Hike POS Review: Scalable, Budget-friendly Point-of-Sale

*Lump-sum billing. Additional registers cost $29 per month billed annually, $39 per month billed monthly.

• Hike Essential: Includes unlimited users and products and you can sell in-store using compatible devices (PC, Mac, iPad, and Android app). Accounting integrations are available, along with basic product and inventory features (variants, composite products, purchase orders, and more).
• Hike Plus: Offers access to its multistore management features for product, inventory, and order management. It also unlocks more integrations for ecommerce, marketplaces, marketing, inventory, and order management features.
• Hike Enterprise: Gives you a dedicated account manager and a customized onboarding session. Everything under the Essential and Plus plans is included in this subscription as well.

While it does not have a built-in payment processor, Hike offers ready integration with popular payment processors for US merchants, such as Worldpay, PayPal, Square, Chase, and Fiserv.

It does not charge any transaction fees on top of your payment processor’s fees and can also help connect you with your chosen provider. It even allows you to set up custom payment types if your preferred payment processor is not on their list.

Hike accepts all major credit and debit cards. Customers can also pay with tap, swipe, or chip and pin. Most integrated payment devices include Apple Pay and NFC—contactless technologies.

Hike is compatible with most PC, Mac, and iPad systems and works with widely used retail counter hardware brands such as Star Micronics, Epson, Socket Mobile, and even Apple. Its plug-n-play hardware list includes receipt printers (Bluetooth, LAN, and USB), barcode scanners, cash drawers, and payment devices. You can find Hike’s list of recommended hardware (bundles and peripherals) on its website.

Works with iPads:

• Star mPOP
• Elo PayPoint Plus
• Hike iPad POS bundle

Hike iPad POS bundle: Heckler Windfall iPad stand, Compatible cash drawer, Star TSP650 Bluetooth receipt printer, SocketMobile 7ci barcode scanner (Source: Hike)

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Star mPOP: All-in-one retail counter solution for Hike iPad POS with built-in receipt printer, cash drawer, iPad stand and barcode scanner (Source: Hike)

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The Elo PayPoint Plus is an all-in-one retail counter solution for Hike on iPad with built-in receipt printer, cash drawer and iPad stand. (Source: Hike)

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Works with all computers (PC and Mac):

• APG/Nexa cash drawer, Star TSP143 USB receipt printer, Honeywell 1400G barcode scanner

Hike PC & Mac POS bundle (Source: Hike)

• Checkout function: Customizable payment types, product lookup, order notes, parked orders, discount per product, or entire bill.
• Barcode scanning system: Tap, search, or scan a barcode to add items to the shopping basket.

A view of the Hike dashboard as seen from an iPad (Source: Hike)

Hike offers an easy-to-use interface, with the ability to set shortcuts and custom payment processing flow. It supports barcode scanning, intuitive product search, and quick tap functions for a fast checkout process. You can also attach notes to orders for any special customer request right at checkout.

• Access through browser: Run on an iPad, PC, and Mac from your browser
• Offline mode: Sync offline orders once an internet connection is found

Hike is a cloud-based program so you can set up your system on an iPad, your PC, or Mac and have immediate access to your sales and inventory data. It also allows you to process transactions even if you temporarily lose internet connection. The system automatically syncs to your store cloud any changes to your inventory and sales data as soon as you are back online

• Standard payment types: Cash, integrated card payments
• Additional payment types: Buy Now, Pay Later, gift cards, checks, partial payments (deposits and lay-by), loyalty points, and store credit
• Adjustments: Refunds, taxes, and discounts per item or entire bill

Hike Checkout page allows you to set up multiple payment methods. (Source: Hike)

Hike offers a wide range of payment methods. Aside from cash and card payment options, you can also accept gift cards, checks, loyalty points, and store credits. It even lets you accept partial payments, Buy Now, Pay Later, lay-by, and on-account sales, with the system setting customer credit limits and updating available inventory for every payment method. It can also process returns and refunds and support multiple tax rates for businesses that operate in more than one locations.

• Integrated ecommerce: Integrates with BigCommerce and Shopify
• Real-time sync: Inventory and orders are updated in real time to your central dashboard
• Omnichannel feature: Supports buy online, pickup in-store (BOPIS)

Hike offers free integration with popular ecommerce platforms like BigCommerce and Shopify. (Source: Hike)

While Hike does not include a built-in website builder feature, it does offer free integrations with well-known ecommerce platforms such as BigCommerce and Shopify. Your inventory data is stored in your cloud which then gives you the ability to specify which items will be available for sale on your online store through your central dashboard.

The system also automatically syncs your inventory and sales data in real time along with sales analytics functions to help you make timely business decisions.

• Customer directory in-store and online: All contacts, one location
• Customer information and behavior insights: Basic data plus insights on customers’ visit frequency, average spend, loyalty points accrual, and more

With Hike’s CRM, you can track a customer’s sales history—across all store locations, in-store or online. (Source: Hike)

Having a central location for your customers’ information enables you to gain a wealth of insight about customer behavior—spending habits, frequency of visits, and other details—that you might miss if you keep them separate by store location.

This setup gives your customers leverage to earn more loyalty rewards points. Furthermore, its Mailchimp integration will provide you an edge for marketing purposes as it allows you to segment your customers based on behavior and purposefully target them for campaigns.

Some of the actions you can take at a product level with Hike’s inventory feature: set variants, enable/disable inventory tracking, group products by way of tags, and assign SKUs. (Source: Hike)

Hike offers strong and pretty advanced inventory management features, even on its basic plan at $69/month. It actually got a perfect score in the inventory features category during our evaluation of several inventory POS systems. It provides real-time tracking, low-stock alerts, barcoding, purchase orders, and vendor management (something not offered by many popular platforms).

While stock transfer is available only at a higher-priced plan, its granular inventory management features—the ability to set unlimited variants, do product bundles, and group products—are extremely valuable for retail businesses.

Additional inventory features include:

• Purchase orders, purchase order receipts, supplier directory
• Granular inventory tracking
  • Stock by variant: Size, color, material, and more; assign unique SKUs to each
  • Product organization: Categories, sub-categories (groups), tags
  • Assign barcodes to products
• Retail hybrid inventory
  • Product bundles: Build composite product bundles from existing products
• Bulk import and export: Add, update, and count inventory at once
• Price margin: Enter cost price and specify percentage value and the system will calculate a selling price
• Perform full or partial inventory count, schedule counts in advance
• Inventory tracking on/off
• Automated reorder reminders
• Stock transfer between stores

Accept mobile payments (even card payments) anywhere with Hike’s mobile iPad app register and PayPal’s integrated mobile payment device. (Source: Hike)

Hike is built with mobile in mind. Its app can function as a POS and management system. You can bring your POS to the customer to deliver a unique experience (floating cash register), check stock information and sales reports in real time, and even update product pricing—all from your mobile device.

Mobile features include:

• Set up a checkout counter using an iPad device through the iPad register app
• Access to retail management system, including full inventory control and reporting
• Supports plug-n-play Wi-Fi and Bluetooth hardware—receipt printers and barcode scanners
• Available as iPad app (iOS) and Android devices

• Multiple outlets: Stores, pop-ups, warehouses
• Multi-store reporting: General store performance and site-level performance, in real time
• Multi-store POS inventory: Set automated inventory counts and re-ordering per store

Having a centralized location for everything is truly Hike’s best feature. Inventory is tracked and managed across all locations and is updated in real time. Based on permission levels, staff can adjust stock details, pricing levels, and even transfer stock in between stores—straight from Hike’s dashboard.

You can also set up automatic reordering when stock levels reach a specific point. Comprehensive reporting—overall and per store—helps you see what items in your inventory are top sellers, what isn’t selling, what stores sell which products, and more.

• Ecommerce: Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Magento, and Neto
• Inventory: Deputy and Unleashed
• Accounting: QuickBooks Online, Xero, MYOB AccountRight, and MYOB Essentials
• Marketplace: Amazon Marketplace
• Marketing: Mailchimp

One of Hike’s strengths is having built-in integrations. This allows you to have a more efficient business process. For example, you can track and have real-time updates about your store sales in your accounting program and have faster payroll processing. If you have an online store, then you can connect it to Hike so that your inventory is synced—you don’t risk selling out-of-stock items.

The only downside is that all of these integrations, except for the accounting programs, are only offered at the Plus ($119/month) level. However, considering that these integrations are available at a set pricing level and not as individual paid premiums, it can still be considered an affordable upgrade.

As a browser-based software, setting up a Hike POS account is relatively easy. You can immediately sign up for its 14-day free trial, which gives you complete access to all of its features. Once you submit your email address and specify what type of business you have, you get directed to the dashboard, where you can start adding products (either manually or through a preloaded inventory). Configure your language, time zone, and currency settings and you are ready to start!

The system will not ask for credit card information until the free trial ends, at which time, you will need to sign up for a paid subscription. Note that monthly payments are collected in advance, and you are free to upgrade/downgrade or cancel your account at any time.

Hike is not a free POS, although it offers a 14-day free trial. Hike’s price range is also very competitive when compared to retail-specific POS systems with advanced inventory management capabilities. Check out our picks for the leading free POS systems.

We recommend Hike for small retail businesses and specialty shops needing advanced inventory and order management features, mobility, and easy scalability for a quick subscription upgrade (for busy seasons) and downgrade (for off seasons).

If you’re still unsure about Hike, consider our top alternatives for inventory management POS systems.

If you prefer a POS system with built-in payment processing and ecommerce features, consider Square for Retail. For businesses primarily selling online, you can get more value for your money with Shopify. Meanwhile, small restaurants can be better served by restaurant-specific POS systems like Toast.