Loyverse Review: Free POS System for QSRs
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.
Agatha Aviso is a writer of the Reviews Section at Fit Small Business, focusing on order fulfillment and eCommerce platforms. Agatha has a decade’s worth of experience writing online content for small businesses and marketing industries. She also served as a content strategist and digital marketing manager for many entrepreneurs.
This article is part of a larger series on POS Systems.
In our review of the best free POS systems for small businesses, Loyverse came in fifth overall with a 3.94 out of 5, based on our evaluation of 24 data points. The POS is best for quick service restaurants (QSRs) and small food-based retailers that need inventory tools like variants and real-time tracking.
Loyverse
Overall Score:
3.94 / 5
What We Like
- Forever-free POS system
- Inventory breakdown and product variants
- Loyalty tools included in baseline POS
- Choice of payment providers
- Great customer support
What's Missing
- Phone support is not available
- Limited integrations
- No option for built-in payment processing
- Lacking features for full-service restaurants
- No free card reader
When to Use Loyverse
- Quick service restaurants (QSRs) and small food-based retailers: Loyverse includes a kitchen display system (KDS) and restaurant-specific features in its free plan.
- Small businesses needing a free system: Loyverse’s free touch-screen POS has robust features. It is one of our best free POS systems and iPad POS systems.
When to Use an Alternative
- Large or upscale restaurants: Loyverse lacks table mapping, integration with delivery services, and credit card pre-authorization. See our recommended restaurant POS systems.
- Regulated industries: Check out our recommended vape shop, liquor store, and convenience store POS systems for a better fit.
- Businesses needing thorough analytics: Loyverse’s reporting tools are basic and may not be enough for multichannel retailers or enterprises with extensive inventories.
Loyverse is a popular POS system because it offers so much under its forever-free plan—a point-of-sale software, kitchen and customer display systems, and inventory and analytics. The free KDS is ideal for QSRs, and its inventory tools, such as variants and real-time tracking, make it good for small food-based retailers.
However, it lacks features for full-service restaurants—such as table mapping—and tools to manage specialized industry regulations (like liquor). Also, its reporting functionalities are rudimentary. Large restaurants, convenience stores selling alcohol and tobacco, and retail businesses with large inventories are best served by a different POS system.
Loyverse Deciding Factors
Supported Business Types | Retail and food-based businesses Cafes, quick-service restaurants, bars, boutiques |
Standout Features |
|
Monthly Software Fees | Very Competitive Forever-free; certain add-ons cost extra |
Setup and Installation Fees | $0 |
Contract Length | Flexible Forever-free; no vendor lock-in |
Payment Processing Options | Limited Requires a third-party processor Integrates with CardConnect, SumUp, Zettle, and Worldpay |
Payment Processing Fees | Varies Depends on provider |
Customer Support | Limited Email 24/7 live chat only for paying customers |
Loyverse Alternatives
Best for | Monthly fee from | Full review | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Those requiring an all-purpose, free, and mobile POS | $0 with payment processing; some add-on features | |
 | Brick-and-mortar retailers | $99 | |
 | Grocery stores and high-volume sales | $99 | |
 | Restaurants | $69, plus a $500 installation fee | |
If you’re unsure whether Loyverse is right for you, see how it compares with our top POS systems.
Loyverse’s basic products are free and include the POS, inventory, passwords, kitchen display, and customer display functions.
Add-on modules have the following monthly fees:
- Employee management ($5/month/employee): Set permissions, track timecards, and track sales by employee
- Advanced inventory ($25/month/store): Purchase orders, valuation reports, and stock management
- Integrations ($9/month/store): Connect accounting, ecommerce, marketing, and other apps
Loyverse Payments & Hardware
You need to find your payment processor and connect it to Loyverse. Loyverse offers integrated payment processing with CardConnect, SumUp, Zettle, and Worldpay in the US and over 30 other countries.
Loyverse recommends iPads and Android POS terminals by Sunni, Bematech, and iMin. Its website lists its most recommended hardware, although it does not sell devices itself.
Under this category, we graded Loyverse based on the features included in its forever-free plan. Loyverse got perfect scores for most features except for employee management, which you can only unlock by paying extra. Note that its reporting tools, even if included, are basic (like receipts history, tax reports, and sales trends).
Register & Checkout Features
Loyverse register lets cashiers add products through hotkeys or search.
Loyverse lets you sell from any tablet or smartphone with an easy-to-work register that includes images and handles taxes and discounts. If you get a register with a customer-facing display or a kitchen display system (KDS), Loyverse’s free version accommodates them. Other features include:
- Multiple locations/unlimited registers
- Product bundles or kits
- Cash, check, credit card, or contactless payments
- Cash management
- Refund processing
- Bar code scanning, including weight embedding
- Open tickets
- Customized menu screens
- Offline mode
Loyalty Program
Loyverse’s system tracks customer data.
Loyverse is an abbreviation of “Loyalty Universe,” so it comes as no surprise the system’s free loyalty program is one of its defining features.
One of the great things about the Loyverse loyalty program is that it’s built in but compares well to paid programs. You can collect customer information, track points, look up purchase history, and add notes to a consumer’s file. Additionally, you can create loyalty cards to make it easy to scan and pull up customer information. If you have a customer display, it will also show clients how many loyalty points they’ve accumulated.
Inventory & Reports
The free version has limited inventory functions but lets you add items, including images.
The free version of Loyverse comes with basic inventory functions such as inventory tracking, low stock notifications, and bulk upload of products. For an additional $25 per month, you can get advanced inventory, which includes:
- Purchase orders
- Transfer stock between stores
- Full or partial inventory counts, with a scanner or manually
- Ingredient/recipe inventory tracking
- Product valuation reports
- Label printing
- Inventory adjustment logs
- 24/7 live chat support
Employee Functions
Use reports to identify top performers.
For an extra $5 per month per employee, the employee management app gives you a time clock for clocking in for shifts and calculating total work hours—but it lacks a shift scheduler. This add-on also lets you establish permissions and roles in the backend, so employees can only access specific software parts. You can also set PINs and passwords.
One handy feature is the performance reports that show you sales by employee and workloads per hour. Use these to understand better who your best workers are and adjust shifts accordingly. It also tracks cash discrepancies so that you can discover employee fraud or inaccuracies.
Here, we considered any additional features Loyverse includes in its free plan. Loyverse has restaurant-specific features and access to integrations, including third-party payment providers (although it lacks a built-in payment processor).
It doesn’t have native ecommerce features but integrations to popular ecommerce platforms such as WooCommerce and Shopify are available.
Since our last update:
Loyverse now has an integration with Otter’s order/delivering services (including UberEats, GloriaFood, and DoorDash).
Restaurant Features
Loyverse connects your checkout to kitchen displays or printers.
Loyverse has a lot to offer smaller establishments like coffee shops or food trucks. You can customize menus, make notes on preparations, provide menu options, and add dining options—like dine-in, takeout, or delivery.
It does not have table mapping or reservations, but you can pre-define tickets to tables and manage tickets by splitting, merging, or moving items between tickets. We also did not find a way to program tip suggestions, something many POS programs do to encourage better gratuities for your waitstaff.
Loyverse has a beautiful interface, especially considering it’s free. Not only are the buttons clear and bright, but you can add images to make identification a snap. You can customize the menus to best suit your business’ workflows and organization.
It only offers live support to paying customers, but that support is 24/7 via chat. All customers have access to email support and the community forum. In addition, the online help center offers illustrated articles and videos on how to use the software.
Loyverse Setup & Installation
Getting started is as simple as clicking a button and putting in some basic information. There are plenty of how-to videos to help you, but here are the steps:
- Step 1: Download the app on your smartphone or tablet
- Step 2: Sign up for an account
- Step 3: Input your information
- Step 4: Set up your back office (select the settings you want for the different functions, input store information, and load products)
Overall, Loyverse has the tools found in many of the best POS systems, including some often considered add-ons, even on its free plan. It also works with Android and iOS systems, giving you flexibility in the hardware you choose. While it charges for advanced inventory and employee management, overall, even the freeware works well for retailers and basic food services.
Loyverse User Reviews
Naturally, most users love that Loyverse is free. Most also said it was easy to use, although some mentioned the interface was not as good on smartphones as on tablets. The most common complaints had to do with the feature set—some wanted specific tools, while others noted that some functions needed “finessing” to work right.
- Capterra: 4.7 out of 5 stars based on nearly 200 reviews
- G2: 4.6 out of 5 stars based on about 10 reviews
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Excellent loyalty program | Missing some features found in other POS systems |
| Forever-free | Too simplistic |
| Consistent upgrades and improvements | Some tax and discount calculations are difficult to manage |
Methodology: How We Evaluated Loyverse
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 to evaluate Loyverse and other POS systems. 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.
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. We only include systems with a Free plan that includes card payment processing
20% of Overall Score
This score addressed the tools in the free plan for sales, inventory, customer management, employee management, and loyalty.
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.
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.
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.
*Percentages of overall score
Bottom Line
If you need free or inexpensive POS software that is attractive, works with iOS and Android, and offers solid sales and inventory functions plus an excellent loyalty program, then check out Loyverse. It’s made lists for several POS categories we have reviewed because of its value. Download the free version and get started.
