The short answer
A POS system has four costs: the software plan, the hardware, the card fees on every sale, and add-ons. For a small shop, software can be $0 and hardware under $60. Card fees are usually the biggest number by far.
In our estimate, a business taking $10,000 a month in credit cards spends about $3,200 to $4,900 in its first year at the published prices below, depending on the provider and before some hardware. Most of that is card fees.
1. Software: what each POS charges per month
| 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 |
| Helcim | $0. Helcim lists no software, minimum or statement fees. | Helcim pricing |
| Shopify | Basic $39 ($29 billed yearly), Grow $105 ($89 yearly), Advanced $399 ($359 yearly). POS Lite included. POS Pro adds $89 per location, billed yearly. | 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, Terminal + Loyalty $90. | 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 | Retail bundles with hardware: $16, $180 or $240 a month for 36 months. Restaurant bundles: $179, $239 or $354 a month for 36 months. Or buy the hardware and pay software monthly. | Clover pricing |
| Heartland | Restaurant and retail POS starting at $89. Full prices by quote. | Heartland pricing |
Watch for “starting at.” Toast says its monthly prices include the first terminal and “additional charges apply for subsequent devices.” Heartland publishes only starting prices.
2. Hardware: buy it, bundle it or rent it
Published US prices for the most common pieces:
| Provider | Hardware | Price |
|---|---|---|
| PayPal POS | Card Reader / Terminal / Terminal with scanner | $29 for the first reader ($79 each after) / $199 / $239 |
| Square | Reader / Stand / Terminal / Handheld / Register | $59 / $149 / $299 / $399 / $899 |
| Stripe | Reader M2 / Reader S700 / Reader T600 | $59 / $299 / $329 |
| Helcim | Card Reader / Smart Terminal | $199 / $349, or $32 a month for 12 months |
| Shopify | POS Terminal / tablet stand / receipt printer / scanner | $349 / $149 / $289 / $209 |
| SpotOn | Terminal / Handheld / Station 15 | $240 / $297 (list $495) / $750 (list $995) |
| Clover | Go / Compact / Flex / Mini / Station Solo / Station Duo | $199 / $349 / $749 / $849 / $1,799 / $1,899 |
Toast and Lightspeed don’t publish hardware prices on the pages we checked. Stripe sells readers but no POS software of its own, so you’d pair it with a third-party POS.
Two catches. First, hardware often won’t move with you. Toast says its services “may only be used on approved Toast hardware,” SpotOn says you can’t use your own POS hardware, and Lightspeed says you can’t reuse terminals you already own. Second, bundles have terms. Clover’s 36-month subscriptions carry on “at the same monthly charge” unless you buy or return the equipment, and Clover asks for 30 days’ notice.
3. Card fees: usually the biggest line
You pay a fee on every card sale, on top of the software. Published in-person rates:
- 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
- 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
- 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
- LightspeedVisit Lightspeed
Flat or custom
- In person
- 2.6% + 10¢
- Online
- By quote
- Monthly
- $109 · Retail Basic, billed monthly ($89 if billed yearly)
- Contract
- Not published
- 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
- 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
- HeartlandVisit Heartland
Quote
- In person
- From 2.6% + 10¢
- Online
- By quote
- Monthly
- From $89 · POS plan
- Contract
- Not published
Prices checked Oct 19, 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.
Rates often depend on the plan. Square 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¢. SpotOn’s All-In plan, with hardware included, charges 2.79% + 20¢ against 2.45% + 15¢ on Essentials.
Helcim publishes only its markup. Your total also includes interchange. See interchange-plus vs flat rate for how that works.
4. Add-ons and extras
These are the costs that don’t show up in the headline price:
- Kitchen screens. Square KDS is $30 a month per device on Plus ($20 on Premium). Clover KDS is $25 a month per device, plus the screen. Lightspeed Restaurant lists $30 per screen per month.
- Kiosks. Square Kiosk is $99 a month per device on Plus, plus $1,999 for the kiosk itself.
- Retail features. Shopify POS Pro is $89 a month per location, billed yearly.
- Payroll. Toast’s restaurant POS and payroll bundle is $69 a month plus $9 per employee a month.
- Using your own processor. Shopify adds 2% per sale on Basic if you don’t use Shopify Payments (1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced, 0.2% on Plus).
- Faster payouts. Square instant transfers cost 1.95%. Clover Rapid Deposit costs 1.75%.
- Mobile data. Stripe charges $10 a month per reader for optional cellular data.
What the first year costs: six examples
Here’s one small business priced six ways. These are our estimates, using each provider’s published prices. We assume $10,000 a month in in-person credit card sales, 400 sales a month, one reader or terminal, and that every sale is a credit card. We leave out online sales, chargebacks and sales tax.
| Setup | Software (12 months) | Hardware | Card fees (12 months) | First-year total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PayPal POS + first card reader | $0 | $29 | $3,180 (2.29% + 9¢) | $3,209 |
| Toast pay-as-you-go Starter Kit (restaurants) | $0 | $0 upfront | $3,708 (3.09%) | $3,708 |
| Clover Retail Basic bundle | $192 ($16 × 12, hardware included) | Included | $3,600 (2.6% + 10¢) | $3,792 |
| Square Free + reader | $0 | $59 | $3,840 (2.6% + 15¢) | $3,899 |
| Shopify Basic, billed monthly, + POS Terminal | $468 | $349 | $3,600 (2.6% + 10¢) | $4,417 |
| Lightspeed Retail Basic, billed monthly | $1,308 | Not published | $3,600 (2.6% + 10¢) | $4,908 + hardware |
How we got there:
- PayPal POS: 2.29% of $120,000 is $2,748, plus 9¢ on 4,800 sales ($432). You’ll need your own phone or tablet.
- Toast: 3.09% of $120,000. Toast says that fee “covers all costs, except for shipping and taxes.” On its traditional pricing, the rate is 2.49% (Toast doesn’t state a per-sale fixed fee), which is $2,988, but you pay for hardware up front plus software from $69 a month ($828 a year).
- Clover: the $16 bundle runs for 36 months, so it’s $576 over the full term. Or buy the hardware for $349. Clover says “Prices shown are only available on Clover.com,” so a bank or reseller may charge differently.
- Square: 2.6% of $120,000 is $3,120, plus 15¢ on 4,800 sales ($720).
- Shopify: $39 × 12 is $468. Billed yearly, it’s $29 a month ($348). Add POS Pro and it’s another $1,068 a year.
- Lightspeed: $109 × 12 is $1,308, or $1,068 billed yearly at $89.
Notice the pattern. Card fees are over $3,000 in every row. A cheaper rate can matter more than a cheaper plan. PayPal POS and Square Free both charge $0 for software, but on these numbers PayPal’s lower rate makes it $690 cheaper over the year.
Who should pay more for software
Paying for a bigger plan makes sense when it saves you time or sales you’d otherwise lose:
- Online and in-store together: Shopify keeps one product list and one stock count.
- Big inventory, staff roles, several registers: Lightspeed Retail or Shopify POS Pro.
- Restaurants with table service and kitchen screens: Toast, SpotOn, Lightspeed Restaurant or Clover’s restaurant bundles. Count every screen and station before you compare.
Small shop, cafe or market stall? Start with a free plan and upgrade when it holds you back. Square says its Plus and Premium plans each come with “a free 30-day trial, and you can cancel or switch plans anytime.”
Keep reading
- Best POS systems for small business: every option compared.
- Restaurant POS systems and retail POS systems.
- The fee calculator: see your real card rate.
- Full breakdowns: Square, Toast, Clover, Shopify, Lightspeed.
Common questions
How much does a POS system cost per month?
The software runs from $0 to several hundred dollars a month. Square Free, PayPal POS and Helcim are $0. Shopify Basic is $39 billed monthly. Toast restaurant POS starts at $69 and SpotOn Essentials is $55 per station. Lightspeed Retail Basic is $109 billed monthly. Card fees come on top of all of these.
How much does POS hardware cost?
From $29 to about $2,000 for a single device. PayPal's first card reader is $29 and Square's reader is $59. Square Terminal is $299 and Square Register is $899. Clover Station Duo is $1,899. Some providers bundle hardware into a monthly price instead, like Clover's retail bundles from $16 a month for 36 months.
What's the biggest cost of a POS system?
For most small businesses, it's card fees, not software. In our estimate, a shop taking $10,000 a month in credit cards pays $3,840 a year in card fees on Square Free's 2.6% + 15¢. That's more than double a year of Lightspeed Retail Basic billed monthly, which comes to $1,308.
Is a no-upfront-cost POS a good deal?
It can be, but you pay for it in the rate. Toast's pay-as-you-go Starter Kit has no upfront hardware cost and charges 3.09% on every sale, against 2.49% on its traditional pricing. Clover's bundles spread hardware over 36 months, and Clover says the term extends at the same monthly charge if you don't buy or return the equipment.