How Much Does a POS System Cost?

Point-of-sale (POS) system costs vary by industry, and can go for $0 to $300+ per month, with setup fees that can range from $0 to over $10,000 depending on your POS hardware preferences. That price range is incredibly wide, so let’s break down the costs by type and industry to help you budget for the tools you need, and let you know if you are getting a good deal on a POS.

Typical POS Costs
Software ($0–$300+ per month)	Some POS brands offer free baseline software subscriptions to small businesses. Your software costs increase based on the level of functionality you need.
Hardware ($100–$1,000 per terminal)	Many cloud POS systems run on iPads or consumer-grade tablets that you may already own, though you’ll still need to purchase card readers and receipt printers. If you need to purchase POS-specific terminals, costs tend to be $250 to $1,000 depending on your needs.
Installation ($0–$1,000+)	Various POS systems offer built-in payment processing, while others integrate with several processors, allowing you to shop for the lowest rates. Read our guide to payment processing fees to get a better picture of what to expect.
Payment Processing (Varies by processor, usually around 3% per credit card transaction)	You can self-install many iPad POS systems, but complex POS systems may require on-site networking and installation. These fees are typically custom-quoted and can range from $250 to more than $1,000.
Add-on modules and Integrations ($0–$100+ per month)	Many systems offer expanded features for payroll processing, loyalty and marketing, online ordering, inventory, or delivery management. If you opt into these tools, your costs may be higher.
Average Overall Costs: $300–$10,000 (plus payment processing)

Costs of Popular POS Systems

	Monthly software fees	Hardware costs	Installation fee	Processing fee	Contract length
Visit Square	$0–$60+	$49–$799	$0	2.6% + 10 cents	No long-term contract
Visit Shopify	$39–$399	$29–$299+	$0	2.4% - 2.7%	No long-term contract
Visit Lightspeed	$69–$269	$350–$1000*	$0	2.6% + 10 cents	1 year
Visit Toast	$0–$165+	$0–$799	$0 - $299+	2.49% + 15 cents	2 years
Visit KORONA	$59–$89+	$300–$1,000*	$0	Varies by processor	No long-term contract
Visit Revel	$99+	$400–$1,000*	$674+	Varies by processor	3 years

*Hardware and installation pricing is quote-based and can vary based on your business needs.

POS System Costs by Industry

Many sales-based industries have specific POS needs, and there are many different POS brands designed to meet them. Costs can vary considerably between small independent retailers and service businesses, or between food trucks and full-service restaurants. Expand the sections below to see average POS costs by industry.

Retail POS System Costs

Independent retailers can often set up a simple retail POS system for free. However, high-volume or multilocation shops may have more demanding configurations that require a professional installation fee.

If you’re running a multilocation retail chain or are a retail franchise, you may run a proprietary POS system. Instead of using services like Square or Lightspeed, your company builds and maintains its system. The costs of this can be astronomical if you’re the business owner. However, if you’re a franchisee, it removes all of the guesswork of picking a POS system.

In addition to your POS costs, you’ll need to consider the costs of payment processing. Retailers can expect to pay 2% to 3% on in-person transactions, which adds up to $5,000 to $7,500 annually for a shop that processes $250,000.

Retail POS Cost Breakdown

Retail POS software subscription price		$0–$200 per month
x 12 months =		$0–$2,400
	Retail POS Hardware
Hardware type	Necessary/Optional	Average price range
Stationary terminal	Necessary	$400–$800
Customer-facing displays	Optional	$125–$300
Handheld terminal	Optional	$300–$500
Barcode scanner	Necessary	$50–$70
Tap, dip, and swipe card reader	Necessary	$30–$125
Receipt printer	Necessary	$275–$400
Barcode label printer	Optional (but very useful)	$120–$500
Cash drawers	Necessary if you accept cash	$60–$100
Integrated scales	Necessary if you sell items by weight	$300–$1,500
Inventory management devices	Optional (but useful for high volume)	$75–$300
Average Hardware Cost:		$755–$5,600
Average Overall Retail POS Cost:		$755–$8,500

Restaurant POS System Costs

Restaurant POS systems can be very complex, but these providers are also well-versed in training business owners to use their systems. Many modern restaurant POS systems are self-installable with a little virtual guidance. But, if you need hardware that is spill-proof and can withstand a high volume of use, you’ll likely pay more than retailers or service businesses.

In addition to your POS costs, you’ll need to anticipate card processing fees. Restaurants should expect to pay at least 2% to 3% in processing fees, though if you accept online payments for takeout and delivery orders, rates are closer to 3.5% to 5%. For a restaurant that processes $1,000 per day in in-person transactions, the fees range from $7,300 to $10,950 annually.

Restaurant POS Cost Breakdown

Restaurant POS software subscription price		$0–$300 per month
x 12 months =		$0–$3,600
Restaurant POS Hardware
Hardware type	Necessary/Optional	Average price range
Stationary terminal	Necessary; usually multiple	$400–$800
Handheld terminals	Optional, but increasingly popular	$300–$500
Barcode label printer	Optional	$120–$500
Customer-facing displays	Optional	$125–$300
Receipt printer	Necessary	$275–$400
Tap, dip, and swipe card reader	Necessary	$30–$125
Kitchen printer	Necessary; usually multiple	$300–$480
Kitchen Display System (KDS)	Optional (useful for high volume and quick service)	$300–$1,500
Barcode scanner	Optional	$50–$70
Cash drawers	Necessary if you accept cash	$60–$100
Digital menu board	Optional (but useful for high volume)	$400–$1,000
Wireless Routers (Cloud-based POS)	Necessary (for most cloud-based systems)	$390–$1,000
Server (Legacy POS)	Necessary (for legacy systems)	$1,000–$3,000
Average Hardware Cost:		$2,160–$7,770
Average Overall Restaurant POS Cost:		$2,160–$11,300

Note on Handheld Terminals: Handheld terminals are technically optional for restaurants. But, since they easily support tableside payments, they have become increasingly popular as they help restaurants remain EMV-compliant. If your restaurant is not EMV-compliant—accepting chip and tap payments without the card leaving the customers’ sight—you will lose many chargeback disputes, which can get costly.

Café POS System Costs

Café POS systems are something of a hybrid between restaurant and retail systems. Since cafes generally have a small kitchen (if they have one at all), they’re much less complicated and expensive. And, since they sell smaller, inventory-based food items, their POS functions more like a retail system, with a couple of tablet POS terminals at a central counter. Though, if your cafe offers drive-thru service, you may need a slightly more complex system to manage that channel.

Cafes should also anticipate paying 2% to 3% per in-person digital payment. In the unlikely case that your cafe accepts online orders with online payments, the fees are closer to 3.5% to 5% per transaction. So, if your cafe processes $1,500 per day, you’d be looking at $10,950 to $16,425 in annual processing fees. Many cafe-focused POS systems like TouchBistro offer cash-discount settings that help you offset these costs.

Cafe POS Cost Breakdown

Cafe POS software subscription price		$0–$300 per month
x 12 months =		$0–$3,600
	Cafe POS Hardware
Hardware type	Necessary/Optional	Average price range
Stationary terminal	Necessary; sometimes multiple	$400–$800
Customer-facing displays	Optional, but popular	$125–$300
Handheld terminal	Optional	$300–$500
Barcode scanner	Necessary	$50–$70
Tap, dip, and swipe card reader	Necessary	$30–$125
Receipt printer	Necessary	$275–$400
Barcode label printer	Optional (but very useful)	$120–$500
Cash drawers	Necessary; sometimes multiple	$60–$100
Kitchen printer	Necessary of you have a kitchen	$300–$480
Kitchen display system	Option if you have a kitchen	$300–$1,500
Average Hardware Cost:		$1,350–$4,775
Average Overall Cafe POS Cost:		$1,350–$8,375

Health & Wellness POS System Costs

Systems that cater to spas, salons, and wellness businesses usually include a combination of appointment scheduling, invoicing, and retail features. They may also include features for charging recurring membership fees (as for a gym) or weekly booth rental fees (as in a salon). Examples include Square Appointments, Fresha, Vagaro, and Acuity Scheduling, some of which offer free baseline software.

Since most health and wellness businesses are appointment-based, they don’t require much in the way of hardware. But, it is common for spas and wellness businesses to invest in customer-facing tablets for intake forms, and tablets for each service provider to record chart notes. Payment processing fees generally run from 2.5% to 4%, depending on your sales volume and business type. So, a salon that processes $245,000 annually can expect to pay $6,125 to $9,800 in yearly processing fees.

Health and Wellness POS Cost Breakdown

Health and Wellness POS software subscription price		$0–$90 per month
x 12 months =		$0–$1,080
Health and Wellness POS Hardware
Hardware type	Necessary/Optional	Average price range
Stationary terminal	Necessary	$400–$800
Customer-facing displays/ tablets	Optional (though necessary for some businesses)	$125–$300
Handheld terminal	Optional; increasingly popular for beauty services	$300–$600
Barcode scanner	Necessary	$50–$70
Tap, dip, and swipe card reader	Necessary	$30–$125
Receipt printer	Necessary	$275–$400
Cash drawers	Necessary if you accept cash	$60–$100
Average Hardware Cost:		$815–$2,695
Average Overall Health and Wellness POS Cost:		$815–$3,775

Food Truck POS System Costs

A food truck POS must be mobile, wirelessly connected to the internet or cellular signal, and take up as little space as possible. Most trucks get by with a single terminal and card reader, but if your truck is popular (and we hope it is!) you’ll want some handheld terminals to quickly bust through long lines. With limited menus, most trucks can also use free POS software for the long term. In fact, the baseline version of our top-ranking food truck POS, Square for Restaurants, is entirely free to use. All you’ll pay are processing and hardware fees.

Food trucks tend to be lower-volume businesses than others on this list, so processing fees may be higher, in the 3% to 4% range. If you accept online payments for mobile orders, you’ll pay fees closer to 5% on those transactions. A food truck that processes $100,000 per year should expect to pay $3,000 to $5,000 in processing fees. Though, you may be able to offset these fees by offering a discount to customers who pay with cash.

Food Truck POS Cost Breakdown

Food Truck POS software subscription price		$0–$60 per month
x 12 months =		$0–$720
Food Truck POS Hardware
Hardware type	Necessary/Optional	Average price range
Tablet terminal	Necessary	$300–$400
Customer-facing displays	Optional	$125–$300
Handheld terminal	Optional; popular for high-volume trucks	$300–$500
Tap, dip, and swipe card reader	Necessary	$30–$125
Receipt printer	Necessary	$275–$400
Cash drawer	Necessary if you accept cash	$60–$100
Kitchen printer	Necessary	$300–$480
Kitchen display system	Optional (but useful for high volume)	$400–$1,000
Secure, cellular-enabled wireless router	Necessary	$150 - $350
Average Hardware Cost:		$1,115–$3,655
Average Overall Food Truck POS Cost:		$1,115–$4,375

Costs of Cloud POS Systems vs Legacy POS Systems

There are two major types of POS system configurations: server-based POS systems (commonly called “legacy” POS systems), and cloud-based POS systems. Legacy POS systems are self-contained and installed onsite, with hardware that is locally networked through an on-location server. Cloud POS systems, on the other hand, communicate via the cloud and frequently operate on the software-as-a-service (SaaS) business model.

The upfront cost between legacy and cloud POS systems can be substantial. With a legacy POS, your upfront costs tend to be much higher (in the $10,000 to $15,000 range), while cloud-based systems cost much less upfront, but charge more ongoing fees. Legacy systems also tend to be payment-processor-agnostic—so you can shop for the lowest rates—while most cloud POS systems come with built-in payment processing.

	Cloud POS	Legacy POS
Upfront Hardware Cost	$300–$3,000	$10,000–$15,000
Ongoing Software Costs	$0–$300+ per month	N/A
One-time Installation fee	$0–$700+	$1,000–$5,000
Customer Support Costs	N/A	$100–$250+ per month
Payment Processing	Built-in or integrated with third-party processors	Integrated with third-party processors

Legacy POS systems like NCR, Micros, and Aloha provide strong offline functionality, but are typically not cloud-accessible. So, you’d need to be on location in your business’s back office to access reporting or perform managerial functions. Cloud POS systems, on the other hand, back up your data so you can access it from anywhere. Increasingly, small business owners prefer the flexibility of cloud POS systems. However, if your business is part of a chain or franchise, you may be tied to the parent brand’s legacy POS.

Factors That Impact the Cost of Your POS System

Several factors influence the overall cost you will incur for your POS system. The biggest factor will be the type of POS you need. A mobile business, such as selling at a craft fair, is going to have minimal hardware and software needs compared to a large brick-and-mortar retail shop or restaurant. The type of POS is just one of the reasons POS costs can vary so widely.

Here are some other factors that influence how much you will pay for your POS:

Business size: Solo ventures, startups, small and midsize businesses, large enterprises, and corporate giants each need different types of hardware and software. The smaller your business’s footprint, the less you can expect to spend on your POS.
Industry: What you’re selling matters. Retail clothing shops have different needs than restaurants, and therefore have a wide difference in their POS setups. The POS system you choose should be tailor-made to the type of business you run. Software that handles complex inventory tracking or analytics will be more expensive than basic software that tracks payments.
Product type: Products with which sales are regulated by law like tobacco, CBD, and cannabis are considered high-risk. Many POS brands do not support high-risk businesses, so your POS options may be limited from the beginning. Systems that support high-risk businesses are not always more expensive, though. The size of your business and the number of terminals you need will likely have more of an impact on the price you pay.
Hardware type: Tablet-based POS systems are very popular with bars, restaurants, retail stores, and mobile businesses. Retailers typically need a mix of stationary countertop POS systems and mobile-based POS systems. Stationary hardware typically costs more.
Software: A small retail shop needs software to handle simple inventory, payments, reports, and possibly time-tracking and employee management. Larger businesses may need more advanced inventory and reporting, ecommerce integrations, full-spectrum employee management, and multi-location rewards programs. The more functions you need, the pricier your POS will be.
Payment processing: Some POS systems require businesses to use a third-party payment processor to collect sales, but many POS systems come with built-in POS processing with set rates. Credit card processing fees vary by provider—some are flat-fee percentages, while others use interchange-plus pricing, for example. Which you choose will depend a lot on your sales volume, credit score, and business type. As with POS in general, shops selling high-risk products will have limited options for payment processing. And, this is one area where those high-risk businesses will likely pay higher prices.

Need tools for a high-risk business? See our guide to the best merchant services providers for high-risk businesses and our ranking of the top vape shop POS systems.

How to Budget for a POS System

If you run a business that depends on sales, your POS system should be one of the top-budgeted priorities. Before you commit to the full cost of a POS, though, you should explore all available cost saving options. There are a lot of different ways to bring down the costs of a POS, from paying your software fees annually, to using the brand’s preferred payment processor and more.

Most POS systems allow you to choose whether you want to pay month-by-month or for a whole year upfront. Businesses that don’t have much cash on hand might find monthly billing better for their cash flow, while more established businesses will find the discounts offered by annual plans to be more attractive. Monthly contracts also make it easier to switch POS software if you are not satisfied, and could be beneficial for new businesses not yet settled on a program.

Showing Lightspeed Retail annual pricing.

Showing Lightspeed Retail monthly pricing.

Paying software fees annually versus monthly saves Lightspeed Retail POS users $250 to $928 per year. (Source: Lightspeed)

Many POS systems offer multiple options for integrated payment processing for accepting credit, debit, and digital payments. In many cases—especially with cloud POS systems—one of those payment processing options is the brand’s own built-in payment processor. If you opt to use a POS brand’s built-in processor, you’ll usually get a break on monthly software fees. Lightspeed, Revel, and TouchBistro are all examples of POS brands that offer both built-in and integrated processors.

Though, if you are a high-volume retailer or restaurant with a proven sales history, you may get lower processing rates by shopping around with multiple payment processors. It pays to do the math and see which arrangement will save you the most money in the long run. And, if you get several estimates for payment processing, let your preferred POS brand know the rates you were quoted. In most cases, the POS brand will try to match or beat the lowest quoted rate (as long as you back it up with documentation).

Sometimes, however, built-in processing is your only option. Popular POS systems Square and Toast only offer their built-in processors. But both also offer volume discounts and tend to quote lower processing rates to high-volume businesses.

Like all things tech, POS systems are constantly improving—adding new features and becoming faster and more durable. If you purchase your equipment outright, it’s a one-time cost and you won’t have to worry about monthly or yearly payments. If you lease equipment, you have the option to upgrade every few years.

However, leasing tends to come with extra monthly or yearly payments, and may require a lengthier service contract. For most small businesses like retailers and other brick-and-mortar storefronts with a few terminals, purchasing POS equipment outright is still the most economical option, even if you upgrade equipment every few years.

If you don’t have the cash on hand to pay for POS hardware upfront, many POS providers allow you to make payments on their systems. For example, Square discloses its interest-free installments clearly on its hardware online store. Many others offer extended financing options so you can pay for hardware over the course of a year. If hardware costs are the only thing preventing you from purchasing your preferred POS, you should always ask a sales representative about financing options. The POS market is competitive, and most brands will do what it takes to earn your business.

Square clearly lists installment pricing on its hardware website. (Source: Square)

In recent years, several POS brands have started offering their baseline POS software—and sometimes hardware—for no upfront cost. In most cases, these free or pay-as-you-go systems also offer more expansive software options for higher monthly fees, so you can expand your software as your business grows. Some brands—like the restaurant POS Toast—even offer free hardware to business owners that are willing to pay higher payment processing fees. The table below showcases a few popular POS brands that offer free baseline subscriptions.


Best for: Retailers, restaurants, and service businesses that need a mobile POS	Best for: Small bars and restaurants that only need 1-2 terminals	Best for: Low-volume specialty retailers like wine shops and independent grocers
Free POS is $0 per month with no long-term contract	Starter POS is $0 per month with a 2-year contract; users can purchase 2 terminals at no upfront cost and 2.99% + 15 cents per transaction	Offers a free POS for up to 30 transactions per day without long-term contracts
Read our reviews of Square for Retail, Square for Restaurants, and Square Appointments	Read our review of Toast	Read our review of KORONA
Visit Square	Visit Toast	Visit Korona

Bottom Line

When everything is calculated, paid for, and processed, you can generally expect to spend $3,000 to $10,000 a year for your business’s POS system. That’s a huge range and varies depending on your industry, business size, revenue stream, and hardware needs. Mobile businesses and occasional sellers will have minimal costs, while brick-and-mortar businesses will need to pay higher rates for more sophisticated hardware and software setups. For a more specific cost estimate, find the best POS system for your business, and request a direct quote.