How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
What is the best Square POS alternative in 2026?
SumUp is the best Square POS alternative for small and mobile sellers: its free plan costs $0 per month with no contract and charges 2.6 percent plus 10 cents per in-person transaction. Toast is the best pick for restaurants, Lightspeed Retail for multi-channel retail, and Shopify POS for stores that also sell online.
Key takeaways
- SumUp, Helcim, PayPal POS, and Clover all start at $0 per month, but the free tier is only the entry level, and the full feature set costs more.
- Toast is the only restaurant-first system here, but most features beyond core point of sale are paid add-ons above the $69 per month plan.
- Lightspeed Retail starts at $89 per month billed annually and charges extra registers and locations separately at unpublished prices.
- Shopify POS Pro adds $89 per location per month, so a three-store retailer pays $267 per month extra.
- All 8 prices below were checked on 11 November 2026; Clover and Toast plan prices rest on October and November 2026 reads of their JavaScript-rendered pricing pages.
How much do Square POS alternatives cost per month?
Five of the eight alternatives start at $0 per month: Clover Starter, Toast Starter Kit, SumUp Free, Helcim, and PayPal POS. Paid entry points are Epos Now at $39 per month for software only, Shopify POS from $39 per month for the Basic plan, SumUp POS Plus at $49, Toast at $69, and Lightspeed Retail Basic at $89 per month billed annually. Card rates cluster around 2.6 percent plus 10 cents in person with SumUp, Shopify POS on Basic, and Epos Now, while Helcim uses interchange-plus with an average all-in rate of 1.79 percent plus 8 cents. Hardware is a separate cost: Clover hardware runs from $199 to $1,899, Shopify POS Terminal costs $349, and Epos Now bundles hardware from $399.
Which Square POS alternative is best for restaurants?
Toast is the best Square POS alternative for restaurants because it is built for restaurant floors, with a handheld terminal, offline mode, and native payroll, scheduling, gift cards, online ordering, and AI tools in one platform. Clover is the second restaurant pick, with a Restaurant Growth plan from $89.95 per month and countertop, handheld, and mobile hardware. Lightspeed also serves hospitality, but its strength is retail inventory rather than table service. SumUp suits cafes and food trucks that want no monthly fee, though its loyalty messaging starts at $99 per month for the full POS. A restaurant that needs kitchen display, modifiers, and floor plans should shortlist Toast first and compare its add-on stack against Clover.
Which Square POS alternative is best for a shop that also sells online?
Shopify POS is the best Square POS alternative for a shop that also sells online, because one admin runs the physical store and the online store with unified inventory, customer profiles, gift cards, and reporting. Tap to Pay on a supported phone means selling with no hardware at all. Lightspeed Retail is the second pick for omnichannel selling, with in-person, online, and social selling plus purchase orders and built-in eCommerce on every tier. Clover suits shops that want dedicated hardware and an app marketplace, while SumUp and PayPal POS suit sellers whose online sales are small. If online is half the business, Shopify POS or Lightspeed wins.
We picked these 8 tools by checking that each one is a real point of sale system in active sale in 2026, is sold to the same buyers Square POS serves, and fits a distinct buyer, from the free mobile seller to the restaurant chain to the omnichannel retailer. We opened every vendor homepage and pricing page on 11 November 2026 and took prices from those pages. Clover and Toast pricing pages are JavaScript-rendered, so their plan prices rest on October and November 2026 reads of the vendors' own pages and are flagged below. Helcim has no single pricing page, so its figures come from Helcim's own comparison pages.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Clover | Brick-and-mortar shops with dedicated hardware | $0 per month (Starter); Essentials $29.95 per month; Retail Growth $84.95 per month | Yes, Starter at $0 per month |
 Lightspeed Retail | Multi-channel retail and inventory | $89 per month (Basic, billed annually; $109 month-to-month) | No free plan; free trial for 14 days with full feature access, no credit card required |
 Toast | Restaurants, full service and quick service | $0 per month (Starter Kit); $69 per month (Point of Sale plan) | The $0 per month Starter Kit is effectively a free software tier with pay-as-you-go processing |
 Shopify POS | Stores that also sell online | $39 per month (Basic plan, monthly billing; $29 billed yearly); POS Pro add-on plus $89 per location per month | No free plan; free trial for 3 days, no credit card required |
 SumUp | Small and mobile sellers, no contract | $0 per month (Free plan, POS Lite); POS Plus $49 per month; full SumUp POS from $99 per month | Yes, $0 per month, pay only the one-time hardware cost and the per-transaction fee |
 Helcim | Interchange-plus pricing, no monthly fee | $0 per month; interchange-plus, entry markup interchange plus 0.40 percent plus 8 cents in person | No monthly fee at all, so there is no free plan or trial to claim; you sign up free and pay per transaction |
 PayPal POS | Very small and mobile sellers on PayPal | $0 per month; 2.29 percent plus 9 cents per in-person transaction | Yes, the POS app is free to download with no monthly fee; you only pay for hardware and per-transaction fees |
 Epos Now | Bundled hardware and software | $39 per month (software only; $449 upfront for a 12-month term) | No free plan; free trial availability is disputed, so treat it as unconfirmed |
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
The 8 best Square POS alternatives in 2026
| Tool |
Best for |
Starting price |
Free plan |
| Clover |
Brick-and-mortar shops with dedicated hardware |
$0 per month (Starter) |
Yes, Starter at $0 |
| Lightspeed Retail |
Multi-channel retail and inventory |
$89 per month, billed annually |
No, 14-day trial |
| Toast |
Restaurants, full service and quick service |
$0 per month (Starter Kit) |
$0 tier |
| Shopify POS |
Stores that also sell online |
$39 per month (Basic plan) |
No, 3-day trial |
| SumUp |
Small and mobile sellers, no contract |
$0 per month (Free) |
Yes, $0 per month |
| Helcim |
Interchange-plus pricing, no monthly fee |
$0 per month |
No monthly fee |
| PayPal POS |
Very small and mobile sellers on PayPal |
$0 per month |
Yes, app is free |
| Epos Now |
Bundled hardware and software |
$39 per month (software only) |
No |
#1Clover
Best for: Brick-and-mortar shops with dedicated hardware3.8/5 on
G2 (108 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit clover.com
Starting price$0 per month (Starter); Essentials $29.95 per month; Retail Growth $84.95 per month
Free planYes, Starter at $0 per month
Clover is Fiserv's point of sale platform for retail, restaurants, and services, with countertop, handheld, and mobile hardware. Retail plans bundle inventory, customer management, and reporting, with the top tier adding the lowest card rate. In-person card rates run from 2.6 percent plus 10 cents on Starter down to 2.3 percent plus 10 cents on Retail Growth, while typed-in and online transactions cost 3.5 percent plus 10 cents. Hardware runs from $199 for the Clover Go to $1,899 for the Station Duo, and Restaurant Growth starts at $89.95 per month. Note on sourcing: Clover's pricing page is JavaScript-rendered, so the plan prices here rest on October 2026 reads of the vendor's own pages.
What we like- Countertop, handheld, and mobile hardware
- 150 plus app marketplace
- Retail plans bundle inventory, customer management, and reporting
Watch out for- Clover is sold through Fiserv and more than 1,000 banks and resellers, so the price, contract length, and termination fees you actually get can differ from clover.com list prices, and hardware is often sold on a 36-month non-cancellable subscription
Starting price$89 per month (Basic, billed annually; $109 month-to-month)
Free planNo free plan; free trial for 14 days with full feature access, no credit card required
Lightspeed Retail, the X-Series, is a cloud point of sale for retailers that combines in-person, online, and social selling with inventory management, purchase orders, built-in eCommerce, and loyalty on every tier. Higher tiers add accounting and marketing integrations, advanced reporting, and forecasting. The card-present rate is 1.5 percent with Lightspeed Payments, confirmed on the vendor pricing page on 11 November 2026. Core costs $149 per month billed annually and Plus costs $289, and each plan includes one register. Older indexed copy still says Lightspeed starts at $69 per month, while all September to November 2026 reads of the live pricing page show $89. It fits multi-channel retailers that need serious inventory and supplier tools rather than a simple till.
What we like- In-person, online, and social selling in one system
- Serious inventory and supplier tools
- Built-in eCommerce and loyalty on every tier
Watch out for- Extra registers and extra locations are charged separately at unpublished prices, so the headline plan price understates the bill for multi-register or multi-store businesses, and Lightspeed's own page warns that additional service fees may apply
#3Toast
Best for: Restaurants, full service and quick service4.2/5 on
G2 (371 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit pos.toasttab.com
Starting price$0 per month (Starter Kit); $69 per month (Point of Sale plan)
Free planThe $0 per month Starter Kit is effectively a free software tier with pay-as-you-go processing
Toast is a restaurant-first point of sale used in more than 180,000 locations, built around a single platform with native payroll, scheduling through Sling, gift cards, online ordering, and AI tools through Toast IQ as add-ons. Its hardware, the Toast Go 3 handheld, is IP65 rated with a 24-plus hour battery, and the system works offline. The New Restaurants bundle costs $69 per month plus $9 per employee per month. Card-present processing is commonly reported at 2.49 percent plus 15 cents on paid plans, though Toast itself says processing rates are custom per restaurant. Note on sourcing: Toast's pricing page is JavaScript-rendered, so the plan prices here rest on October and November 2026 reads of the vendor's own pages.
What we like- Restaurant-first platform with native payroll, scheduling, gift cards, online ordering, and AI tools
- Hardware built for restaurant floors
- Works offline
Watch out for- Toast locks you into its own payment processing with no interchange-plus option, and most capabilities beyond core point of sale are separate paid add-ons, so the monthly stack climbs well above the $69 starting price
#4Shopify POS
Best for: Stores that also sell online4.4/5 on
G2 (368 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit shopify.com
Starting price$39 per month (Basic plan, monthly billing; $29 billed yearly); POS Pro add-on plus $89 per location per month
Free planNo free plan; free trial for 3 days, no credit card required
Shopify POS runs a physical store and an online store from one admin, with unified inventory, customer profiles, gift cards, and reporting across channels. Tap to Pay on a supported phone means selling with no hardware at all, and POS Pro adds staff management, retail analytics, and buy-online-pickup-in-store. The in-person card rate is 2.6 percent plus 10 cents on Basic, 2.5 percent on Grow, and 2.4 percent on Advanced. Hardware costs $49 for the Tap and Chip Reader and $349 for the Terminal. Casual in-person selling is included in every Shopify plan. It suits retailers who already sell, or plan to sell, online and want one system for both channels.
What we like- One admin for the physical store and the online store
- Unified inventory, customer profiles, gift cards, and reporting
- Tap to Pay on a supported phone with no hardware
Watch out for- The full point of sale feature set costs $89 per location per month on top of the store plan, so a three-store retailer pays $267 per month extra, and there is no Windows, macOS, or web version of the POS app
#5SumUp
Best for: Small and mobile sellers, no contract4.6/5 on
G2 (24 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit sumup.com
Starting price$0 per month (Free plan, POS Lite); POS Plus $49 per month; full SumUp POS from $99 per month
Free planYes, $0 per month, pay only the one-time hardware cost and the per-transaction fee
SumUp is a no-contract, no-monthly-fee point of sale aimed at small retailers, cafes, and market sellers, with card readers, a handheld Terminal, and a countertop Register. In-person transactions cost 2.6 percent plus 10 cents, and online or manual entry costs 3.5 percent plus 15 cents, confirmed on the vendor US pricing page on 11 November 2026. Loyalty add-ons through SumUp Connect cost $269 to $349 per month extra. There are no monthly minimums, and payouts and reporting run through the SumUp Business app. It suits low-volume and mobile sellers who want to pay only when they sell.
What we like- No contract and no monthly minimums
- Card readers, handheld Terminal, and countertop Register
- Free business account and Visa card
- Setup takes minutes
Watch out for- The free tier is POS Lite only, floor plans, cash-flow, and profit tracking need POS Plus at $49 per month, and the full suite with loyalty messaging starts at $99 per month, so the real cost for a cafe or restaurant is far above $0
#6Helcim
Best for: Interchange-plus pricing, no monthly fee3.9/5 on
G2 (19 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit helcim.com
Starting price$0 per month; interchange-plus, entry markup interchange plus 0.40 percent plus 8 cents in person
Free planNo monthly fee at all, so there is no free plan or trial to claim; you sign up free and pay per transaction
Helcim is a Canadian and US payment processor whose point of sale software, invoicing, virtual terminal, online checkout, recurring billing, CRM, and inventory are all included at $0 per month. It passes through true interchange costs plus a transparent published markup that falls automatically with volume. The average all-in rate is 1.79 percent plus 8 cents in person and 2.31 percent plus 25 cents online or keyed. Hardware is bought outright: a card reader costs $199 and a Smart Terminal costs $349. Note on sourcing: Helcim has no single pricing page, so the figures here come from Helcim's own comparison pages. It suits small businesses that process enough volume to benefit from interchange-plus and want no monthly fee or lock-in.
What we like- Point of sale, invoicing, virtual terminal, online checkout, recurring billing, CRM, and inventory all included at $0 per month
- Markup falls automatically with volume
- No contracts
Watch out for- Interchange-plus statements are harder to read and predict than a flat rate, because the wholesale interchange cost varies on every transaction, and recurring payments add 0.4 percent per transaction on top
Starting price$0 per month; 2.29 percent plus 9 cents per in-person transaction
Free planYes, the POS app is free to download with no monthly fee; you only pay for hardware and per-transaction fees
PayPal POS, formerly Zettle, is a mobile point of sale for pop-ups, food trucks, and small shops: a free app plus a Bluetooth card reader or an all-in-one Terminal, with a product library and inventory tracking. Keyed-in transactions cost 3.49 percent plus 9 cents. Hardware costs $29 for the first card reader for new business users, $79 for additional readers, and $199 for the Terminal. Funds land in the merchant's PayPal Business account, typically within minutes, and there are no contracts or monthly minimums. It suits very small and mobile sellers who already use PayPal and want the lowest possible fixed cost.
What we like- Free app plus a Bluetooth card reader or an all-in-one Terminal
- Funds land in the merchant's PayPal Business account, typically within minutes
- No contracts or monthly minimums
Watch out for- PayPal's own POS app has no offline payments mode, and PayPal says transactions are subject to review and funds may be held or delayed, so a seller cannot count on same-day access to every sale, and integrations and marketing features are thin compared with Toast or Lightspeed
#8Epos Now
Best for: Bundled hardware and software4.6/5 on
G2 (29 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit eposnow.com
Starting price$39 per month (software only; $449 upfront for a 12-month term)
Free planNo free plan; free trial availability is disputed, so treat it as unconfirmed
Epos Now is a UK-born cloud point of sale for retail and hospitality that runs on your own iPad, Android tablet, or PC, or on its own Countertop terminal with printer and cash drawer. It covers inventory, staff, multi-site, and real-time reporting, and integrates with Xero, Mailchimp, and others. Payment processing through Epos Now Payments is 2.6 percent plus 10 cents in person. The Complete System bundle is advertised on the vendor homepage on 11 November 2026 as was $1,099, now from $399, with a $349 upfront payment plus a monthly fee, but the monthly fee is inconsistent across sources, so get the full bundle cost in writing before signing.
What we like- Runs on your own iPad, Android tablet, or PC, or on its own Countertop terminal
- Inventory, staff, multi-site, and real-time reporting
- 24/7 support with one-to-one onboarding
Watch out for- Contracts commonly run 1 to 5 years, discounted bundles typically require a paid support package reported at $79 per month that pushes the real monthly cost well above the $39 headline, and promo pricing changes constantly
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free Square POS alternative?
Yes. SumUp, Clover, Toast, Helcim, and PayPal POS all start at $0 per month. SumUp Free and PayPal POS are genuinely free with no monthly fee, while Clover Starter and Toast Starter Kit are free software tiers with pay-as-you-go processing. Check what each free tier excludes.
Which Square POS alternative is best for restaurants?
Toast is the best pick for restaurants, with a handheld terminal, offline mode, and native payroll, scheduling, gift cards, and online ordering. Clover is the second pick, with a Restaurant Growth plan from $89.95 per month. SumUp suits cafes and food trucks, but its full restaurant suite starts at $99 per month.
Which Square POS alternative has the lowest card processing fees?
Helcim has the lowest published all-in rate here, averaging 1.79 percent plus 8 cents in person on interchange-plus pricing. Lightspeed charges 1.5 percent card-present with Lightspeed Payments. SumUp, Shopify POS on Basic, and Epos Now all charge 2.6 percent plus 10 cents in person. Toast rates are custom per restaurant, commonly reported at 2.49 percent plus 15 cents.
Do I need to buy hardware with a Square POS alternative?
Not always. Shopify POS supports Tap to Pay on a phone with no hardware, and SumUp and PayPal POS sell optional readers from $29 to $49. Clover, Toast, Lightspeed, and Epos Now are built around dedicated hardware, with Clover hardware from $199 to $1,899. Budget hardware separately.
Can I switch from Square POS without losing my data?
Most alternatives import products, customers, and inventory from Square. Shopify POS and Lightspeed both support Square data imports, and Clover and Toast offer onboarding help. Export your product catalog, customer list, and sales history from Square before you cancel, and run the new system in parallel for a week.
Sources we checked (8)
- https://www.clover.com/pricing
- https://www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/retail/pricing/
- https://pos.toasttab.com/pricing
- https://www.shopify.com/pos/pricing
- https://www.sumup.com/en-us/credit-card-processing-fees/
- https://www.helcim.com/compare-alternatives/helcim-vs-square/
- https://www.zettle.com/gb/pricing
- https://www.eposnow.com
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.