6 Best POS Systems for Small Businesses, Reviewed

Learn about the best POS systems for small businesses based on features, capabilities, and price.

When deciding on the best point-of-sale system for your small business, it’s important to think about which features match your current needs not only in the short-term, but also as your retail business grows.

Does the POS system have all of the features you’ll need at a price you can afford? Does it support in-store payment processing? Does it offer compatible hardware like receipt printers or barcode scanners?

With so many things to consider, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed on your search for a new POS system—especially if you’re shopping around for the first time. This guide is here to help. We’ll walk through the most important features to think about, with guidance on how to choose the right POS system for your small business.

What is a POS system for a small business?

A POS system for a small business can be a combination of hardware and software that allows the business to complete sales transactions efficiently. Beyond facilitating transactions, a POS system for a small business can help manage sales, inventory, and customer data. In other words, it’s the tool stack you’ll use to operate every aspect of a retail store.

6 best POS systems for small businesses

	Best for	Cost
Shopify POS	Online and in-person sales	From $5/mo (free trial available)
Square POS	Free POS system	Free plan available
Lightspeed POS	Cloud-based POS	From $89/mo
Toast POS	Food service businesses	Free plan available
Clover POS	Real-time sales tracking	From $13/mo
Revel Systems	Small businesses in the hospitality industry	From $99/mo

1. Shopify POS

Scalable POS system perfect for growing businesses, supporting both online and in-person sales with an expandable ecosystem of apps to enhance functionality as your business evolves.

With devices to fit small businesses of all kinds, Shopify POS lets you sell everywhere your customers are. The POS system integrates seamlessly with Shopify’s ecommerce platform so retailers can manage online and in-person sales from one intuitive dashboard.

Shopify POS can look up inventory, check customer profiles, and create tailored shopping experiences while interacting with customers.

Shopify POS helps store owners manage up to 1,000 physical stores alongside an ecommerce storefront, so you can understand where products are by location and availability when making a sale. It might not be the feature you need right now, but you can rest assured knowing that Shopify’s POS system can grow as your business does. 

Consider this POS system if your small business prioritizes features like:

• Omnichannel sales
• Smart inventory management
• Customer profiles
• Advanced reporting and sales analytics
• Staff management
• Intuitive checkout
• Built-in payment processing 
• Customer relationship management (CRM)
• Marketing tools
• Hardware options
• Contactless payments
• App store with compatible third-party tools 

“We use Shopify for everything, from sales reporting to making informed decisions on how we grow and scale the business,” says Phoebe Simmonds, founder and CEO of The Memo. “We’re able to understand our customers and their behavior online, but also in store, and we can connect the two seamlessly.”

Payment processing fees: 5% + 0¢ USD for in-person payments, or 5% + 30¢ USD for online transactions.

Monthly fee: Shopify POS plan required, which starts from $5 per month. There’s a free trial available.

2. Square

Good option for businesses looking for free POS systems.

Square offers a user-friendly interface and a range of features for small businesses. As a free POS system, Square offers basic sales tracking and reporting, plus the ability to accept payments without Wi-Fi. Services like payroll also integrate with the POS system.

Features include:

• Customer accounts
• Third-party integrations
• Advanced inventory management
• Mobile access
• Shift scheduling
• Loyalty program
• Employee management
• Electronic payments

Payment processing fee: 2.6% + 10¢ per transaction for in-store payments where the card is present. 

Monthly fee: Free plan available.

3. Lightspeed

Good for small businesses looking for a cloud-based POS system.

Lightspeed’s POS for retailers has a number of inventory management features, which make it an option for brands with multiple locations to manage. Lightspeed Retail offers one-on-one onboarding and an account manager with every plan.

Features on offer with this small business POS system include:

• Inventory management
• Multi-store capabilities
• Sales reporting and analytics
• Employee management
• Ecommerce integration
• Loyalty program
• Purchase order management
• Hardware integration
• Payment processing

Payment processing fee: 2.6% plus 10¢ per in-person transaction. 2.9% plus 30¢ per online transaction.

Monthly fee: From $89 per month.

4. Toast

Good POS system for small businesses in the food service industry.

Toast is a POS system designed for the food service industry, with features like menu management, tableside ordering, and kitchen display systems. It’s popular with small restaurants and cafés.

Toast offers sales management across multiple locations, so you can publish different menus and set different prices at each location. Features like online ordering and customer loyalty programs may be paid add-ons depending on the plan you choose.

Features include:

• Online and mobile ordering
• Inventory management
• Kitchen display system (KDS)
• Digital menu boards
• Gift cards management
• Employee management
• Tableside ordering
• POS loyalty programs
• Multi-location management

Payment processing fee: From 2.49% plus 15¢ per in-person transaction.

Monthly fee: From $0.

5. Clover POS

Good option for free real-time sales tracking.

Clover POS provides tailored solutions for inventory tracking, customer management, and payment processing. It’s a versatile option for small businesses that want a POS system that also offers compatible hardware.

On the back end, Fiserv, which owns Clover, processes payments. But you can also choose your own service provider.

Features on offer from Clover’s small business POS include:

• Mobile payments
• Employee management
• Inventory management
• CRM integration
• Multi-location support
• Security and fraud protection
• Ecommerce integration
• 24/7 customer support
• Barcode scanning
• Table layout and management
• Digital menu board

Payment processing fee: From 2.3% plus 10¢ per transaction.

Monthly fee: From $13 per month.

6. Revel Systems

choice for small businesses in the hospitality industry. 

Revel Systems is a cloud-based POS system that offers functionalities like CRM, loyalty programs, and online ordering. It’s suitable for small businesses in the hospitality industry, including restaurants, bars, and cafés.

Revel POS offers a digital outdoor display for drive-thrus plus delivery tools like driver tracking and text message updates.

Features offered include:

• Quick service POS
• Self-service kiosk
• Inventory management
• Real-time reporting
• Loyalty programs
• Payment processing
• Tableside ordering
• Split-bill functionality
• Customizable user permissions
• Ecommerce integration

Payment processing fee: 2.49% plus 15¢ per transaction.

Monthly fee: From $99.

What features should a POS for small businesses have?

Accept multiple payment methods

Debit and credit cards are no longer the only way to take payments from customers in-store. Statista reports that digital or mobile wallets are customers’ preferred retail payment method. So before committing to a new setup, check that it can accept the following payment methods from customers in-store:

• Magstripe cards, which let customers swipe their card in your card reader
• Contactless payments, including credit or debit cards with a near-field communication (NFC) chip to allow tap to pay
• Mobile wallets like Apple Pay or Google Pay 
• Cash which you deposit into your cash register
• Digital or physical gift cards 
• Card not present transactions, which happen when a shopper pays for an order without their card being physically present (e.g. over the phone)

Inventory tracking

Many POS systems for small businesses help with inventory management—but the best POS systems let retailers track and manage inventory across multiple channels like their online store, physical locations, and storage units.

Customer profiles

Did you know that 60% of consumers say they will become repeat buyers after a personalized shopping experience with a retailer? The best POS system connects to your physical and online store to help you gather, track, and manage customer data more easily.

For example, with Shopify POS, you can create customer profiles and view their entire purchase history, including details like:

• Everything they’ve bought at your store or online
• How much they’ve spent to date
• The number of times they’ve ordered
• How long they’ve been a customer
• If they belong to a customer loyalty program

All of this customer data updates in real time and is located in one place for easier customer management. Retail staff have more context to better serve customers, and you can segment customer profiles to send personalized emails that keep shoppers engaged and increase repeat purchases.

💡 Pro tip: Encourage store staff to email carts they save at the end of their shift. This is an accessible way to recover abandoned store sales and attribute more revenue to your store—even if the transaction happened online.

Reporting dashboards

POS reporting dashboards should not only provide an overview of your business performance at a glance, but also allow you to view detailed insights in order to make more informed decisions. Whether you need an inventory report, sales report, cash flow report, and/or a discount report, your small business’s POS system should provide those for you.

Look for a POS system that allows you to compile data collected at both your physical locations and online. That way, you get a unified view of how your business is performing.

Also check whether your small business’ POS system integrates with other apps that measure store performance. Dor, for example, is a Shopify app that can monitor foot traffic. You’ll see how your store’s conversion rate is impacted by things like foot traffic, promotions, or the weather—insights you can use to make smarter decisions. 

Staff management

You don’t always need a separate workforce management system that sits adjacent to your POS system. The best platforms have this functionality built in, including staff management features like user permissions and rota scheduling. 

With Shopify POS, for example, you can assign different roles and permissions and set boundaries on what store staff can do in your POS system without manager approval—like changing a product’s price or applying a custom discount to a sale.

It’s also helpful to have visibility on staff’s performance, like their average transaction values, median units per transaction, and daily sales inside your small business POS. Sales assistants with the lowest performance metrics should be offered more in-depth retail training. 

Manage user permissions without leaving your Shopify POS software.

POS hardware

Reliable POS hardware is essential to your business operations. It’s designed to help you sell anywhere, accept popular payment methods, and manage inventory more efficiently. 

While you may not need every piece of POS hardware when you’re opening a retail store for the first time, a tablet, barcode scanner, and chip reader are a good place to start.

Omnichannel selling 

The retail shopping experience is anything but linear. People are accustomed to switching between online and offline channels for any purchase they’re considering—and they’re willing to spend more for the luxury of doing so. One report found that omnichannel customers make purchases 70% more often than those who only shop in person.

Being able to unify your business in an omnichannel POS system allows customers to shop how they want, where they want. That might mean:

• Displaying inventory levels on your ecommerce website for a nearby store 
• Allowing customers to redeem loyalty points they’ve earned online on in-store purchases 
• Helping customers place an order online and collecting it in-store
• Allowing shoppers to make an order in-store and have the product shipped directly to their home 

How to choose a POS system for your small business

Compare POS providers

The first step in choosing the best POS system is to compare different providers. There are many POS systems and each has its unique strengths and weaknesses, and you need to find the one that suits your retail business model the best. 

Here are some compare pages to get you started:

• Shopify POS vs. Clover POS
• Shopify POS vs. Lightspeed POS
• Shopify POS vs. Square POS
• Shopify POS vs. Magento POS
• Shopify POS vs. QuickBooks POS

These comparisons will help you understand the differences in features, pricing, and usability among the most popular POS systems for smaller stores.

Decide which type of POS your store needs

The kind of business you manage and the types of sales you make will help you determine which features your POS system needs to have. For example, a small business POS system that works well for a brick-and-mortar florist may not work so well for an online beauty retailer running their first physical pop-up shop.

Consider the type of POS hardware that will meet your business needs. Popular options include:

• Retail POS systems are designed for brick-and-mortar stores, allowing you to accept in-person payments, manage inventory, and track sales.
• Omnichannel POS systems are ideal for businesses that operate both online and offline. They provide a unified view of your sales and inventory and produce detailed reports to help you identify trends and opportunities faster.
• Mobile POS systems are portable systems that process payments on the go. They're similar to traditional retail POS systems but offer the flexibility to process payments anywhere, anytime. They're also perfect for pop-up shops, events, and markets.

Also consider the user interface that your shortlisted vendors offer. Is it easy to create customer carts and customize the POS dashboard so that you can complete basic tasks quickly?

“The Shopify interface on desktop and POS is very straightforward and user-friendly,” says Kate Knecht, owner and operator of Tomlinson’s. “You don’t have to be super technically savvy to quickly ensure the right discounts are being applied.” 

Shopify POS makes it easy to create orders and take in-store payments.

Review small business POS costs

For any business, the cost of a POS system will be a determining factor. It's essential to find a system that offers the features you need within your budget. 

When reviewing costs, consider the following:

• POS software fees:These are usually monthly or annual fees, with different plan tiers and corresponding prices. Higher-tier plans usually come with more advanced features like detailed reporting and analytics.
• Hardware costs: These depend on the payment types you want to accept, the number of stores have, and the overall functionality you need. For example, you can skip the investment in a receipt printer if customers are happy to receive their confirmation via email. 
• Payment processing fees: Every time you process a sale, your payment processor charges a fee. This fee is usually charged per transaction and taken as a percentage of the overall transaction amount. The amount you pay may change depending on the type of credit card a customer uses.

Shopify Payments is the fastest way to start accepting payments in-person, online, and on-the-go. It’s included in all Shopify POS plans, so you can skip lengthy third-party activations and go from setup to selling faster.

Determine inventory management needs

Good POS systems have robust inventory management features that automatically update your inventory levels as you sell, return, or exchange products in both physical and online settings. This can significantly reduce the time spent physically counting items and reconciling inventory, as well as lowering the likelihood of errors.

When deciding which POS system to use for your small business, consider the number of SKUs, product variants, and the complexity of your inventory. There’s not much use implementing a new POS system that only has the capacity to store one product variant if you’re selling several versions of the same product.

Also check whether your shortlisted POS offers inventory reporting tools. Historical data can help you understand what sells, peak periods, and high-demand products to make smarter inventory decisions.

Get started with a POS system for small business 

Selecting the best POS system for a small business can be a daunting task—but it's a crucial one. A well-chosen POS system will streamline your customer experience and make inventory management much easier.

With Shopify POS, you get everything you need to sell in person, accept payments, and manage your store’s day-to-day—backed by the most powerful ecommerce platform available. 

POS for small businesses FAQ

Do I need a POS system for my small business?

If you run any type of physical store, a POS system is essential for tracking sales and inventory. For service-based businesses such as a restaurant, a POS system can help you take orders and handle payments. For online businesses, a POS system may not be necessary but is still beneficial for tracking sales and managing inventory.

How much does a POS system cost for a small business?

The cost of a POS system for a small business can vary widely depending on the features, hardware, and POS software you choose. There is no one-size-fits-all cost.

Is there a POS system for small businesses without monthly fees?

Yes, there are POS providers available for small businesses that do not charge monthly fees. These systems typically involve a one-time purchase cost for the software and/or hardware, although some may have optional add-ons or features that come with additional costs.

What POS system is the cheapest?

Square is one of the cheapest POS systems as it offers a free plan. When you’re looking to upgrade or access more advanced features, however, Shopify POS is a great option. Plans start at just $5 per month.