The 6 Best Cloud POS Systems Reviewed for 2024

Square: Best overall

Our rating: 4.59

Square is, in many ways, the industry standard for cloud-based point-of-sale solutions. Initially breaking into the market with their mobile card readers that could be used with phones, the Square brand has grown tremendously in the past two decades.

These days, Square still leads the pack for mobile-friendly payments. Its hardware offerings have expanded from just peripheral card readers to now including full-fledged POS terminals. Its platform enables payment processing across numerous channels, marketplaces, and websites.

Why we chose Square

Square is a straightforward, user-friendly, and broadly applicable cloud POS solution. It’s compatible with a wide range of platforms, industries, and digital storefronts. Entry-level users of the POS system don’t pay a subscription, just transaction fees (and they get a free card reader to boot).

It’s not a perfect fit for every business; some industries will find it missing functions critical to their particular vertical. But most will find it suitable, and many will find it a solid fit.

Pricing

Just getting started with Square doesn’t cost a dime. There’s no base subscription fee, though you’ll still be charged transaction fees. You can opt for dedicated hardware or operate the system on an iOS or Android device. As for the per transaction processing fees, here’s a quick gander:

• Card present: 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction
• Card not present: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
• Keyed in: 3.5% + $0.15 per transaction

Revel Systems: Best mid-market and enterprise cloud POS

Our rating: 4.55

We often spend a fair amount of time in these lists discussing the needs of smaller, up-and-coming businesses. And while there are plenty of businesses that might stand to benefit from discussions focused that way, there will always be a few larger organizations asking similar questions with very different needs.

On that note, Revel is our pick for the top cloud POS for mid-to-large businesses. Designed around multi-location organizations, use cases that require custom integrations, and even full-scale enterprise management, Revel can equip enterprise-level brands with the tools needed to handle POS, inventory, customer engagement, and a lot more.

Why we chose Revel

Marketed as “the most flexible cloud POS system for multi-location growth,” Revel is uniquely built to handle the demands and increased complexity of larger brands with many moving parts. With a heavy focus on data visibility, scalability, and customer support, it’s a solution that tailors its offerings specifically to larger organizations.

Pricing

Revel does not publicly list its pricing for its POS system or hardware. Customer reviews point to a starting subscription price of $99 per month, though POS hardware costs extra.

Toast: Best for restaurants

Our rating: 4.42

Another specialized solution, Toast is the POS of choice for food services, restaurants, and the like. With built-in features like online ordering and table management, plus a variety of POS options (including the option to let your patrons both order their meal and pay for it right from their phone), it’s a more curated flavor of POS functionality for those who, well, deal with things like “taste” and “flavor.”

Why we chose Toast

There are a few restaurant-centric POS solutions on the market, but Toast is our leading candidate. While the more industry-agnostic picks in this list may work fine in some cases, most food service brands will find better value and satisfaction with their point of sale when it’s garnished by the ancillary features that matter most to their industry.

Pricing

Toast has three main pricing structures: Starter, Point of Sale, and Build Your Own. With the Starter Kit, you pay $0 upfront and $0 monthly for hardware or software, but have higher payment processing fees.

With the Point of Sale plan, you pay for your hardware outright upfront and a monthly software fee. However, you enjoy lower payment processing fees. Finally, the Build-Your-Own plan is as it sounds — you choose what hardware and software you need and receive a custom price.

As for the base plan options, Toast has three:

• Starter Kit: Starting at $0/month
• Point of Sale: Starting at $69/month
• Build Your Own: by quote

Add-ons and custom plans are also available. Toast frequently runs bundles and deals for new restaurants.

Lightspeed: Best for managing complex inventories

Our rating: 4.38

Some inventory catalogs are just more intricate than others. Or, conversely, the products being sold may be straightforward, but the bill of materials is much less so. Whatever the case, POS systems are a lot more effective when they can accurately reflect what’s available in stock to both the merchant and the customer.

Lightspeed helps businesses with this very problem, as its core point of sale software comes paired with advanced inventory tracking capabilities baked right in.

Why we chose Lightspeed

For a lot of brands, tracking inventory by hand or spreadsheet is just not realistic (at least, if you want to get any sleep at night it’s not). Lightspeed’s added inventory functionality makes this dilemma much less onerous and facilitates smoother operations.

Pricing

Your pricing with Lightspeed will vary depending on how many locations you run and how many registers you have in use. In other words, you’ll want to look up their website and use their price estimator tool for a more accurate picture of what to expect. That said, we’ve listed the base prices below for US businesses, with one location and one register.

• Basic: $109/month, or $89/month when paid annually
• Core: $179/month, or $149/month when paid annually
• Plus: $339/month, or $289/month when paid annually

Shopify: Best for ecommerce and retail

Our rating: 4.26

Now, let’s talk about the “where.” Not every business sells online, and those who do may not have enough demand on those channels to justify using a POS built to prioritize it. Some, though, do nearly all of their business through the internet. If that’s you, this is the POS you’ll want to check out first.

Shopify is a household name in ecommerce circles. It integrates into nearly every major platform on which you might have a digital storefront. In fact, it’s the foundation on which a significant portion of internet-based retail happens. As such, it’s the go-to choice for any brand wanting a piece of that particular market pie chart.

Why we chose Shopify

Though known for ecommerce, Shopify’s POS solution is notable in its own right. It offers streamlined inventory and customer management. And, of course, you can do many of the core ecommerce tasks, all with the same solution. Order management, conversion rate optimization, order shipping, and more.

Where Shopify truly shines as a POS is in its ability to offer cross-channel experiences such as buy online return store, buy in-store and ship to customers, buy online pick-up store, and more. All of your inventory, customer, and transaction data syncs across channels.

Pricing

The pricing on Shopify’s site can be a little confusing at first glance (but at least everything is listed publicly). It makes a lot more sense once you know that they separate their standard ecommerce offerings from the in-person only POS plans.

An important detail here is that per transaction costs go down steadily as monthly fees go up, even with 3rd-party payment providers.

• Retail (POS Pro only): $89/month ($79/month if billed yearly)
• Basic (ecommerce + POS Lite): $39/month ($29/month if billed yearly)
• Shopify (ecommerce + POS Lite): $105/month ($79/month if billed yearly)
• Advanced (ecommerce + POS Lite): $399/month ($299/month if billed yearly)

Clover: Best for choose your own merchant account

Our rating: 4.12

Our last pick is our recommendation for those who just need a POS solution. If you’ve already been doing business — and you have a merchant account and a processor you’ve been using for a while — you might be surprised to learn how hard it can be to find a top-tier point-of-sale vendor that will play nice with them.

Even with providers that allow for 3rd-party processors, there are often heavy commission fees, disincentivizing the very thing you picked them for.

Why we chose Clover

Options like Square and Shopify are excellent, if you don’t mind them being the one handling payments for you. If you have a preferred processor already, though, you’re better off with Clover, which can work with any payment processor operating on the Fiserv network.

Pricing

Because Clover is available through resellers like payment processors and financial institutions, its pricing will vary depending on where you purchase it.

However, POS plans typically start at $14.95 per month. Hardware fees and contract terms will vary.

Note that while Clover can work with any payment processor on the Fiserv network, it cannot be reprogrammed. So, make sure to purchase Clover from your preferred vendor. We link to Clover’s main site below.