party payment processor: add 0.5% to 2%, depending on plan

*A Shopify Ecommerce subscription (from $39–$399 per month) is required to use Shopify POS.

Shopify lets you customize the tiles on your checkout screen so you can access quick items and functions and improve checkout speed. (Source: Shopify)

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View your store’s performance for the day at a glance on your home screen dashboard. (Source: Shopify)

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Even on the base plan, Shopify’s Analytics dashboard gives you an overview of your store’s performance and has lots of different report options to explore. (Source: Maplinks)

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Add detailed product information and even include custom fields for each of your product pages.
(Source: Lightspeed)

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• Online sales and ecommerce: Shopify offers a comprehensive ecommerce platform for merchants, allowing you to build and customize your site with templates or custom coding. Everything is synced in real-time to ensure that you don’t sell something online that you don’t have on hand. It offers shipping discounts from 77% to 88%, depending on the plan. It’s the best for online sales on our list.
• Social sales: Shopify also leads the pack for sales on social channels. While others on our list let you sell via Facebook or Google, Shopify offers a wider range of channels, from eBay to TikTok, even via Walmart online.
• Marketing: Square offers marketing tools like online blogging, SEO optimization, email marketing, and Facebook ads. You can also use automated emails to send order updates, digital receipts, and post-purchase promotions. Additional CRM features are available via integrations.
• Inventory management: Shopify is ecommerce-centric, so the inventory management function keeps your online and in-store stock levels in a central location. Shopify POS is also excellent at tracking stock through the various stages of receiving, selling, and shipping. Its higher-level plans also track stock levels across multiple store locations.

• Ecommerce-focused: Shopify is all about ecommerce, so stores that don’t do a lot of online business will probably find the POS functionally thin. As a result, you’ll need to pay for a number of third-party integrations for features such as a comprehensive CRM and detailed reporting tools to get the most out of the system.
• No offline mode: Shopify also does not have the ability to accept card payments while offline. Look at Square or Toast.

• Software subscription plans:
  • Quick Start ($0): Choice of terminal or handheld, order and table management, reporting, menu, invoicing, 24/7 support
  • Core ($69 per month): Choose own hardware, Quick Start + custom configuration and options to add more features
  • Growth ($165 per month): Core + online ordering, Toast delivery, third-party payment integrations, Toast TakeOut App
  • Build Your Own (Custom pricing): Choose the features you need, including automated inventory, employee benefits, scheduling, marketing and loyalty, payroll and tips management
  • Restaurant Basics ($110 per month): Core + Sling scheduling Lite, payroll Lite, business insurance by AP Intego, Vestwell 401(K), and Toast PayCard
• Software add-ons: Call for pricing
  • Mobile order and pay
  • Partner Connect (for integrations)
  • Scheduling and team communication
  • Marketing, gift cards, and loyalty
  • Payroll & team management
  • Third-party delivery integrations
  • xtraCHEF (ingredient pricing analysis)
• Hardware costs: $0–$999, depending on the type. Often free in exchange for accepting a higher payment processing rate
• Processing fees:
  • Pay-as-you-go plan: 2.99% + 15 cents for both card present and card not present transactions
  • Standard paid plan: 2.49% + 15 cents for card present and 3.5% + 15 cents for card not present transactions

Easily input orders with a checkout display designed specifically for restaurants. (Source: Finances online)

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Access Toast anywhere with a mobile device or desktop. (Source: Toast)

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Add $200 to your starter kit and get a customer-facing order screen to enhance customer engagement at the counter. (Source: Toast)

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Manage all your restaurant locations from a single account. (Source: Toast)

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• Ingredient-level menu management: Toast’s dynamic ingredient-level inventory tracking is the backbone of its menu management module. You can create menu categories, subcategories, and multiple modifier screens, as well as adjust modifier pricing and view item countdowns to avoid stockouts. It identifies which dishes should be removed from your menu in an easy-to-scan grid.
• Online sales and ecommerce: While Shopify excels in social selling, and others have online stores, Toast’s strength is in its delivery services. Your Toast online system sends orders directly to your kitchen. The software also integrates with all the popular third-party delivery platforms.
• Payroll and 401(k): Aside from Square, Toast is the only POS provider on our list with extra options like payroll. It also has a 401(k) program run by Vestwell. Square offers more for banking, however.
• Reporting and analytics: Toast POS is the only one on this list with restaurant-specific reports that focus on ingredients, tips, and table turn time. It shows you how many patrons each employee served in any given shift, compares locations, and highlights which days and times are busiest. The software will also send an email at the end of each night with a comprehensive snapshot of the day’s sales and costs.

• Android only: Unlike other cloud POS systems, Toast only works on its own custom-built Android devices. For more hardware flexibility, consider Clover.
• Contracts: Although Toast offers pay-as-you-go plans for its industry-grade hardware, you will be locked into a long-term contract with no flexibility in terms of a payment processor. If you want a restaurant POS that lets you choose payment processing options, consider Lightspeed for Restaurants.

Unlike the others on our list, Clover’s plans are complex, as the plan you sign up for not only determines your features but also determines the hardware and software you will have access to. In addition, some Clover resellers offer the system free if you use their payment processing—this often requires a multi-year contract.

Below is the plan for retail from the Clover website:

*additional $9.95 per month, per additional location/register

**Financing options available

You can get Clover’s virtual terminal as a stand-alone for a reduced subscription. (Source: Clover)

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You can create invoices with Pay Now buttons. (Source: Clover)

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Clover lets you create custom reports. (Source: Clover)

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With Clover Scan-and-Pay, your customers can order online, get delivery, and pay through mobile. (Source: Clover)

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• Loyalty programs: Clover is the only one on our list that comes with a complete, point-based loyalty program, in all its plans. You can also advertise promos on social media or via email or text messaging using Clover Promos.
• Free customer-facing loyalty app: Clover also has a customer-facing loyalty app where you can add your business to its own loyalty program. Then, customers can download the Clover app and manage their points. This unique program makes your business visible among Clover users.
• Strong age-verification tools: Clover offers Retail Access Control Standards-compliant age-verification tools, which make it a great choice for selling alcohol, cigarettes, or vape products. In addition, you can find a payment processor that will handle high-risk payments like CBD sales. It’s the best on the list for these kinds of sales.
• Virtual Terminal: Clover offers a virtual terminal. Unlike Square, whose virtual terminal can also process ACH, Clover only works with credit card payments. However, it does integrate with multiple apps, like Zoho CRM. Further, if all you need is a virtual terminal, such as if you do payment processing in an office, you can get a reduced price program at $14.95 per month, with 3.5% + 10 cents per transaction from Fiserv.

• Resellers not regulated: Clover has the hugest number of resellers and payment processing options of those on our list, but Clover/Fiserv does not hold them to a particular standard. Therefore, read contracts very carefully and consider our list of best payment processors.

A cloud POS system is networked to the cloud, which means its servers are maintained offsite by a third party (usually the POS service). All the information on the system is stored on the cloud, and you have access to it through the Internet or through a Wi-Fi connection where offered.

A traditional POS system has all the information in-house. Terminals are attached to a central server by wires, and information can only be accessed through an on-site computer or a remote connection login. You usually pay for this outright, whereas with a cloud POS, you pay each month for the software and services.

The advantages of a cloud-based POS system include better mobility, easy software maintenance, low up-front investments, and the ability to access your business data from anywhere.

The potential drawbacks of a cloud POS include security risks and its heavy reliance on a strong internet connection. However, the pros of a cloud POS outweigh the cons for most businesses. In fact, many modern POS systems are now only available as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model.

Like a traditional system, you need the software, a terminal, and a credit card processor. You also need internet connectivity.