The short answer
- Our pick for a shop: PayPal POS. A free app with no monthly fee, inventory tracking included, and in-person cards at 2.29% + 9¢. On $10,000 a month in card sales that’s about $247 a month, the lowest of every POS that publishes its full price.
- Restaurant: Square. Its Free plan is $0 a month, includes restaurant features, and in-person cards cost 2.6% + 15¢: about $290 a month on the same sales. Toast and SpotOn are built for restaurants but don’t publish a price we can add up, so get their quotes and compare them to this.
- Market stall or selling on the go: PayPal POS again, with its $29 card reader or Tap to Pay on your phone.
- Also selling online? Price Shopify. It runs your online store and your counter from one inventory. Basic is $39 a month ($29 billed yearly) with in-person cards at 2.6% + 10¢. That costs more than our pick, so it pays off when one stock count for both matters to you.
- Big catalog, several registers, or hardware bundled in? Lightspeed starts at $89 a month billed yearly plus 2.6% + 10¢ per card payment, and Clover’s retail bundles start at $16 a month for 36 months. Both cost more than our pick. Read the contract terms below first.
Our pick, by business type
-
For a retail shop at $5,000 to $25,000 a month · must have Inventory tracking
Our pick
PayPal POS $247 a month
Lowest cost, and it has inventory tracking.
Just starting? PayPal POS $658 in the first year, hardware included (also must have no monthly fee, no contract, publishes when you get paid).
Why not the others?
Left out: Stripe, Stax (card processing only, no POS software of its own); 5 others (built for appointment businesses); TouchBistro (a restaurant-only POS).
Can't confirm here (a must-have or the full price isn't published): Clover, Toast, Helcim, SpotOn, Heartland, Chase, SumUp.
Just starting (first year):
Left out: Stripe, Stax (card processing only, no POS software of its own); 5 others (built for appointment businesses); TouchBistro (a restaurant-only POS).
Missing a must-have: Shopify POS, Lightspeed (misses: no monthly fee).
Can't confirm here: Clover, Toast, Helcim, SpotOn, Heartland, Chase, SumUp.
-
For a restaurant at $5,000 to $25,000 a month · must have Restaurant features (menus, tables or kitchen tickets)
Our pick
Square $290 a month
Lowest cost of the options with every must-have.
Lowest cost: PayPal POS $247 a month
Cheapest overall. It doesn't publish whether it meets this must-have: restaurant features.
Just starting? Square $804 in the first year, hardware included (also must have no monthly fee, no contract, publishes when you get paid). Lowest cost: PayPal POS $658. Cheapest overall. It doesn't publish whether it meets this must-have: restaurant features.
Why not the others?
Left out: Stripe, Stax (card processing only, no POS software of its own); 5 others (built for appointment businesses).
Can't confirm here (a must-have or the full price isn't published): Clover, Toast, Helcim, Shopify POS, Lightspeed, SpotOn, PayPal POS, Heartland, Chase, TouchBistro, SumUp.
Just starting (first year):
Left out: Stripe, Stax (card processing only, no POS software of its own); 5 others (built for appointment businesses).
Missing a must-have: Shopify POS, Lightspeed (misses: no monthly fee).
Can't confirm here: Clover, Toast, Helcim, SpotOn, PayPal POS, Heartland, Chase, TouchBistro, SumUp.
-
For a mobile business at $5,000 to $25,000 a month · must have Portable reader or Tap to Pay on a phone
Our pick
PayPal POS $247 a month
Lowest cost, and it has a portable reader.
Just starting? PayPal POS $658 in the first year, hardware included (also must have no monthly fee, no contract, publishes when you get paid).
Why not the others?
Left out: 5 others (built for appointment businesses); TouchBistro (a restaurant-only POS).
Can't confirm here (a must-have or the full price isn't published): Clover, Toast, Helcim, Lightspeed, SpotOn, Stax, Heartland, Chase.
Just starting (first year):
Left out: 5 others (built for appointment businesses); TouchBistro (a restaurant-only POS).
Missing a must-have: Shopify POS, Lightspeed (misses: no monthly fee).
Can't confirm here: Clover, Toast, Helcim, SpotOn, Stax, Heartland, Chase, SumUp.
How we picked
A month of card fees plus the monthly fee at $10,000 in 200 card payments, all in person, from each provider's published rates. "Just starting?" lines: first-year cost: the cheapest way each provider sells to take a card (Tap to Pay on your phone, counting any per-tap fee for the year, or its lowest-priced card reader) plus 12 months of card fees and the monthly fee at $2,000 in 100 card payments a month, all in person, from each provider's published prices. Providers whose price depends on interchange, a hardware bundle or a quote have no full price here. Our pick is the lowest cost option that has every must-have; within 10% of it, no contract, faster payouts and longer support hours win. Payment from a provider never changes it. How we pick
Not sure which of these fits you? Answer three questions.
Find your best fit
3 questions
Card rates on each POS
We may earn a fee if you sign up with some providers in this table. It never changes the prices we show or what we recommend.
- PayPal POSVisit PayPal POS
Flat rate
- In person
- 2.29% + 9¢
- Online
- 2.99% + 49¢
- Monthly
- $0 · Free POS app
- Contract
- No contract stated
- SquareVisit Square
Flat rate
- In person
- 2.6% + 15¢
- Online
- 3.3% + 30¢
- Monthly
- $0 · Free plan
- Contract
- No contract
- Shopify POSVisit Shopify POS
Flat rate
- In person
- 2.6% + 10¢
- Online
- 2.9% + 30¢
- Monthly
- $39 · Basic plan
- Contract
- Monthly or yearly billing
- CloverVisit Clover
Flat or custom
- In person
- 2.3% + 10¢
- Online
- By quote
- Monthly
- From $16 · POS plan
- Contract
- 36-month hardware subscription option; terms vary by reseller
- HeartlandVisit Heartland
Quote
- In person
- From 2.6% + 10¢
- Online
- By quote
- Monthly
- From $89 · POS plan
- Contract
- Not published
- HelcimVisit Helcim
Interchange-plus
- In person
- Interchange + 0.4% + 8¢
- Online
- Interchange + 0.5% + 25¢
- Monthly
- $0 · No monthly fee
- Contract
- No contract, no cancellation fee
- LightspeedVisit Lightspeed
Flat or custom
- In person
- 2.6% + 10¢
- Online
- By quote
- Monthly
- $109 · Retail Basic, billed monthly ($89 if billed yearly)
- Contract
- Fixed term; early exit fee covers the rest of the term
- SpotOnVisit SpotOn
Flat or custom
- In person
- 2.45% + 15¢
- Online
- By quote
- Monthly
- From $0 · Free plan available
- Contract
- All-In plan: 2-year minimum. Essentials: month to month
- ToastVisit Toast
Flat or custom
- In person
- 2.49%
- Online
- By quote
- Monthly
- From $0 · Free plan available
- Contract
- Not published for restaurants; retail requires 12 months
- TouchBistroVisit TouchBistro
Quote
- In person
- By quote
- Online
- By quote
- Monthly
- From $69 · POS plan
- Contract
- Fixed term, renews unless 30 days notice; no early exit
Prices checked Oct 19 to Oct 25, 2026 on each provider's own pricing page (how we check). "Interchange +" means the provider publishes only its markup. You also pay the card networks' interchange fee on top.Order: providers we can price in full come first, lowest first-year cost for a business taking $10,000 a month across 400 in-person payments; the rest follow alphabetically. Payout never affects the order.
We may earn a fee if you sign up with some providers in this table. It never changes the prices we show or what we recommend.
What the software costs each month
Card fees are only half the bill. This is the software itself.
| POS | Monthly software price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Square | Free $0. Plus $49 and Premium $149, each per location. | Square pricing |
| PayPal POS | $0. PayPal says “No monthly or setup fees.” | PayPal POS pricing |
| Shopify | Basic $39 ($29 billed yearly), Grow $105 ($89 yearly), Advanced $399 ($359 yearly). POS Lite is included. POS Pro adds $89 a month per location, or $67 a month on a 12-month term (cancel early and you owe the rest of the term). | Shopify pricing |
| Toast | Starter Kit from $0. Restaurant POS from $69. Retail POS from $90. Build Your Own is custom priced. | Toast pricing |
| SpotOn | Restaurants: All-In $0 per station (2-year minimum) or Essentials $55 per station. Other small businesses: Terminal $25. | SpotOn pricing |
| Lightspeed Retail | Basic $89, Core $149, Plus $289 billed yearly. $109, $179, $339 billed monthly. | Lightspeed retail pricing |
| Lightspeed Restaurant | Starter $69, Essential $189, Premium $399. Billing period not labeled. | Lightspeed restaurant pricing |
| Clover | Bundles with hardware: retail $16, $180 or $240 a month, restaurant $179, $239 or $354 a month, all for 36 months (restaurant: $175, $232 or $342 for 48 months, depending on the offer Clover shows you). Or buy the hardware and pay software monthly. | Clover pricing |
| Helcim | $0. Helcim lists no software, minimum or statement fees. | Helcim pricing |
| Heartland | Restaurant and retail POS starting at $89. Full prices by quote. | Heartland pricing |
How to choose a POS system for small business
Four questions decide most of the cost. Ask every POS company all four.
1. What does the card rate look like on the plan I’d actually buy? Many POS companies tie the rate to the plan. Square’s in-person rate drops from 2.6% + 15¢ on Free to 2.4% + 15¢ on Premium. Clover’s cheapest retail bundle pays 2.6% + 10¢, while its bigger bundles pay 2.3% + 10¢.
2. Is the monthly fee per location, per station or per screen? Square’s paid plans are per location. SpotOn charges per station. Lightspeed lists $30 per screen a month for restaurant kitchen screens. Count every register and screen before you compare.
3. Can I take this hardware with me if I leave? Toast, SpotOn, Clover and Lightspeed all limit you to their own hardware (see the leaving table below). Switching later means buying again.
4. How long am I locked in? SpotOn’s All-In plan has a 2-year minimum. Clover’s 36-month hardware subscriptions carry on at the same monthly charge unless you give 30 days’ notice. The rest are in the leaving table below.
Who each one is for, and who should skip it
Square. Good for new and smaller businesses, because the Free plan costs nothing until you sell. Square publishes pricing for restaurants, retail and appointment businesses such as salons, all on the same Free, Plus and Premium plans. Skip it if you take a lot of online or invoice payments on the Free plan, which cost 3.3% + 30¢ each.
PayPal POS. Good for solo sellers and pop-ups. PayPal says Tap to Pay in its app could suit you if you “don’t have staff or employees.” Skip it if you need deeper POS tools, or if chargebacks are common in your trade. A chargeback on a card payment costs $20, and a dispute on a PayPal checkout payment costs $15 instead.
Shopify. Good if you sell online and in person and want one product list and one inventory count. Skip it if you have no online store, since you’d pay $39 a month for features you won’t use. Using a processor other than Shopify Payments adds 2% per sale on Basic.
Toast. Good for restaurants that want software built just for them. Toast calls its payments “built specifically for restaurants.” Skip it if you want to compare every fee up front. Toast publishes no per-payment cents fee and no online or keyed-in rates.
SpotOn. Good for restaurants that want published rates and no long contract. Essentials is month to month, with cards at 2.45% + 15¢. Skip the All-In plan unless you’re sure you’ll stay. It has a 2-year minimum, processing minimums and a higher card rate.
Lightspeed. Good for established stores and restaurants that need deeper tools. Lightspeed describes Retail Basic as “designed for essential day-to-day needs for independent retailers.” Skip it if you’re small. Retail Basic billed monthly is $109 a month, or $1,308 a year, before a single card fee.
Clover. Good if you want hardware and software in one monthly payment. Skip it if you might switch soon. The bundles run 36 months (48 on some restaurant offers), and Clover says its web prices “are only available on Clover.com.” Buy through a bank and the price and terms can differ.
Helcim and Heartland. Helcim offers free POS tools with interchange-plus pricing. It suits businesses that mainly need to take cards. Heartland publishes only starting-at prices, so get a full quote in writing.
What is the cheapest POS system?
The cheapest POS charges $0 a month for software and the lowest card rate on the way you sell. Square Free, PayPal POS and Helcim all list $0 software. After that, card fees decide it, because they repeat every month.
In our POS cost breakdown, we priced one shop at $10,000 a month in card sales six ways. PayPal POS with its $29 reader came to about $3,209 in the first year. Square Free with its $59 reader came to about $3,899. Card fees were over $3,000 in every setup.
Two warnings before you pick on price alone:
- Cheap software can mean a high rate. Toast’s pay-as-you-go Starter Kit and SpotOn’s All-In plan are $0 a month, but they charge 3.09% and 2.79% + 20¢ per card sale.
- Cheap rates can mean a long term. Clover’s 2.3% + 10¢ bundles run 36 or 48 months.
Which POS fits your size
The right POS changes as you add staff, registers and locations.
1. Solo seller, market stall or pop-up. You need to take cards and track sales, not manage staff. Start with $0 software and the phone you own, or a small reader (see mobile options below).
2. One location, with staff and three registers. Now per-register pricing matters. Monthly software for three registers, before card fees:
| POS | Software for 3 registers | How it’s charged |
|---|---|---|
| Square Free | $0 | Per location, so registers add no plan fee |
| Square Plus | $49 | Per location |
| SpotOn Essentials (restaurants) | $165 | $55 per station |
| Toast restaurant POS | From $69, plus more for extra devices | Toast says “additional charges apply for subsequent devices” |
Square still charges for hardware, from $299 for a Terminal to $899 for a Register.
3. Several locations, or a store plus a website. Now per-location fees add up. For three locations:
- Square Plus: 3 × $49 = $147 a month.
- Shopify Basic with POS Pro: $39 for the plan (billed monthly) plus 3 × $89 for POS Pro = $306 a month.
- Lightspeed Retail: from $89 a month billed yearly. Lightspeed’s pricing page works out extra locations in a calculator and offers custom plans for multiple locations, so check it or ask.
At this size, the lower rates on bigger plans start to matter. Shopify’s in-person rate drops from 2.6% + 10¢ on Basic to 2.5% on Grow and 2.4% on Advanced. Run your own sales through the fee calculator to see where a bigger plan pays for itself.
What is a mobile POS system?
A mobile POS lets you take payments away from the counter, on a phone, a handheld device or a small reader. It’s useful for tables, markets, deliveries and line-busting.
- Your own phone, $0. Square and PayPal offer Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android, and Shopify on iPhone. Stripe and Helcim add 10¢ per payment for it.
- A small reader, $29 to $199. PayPal’s first reader is $29, Square’s and Stripe’s M2 are $59, Clover Go is $199 and Helcim’s is $199.
- A handheld, $249 to $749. SumUp’s Terminal is $249, Square Terminal is $299, Square Handheld and Shopify’s Victa Mobile are $399, SpotOn’s restaurant Handheld lists at $495 (shown on sale at $297 when we checked), and Clover Flex is $749.
See every reader and terminal side by side on our card terminals page.
Can you switch POS systems later? What leaving costs
Switching is where the real cost of a POS shows up. From each provider’s own terms:
| POS | Contract and leaving | Hardware |
|---|---|---|
| Square | No locked-in contracts. You can close your account at any time. | No lock-in stated in the terms we checked |
| Helcim | No contracts or cancellation fees. You close by calling support during business hours. | The POS app only works with Helcim’s reader, Smart Terminal or an iPhone |
| Shopify | Monthly or yearly billing. You can close Shopify Payments anytime, but fees already paid aren’t refunded. | Shopify’s supported readers need Shopify Payments |
| Clover | Either side can end the account with 30 days’ notice, but Clover says hardware subscriptions are “non-cancelable” (you can buy them out or upgrade). Termination fees depend on who sold it to you. | Clover devices can’t be used with other processors |
| Toast | The retail plan has a 12-month minimum. No early termination fee is published. | Toast hardware only, and you must use Toast’s processing |
| SpotOn | Leave early and you owe the monthly fees left in the term, must return or buy rented hardware, and may owe the hardware discount back. | You can’t use your own POS hardware |
| Lightspeed | Leave early and you owe the recurring fees left in the term, plus any discount you got. Plans renew unless you give 90 days’ notice on terms over 90 days. | You can’t reuse terminals you already own |
As an example, by our estimate: a store on Lightspeed Retail Core at $149 a month on a yearly term that leaves with six months left would owe about 6 × $149 = $894, plus any unpaid one-time fees and discounts.
Heartland’s merchant terms on its site, dated 2010, describe a 36-month term that renews for 12 months unless you give 60 days’ notice, and a $295 early termination fee per location. Ask Heartland whether those terms still apply.
By type of business
- Restaurant and cafe POS systems: tables, kitchens and why small cafe tickets change the math.
- Retail POS systems: inventory, online selling and what each retail plan really costs.
- Bar POS systems: Square, Toast, SpotOn, Clover, TouchBistro and Lightspeed priced for a bar.
- Coffee shop POS systems: on a small ticket, the cents fee matters as much as the rate.
- Food truck POS systems: $0-a-month plans and which ones say they take cards offline.
- Salon POS systems: what a 3-stylist salon pays, and the catches that decide it.
Before you sign anything
- Ask what it costs to leave, and get the cancellation fee in writing.
- Ask whether you can use your own card processor, and what it costs if you do.
- Price the hardware. Shopify lists its POS Terminal at $349. PayPal’s Terminal is $199.
More on how fees work: credit card processing fees explained. Not sure you need a POS at all? See every card processor we compare. Full provider breakdowns: Square, Shopify, Toast, SpotOn, Lightspeed, Clover.
Get told when these prices change
Providers change fees with little notice. Alerts start soon, and we'll send nothing else.
Common questions
What is the best POS system for a small business?
There isn't one winner. For a small shop, cafe or market stall, Square's Free plan costs $0 a month with 2.6% + 15¢ per in-person card payment. If you also sell online, Shopify runs both from $39 a month. Restaurants should price Toast and SpotOn. Lightspeed suits bigger stores, with retail plans from $89 a month billed yearly.
How much does a POS system cost per month?
From $0 to several hundred dollars, before card fees. Square, Helcim and PayPal POS have $0 options. Shopify Basic is $39 a month. Toast restaurant POS starts at $69 and SpotOn Essentials is $55 per station. Lightspeed Retail starts at $89 billed yearly. Clover's retail bundles run $16 to $240 a month for 36 months, hardware included.
Is a free POS system really free?
The software can be. Square's Free plan, Helcim and PayPal POS charge no monthly fee. You still pay a card fee on every sale, and you buy the hardware. Square's contactless reader is $59 and PayPal's first card reader is $29. So free means no subscription, not no cost.
Can I use any card processor with my POS?
Often not. Toast says its services only work on approved Toast hardware, and SpotOn says you can't use your own POS hardware. Shopify adds a 2% fee per sale on Basic if you use a processor other than Shopify Payments. Lightspeed shows its retail prices with Lightspeed Payments and publishes no price without it. Ask before you sign.
What POS system is the cheapest?
For a small shop, the cheapest setups charge $0 a month for software. Square Free, PayPal POS and Helcim all do. Then the card rate decides it. In our first-year example at $10,000 a month, PayPal POS with its $29 reader came to about $3,209 and Square Free with its $59 reader about $3,899. Those are our estimates.
Can I switch POS systems later?
Yes, but it can cost you. Square, Helcim and Stripe say there's no contract. Lightspeed's agreement charges the rest of your term's fees if you leave early. SpotOn's terms do the same and may ask for hardware discounts back. Toast and SpotOn won't run on hardware you already own, and Clover devices can't be used with other processors, so budget for new equipment.