10 Point-of-Sale Systems for Small Business in 2026
From free apps to restaurant platforms, ten POS options that are on sale now and what to know before you pick one.
A point-of-sale (POS) system takes payments and tracks sales and stock. The right one depends on what you sell: restaurants need kitchen tools, shops need inventory, and market sellers need a cheap reader. Start with the free options and only pay for features you will use.
1Square
Offers POS for restaurants, retail and appointments, with hardware including a handheld, terminal, register, stand and kiosk. Its pricing page says it starts at $0 and you only pay when you take a payment. The catch: lower processing fees and extras such as loyalty sit on a paid plan.
Visit Square →2Toast
Toast describes itself as a restaurant point of sale and management system. It covers quick and full service, bars, bakeries and food trucks, and adds online ordering, kitchen display, handhelds, payroll and an AI assistant called Toast IQ. The catch: it is built for food service, and its pricing page was not readable for us, so ask for a quote.
Visit Toast →3Lightspeed
Sells separate retail, restaurant and golf products. Retail adds inventory tracking across channels and demand forecasting; restaurant adds tableside ordering and a kitchen display. The catch: prices are on separate pages and it offers a free trial or a quote rather than one price.
Visit Lightspeed →4SumUp
Lists POS, POS Lite, card readers, invoices, a kiosk and gift cards, with next-day payouts through its business account. The catch: the homepage names no readers or hardware prices, so check its card reader page.
Visit SumUp →5Stripe Terminal
A set of card readers: the M2 at $59, and the S700 and S710 at $299, plus Tap to Pay on a phone. It unifies online and in-person reporting. The catch: it is a payments platform, so you need a POS app or developer to build the checkout.
Visit Stripe Terminal →6Shopify POS
Syncs in-person sales with an online store. POS Pro adds staff roles, inventory management and retail reports, and casual in-person selling is included with every plan. The catch: the strongest retail tools cost extra per location.
Visit Shopify POS →7PayPal POS
Offers a card reader, a terminal with the POS app built in, and Tap to Pay in the PayPal app. The page says there are no monthly fees, startup fees or long-term commitments. The catch: you pay a standard transaction fee on each sale, and the page does not list the rates.
Visit PayPal POS →8Loyverse
The core POS is free and includes sales analytics for the last 31 days, basic inventory, a loyalty program and multi-store management. It runs on iOS and Android and records sales offline. The catch: some features are paid add-ons.
Visit Loyverse →9Epos Now
Sells bundles with a POS terminal, printer and card machine, with real-time reporting and inventory. It advertises a single fixed card rate and one-on-one onboarding. The catch: promotional prices vary on the page, so confirm the price before buying.
Visit Epos Now →10SpotOn
Offers restaurant POS with reservations, handhelds, marketing and online ordering. SpotOn says it is ranked the number one point of sale by G2 reviewers for six quarters running. The catch: pricing is by quote or demo, and the page is aimed at restaurants.
Visit SpotOn →How we picked
We opened each maker's own site on 2026-11-02 and used only what those pages state about products and prices. We did not run hands-on tests, and several pricing pages did not load for us, so we left prices out where we could not confirm them. The order reflects how broadly useful each system looks for a small business, not a measured quality ranking. Check the linked page for current prices.
- Square (Square)
- Toast POS (Toast)
- Shopify POS pricing (Shopify)
- Stripe Terminal (Stripe)
- Loyverse (Loyverse)
- Epos Now (Epos Now)
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