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POS system price comparison (October 2026): what 11 systems really cost

By Kareem FaridPayments analyst·Updated October 20, 2026·How we score

The short answer

Most small-business POS systems cost $0 to $150 a month in software, $0 to $1,900 for a countertop register, and 2.3% to 3.1% plus 10 to 15¢ per card sale.

The card rate matters most. For one register doing $20,000 a month, the 11 setups we priced cost $22,168 to $27,399 over three years, and card processing was 75% to 98% of each total. The low end is JET, whose place assumes a processor charging 10¢ a sale; at Square's 15¢ it would cost $23,068 and rank third.

Disclosure: WHICHpos is published by the company that makes JET, so we score JET on the same public grid and publish the same honest cons as every other system. More on our About page.

POS pricing comparison chart (October 2026)

Here is every system's published price in one table. "Not published" means the vendor only gives it in a sales quote.

System	Software / month	Countertop hardware	In-person card rate	Online / keyed	Contract	Bring your own processor?
JET POS	$0	Topaz 2.0 $1,299 · Onyx MAX $1,800, pay once (drawer + printer included; card terminal from your processor, not included)	Your processor's rate	Your processor's rate	None with JET; your processor's terms apply	Yes, any (integrated with Verifone terminals)
Square	$0 · $49 · $149 per location	Reader $59 · Terminal $299 · Register $899 · Register Kit from $1,189	2.6% / 2.5% / 2.4% + 15¢	3.3% + 30¢ (Free) · 2.9% + 30¢ · keyed 3.5% + 15¢	Month-to-month	No
Toast	$0 or $69 (+$50 per extra terminal)	$0 kit on pay-as-you-go · Countertop kit $1,153	3.09%–3.69% + 15¢ ($0 plan, by package) · 2.49% + 15¢ ($69)	3.50% + 15¢, also Amex ($69 plan)	2 years, then yearly auto-renew	No
Clover (clover.com)	$0 · $29.95 · $84.95–$89.95 (+$19.95 per device)	Go $199 · Compact $349 · Mini $849 · Station Duo $1,899	2.6% / 2.5% / 2.3% + 10¢	Keyed 3.5% + 10¢	36-month subscriptions can't be canceled	No; devices locked
Shopify POS	Basic $39 + POS Pro $89/location	Tap & Chip $49 · POS Terminal $349 · Victa Mobile $399	2.6% / 2.5% / 2.4% + 10¢	2.9% + 30¢ online (Basic)	Monthly or yearly	Partly; no integrated readers
Lightspeed Retail	$89 · $149 · $289 (annual)	Smart Terminal $449 · iPad $449 · stand $199	2.6% + 10¢	Keyed 2.6% + 30¢	Auto-renews for the same term	$400/mo fee (low volume)
SumUp	$0 · $49 · from $99	Readers $54–$249 · POS Lite + Solo $499 · POS from $799	2.6% + 10¢	3.5% + 15¢	Cancel anytime ($0, $49 plans)	No
SpotOn	$55/station or $0 (All-In)	Station 15 $750 · handheld $297 (sale)	2.45% + 15¢ (Amex 3.19%) · All-In 2.79% + 20¢	Keyed 3.45% + 15¢	Month-to-month · All-In 2 years	No
TouchBistro	From $69	Quote · bundle with hardware from $119/mo	Not published	Not published	Renews for the same term, no early exit	Yes, "a wide range"
Epos Now	$84 (with $399 hardware)	$399 Complete Solution	2.6% + 10¢	Not published	12 months, auto-renews	$20/mo extra if not theirs
KORONA POS	$59 · $79 · $99 per terminal	Quote only	Your processor's rate	Your processor's rate	Month-to-month	Yes

US list prices verified October 20, 2026 on each vendor's own pricing page (sources below). Square's three rates are Free / Plus / Premium; Clover's are Starter / Essentials / Growth; Shopify's are Basic / Grow / Advanced. Revel is no longer sold to new merchants (its site now redirects to Shift4), so it isn't listed.

Card rates sit in a narrow band: 2.3% to 2.6% plus 10 to 15¢ for most plans. The differences are in hardware, per-device fees, contracts and whether you can ever switch processors.

Total monthly cost at $10K, $30K and $60K in card sales

Which system is cheapest depends on how much you sell. A free plan with a higher rate wins at low volume; a lower rate wins as sales grow.

System and plan	$10K/month	$30K/month	$60K/month
JET POS · Topaz 2.0, $0 software	$331	$901	$1,756
Square · Free + Register Kit	$331	$926	$1,818
Square · Plus + Register Kit	$370	$945	$1,807
Toast · Starter Kit (pay-as-you-go, restaurant plan)	$358	$1,051	$2,091
Toast · Point of Sale ($69, restaurant plan)	$399	$972	$1,832
Clover · Retail Growth + Station Duo (bought)	$393	$903	$1,668
Shopify POS · Basic + POS Pro (yearly)	$419	$989	$1,844
Lightspeed · Retail Core (annual)	$476	$1,046	$1,901
SumUp · POS Plus + POS Lite bundle	$348	$918	$1,773
SpotOn · Essentials, restaurant plan (1 station)	$358	$923	$1,771
Epos Now · Complete Solution	$380	$950	$1,805

Monthly cost = software + hardware spread over 36 months + card processing at a $40 average sale (250, 750 and 1,500 sales). JET's processing is modeled at a flat 2.6% + 10¢, and its hardware includes a $349 allowance for the card terminal your processor supplies, in the range of countertop card terminals sold by Square ($299), Shopify ($349) and Lightspeed ($449). Square offers custom "Pro" pricing above $250,000 a year, so at $30K and $60K a month you may be quoted lower than its list rate.

Example, Square Plus + Register Kit at $30K: $49 + $1,189 ÷ 36 ($33.03) + $30,000 × 2.5% + 750 × $0.15 = $945. Clover Retail Growth + Station Duo (bought) at $30K: $84.95 + $1,899 ÷ 36 + $30,000 × 2.3% + 750 × $0.10 = $903.

At the low end, the differences are small. At $10K a month, 6 setups land within $40 of each other, from $331: Square Free, JET (Topaz 2.0), SumUp POS Plus, SpotOn Essentials, Toast Starter Kit, Square Plus. At $30K, 5 are within $40: JET (Topaz 2.0), Clover Growth with Station Duo, SumUp POS Plus, SpotOn Essentials, Square Free. JET's place in this table assumes a processor charging 10¢ a sale; at Square's 15¢ it would cost $343, $938 and $1,831 a month at $10K, $30K and $60K, and rank second, fifth and seventh.

Volume separates them. At $60K a month, Clover's 2.3% Growth rate makes it the cheapest by about $88 a month, if you buy the hardware outright. Toast's $0 Starter Kit goes the other way: close to the cheapest at $10K, the most expensive at $60K, because of its 3.09% rate.

3-year cost of ownership, hardware included

Over three years, the gap between the cheapest and most expensive setup at $20,000 a month is $5,231. The two ends of the chart (JET POS and Lightspeed) pay the same modeled card rate, so that particular gap is software and hardware. Across all 11 bars, though, card processing is the biggest piece: 75% to 98% of each total.

3-year cost of one register at $20,000 a month in card sales

$40 average sale (500 card sales a month), all in person, each vendor's published rate for the plan shown. JET has no processor of its own, so its processing is modeled at a flat 2.6% + 10¢ with no monthly processor fees, and its hardware includes a $349 card-terminal allowance. JET's place assumes a processor charging 10¢ a sale; at Square's 15¢ it would cost $23,068 and rank third. Toast and SpotOn rows use their restaurant plans, and Amex costs more on both (Toast 3.50%, SpotOn 3.19%). List prices, tax and shipping excluded.

Read the bars with their catches in mind:

Clover is cheap here because we priced buying the Station Duo outright. On Clover's 36-month subscription, the same setup costs $6,480 before processing, and you don't own it at the end.
Toast's totals assume every card is taken in person. On the $69 plan, Amex and online orders cost 3.50% + 15¢; both plans carry a 2-year agreement.
JET's total depends on the processor you pick. We used a flat 2.6% + 10¢, no monthly processor fees and a $349 card-terminal allowance, in the range of countertop card terminals sold by Square ($299), Shopify ($349) and Lightspeed ($449). JET's place assumes a processor charging 10¢ a sale; at Square's 15¢ it would cost $23,068 and rank third. Monthly account or PCI fees, like Wells Fargo's $9.95 + $10 a month, would add $718 over three years. Ask any processor for its terminal price, monthly fees and contract terms in writing. An interchange-plus quote could lower the processing (our Visa and Mastercard fee model gets about 2.2% at this volume).
SumUp's bundle has no cash drawer or printer. The Lightspeed and Shopify stacks include an iPad at $449. Square's US kit page doesn't list what the $1,189 Register Kit contains.
Current JET prices are listed at jetpos.ai.
JET isn't the fit for everyone: it runs on Android only (no iPad), has no kitchen display system (it prints kitchen tickets), and for very low-volume or mobile sellers a $0 plan with a $54 to $59 reader costs far less.

Want your own numbers? Plug your sales and average ticket into the 3-year cost calculator.

Which POS systems don't publish their prices

Most vendors now publish plan prices, but several still hide part of the bill behind a sales call:

TouchBistro: no processing rate and no hardware prices, except a hardware-included bundle from $119 a month.
Toast: no prices for online ordering, loyalty, gift cards, marketing or payroll add-ons, only package prices. Build Your Own is quote-only.
KORONA: hardware is quote-only.
Lightspeed: extra registers and locations are listed without a price (an extra register is reported at $59 a month).
Clover: no early termination fee published for clover.com. Its Canadian prices are quote-only.
SpotOn: the All-In plan's processing minimum isn't published.

When a price isn't published, ask for it in writing before you sign, with the term length and early termination fee on the same page.

Contract length, early termination and processor lock-in compared

The longest commitments come from Toast (2 years) and Clover subscriptions (36 months). Square, KORONA and SumUp's Free and POS Plus plans are month-to-month. But even month-to-month systems can lock you in through processing.

System	Term	Leaving early	Processor lock-in
JET POS	None with JET (your processor may set its own term)	Nothing to cancel with JET; 30-day money-back on hardware. Check your processor's early termination fee	None; any processor
Square	Month-to-month	No fee	Square only
Toast	2 years, then yearly auto-renew	Remaining software fees ($150 × months left on pay-as-you-go)	Toast only
Clover (clover.com)	Monthly, or 36-month subscription	Subscriptions can't be canceled; ETF not published	Devices can't move to another processor
Shopify POS	Monthly, or a 12-month POS Pro term that auto-renews	Monthly: none. POS Pro yearly ($67, the price we modeled): the remaining months' fees	Integrated readers need Shopify Payments
Lightspeed	Auto-renews for the same term; 90 days' notice	Remaining fees for the term	$400/month fee for lower-volume merchants on another processor
SpotOn	Essentials monthly · All-In 2 years	All-In: processing minimums	SpotOn only
TouchBistro	Renews for the length of the first term	Not allowed before term ends	Works with "a wide range" of processors
Epos Now	12 months, auto-renew	Pay out the term	$20/month if you use another processor
KORONA POS	Month-to-month	No fee	None

Lock-in has a price even when there's no contract. If you can't switch processors, you can't take a better rate later. Our processor lock-in guide works through the math.

What another register or location adds

Systems charge for growth in three ways: per device, per location, or not at all.

System	Another register at the same location	Another location
JET POS	Buy another station; $0 software (two Onyx MAX stations: $3,900 bundle)	$0 software
Square	Hardware only on the plan you have; KDS app $30/device on Plus	Another plan fee ($49 on Plus)
Toast	+$50/month per terminal or handheld, +$35 per KDS	Quote (pricing is single-location only)
Clover	+$19.95/month per device	Another plan
Shopify POS	No per-register fee	POS Pro $89/month ($67 yearly)
Lightspeed	Not published (reported $59/month)	Not published
SpotOn	$55/month per station (Essentials)	Per station
KORONA POS	$59–$99/month per terminal	Per terminal

POS prices in Canada (CAD)

Canadian pricing differs in plan names, rates and currency. Debit is much cheaper in Canada: Interac costs 0.75% + 7¢ on Square and a flat 15¢ on Shopify.

System (Canada)	Software / month	Card rates	Hardware
Square	Free · Retail Plus CA$79 · Restaurants Plus CA$60 (+CA$40 per extra countertop device)	Credit 2.5% · Interac 0.75% + 7¢ · online 2.8% + 30¢	Register CA$999 · Terminal CA$399
Shopify POS	Basic CA$49 (CA$37 yearly) · POS Pro CA$119/location	2.6% + 0¢ · Interac 15¢ flat	POS Terminal $459 · WisePad 3 CA$69
Lightspeed Restaurant	CA$89 · CA$239 · CA$499	2.6% + 10¢ (Starter, Essential)	Quote
Lightspeed Retail	Canadian page shows US$89 · US$149 · US$289	Not separately published	Quote
Clover	Quote only	Quote only ("no PCI charge")	Quote only
TouchBistro	From CA$89	Not published	Quote
JET POS	$0	Your processor's rate	Same stations; free shipping to Canada

Verified October 20, 2026. Since October 2024, eligible small businesses get lower Visa and Mastercard credit rates in Canada, and Visa's program widens on October 24, 2026, to cover up to C$750,000 a year in Visa volume. Ask whether your processor passes those cuts on. Details in our Visa and Mastercard fees guide.

How we checked every number

Every vendor price on this page comes from the vendor's own pricing page, checkout or terms, read on October 20, 2026. Two inputs are our assumptions, not prices: JET's processor rate (2.6% + 10¢, no monthly fees) and its $349 card-terminal allowance. Figures only available from third parties are marked "reported" or left out.

The cost models use list prices before tax, shipping and install services, and assume all cards are taken in person. Two prices are offers rather than list prices: SpotOn's Station 15 at its $750 sale price (list $995) and Shopify POS Pro at $67 on a 12-month term for stores new to POS Pro ($89 monthly). Other promotions, such as Toast's 60% hardware discount and Clover's $450 credit, are left out. Your real total will move with your card mix, average ticket and any quote you negotiate. If a vendor changes a price, tell us and we'll update it with a visible note.

Run your own numbers Cheapest POS by sales volume →

Frequently asked questions

How much does a POS system cost per month?

Most small-business software plans run $0 to about $150 a month per location, and top tiers cost more (Square $0 to $149, Toast $0 to $69 plus $50 per extra terminal, Clover $0 to $89.95 plus $19.95 per extra device, Lightspeed Retail $89 to $289). Card processing usually costs more than the software: at $20,000 a month in card sales, 2.3% to 2.6% plus 10 to 15¢ a sale is roughly $500 to $600 a month.

What is the average cost of a POS system?

For one countertop register at $20,000 a month in card sales, the systems we priced cost between $22,168 and $27,399 over three years, hardware, software and processing included. Processing was 75% to 98% of every total. The low end is JET, whose place assumes a processor charging 10¢ a sale; at Square's 15¢ it would cost $23,068 and rank third.

Do POS systems charge a fee per transaction?

Almost all do, through card processing: a percentage of each sale plus a fixed fee, such as Square's 2.6% + 15¢ or Clover's 2.3% + 10¢. Systems that let you bring your own processor, such as JET and KORONA, don't add a per-sale fee of their own, but your processor still charges one.

Is the monthly fee or the processing rate more important?

The processing rate, for nearly every business past a few thousand dollars a month in card sales. On $20,000 a month, a 0.3-point lower rate saves $60 a month, about what Square Plus ($49) or Toast's Point of Sale plan ($69) costs. Compare both, but read the card rate first.

Which POS systems have no monthly fee?

JET ($0 software, pay once for the station, any processor), Square Free, Toast's Starter Kit (at a 3.09% + 15¢ card rate and a 2-year agreement), Clover Starter, SumUp Free and Loyverse. Each free plan limits features or charges a higher card rate.

Should I buy or lease POS hardware?

Buying is usually cheaper. Clover's 36-month subscriptions, for example, cost $180 a month for a Station Duo setup ($6,480 over three years, and you don't own it at the end) versus $1,899 plus $84.95 a month bought outright ($4,957.20).

Can I use my own card processor with a POS system?

Only with some. Square, Toast, SumUp and SpotOn use their own processing only. Clover devices work only with the processor that sold them (clover.com or a bank partner such as Wells Fargo) and can't be moved to another. Lightspeed Retail requires Lightspeed Payments or charges a fee ($400 a month for lower-volume merchants, up to 0.58% of volume for higher-volume ones), and Epos Now adds $20 a month. Shopify's integrated readers need Shopify Payments, but you can ring a sale on an outside terminal and mark it paid. JET and KORONA let you choose; TouchBistro says it is compatible with "a wide range" of processors.

What are the hidden costs of a POS system?

Per-device fees (Toast +$50 per terminal, Clover +$19.95), higher online and keyed rates (often 3.3% to 3.5%), add-ons like online ordering or loyalty, PCI and account fees from bank resellers, install services, and early termination fees on multi-year terms.

What does it cost to add another register?

It depends on how the system charges: per device (Toast $50 a month, Clover $19.95, SpotOn $55), per location (Square and Shopify POS Pro), or per terminal license (KORONA $59 to $99). With JET you buy another station and pay no extra software fee.

Sources

Every price and rate on this page was checked on October 20, 2026 against the pages below. Something out of date? Tell us and we fix it with a visible note.