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With cellular point-of-sale (POS) systems, small business owners don’t want to be tied to a counter POS at a physical location or online store. You can use a POS app on any mobile device, be it a smartphone or tablet. and use it to process sales. This means you can pay bills anywhere you are. In addition to a cellular POS app and mobile device, you need a card reader to pay credit cards and cellular bills, such as Apple Pay or Google. You’ll also want a connection.
Many mobile POS responses come with equipment to help you run your business, attach it to your physical or online store inventories, and track visitor data and other data. In this guide, locate the most productive cellular POS systems available today. Whatever your needs, you are guaranteed to find a solution that suits your needs.
The Forbes Advisor Small Business team is committed to providing you with unbiased ratings and data with editorial independence. We use product data, strategic methodologies and specialized data to inform all our content and advise you in making decisions for your professional career.
We’ve reviewed 15 vendors that employ a detailed method to help you find the seven most sensible mobile POS formulas. Our ratings are considered several factors, adding the diversity of charges from pricing plans, features of POS formulas, and a full review by our team of experts based on visitor feedback on vendors on more important aspects such as visitor and ease of use. All ratings are made by decision only through our editorial team.
Square is probably the most well-known mobile POS formula, as it is one of the first and most popular. It consistently tops the charts for many reasons, adding its lump-sum payment processing fees, an absolutely free POS app, and an undeniable interface. It doesn’t have a rate consistent with the month, but you can choose from a handful of additional features to make the POS formula more comprehensive. Square’s pay-as-you-go apps come with team management, email marketing, payroll, and loyalty. , ranging from $5 to $45 per month.
Payment processing is built into Square, so you don’t want to look for a merchant service provider (MSP). The flat fee makes it easy for you to know how much you should pay for each transaction, but the fees are likely to be higher. than what you could get from your own merchant account if you already have an established business.
Square makes it easy to send a loose card reader to any new business. You can order other compatible hardware from Square if you want more card readers or counter solutions.
Learn more about what it has to offer with our Square review.
Who uses it:
Any small business that needs to sell a cellular POS formula will do well with Square because of its physically powerful feature set and easy-to-use formula. This is a perfect selection for startups that may not be able to get low processing. Rates for market services.
Shopify distinguishes itself from other mobile POS systems by focusing on ecommerce business owners. Shopify’s 3 POS plans come with a fully functional online store with unlimited products. Diversity of plans from $39 to $399 per month. You can buy a card reader on Shopify for $49.
The fundamental plan is packed with features, adding abandoned cart recovery, marketing automations, and integrated payment processing. When you move to the intermediate or higher tier, you have access to reports and discounts on shipping and processing. Payment processing fees are the most confusing component of Shopify.
As you can see, pay less on transaction bills as you scale (but pay more consistently over the month). It’s also worth noting that you can choose to use your own merchant account, but if you choose Shopify as your POS system, have to pay a transaction payment if you don’t use Shopify invoices (0. 5% to 2%, depending on the plan you use).
Who uses it:
Sellers who are already the Shopify online platform and need to expand into mobile sales.
Small businesses that need to focus on relationships with construction visitors deserve to consider Loyverse as their point-of-sale solution. The app is free and works on any mobile device, so you can sell in a store, in the field, in a pop-up store, or anywhere your consumers are located. While Loyverse’s POS features are basic, it’s the loyalty program that can turn you into a fan. You can use the broadcast program to inspire visitor loyalty. And if consumers sign up, then they’ll have access to visitors’ preferences, which can help you stay informed about the best products to offer. You can even message consumers through the program (a great way to let them know about an upcoming sale, for example).
To make Loyverse a more complete POS solution, you may want to subscribe to some paid add-on features. For $9 per month, you’ll be able to integrate ecommerce, marketing, and accounting apps. The control of employees and the cost of complex stock $ 25 per month. month each, but you can get a reduction if you pay annually.
Loyverse doesn’t offer its own card reader, so you want to get one yourself. It also doesn’t offer integrated payment processing, but it does integrate with multiple processors, adding Worldpay, Zetle, and CardConnect (in North America).
Who uses it:
The Loyverse POS mobile app is free, easy to use, and works on iOS and Android devices. In fact, it is one of the most productive Android POS systems on the market. We love their built-in free loyalty program that can help you build loyalty. and with customers.
TouchBistro has all the features you probably want for your eating place, food truck or cafeteria. The cellular POS app allows you to take orders and bills at the table or elsewhere. It includes many place-specific features to eat, making it a wonderful all-in-one POS solution for any restaurant business. For $69 a month, you can set up your floor plans, tables, and menus. There are also no additional costs related to staff control.
TouchBistro’s core equipment is complex compared to some of the more productive POS software. For example, stock control doesn’t just come with accurate counts and low stock alerts; You can track at the item point and save recipes, so you know what you have up to the serving point. The menu control feature comes with equipment for your servers to sell appetizers or desserts, for example.
For the most complete POS system, you may want to opt for expensive TouchBistro add-ons. You’ll need to pay $25 per month to be able to create and sell gift cards; marketing teams and a loyalty program charge $99 per month each; And ordering online will charge you $50 per month. To make reservations through TouchBistro, pay $229 per month.
Who uses it:
Most restaurant POS systems are expensive because the features are specialized and necessary. TouchBistro offers basic software that allows you to take orders and make payments seamlessly, whether your customers are at your restaurant or at a festival.
Lightspeed offers a variety of traditional POS solutions depending on whether you have a restaurant or retail business. We focus on the advertising version of their mobile POS formula as it is one of the most productive POS formulas for retailers. You can use Lightspeed at your counter or with an iPad or iPhone to make sales. The value starts at $69 per month, if paid annually, but will only offer you basic features. To get the most out of Lightspeed, you might want $119 per month or $199 per month (if paid annually).
Each plan includes Lightspeed’s feature: complex stock management. Includes vendor information, purchase orders, and low stock alerts. You can also use Lightspeed Payments for sales transactions. The fee is comparable to payment processing fees integrated into other point-of-sale systems. You can get lower processing rates if you have a high volume of sales and subscribe to the enterprise-level plan (quote only).
Aside from expensive plans and limited features for lower tiers, Lightspeed only works on iOS devices. It’s also worth noting that you pay more if you don’t opt for Lightspeed payments, which cost $50 more per month.
Learn more about what it has to offer with our Lightspeed POS review.
Who uses it:
Lightspeed is one of the most productive POS systems for iPad, basically due to its powerful stock system physically. It includes useful features, such as a loyalty program and ecommerce integration, but you need to upgrade to a more expensive plan for them.
Revel is a flexible cellular POS formula for many reasons, not just because it allows you to manage positions from a single formula. You can use it on an iPad to take orders at the table, set it up as a kiosk with an iPad stand for consumers can place their own orders or accept orders online. It also works well for various types of businesses, adding retail establishments and restaurants.
Revel’s complex stock features allow you to manage complex inventories. Therefore, it can handle multiple SKUs, variables, or raw ingredients. Like other top-tier POS formulas with stock management, get low stock alerts, so you never sell too much. Plus, you can turn your cellular POS formula into a portable barcode scanner – use your phone with the Revel stock app to scan codes and temporarily update stock.
Revel’s pricing is a bit higher than other mobile POS solutions, at $99 per month (if paid annually), but there are some caveats. You will need to sign a three-year contract to get this award. Also, onboarding fees start at $674. To be honest, Revel is a more confusing system, so you’ll probably appreciate the help with installation and integration. Revel offers its own payment processing solution, but despite what the company claims on its site, the values are not transparent: there are no fees. are published.
Learn more about what it has to offer with our Revel POS review.
Who uses it:
Revel is an expensive cellular POS system, but it can be worth it if you have outlets with stock to manage. You will need to contact them for a quote on hardware pricing and payment processing.
One of the things Vend excels at is offering an easy-to-use POS system. Its cellular POS is immediately intuitive and looks like its desktop counterpart. Anyone who has used a POS will be able to temporarily perceive how Vend works. Add stock to your phone call as a barcode scanner with the app or download a CSV for bulk inventories. Vend is well known for its loyalty program, which allows you to track customers’ acquisition history and reward issues for each transaction.
If Vend’s values are similar to Lightspeed’s, well, that’s because Lightspeed owns Vend. Depending on the features you need, pay between $69 and $229 per month (paid annually). However, there are slight differences between the two fee structures. Vend’s Lean plan costs $69 per month or $99 per month; the highest value is if you choose your own payment processor and not Lightspeed Payments. The Standard plan costs $119 per month or $149 per month and the Advanced plan costs $199 per month. month or $229 consistent with the month. Transaction fees remain the same as Lightspeed:
Who uses it:
Vend is an easy-to-use cellular POS formula that includes some additional features to simplified POS solutions. It’s a smart pick for small and medium-sized businesses that need built-in payment processing and a loyalty program.
There are many cellular POS features available and we have compared all maximum productivity systems to place the maximum productive from the maximum production. Maximum productivity cellular POS systems deserve to be easy to use, affordable and come with the features you want the most to run your business. We focus on a few key factors, such as price, compatibility, and built-in features. We studied the smallest purposes to rank each cellular POS among the five most sensible.
Here are some of the categories we used to rank providers that were among the most sensible on the list.
Mobile POS features can range from a free total to about $200 per month. While we didn’t deduce the problems of a POS formula to get a fee, we give more credits to those who offer a complete solution with no monthly fees. .
Also, small businesses might not have to lower payment processing fees (especially startups), which is why we rewarded cellular POS systems that offered built-in payment processing. This represented 35% of our weighted score.
You want a cellular POS formula that allows you to do more than just settle payments. That’s why we classify responses according to their functionality. At the very least, you’ll expect stock management, but we’ve also thought about loyalty program features. management of menus and CRM functions. At the very least, we seek to make sure a mobile POS formula works on iOS or Android tablets and phones. The most productive mobile POS works for any of the operational formulas.
Other features we consider a must-have for a mobile POS formula are that it can work with retail and restaurant operations, has built-in payment processing, and integrates with a host of third-party software useful for stores and restaurateurs.
While our reviews mention a variety of features that appeal to small businesses, we’ve kept our testing consistent for those vendor-specific features: worker self-service portal, HR library, new rental reports, third-party integrations, analytics, and general ledger reporting. We weighted characteristics at 35% of our overall score.
Based on our market research, our panel of experts turned to popular third-party review sites to gauge visitors’ opinion on key metrics, such as popularity, price, ease of use, and notable or detailed features. These final criteria accounted for 30% of the overall score.
A POS formula is a software and hardware formula that businesses use to make payments, track sales, manage inventory, and link them to other business formulas. Through its reporting and analytics, business owners can also make informed decisions about their business.
The POS formula for your business depends on a variety of factors, including the type of business you own, your budget, and the features you need. In many situations, it makes sense to invest in the formula you can afford, and preferably, the formula can grow with your business.
A cellular POS formula is a combination of your smartphone or tablet, a cellular POS app, and a web connection. It allows you to transact sales outdoors from a physical point of sale or your online store.
Yes, you can use your phone as a point of sale if you have the right software. Both Square and Loyverse offer free POS software for both Android and iOS operating systems, so you can check them out and see what works for you.
As things stand, you need a credit card reader to process invoices with your mobile POS app, but Apple will soon replace it. Apple has announced that it will incorporate a “tap” function to your iPhone, so you can pay bills without the card reader hardware.