Are you a retailer looking for a suitable POS system for your store, or curious about what is the best POS system for small business on the market? Then you might have come to the right place! In this blog, LitExtension – #1 Shopping Cart Migration Expert will give you some information about the 10+ best POS systems for small business based on their specialties and pricing plans.
Our Top Picks: Best POS System for Small Business 2024
Our carefully curated selection of the finest POS systems for small businesses this year includes:
- Shopify POS
- Magestore POS
- ConnectPOS
- Square POS
- Lightspeed Retail
- Vend
and some new promising names. Below, we will provide details on the key features, pricing structures, and intended users of each POS system.
#1. Shopify POS: Best POS for Retail Business
As you may know, Shopify has been a key player in the eCommerce sector. With their Shopify POS app, they have expanded into the realm of physical retail since 2013.
You can download the Shopify POS app to your iOS or Android mobile. It’s an excellent system that enables merchants to sell goods in person, nearly anywhere.
Since this app directly connects with your online Shopify store, you can keep track of and manage your inventory across all of your sales channels.
Shopify POS Standard Features
- Customer profiles for better customer service
- Product and order management for your small business
- A mobile POS and hardware accessories
- In-person rates for credit cards start at around 2.4% plus 0 cents.
- Abandoned cart recovery comes with every plan
- Plug-and-play hardware
- Flexibility: Five different POS tiers and numerous features at your disposal.
- Use more than one payment method
- Process transactions offline
- Personalized payment methods
- 2000+ apps to increase the functionality of your POS solution
- Customization options
- Daily outputs
Want to migrate to Shopify?
If you are intending to migrate to Shopify, LitExtension offers a great migration service that helps you transfer your data from the current eCommerce platform to a new one accurately, painlessly with utmost security.
Shopify POS Pricing
The Shopify POS credit card processing costs are determined by your Shopify plan:
- Lite Plan: You’ll be charged 2.7% for every purchase you make.
- Basic Plan: In-person rate is 2.7% and online rate is 2.9% + $0.30
- Shopify Plan: In-person rate is 2.5% and online rate is 2.6% + $0.30. Additional fee for external payment gateways: 1.0%
- Advanced Plan: In-person rate is 2.4%, and online rate is 2.4% = $0.30. Additional fee for external payment gateways: 0.5%
Discover more about Shopify:
Besides, Shopify Plus comes with a more advanced POS system, namely Shopify POS Pro. You won’t have to pay extra to get all of those services if you currently have Shopify Plus.
Or else, you must purchase one of the Shopify packages and then pay an additional cost of $89 per month per location in order to use the advanced version of Shopify POS.
Shopify POS Pro Features
- Unlimited store staff
- Unlimited registers
- Intelligent inventory management
- Omnichannel selling
- Staff permissions and roles
- Omnichannel selling features
- In-Store analytics
If you are looking for the best POS system for small business, you should go with Shopify POS. Want to have a deeper understanding of Shopify POS? Check out our comprehensive Shopify POS system review!
Best for:
With a modern and intuitive interface, Shopify POS is user-friendly and suitable for both new and experienced business owners.
#2. Magestore POS: Best Solution for Magento Business
Magestore POS is No.1 Point of Sale (POS) solution specifically designed for businesses operating on the Magento eCommerce platform. With Magento POS, merchants can seamlessly integrate their online and offline sales channels, providing a unified and consistent shopping experience for customers.
The solution allows businesses to manage their inventory, process sales transactions, and track customer information in real-time, all from a single centralized system. Moreover, Magestore POS is compatible with multiple devices, so regardless of you are small businesses or medium businesses, you can easily use this software on different devices without any interruptions or errors.
Magestore POS features
- Seamless integration with Magento eCommerce platform
- Real-time synchronization of product information, pricing, and stock levels
- Centralized inventory management for online and offline sales channels
- User-friendly and intuitive interface for efficient checkout process
- Support for multiple payment methods, including cash, credit cards, and mobile payments
- Barcode scanning for quick and accurate product lookup
- Offline mode for uninterrupted sales processing during internet outages
- Loyalty program integration to reward and retain customers
- Customized to fit your business needs
Magestore POS Pricing
Magestore offers flexible pricing plans for their POS solution, catering to the needs of different businesses. The pricing of Magestore POS can vary based on factors such as the number of stores, the number of registers required, and additional features or integrations. Contact Magestore sales team to quote detailed pricing.
Best for:
Magestore omnichannel POS is the best POS system for small business. With the customization feature, you can scale up your business in the future and easily manage your complicated store operations.
#3. ConnectPOS: Best POS for Omnichannel Business
Being a leading cloud-based point of sale provider around the world, ConnectPOS is well-known for its omnichannel capabilities. With ConnectPOS, retail store owners can allow customers to buy online and pick up in store. Their shopping journeys are no longer limited to offline or online-only stores.
ConnectPOS Features
ConnectPOS supports users from the pre- to post-purchases customer experience. It accepts different payment types, such as cash, debit/credit cards, or split tenders. Besides, you can also easily handle refunds and exchanges in the Cart section.
Real-time synchronization is also another plus for ConnectPOS. Data will be automatically synced between the real stock numbers and what is displayed in the system. With Offline Mode, this data will be updated later when there is no Internet connection.
In addition, this POS system is compatible with multiple devices, including PCs, tablets and mobile phones, making it the best mobile POS system for small business.
Here are some other outstanding features of ConnectPOS:
- Available on the major eCommerce platforms, such as Magento, BigCommerce and Shopify
- Support PWA Consumer App and interactive second screen
- Require no extra fee for third-party transactions
- Integration with a Reward Points System
- Support multi-store and multiple warehouse management
- Provide auto-generated reports.
ConnectPOS Pricing
This system comes at very affordable pricing plans compared to its competitors. ConnectPOS pricing plans are $39, $69 and $89/month/device and are also open for customization. In addition, a 14-day free trial is also available.
Why would we recommend this best POS system for small business to you? ConnectPOS excels in its omnichannel features! In fact, research has shown that 45% of customers now buy online and pick up in store.
Best for:
As said, ConnectPOS is an ideal option for omnichannel businesses. This system knows exactly what retailers and consumers want in modern days, which is a seamless omnichannel shopping experience.
#4. Square POS: Cost-Effective POS for Small Business
When it comes to the best POS system for small businesses, Square is another reputable name thanks to its great flexibility in different industries. It is also the cheapest POS system for small businesses.
Both Shopify and Square are regarded as the best POS system for small retail business. But who will win? Take a glance at our Shopify vs Square comparison to have a clear answer.
Square POS Features
Here are some other functions of Square that may interest you:
- Built-in payment processing
- Barcode-based interface, including barcode creation, purchase orders, etc
- User-friendly dashboard
- Online store creation (build a free website/online shop for delivery or pickup)
- Customer relationship management (CRM) tools.
Square POS Pricing
Offering a free version, Square is considered the best POS system for small business. Therefore, it is ideal for start-ups that are still in their primary phases and just need basic management tools.
If you need more complex functions, there are also other plans available. Square for Retail currently offers a Plus version with more advanced features, which is $60/month/location, in addition to a processing rate per transaction. There is also a Premium plan with custom pricing.
Best for:
The two major advantages of Square are its free version and ease of use. It is definitely a good POS option for newly-opened businesses since it’s regarded as a simple POS system for small business.
#5. Lightspeed Retail: Best POS for Chain Stores
Lightspeed Retail is also known as the best POS system for small business with a focus on retail, restaurant and golf. This solution target chain stores and other businesses with more than one location.
Lightspeed Retail Features
Lightspeed Retail takes pride in extensive management tools, namely:
- Inventory management: easily categorize your items by different variants (such as colors, origins, sizes, etc.)
- Employee management: Keep track of staff’s sales records and assign permissions to a specific part of your POS system
- Customer relationship management (CRM): Engage with your buyers via customer profiles and other marketing tools
- Reporting and analytics: Understand your business better
- ECommerce integrations: Handle your online stores within a single POS.
Lightspeed Retail Pricing
For annual bills, Lightspeed Retail’s lowest plan is $69/month (Lean), plus a card-present rate of 2.6% + 10¢. The more advanced options are $119/month (Standard) and $199/month (Advanced).
Meanwhile, monthly billing is slightly higher in price. However, if you are looking for a POS system that is exceptionally powerful in management, Lightspeed can be a good option.
Best for:
Overall, Lightspeed is suitable for businesses with more budgets. This is because if you want their advanced features, you need to opt for a more pricey subscription.
#6. Vend: POS with Exceptional Inventory Tools
Vend is the next best POS system for small business that we would recommend to our readers. In general, Vend is most suitable for businesses with a focus on brick-and-mortar stores. This is because Vend does not have native eCommerce functionalities.
Vend Features
Needless to say, the most highlighted feature of Vend is inventory management. This point of sale system comes with several inventory control tools, including supply data, stock levels, sales records, low-stock alerts, etc.
Beyond these features, Vend also allows its users to import the product list in the form of an Excel file to the system. Users can thus use this data across online and offline platforms and make any adjustments.
Here are some other notable features of Vend:
- Loyalty functions
- Offline mode
- Reporting
- Compatibility with multiple devices, including PCs, iPad and mobiles
- No extra transactional fee.
Vend Pricing
Regarding pricing, Vend also stays on a more pricey side like Lightspeed among best POS systems for small business. This POS provider offers 3 types of subscriptions. They are the Lite ($99/month), Pro ($129/month) and Enterprise (customizable price) versions.
Best for:
For the above functions, Vend is an ideal option for inventory-rich businesses and not so suitable for service-based companies.
Other 10+ Best POS Systems for Small Business
We’ve guided you through top 6 popular POS systems. Hope that you can easily pick one that suits your budget and needs. If not, don’t worry since we’ve compiled a list of the best-rated POS system for small business. Check them out!
- eHopper
- TouchBistro
- ShopKeep by Lightspeed
- Toast
- Loyverse
- Payment Depot Mobile
- Clover POS
- Revel Systems
- IT Retail
- Lavu
- KORONA
- Intuit QuickBooks
What is a POS System?
A point of sale (POS) system is the hardware and software that helps retail businesses in their daily operations, including sales functions, inventory management, and so on.
Based on that, point of sale systems is the unified platforms where sales, payment processing, inventory control, and other post-purchase stages are handled.
POS systems are often used by store owners and staff members to handle the activities within their businesses.
Beyond these functions, modern POS nowadays can also be integrated with other technologies and platforms, including eCommerce places, third-party extensions, and other retail ecosystems.
POS systems are now widely used by many businesses in different countries and industries, especially those building omnichannel shopping experiences. In fact, research has forecasted that the global POS software market will rise to $42.5 billion by 2027.
In today’s retail industry, most businesses prefer having a unified system that can perform different tasks together. They are mostly cloud-based, in which data can be accessed anywhere with an Internet connection. Hope that our list of 10+ names can help you choose a suitable, easy, cloud-based POS system for small business!
Why is a POS System for Small Business Important?
First off, a powerful POS system can minimize errors in monitoring the company. Moreover, POS software can be a potential gateway to the eCommerce world for brick-and-mortar stores.
POS systems can synchronize the information between your physical stores and the online channels. They can save a lot of time and effort by doing calculating or repetitive tasks for humans.
How to Choose The Best POS System for Your Small Business
The best POS system for your business isn’t necessarily the highest rated option. It’s important to remember that what really matters is selecting a POS that fully meets your specific needs. There are a few key steps you’ll want to follow to ensure you find a good fit:
- Start by taking a close look at your business and considering what you need the POS to do. Think about things like how many employees will use it, what payment methods you accept, and if you need mobile capabilities. Be sure to also factor in your budget – POS systems can vary widely in price.
- Once you have an idea of your requirements, start researching different POS options online. Beside reading articles on our blog, you should check out customer reviews to see what real users like and don’t like about different POS systems.
- Ease of use is important. You’ll want an interface that is intuitive for both you and your employees to learn. Check that a system works with the hardware you currently have in place, like cash registers or card readers. Verify it accepts all the payment types you need to accept from customers.
- Evaluating customer support response times and security protections can help determine how well a vendor will backup their product. See which POS providers make it simple to integrate with other business software too, like accounting programs.
- Compare pricing models, contracts, and any hidden fees of the top small business POS system contenders. Most vendors offer free trials, so take advantage of those to put systems through real-world tests in your store.
Going through this evaluation process will lead you to finding the best POS system for small business you really need.
Our Methodology
First, we identify crucial factors in a point-of-sale (POS) system for small businesses. After that, we research popular POS systems and requesting demonstrations from relevant companies. Next, we personally evaluate each POS system to assess its effectiveness and identify any limitations. Additionally, we assess the quality of customer service and examine pricing details.
Our objective is to thoroughly test the POS systems, gather genuine feedback, and guide store owners towards the most suitable option for their small businesses.
Best POS System for Small Business – FAQs
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Wrapping Up
We hope that this blog has provided some valuable information regarding best POS system for small business. As each POS has its own strengths, we would recommend considering your specific requirements to choose the best solution for your business.
We’ve also covered questions when it comes to choosing a POS system: How much is a POS system for a small business? What is the best all-in-one POS system for small business? or Which is the best simple-to-use POS system for small business?
To complete the POS experience, retail store owners can also choose a shopping cart migration service like LitExtension. You can transfer important data including orders, customers or products with ease so that you can start your new store as soon as possible. Above all, we wish you the best of luck with finding a suitable retail POS system.