10 Best POS Systems for Small Business of 2026

Square is the easiest recommendation for a small business that sells in person and wants to start without a monthly bill. Square Free includes the POS app, an item library that tracks inventory, invoices and estimates, appointment booking with staff calendars and a basic website or online store, so a new shop or service business can run on it for some time. In-person card payments cost 2.6% + 15¢ on that plan. Square Plus, at $49 per location per month, adds the industry features for restaurants, retail and appointments, a loyalty program, email campaigns, 500 included texts and staff scheduling, and lowers the in-person rate to 2.5% + 15¢. Square Premium at $149 adds 24/7 phone support and advanced reporting. The main costs to watch are the per-location fee and extras such as kitchen display and kiosk software, which are billed per device on top of the plan.

SumUp is built for sellers who want to start taking cards for the price of a reader. The free tier has no monthly cost: you pay once for the hardware and then 2.6% + 10¢ per in-person card payment, and you get the SumUp Business app with payment links, invoicing, appointment bookings, reporting and a free business account with a Visa card. That covers a craft stall, food truck or mobile service well. POS Plus at $49 a month adds the tools a small counter or cafe needs, such as multi-device sync, several ticket printers, floor plan setup and cash drawer tracking. SumUp POS, from $99 a month, adds SMS messaging and multi-store management. Card rates do not fall on the paid plans, so the upgrade only makes sense for the extra features. Loyalty through SumUp Connect is priced separately and starts at $269 a month, which is high for a small shop.

Clover sells its POS as a bundle of hardware and software, which suits owners who want a proper counter terminal without a large upfront payment. The cheapest retail kit, Basic, pairs a compact terminal with a built-in printer and the Starter Retail plan for $16 a month over 36 months or $349 upfront. It covers card, wallet, PayPal and Venmo payments, real-time sales tracking, tax reports, a customer database and staff logins, with in-person cards at 2.6% + 10¢. Item management, itemized returns, detailed reports and a branded online store start with the Standard kit, which adds a 14 inch Station Duo with a customer screen and a cash drawer, and the Advanced kit adds the Flex handheld. Those kits carry a much higher monthly cost, so the price gap between Basic and Standard is the main thing to weigh. Prices shown apply when buying directly from Clover's own site.

Shopify POS makes the most sense for a small business whose online store already runs on Shopify, or will soon. The POS reads the same product catalog, stock levels and customer profiles as the website, so a sale at the counter updates the online store and returns can be handled from either side. Every Shopify plan includes the basic POS features: draft orders, multichannel gift cards, reporting and access to Shopify's own counter and handheld hardware. Retail teams that need unlimited staff accounts, permission controls, inventory counts, purchase orders and clienteling tools must add POS Pro for each location. In-person card rates step down as you move to higher Shopify plans, and Shopify charges an extra fee if you use a third-party payment provider. Pricing was shown only in local currency from our location, so confirm the US price of your Shopify plan and POS Pro before you sign up.

Helcim is a payment processor first, and its main appeal for small businesses is cost. There are no monthly fees, software fees, minimums, statement fees or contracts, and card payments are billed at interchange plus a published margin with volume discounts, so a business with steady card sales often pays less than on a flat rate. The toolset includes a point of sale, a virtual terminal, invoicing, payment links, an online checkout, an inventory catalog and accounting integrations at no monthly cost, while recurring billing adds 0.4% per transaction. Hardware is bought outright: the card reader works with iOS, Android, macOS and Windows for $199, and the Smart Terminal with a built-in printer and 4G costs $349 or $32 a month for a year. The trade-off is depth. Helcim has fewer restaurant, staff and loyalty features than Square or Loyverse, and interchange-based bills vary month to month with the mix of cards your customers use.

Loyverse gives small food and retail businesses a working POS at no software cost. The free tier runs on a phone, tablet or supported POS device and includes sales analytics for the last 31 days, essential inventory with low-stock alerts, a loyalty program, a customer-facing display, a kitchen display and management of several stores from one account. That covers what many cafes, bars and corner shops need. Loyverse is not a payment processor itself; it connects to providers such as SumUp, Zettle, Shift4 and Tyro, so your card rate depends on which one you pick. Paid add-ons fill the gaps: unlimited sales history, employee management with permissions and hours, and advanced inventory with purchase orders and stock transfers. Each is billed per store or per employee and starts with a 14-day trial. Add-on prices were shown in euros from our location, so check the US price before you plan around them.

PayPal Point of Sale, the product formerly sold as PayPal Zettle, suits small sellers who already take PayPal online and want to add card payments at a stall, studio or small shop. The POS app is free on iOS and Android, and you can start with the Card Reader paired to a phone or move to the Terminal, which has the app built in. The software covers product setup, discounts, inventory with low-stock notifications and sales reports that highlight bestsellers, and it connects to accounting and ecommerce tools. There is no monthly fee, and card-present payments cost 2.29% + 9¢, the lowest published flat rate among the systems here. Manually keyed cards cost 3.49% + 9¢. The feature set is lighter than Square's, with no built-in table management or staff scheduling, and the account is subject to PayPal's eligibility and approval process.

Toast is the specialist pick for small food and drink businesses. Its POS includes table and order management, digital menus, mobile payments, a guest CRM with feedback, and an offline mode that keeps taking orders, printing tickets and accepting cards when the connection drops. The Starter Kit is aimed at single-location restaurants with one or two terminals and comes with a hardware kit and no upfront cost, starting at $0 a month. The Point of Sale plan starts at $69 a month, lets you choose your own hardware and uses flat-rate processing, and new restaurants can bundle POS with Toast Payroll from $69 a month plus $9 per employee. Online ordering, delivery, websites, loyalty and inventory sit in add-on suites, so the bill grows as you add them. Toast offers a retail version too, but most of its depth is in restaurant work, which is why general shops rank it lower here.

Lightspeed Retail is the most capable retail system on this list and the most expensive to start. Plans run from Basic at $89 a month to Core at $149 and Plus at $289, each with one register included, and annual billing saves up to 18%. The platform covers inventory management and purchase orders, in-store and online loyalty, detailed sales, staff and inventory reports, a built-in online store and integrations with accounting and marketing tools, and the plan comparison also lists a mobile scanner app, landed costs, forecasting and order recommendations, API access and custom user roles. Check the comparison table for which tier includes each tool. Support is available around the clock by chat and phone. For a bike shop, apparel store or home goods retailer with thousands of variants, those tools can save hours of stock work each week. For a small shop with a short product list, the monthly cost is hard to justify next to Square or Shopify POS.

eHopper is a budget POS for small shops and quick service venues that want paid software without a large bill. Essential Plus costs $10 a month billed at $120 a year, or $14.99 month to month, and covers inventory, tips, customers, modifiers, tax settings, split payments and basic reports. It is capped at 1,000 products, 1,000 transactions a month and a single license, so it fits a small, quiet store. The Freedom plan, from $20.99 a month billed yearly, removes those caps and adds loyalty, surcharges and cash discounts, clock in and out, barcode tools, low-stock alerts, a self-service kiosk and QuickBooks integration, plus email support. A Restaurant plan adds table management and a kitchen display. eHopper runs on its own terminals, Android tablets and Windows PCs and can work with eHopper or outside payment processing. The interface and ecosystem are smaller than Square's, which is why it ranks last despite its low price.