The best POS systems for small businesses make it quick and easy to set and up run a Point Of Sale system for customer-facing retail, hospitality, and food industries.
1. Best overall
2. Best for online
3. Best all-rounder
4. Best for no monthly fees
5. Best for global payments
6. FAQs
7. How we test
If you're a small business owner, accepting multiple payment types by buying the best POS system for your SMB is an absolute must in a competitive global and regional market.
In every industry, your customers have more options than ever before when it comes to paying for goods and services. In addition to cash and credit cards, there's Apple Pay and Google Pay, mobile apps like PayPal and Venmo, as well as contactless cards that enable patrons to pay with a simple tap.
That's why you need to ensure you have the best POS system. Being able to cover every common payment scenario means your customers can pay for your goods and services as they choose, which should mean much better retention.
However, the best small business POS systems can do more than take payments.
Most come with a suite of tools to help manage operational aspects of your business, like inventory management, employee tracking, and advanced analytics that will take your sales and marketing to the next level.
Therefore below we'll list what we think are the best POS systems for small businesses currently available.
You might also want to read our articles on the Best POS systems for restaurants and bars, and the Best POS systems for retail, depending of which sector your small business operates in.
The best POS systems for small business of 2024 in full:
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Best overall
If you’re just getting started building a business, you might not have much money to invest in a POS system. Fortunately, Square has one of the lowest barriers to entry on the market, making it a great option for small businesses.
Square has no monthly fees, instead making money on a per-transaction basis. Even better, the Square Reader for taking credit card payments also doesn’t cost anything, meaning that you can get started with Square completely for free.
The downside of a per-transaction model is that Square might not be right for businesses that do a large number of transactions. However, Square has plenty of upsides.
Since you can plug the Square Reader directly into a phone or tablet, it is easy to take on the road. Unlike some competitors, Square can process credit card transactions even when it’s offline, making it a great option for vendors who travel to remote locations or crowded conventions where service might be an issue.
Read our full Square review.
Best for online
If your small business primarily does business online, Shopify is one of the best all-around e-commerce platforms. It’s easy to use, flexible, and highly customizable, with thousands of apps to choose from. It also offers a wide variety of plans for businesses with all different needs.
Best of all, Shopify makes it easy to integrate your in-person and online sales. Simply add a card reader to your Shopify setup, and download the Shopify app to your smartphone or tablet, and you can make sales anywhere (that is, almost anywhere一unfortunately, Shopify still doesn’t enable offline payments).
Shopify’s Basic option costs $29/month, and for a basic plan, it comes with plenty of nice features. The most expensive plan, Advanced Shopify, is a full suite of management tools, including advanced analytics and staff tracking.
Shopify is available on both iOS and Android and is remarkably intuitive to set up and start using. If you do run into any problems, the customer support is excellent.
Read our full Shopify review.
Best all-rounder
AirPOS isn’t as well known as competitors like Square or Shopify, but it’s a promising option worth checking out if you’re a small business. Plus, AirPOS offers a 14-day free trial, so you have nothing to lose by giving it a shot.
AirPOS has both a Basic and a Pro option, with the Pro level having slightly flashier features, like the ability to set up a customer loyalty program. Even though you pay a monthly fee, there are no contracts to tie you down. Users signing up for an annual Pro subscription will also receive a free hardware bundle, an appealing option for new businesses.
However, unlike some other POS systems, AirPOS requires integration with a companion service in order to complete certain functions, such as taking payments. This might be daunting to those just starting out, but for users familiar with plug-ins like iZettle and Worldplay, the ability to customize your POS system with these integrations can be a huge bonus.
Read our full AirPOS review.
Best for no monthly fees
The Canadian brand Helcim is another POS system to consider if you’re looking to pay on a per-transaction basis rather than an upfront monthly fee. However, unlike Square, there is a $199 fee to use Helcim’s card reader hardware. That might be too expensive of an upfront cost for some new businesses.
However, if you do decide to use Helcim, you’ll get an impressive suite of features, such as inventory management, fraud detection, and advanced analytics. We are particularly impressed with Helcim’s employee management tool, which helps you keep your business secure by ensuring that your employees only have access to the necessary parts of your POS system.
Helcim is compatible with both Mac and Windows products, and it is easy to set up and use on a mobile device, tablet, or desktop. There’s also excellent customer service if you have any issues.
Read our full Helcim review.
Best for global payments
Like Square and Helcim, Adyen does not charge a monthly fee, instead taking a transaction fee. Adyen does require a monthly minimum invoice, though, making it less suitable for businesses with a low volume of transactions. That said, it’s still worth checking out if you want to avoid a high monthly service fee.
One nice feature of Adyen is its ability to process payments globally. If you do business internationally, using Adyen can help you avoid certain bank and interchange fees. Adyen is also highly customizable with various popular plugins, like Shopify and WooCommerce.
Adyen can be a little more difficult to set up than with some competitors, requiring new users to speak to a team member before getting started. But once your account is set up, the service is intuitive to use and offers plenty of nice features.
However, Adyen’s pricing model is slightly more confusing than Square’s, with the transaction fee varying by the payment method. While this could work to your advantage depending on the payments that your customers use, it might be challenging to figure that out.
Best POS systems for small business FAQs
What is the purpose of a POS system in small business?
POS systems have two components: the software, which securely processes payments and organizes data, and the hardware, like the card reader or barcode scanner, that enables you to make transaction.
The purpose of a POS system, in any business, is allow you to quickly and easily process sales: either in person or online. If you have an online store, this means customers can purchase your goods and your business stays active online even when you can't be at work. In essence, a POS system buys your business time.
Whether you do online or brick-and-mortar sales (or both), there are many options when it comes to POS systems. In this article, we look at the most popular ones for small businesses and break down the pros and cons of each.
For more information about point of sale systems, check out our guide to the Best POS systems.
Learn more about the POS systems
Looking for more information on POS systems? Try these articles: Here we advise on How to choose a POS system; this feature explains How a POS system works; and in this article we demonstrate 5 ways POS systems help you manage staff.
Which small business POS system is best for you?
When deciding which small business POS system to use, first consider what your actual needs are, as different platforms can offer differing features fee rates. Additionally, you may need a POS with specific tools for your business, so make sure you look carefully at both features and costs to ensure you can get the POS system your business needs.
How we tested the best POS systems for small business
To test for the best POS systems for small business we first set up an account with the relevant platform, then we tested the service to see how the POS system could be used for different purposes and how it performed in different situations. The aim was to push each small business POS system to see how useful its basic tools were and also how easy it was to get to grips with any more advanced tools.
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