Square For Retail VS Square POS 2024 Comparison

Trying to choose between Square Retail or Square's free version? Check out this comprehensive guide before making your decision.

WRITTEN & RESEARCHED BY
Nicolette Kier
Senior Staff Writer

Last updated onUpdated January 19, 2024

REVIEWED BY

Lead Staff Writer

Advertiser Disclosure: Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by , and we adhere to strict to preserve editorial integrity.

Square retail vs Square free

Square POS and Square For Retail seem very alike at first because both products are made by Square, include retail item management, have similar payment processing fees, and use Square POS hardware.

However, there are some differences worth looking at when trying to decide between the two options. This Square For Retail VS Square POS comparison will review differences in pricing, features, device compatibility, and user reviews to help you choose the best POS system for your small business.

Table of Contents

Square For Retail VS Square POS At A Glance
What’s The Difference Between Square For Retail & Square POS?
Square For Retail VS Square POS Pricing
Square POS VS Square For Retail Features
Square POS VS Square For Retail User Reviews
Square For Retail VS Square POS: The Final Verdict
FAQs: Square POS VS Square Retail

Square For Retail VS Square POS At A Glance

	Square For Retail	Square POS
Ideal For	Omnichannel retail sales Large retail catalog management Connecting with Square’s other business management tools	Selling a few items or services Starting a simple online ordering platform Connecting a form of payment to third-party software
Pricing	$0-$89/location/month Payment Processing: 2.5%-2.9%	$0/month Payment Processing: 2.6%-2.9%
Hardware Compatibility	Apple devices Proprietary Square hardware	Apple devices Android devices Proprietary Square hardware
Standout Features	Free retail plan available Strong retail inventory management Lower payment processing fees on the paid plan Strong multi-channel sales features	A free way for anyone to take payments Can update to an industry-specific app at any point Available on Apple and Android Compatible with more software than the Square retail-specific app
What’s Missing	Android version of the Square For Retail app	Better inventory management

Square For Retail and Square POS offer free in-person sales software and an online ordering platform. Square For Retail also offers a paid plan with better inventory management features and lower payment processing fees. Square POS is a basic payment app that connects to lots of third-party software.

Square For Retail Overview

Pros

Free and advanced paid plans are available
Excellent physical inventory management
Multi-location inventory, employee, and sales capabilities
Connects with Square’s suite of sales tools

Cons

Best retail management features come with paid plans
Not available on Android devices

Square Terminal handheld POS system, Square Register, and Square iPad stand.

Square For Retail is a POS app available only on Apple devices and proprietary Square POS hardware. The free plan offers good physical inventory management, such as SKU generation and checkout features, such as item exchanges, while the Plus plan ($89/location/month) offers more extensive inventory management, such as inventory stock takes and purchase order management. The paid plan also has slightly lower in-person payment processing fees, which, depending on your monthly sales volumes, can save you a lot of money.

Read our full Square For Retail review for a more detailed explanation of everything this Square retail solution has to offer.

Square POS Overview

Pros

Completely free
Works on Apple and Android devices
Connects with Square’s suite of sales tools
Connects to lots of third-party apps

Cons

Limited inventory management
No way to lower payment processing rates

Square POS interface on iPad.

The Square Point Of Sale (POS) app is a very general free POS app available on Apple and Android devices as well as proprietary Square POS hardware. The POS app on its own is a great option for small businesses with limited inventory, checkout interface, and reporting needs selling just a few items (such as prepackaged bread or earrings) or services (such as face painting.)

The Square POS app also connects to tons of third-party software as a payment method. If, for example, you run an event rental business, Square POS integrates with several niche event rental software so you can manage your business and take payments from within your chosen rental app.

Read our full Square POS app review for a more detailed explanation of everything this free point of sale app includes.

What’s The Difference Between Square For Retail & Square POS?

The difference between Square For Retail and Square POS is that Square For Retail is a fully functional retail solution with free and paid plans, while Square POS is a free, simple payment app that you can use on its own or connect to third-party niche software apps.

Both Square For Retail & Square POS Offer:

Free in-person sales software
A completely free online store builder
Social media sales on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook
Access to Square’s suite of business management software
Digital and physical gift card sales
Square’s built-in payment processor
Affordable card readers and POS hardware

Only Square For Retail Offers:

Basic and advanced inventory management
Lower payment processing rates (on paid plans)
Barcode and packing slip creator
More thorough business reports

Only Square POS Offers:

Android POS system availability
Compatibility with most apps on Square App Marketplace
Ability to convert Square POS to restaurant or appointment booking software

Square For Retail VS Square POS Pricing

	Square For Retail	Square POS
Point Of Sale	Free: $0 Plus: $89/month/location	$0
Online Ordering Website	$0-$72/month, billed annually	$0-$72/month, billed annually
Device Compatibility	iOS devices	iOS and Android devices
Credit Card Reader	$49-$69	$49-$69
In-Person Transactions	Free Plan: 2.6% + $0.10 Plus Plan: 2.5% + $0.10	2.6% + $0.10
In-Person Transactions	2.9% + $0.30	2.9% + $0.30
Chargeback Fee	$0	$0
Refund Fee	$0	$0

Square POS and Square For Retail both offer free plans and similar payment processing rates. However, Square For Retail offers a paid plan and includes lower in-person payment processing rates on paid plans.

Note: You get a free 30-day trial on paid Square For Retail plans.

Which Is Cheaper, Square POS Or Square For Retail?

Square POS and the Square For Retail Free plan have the same monthly fee and per-transaction payment processing rates. The paid Square For Retail Plus plan offers slightly lower in-person payment processing rates, so once you start processing a lot more sales, the $89/month/location plan may be cheaper than a free one.

Square POS VS Square For Retail Features

	Square For Retail	Square POS
Industry-Specific POS App
Receipts
Offline Capabilities	Strong	Strong
Reporting	Good	Limited
Third-Party Payment Gateways Available
Credit Card Readers
Omnichannel Sales Features
Free eCommerce Website
Shipping Features & Discounts
International Sales
Multilocation Management	Good	Limited
Inventory Management	Good	Limited
Integrations	Good	Excellent
24/7 Phone Support	Weekdays 6 AM-6 PM PST	Weekdays 6 AM-6 PM PST

Let’s compare the different features and best use cases for Square POS and Square For Retail.

Retail Features

Square For Retail offers more item management at the register, including a more customizable POS interface, barcode scanning, and item exchanges, all available on the free plan. Most importantly, you can search for items, item variants, categories, and customers across one or multiple locations from the checkout screen or your admin dashboard. This makes it way easier to sell items and invoice customers when you have a catalog of items available.

Square POS is a more basic, general point of sale app that’s used mainly for taking payments or donations. You can search the Square POS app for items and take sales that way or simply enter a dollar amount and charge people using a card reader.

Note: If you need more from your retail system than what Square For Retail can offer, check out more of our best retail POS systems for more customizable options.

Inventory Management

Square POS and Square For Retail allow you to sell unlimited items and display products across all ordering touchpoints (in-person sales, eCommerce sales, online marketplace sales, sales in different locations, etc.) If you want niche inventory management software, you may integrate Square POS with a dedicated inventory management app.

The free Square For Retail plan includes automated inventory tracking, auto-generated SKU numbers, barcode scanning with an iOS camera, item exchanges, and advanced item search by category, variant, and/or customer.

The Square For Retail Plus plan offers these additional advanced inventory management features:

Automated purchase order generator
Vendor management and sales reports by vendor
Advanced POS reports such as cost of goods sold reports and profit margin reports
Cross-location orders and returns
Bulk order receiving and bulk item transfers
Stock breakdowns/conversions (e.g. case to individual pack)
Barcode printing
Inventory history and counting tool

If you need more inventory management features than Square For Retail offers, look into these best POS systems with inventory management.

POS Hardware

Both software apps allow you to bring your own tablet/smartphone devices to use as checkout registers, either using tap-to-pay or the $49-$69 Square contactless card reader. While Square POS and Square For Retail can both be Apple POS systems, only Square POS works on Apple and Android devices. You can also access Square’s web-based user admin dashboard from any browser and manage your inventory, sales data, online store, and more from one centralized place.

There are also proprietary Square hardware options, such as the Square Terminal and Square iPad stand.

Check out our guide to Square hardware for more information on Square’s terminal and hardware accessory offerings.

Note: Square has an excellent hardware warranty (1-2 years, depending on the hardware), and the company will honor it whether you purchase directly from Square or a physical seller.

eCommerce & Invoicing

Both Square For Retail and Square POS include the free version of Square Online, which allows you to build an online store. You can sell a variety of items, collect contact information, embed contact forms, create “about us” and informational pages, build individual product pages that can be grouped into categories or galleries, and more.

Both POS apps can be integrated with the free version of Square Invoices, one of the best invoicing software for small businesses. Retail and service businesses can send estimates, one-time and recurring invoices, invoice tracking, schedule payment reminders, charge late fees, and charge a card on file.

Read our Square Online review for more information on how to sell online using Square.

Omnichannel Sales

No matter which POS software you sign up for, you can sell on places like Google, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Etsy with Square-built integrations. You also have the option to sell on eBay, Amazon, Faire, and more using a third-party inventory listing/syncing software like the Trunk app.

Square also offers free Square Checkout Link software, which you can use to generate a link to pay for an item, service, or open-ended checkout price for things like suggested donations. You can embed your generated links in a text message, email, or URL on a Facebook or Twitter post, as a buy button on a blog post, and more, so you really can sell anywhere and on any platform.

Square’s omnichannel platform functionalities make Square one of the best POS systems with eCommerce features.

Integrations

Square POS integrates with several other software, including other POS systems, as a payment method, so you can build a custom POS solution and just use Square to take payments.

Square For Retail also offers several integrations, but not as many as Square POS.

Both Square POS and Square For Retail integrate with the rest of Square’s products, including Square Payroll, Square Loyalty, Square Marketing, and Square HR Manager.

Read our Square Loyalty review for more information on whether Square offers the best POS loyalty programs for your business.

Square POS VS Square For Retail User Reviews

For the most part, Square POS and Square For Retail reviews are very similar, with the majority of reviews praising Square for how easy and affordable the company has made it for small businesses to start selling.

The only recurring complaints are about occasional connectivity issues and the credit card processing fees, but you’ll need to pay these fees no matter which POS system you decide to use.

Square For Retail User Reviews

Square For Retail earns very high reviews on software review sites like GetApp (4.7/5 based on 475 reviews), G2 (4.4/5 based on 65 reviews), and TrustRadius (9.4/10 based on 22 reviews).

The top positive reviews for Square For Retail include:

Flexible, simple, and easy to use
Intuitive inventory management features
In-store and mobile payment options are available
Brand recognition for both sellers and consumers

The top complaints include:

WiFi connectivity issues
Paid plan and processing fees are expensive
Not compatible with certain apps

Square POS User Reviews

Square Point Of Sale also earns very high reviews on software review sites like GetApp (4.7/5 based on 2.8K reviews), G2 (4.7/5 based on 782 reviews), and TrustRadius (9.1/10 based on 90 reviews).

The top positive reviews for Square POS include:

Flexible, simple, and easy to use
Mobile payments using a card reader or tap to pay on phone
Brand recognition for both sellers and consumers
Invoicing and virtual terminal functions for accepting payments online

The top complaints include:

Built-in reports are not thorough
WiFi connectivity issues
Higher payment processing fees

Square For Retail VS Square POS: The Final Verdict

Square For Retail and Square POS are similar in many ways, but Square’s retail-specific solution works for small to midsize retailers, while Square POS is a more general app that connects with several well-known and niche third-party apps.

Here are some easy guidelines to follow when choosing the right POS system for your business.

Choose Square For Retail If You Need:

A free POS system with retail inventory management features
Relatively low-cost advanced inventory management and business reports
A free online ordering platform or invoicing software
To take contactless payments on an iOS device

Choose Square POS If You Need:

A payment method to integrate with specific software you are interested in
A general-purpose POS to sell a few items or accept donations/fees
Very simple invoicing or virtual terminal payment software
To take contactless payments on iOS or Android

If, after reading this comparison, you are unsure which POS system is right for your business, look into these best POS systems for small businesses to continue your research and make your final choice.

FAQs: Square POS VS Square Retail

What countries is Square available in?

Square can be used in eight countries: the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, France, Spain, and Japan. This is true for Square For Retail and Square POS.

Does Square restrict what you can sell?

Square prohibits the sale of most “high-risk” products, including firearms, drug paraphernalia, internet pharmacies or pharmacy referral services, infomercial sales, and multilevel marketing schemes. Interestingly, Square allows you to sell CBD online and in person.

If you’re interested in selling high-risk products, you may want to look for a payment processor that fully supports these types of sales. Start with our list of the best high-risk payment processors to find a match.

What is Square For Retail Plus?

Square For Retail Plus is the paid version of Square’s retail-specific POS software. The Plus plan offers advanced inventory management, more extensive business reports, and slightly lower in-person payment processing rates.

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Nicolette Kier

Senior Staff Writer

Nicolette began writing on small business topics in 2020. After hundreds of hours researching, testing, and assisting small business owners with web building and point of sale software, she is now an expert on all things eCommerce and point of sale. She has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Pittsburgh and resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

View Nicolette Kier's professional experience on LinkedIn.

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Square

Visit Site

Read our Review

Square is an industry-leading point-of-sale and payment processing provider. Sign up for a free account and get a complimentary card reader for use with Square POS. Start For Free.

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