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Mobile point of sale systems allow your small business to accept payments on the go. Use this guide to choose the best mobile POS option for you.
Matt has been helping small businesses make decisions since 2017. He has written reviews and articles across many different channels but specializes in the point of sale, payroll, and small business insurance categories and has been quoted in articles for Fox Business, Forbes, and other publications. Prior to joining Merchant Maverick, Matt was a journalist and editor for 14 years for a pair of weekly newspapers. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon and currently resides in Gladstone, Oregon.
WRITTEN & RESEARCHED BY
Matt ShermanMatt has been helping small businesses make decisions since 2017. He has written reviews and articles across many different channels but specializes in the point of sale, payroll, and small business insurance categories and has been quoted in articles for Fox Business, Forbes, and other publications. Prior to joining Merchant Maverick, Matt was a journalist and editor for 14 years for a pair of weekly newspapers. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon and currently resides in Gladstone, Oregon.
Expert Contributor
Last updated onUpdated
Shannon has been writing for Merchant Maverick about small business software and financing since 2015. She started writing professionally about business topics in 2005. Shannon has been featured in the Washington Post, Reader's Digest, US News, MSN, Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, and other publications. She has a bachelor's degree in English from San Diego State University and currently resides in San Diego, California.
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Shannon VissersShannon has been writing for Merchant Maverick about small business software and financing since 2015. She started writing professionally about business topics in 2005. Shannon has been featured in the Washington Post, Reader's Digest, US News, MSN, Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, and other publications. She has a bachelor's degree in English from San Diego State University and currently resides in San Diego, California.
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Our content reflects the editorial opinions of our experts. While our site makes money through referral partnerships, we only partner with companies that meet our standards for quality, as outlined in our independent rating and scoring system.
The best mobile POS systems could work as a countertop system or a handheld POS system for events and still have plenty of robust, back-end solutions to add mobility to your brick-and-mortar retail or restaurant business.
While the best POS systems are multi-functional, mobile point of sale systems are unique in that they also empower line-busting, floor-selling, tableside payments, and more.
Keep reading to find out our top picks for mobile POS systems.
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Pros
Free mobile POS app for smartphones and tablets
Simple, flat-rate processing
Robust feature set
Cons
Not for high-risk businesses
Expensive for high-volume businesses
Why We Chose Square
With a suite of features that work just as well for retailers as they do for quick-serve restaurants and cafes, it's no surprise that Square makes our list. Square has a major presence with quick-serve businesses and cafes; it's also common among retailers and mobile service businesses, thanks to its versatility. Plus, a free online store and shopping cart integrations open the possibility of selling online.
Square is about as simple of a mobile POS system as you'll find. Its prices are competitive and upfront, and while it might not be quite as robust in some areas as a few of its competitors, Square is well-rounded and one of the most intuitive all-in-one point of sale systems around.
For small businesses needing payment processing and simple eCommerce, Square is an ideal fit.
Square has no monthly fee and a flat-rate processing rate of 2.6% + $0.15 per transaction. Square processing is a good deal for low-volume, low-risk businesses. Higher-volume or higher-risk businesses (find out if you’re a low or high-risk merchant if you’re not sure) will be better off choosing a different wireless POS system they can use with their own merchant account.
However, if you have more than $250K in annual revenue, Square may offer you a processing discount.
Square Mobile POS Features
Square POS Features
Availability
Multi-Store Support
Contactless Payments
Multi-Channel Selling
Gift Cards
Add-on
Customer Loyalty
Add-on
Marketing Tools
Online Ordering
Inventory Management
Reporting
Menu Management
With Square for Restaurants
Delivery Management
Add on
EBT Acceptance
Employee Management
Text Messaging
Despite its low-cost entry point, Square has a rich feature set that is also highly scaleable so you can start small and keep growing at your own pace.
Here are some of its highlights:
Accept split payments
Time cards
Permissions
Sales history
Custom reports
Print order tickets
Accept multiple payment types
Marketing tools
Square Hardware
All you need to start processing with Square is a phone (Android or iPhone), tablet, or laptop, and a Square credit card reader.
While Square’s free magstripe card reader is an option, I would recommend purchasing Square’s EMV/NFC reader, which gives you the ability to accept chip cards and contactless payments. If you need something sturdier than the mobile credit card processing app and reader, you might consider using Square’s proprietary hardware: the Square Terminal or the Square Register.
Contract Requirements/Warnings
Square makes things simple, allowing you to pay month-to-month with no long-term commitments required.
Clover is another all-in-one mobile POS system known for its simple interface and rich feature set. It has a wide array of hardware options to help small to mid-sized businesses and convenient ways to grow your business, whether you need help with your website or expanding your online ordering options.
Clover's versatile hardware and affordable processing rates make it a vendor to strongly consider if you're in the market for a mobile POS system. Its interface is easy to use, and its various products pair seamlessly together. The app marketplace also provides multiple ways to boost your point of sale system into a selling powerhouse.
If you buy your hardware directly from Clover, plans start at $0/month if you want to use the device for payments only (“Clover Payments” plan) with a processing rate of 2.3% – 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction and 3.5% + $0.10 per transaction.
If you want POS features such as basic inventory management, you can upgrade to the Clover Essentials plan. The fully-featured Register plan comes with much more functionality, including advanced inventory management and a slightly lower payment processing fee.
Clover also has dedicated plans for counter-service and full-service restaurants that range from $0 – $84.95/month. If you decide to pay monthly for your hardware and software, you’ll pay depending on which software plan you choose and what Clover hardware you add to your setup.
Clover Mobile POS Features
Clover POS Features
Availability
Multi-Store Support
Contactless Payments
Depends on hardware choice
Multi-Channel Selling
Gift Cards
Customer Loyalty
Marketing Tools
Online Ordering
Based on software plan
Inventory Management
Reporting
Menu Management
Delivery Management
EBT Acceptance
Add-on app
Employee Management
Text Messaging
Clover has a very deep feature set for the cost, making it a popular choice as a mobile point of sale system.
Here are a few areas where it stands out:
Customizable dashboard
Digital receipts
Virtual terminal
Multiple payment options
Real-time reporting
Itemized orders
Clover Hardware
Clover has several mobile Android-based and purpose-built POS hardware solutions to choose from, but the most mobile-ready Clover device is the Clover Flex.
The mobility of the Clover Flex makes it easy to line-bust, sell on the floor, or even outside the bounds of your brick-and-mortar store with a data plan. The Clover Flex has a built-in card swipe/chip/tap payment reader, receipt printer, and barcode scanner, giving you a lot of power in the palm of your hand.
The Clover Go is the closest in scope to Square if you want a mobile reader that syncs up with your cell phone, while Clover Flex is a smart terminal akin to Poynt.
However, neither of these mobile POS solutions is very suitable as a standalone mPOS if you don’t already use the Clover Station or the Clover Mini. With its built-in receipt printer, barcode scanner, and swipe/EMV/NFC reader, the Clover Mini can be used by itself or with a cash drawer using Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or LTE.
Clover plans are sold with a Fiserv merchant account and cannot be reprogrammed to use with a different payment processor. Your Clover pricing and quality of merchant services largely depend on which Clover provider you choose; make sure to buy from Clover directly or from these best Clover resellers.
Contract Requirements/Warnings
There are many stories about third-party Clover vendors locking customers into long and difficult-to-break contracts, and Fiserv’s customer service has long been an issue. With that in mind, we highly recommend that you buy through certified Clover resellers and read your fine print carefully.
Monthly software costs can get expensive with advanced features
An added fee to use a non-Lightspeed payment processor
Early termination fee
Why We Chose Lightspeed
Lightspeed has become a massive player in the POS world in the past few years, and the results have only made the product better. Lightspeed offers both a Retail and Restaurant version of its excellent mobile POS system. Lightspeed's products are highly customizable, providing services for small to larger franchise businesses. With built-in payment processing and eCommerce, you won't need to look elsewhere to enhance your mobile POS system.
Lightspeed has one of the deepest feature sets available, and even smaller businesses can still gain access to them at a fairly affordable price. Both the Retail and Restaurant versions of the product have very few gaps, and if you need to scale up to a more advanced tier of services, Lightspeed makes that easy.
For single/multi-location retail businesses looking for a strong loyalty program and advanced business reporting
With a starting fee of $109 – $339/month ($89 – $289/month billed annually), Lightspeed is easily one of the best retail POS systems on our list and one of the more expensive ones.
All Lightspeed plans come with one POS device software. You have to pay an extra $59/month/device to add extra registers to your subscription plan.
This monthly fee is only for business owners who agree to use Lightspeed’s in-house payment processor, Lightspeed Payments. If you decide to integrate a third-party payment processor, such as TSYS or Worldpay, you’ll pay an extra $50/month.
Lightspeed Payments processing service charges 2.6% + $0.10 for all in-person payments and 2.9% + $0.30 for card-not-present transactions.
Lightspeed Retail Features
Lightspeed Retail Features
Availability
Multi-Store Support
Contactless Payments
Multi-Channel Selling
Core plan and up
Gift Cards
Customer Loyalty
Core plan and up
Marketing Tools
Core plan and up
Online Ordering
Inventory Management
Reporting
Menu Management
Delivery Management
EBT Acceptance
Employee Management
Text Messaging
Lightspeed Retail’s iPad app offers myriad features for any sized business. By using an iPad with Lightspeed installed, your employees can take payments from the sales floor, show customers product images and descriptions, and cut waiting times.
Here are a few of the highlights from their suite of products.
Advanced reporting
Store credit
Inventory management
Bulk items
Purchase orders
Employee management
CRM
Multi-store capability
Lightspeed Retail Hardware
Lightspeed has a variety of hardware bundles it offers on its site for both iPad and desktop versions. It also has items for purchase à la carte, such as printers and scanners.
Contract Requirements/Warning
You can sign up for Lightspeed Retail on a month-to-month or annual basis. There are substantial early termination fees for canceling long-term plans, so consider signing up for a monthly plan, then converting to a long-term one once you know Lightspeed Retail is the right POS for you.
If you plan to cancel your service, you must contact Lightspeed within 30 days of your next payment term to avoid being charged for another payment cycle.
If you purchase POS hardware from Lightspeed, you must verify that you received it within five business days. If you don’t do this, the equipment is not eligible for Lightspeed’s 30-day warranty (14 days for Apple products).
Choose Lightspeed If:
You want simple, upfront pricing
You want a deep feature set with no real gaps
You want a POS built specifically for a retail or restaurant establishment
Toast is an Android-based, mobile, all-in-one POS app custom-built for restaurants and bars. Toast's restaurant POS software includes cloud-based reporting, menu management, and a kitchen display system. You can even purchase Toast's digital ordering suite without needing to buy any hardware or the POS system.
Toast is tailor-made for restaurants and has always been ahead of the game when it comes to mobile ordering. Its hardware is intuitive and perfect for contactless options, and its integrations for delivery and online ordering are excellent. It also still has very highly rated customer service despite its issues with long-term contracts.
Larger businesses looking to access the entirety of Toast’s features
Toast POS hardware can be pricey, but Toast also offers the option to finance a Starter Kit with no upfront costs.
Toast has in-house flat-rate payment processing (2.49% + $0.15); the POS is incompatible with outside payment processors. Keep in mind that to use Toast, you will need to sign a multi-year processing agreement with an early termination fee (ETF).
Toast Mobile POS Features
Toast POS Features
Availability
Multi-Store Support
Contactless Payments
Multi-Channel Selling
Gift Cards
Customer Loyalty
Marketing Tools
Online Ordering
Inventory Management
Reporting
Menu Management
Delivery Management
EBT Acceptance
Employee Management
Text Messaging
Toast was built for restaurants and has everything your case or full-service establishment might need.
Here are some of its key features:
Online ordering
Contactless delivery
eGift card support
QR code payments
Multiple payment options
KDS compatibility
Marketing
Loyalty
Toast Mobile POS Hardware
Toast is highly mobile, offering a custom-built handheld point of sale device called “Toast Go” that servers can use to take orders and payments from the floor. Toast employs commercial-grade Elo I-Series touch screens with various form factors for terminals, kiosks, and guest-facing displays. Restauranteurs also like the kitchen display system, which eliminates the need for paper tickets, speeding up and simplifying operations.
Contract Requirements/Warnings
Toast only uses its own payment processor and has gotten into the bad habit lately of signing customers up for lengthy contracts with termination fees, so make sure you like the product and know what you’re getting before signing anything.
Choose Toast If:
You want an affordable Android POS
You want some of the best restaurant features around
If the previously-mentioned Lightspeed Retail doesn't seem like a great fit, Vend by Lightspeed may be more your speed. Vend by Lightspeed is an easy-to-use and intuitive POS that boasts retail-centric features. It's a great fit for smaller and mid-size businesses, but multilocation support is also available.
With Vend by Lightspeed, you can use iPads to easily update and manage inventory, help customers on the sales floor, and accept payments from anywhere without being stuck behind a counter.
Vend By Lightspeed Pricing
Unfortunately, Vend by Lightspeed does not disclose pricing online. You will have to contact Lightspeed directly to learn more about its pricing plans, add-ons, and other fees.
If you use Lightspeed Payments — Lightspeed’s in-house payment processing — you’ll pay 2.6% + $0.10 for in-person transactions and 2.9% + $0.30 for online transactions.
You do have the ability to use a third-party payment processor. However, Lightspeed will charge an additional monthly fee, so total pricing may end up being more than simply using Lightspeed Payments.
Vend By Lightspeed Features
Vend By Lightspeed Features
Availability
Multi-Store Support
Contactless Payments
Multi-Channel Selling
Gift Cards
Customer Loyalty
Marketing Tools
Online Ordering
Inventory Management
Reporting
Menu Management
Delivery Management
EBT Acceptance
Employee Management
Text Messaging
Normally, POS systems that are easy to use lack more advanced features, while robust systems are often difficult to use. Vend by Lightspeed gives you the best of both worlds, combining great retail features with intuitive software.
Standout features include:
Order holds & layaway
Returns & store credit
Customer payment history & past purchases
Loyalty programs
Gift cards
Barcode importing, scanning, & printing
Automated stock reordering
Item transfers
Reporting
Integrations with apps & software
Integrated financing
Vend By Lightspeed Hardware
Vend by Lightspeed sells a variety of POS hardware, including iPads if you want a mobile POS system.
You can also source your own hardware. However, you will need to contact Lightspeed to find out if your hardware is compatible.
Contract Requirements/Warnings
Vend by Lightspeed does not list specific details about its contracts online. In the past, month-to-month contracts have been available. However, you will need to get in touch with Vend by Lightspeed to discuss pricing and contracts.
As with any other vendor, make sure to carefully review your contract before committing to make sure you understand all fees (including early termination fees), terms, and requirements.
Choose Vend By Lightspeed If...
You want an easy-to-use POS without sacrificing features
You need strong inventory management
You’re a retail that needs features like loyalty programs and gift cards
Pocket-sized POS to take payments on your smartphone
Great for craft fairs, farmer’s markets, and pop-up shops
Comes with buy buttons to sell on your blog or website
Cons
Not a standalone POS for full-time businesses
Limited customization
Fee for using third-party processing
Why We Chose Shopify
Shopify started as an eCommerce software provider, but it's moved into the realm of an all-in-one provider thanks to its integrated payments service and a surprisingly robust POS. One big draw with Shopify POS is how easily you can upgrade and scale as your business grows. Shopify is also versatile in that you can use it on any mobile device or laptop. Plus, it has various pricing plans to choose from.
Shopify started out as simply an eCommerce platform, and that's still where it's at its best. If you're using Shopify for your online selling needs, Shopify's mobile POS system might be a simple and convenient fit. Even its basic plan has a solid offering of features good enough for virtually any small business; with Shopify's eCommerce platform built in, selling online is a snap.
If your high-volume or large business needs an enterprise-level solution
The entry-level service plan, Shopify’s Basic Plan, comes at an affordable rate and provides access to the POS system as well as invoicing and limited online selling tools — embeddable buy buttons to sell on your existing blog or website (supports WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, Tumblr, and more).
Shopify Features
Shopify POS Features
Availability
Multi-Store Support
Supports multiple inventory locations
Contactless Payments
Multi-Channel Selling
Gift Cards
Customer Loyalty
Marketing Tools
Online Ordering
Inventory Management
Reporting
Menu Management
Delivery Management
EBT Acceptance
Employee Management
Text Messaging
Although Shopify’s most basic plan doesn’t come with all of the features of its higher tiers, it still has an impressive array, including some of these standouts:
Customizable templates
Integrated hardware
Custom permissions
Advanced inventory
Unified reporting
Online ordering
Integrated loyalty
Marketing
Shopify Hardware
Shopify offers hardware kits online and has its own readers for payment processing. These can be purchased through its website along with other individual items, such as cash drawers and printers.
Contract Requirements/Warnings
You can sign up for Shopify’s services on a month-to-month basis, but you are incentivized with a lower overall price if you sign on for a year.
Choose Shopify If:
You are already using Shopify for online sales
You are looking to set up an online store in the near future
Revel is an exceptionally robust POS system that is more than capable of handling mid-sized to larger retail and restaurant establishments. While its monthly fee and setup costs aren't exactly cheap, if you want a mobile point of sale system without any gaps, Revel is certainly worth considering. It also has access to scores of integrations to enhance its offerings further, making it an extremely powerful tool for your business.
Revel has virtually any feature you could dream up in your search for a mobile POS. It has incredibly deep reporting for business owners who are into analytics. If you already have some experience with point of sale systems, you might be able to bypass Revel's learning curve as well. Overall, it's an extremely solid system that is worth the price if you're planning on utilizing all it has to offer.
Use if you are committed to the product and have a need for high-end features.
Revel is entirely quote-based and their best rate is only offered to customers who sign up for a three-year processing plan with Revel, so make sure you know what you’re getting into first. It also offers onboarding starting at $674, which may be worth it as the system is not overly intuitive.
Revel Mobile POS Features
Revel POS Features
Availability
Multi-Store Support
Contactless Payments
Multi-Channel Selling
Gift Cards
Customer Loyalty
Marketing Tools
Online Ordering
Inventory Management
Reporting
Menu Management
Delivery Management
EBT Acceptance
Employee Management
Text Messaging
As mentioned, Revel is loaded with features, and you’ll likely want to visit its website to see everything it has to offer, but here are some of the highlights:
Advanced reporting
Online ordering
Customer display system
Built-in loyalty
Deep offline mode
Open API
Multistore capacity
Revel Hardware
Revel offers everything your company might need à la carte on its website. You can purchase from a selection of iPads, stands, cash drawers, printers, and kiosks.
Contract Requirements/Warnings
Revel’s most affordable pricing plan only comes with a three-year contract through its own processor and a minimum purchase of at least two stations. If you’re confident that you like Revel and its rates, this is a pretty good deal for everything that comes with Revel, but if you’re at all uncertain, it might not be worth the risk.
Choose Revel If:
You have a large or multi-location restaurant
You have experience with slightly complicated POS systems
You want very deep inventory management and reporting
Merchant Maverick has been researching and reviewing POS providers since 2012. Our writers have tested over 100 different point of sale systems, evaluating pricing, features, ease of use, customer service, and user reviewers. Read more about how we rate POS providers.
Weighted Rating Breakdown
Pricing 40%
Features 30%
Ease Of Use 15%
Customer Service 10%
User Reviews 5%
When comparing different POS software systems, we consider many data points, including relative pricing, the depth of niche features offered, the price of hardware, and any associated payment processing fees. Our lists of the best providers include only apps we’ve deemed worthwhile from multiple vantage points. The POS vendors we pick share qualities such as widespread availability, accessibility, user-friendliness, and reasonable pricing. We also look carefully at niche features, such as check-splitting, inventory management, eCommerce, loyalty programs, gift cards, and more.
We spend an average of 10-15 hours researching and updating each one of our lists, making sure the providers included meet our internal standards for quality and reputation.
80+
Vendors evaluated
65+
Attributes assessed per vendor
20+
Features weighed
30+
Combined years of experience
These Mobile POS Options Earn An Honorable Mention
These vendors didn’t quite make our cut, but they may work for certain types of businesses.
PayPal Zettle For Mobile POS
With PayPal Zettle (formerly PayPal Here), you’ll pay 2.29% + $0.09 per in-person transaction, which you’ll process with the $29 chip and tap reader. With no monthly fee and flat-rate pricing, it’s suitable for low-volume businesses and cheaper than Square, but it doesn’t provide the POS features Square or Shopify offer, such as a virtual terminal.
If you want a more fully-featured POS that uses PayPal payment processing, Lightspeed is an option for retail, while PayPal integrates with TouchBistro, Lavu, and talech for restaurants. PayPal Zettle can complement any of those systems for occasional mobile sales, but it is not a suitable standalone POS.
eHopper For Mobile POS
eHopper is a basic, free POS system that may appeal to certain business types, such as convenience stores and small grocery stores. You can use eHopper on an iPad, Windows tablet, Android tablet, PC, or Poynt Smart Terminal to accept cash, credit, debit cards, and EBT.
In addition to its free monthly cost, an eHopper account also includes a free terminal. eHopper also offers credit surcharge no-fee credit card processing, which allows you to pass on your credit card fees to your customers (if that practice is legal in your state). With its free plan, free Pax S300 terminal (for new customers), and even free credit card processing, eHopper is worth checking out if you want a free POS.
However, it is not the only free POS system. For example, Square is free, and although you will pay for credit card processing, Square has more features and doesn’t require you to pass your processing costs to your customers.
7 Ways A Mobile POS System Can Help Your Business
Mobile POS setups offer a plethora of advantages for small businesses, especially businesses that are very wary of the cost of POS systems. Even if your business has a traditional brick-and-mortar storefront, you can leverage mPOS to your advantage. Here are some innovative ways to use mobile point of sale systems to take your business to the next level.
1) Mobile POS Systems Are Easy To Use & Train Employees On
Mobile POS is remarkably easy to use, allowing businesses to quickly and easily set up their system and train new employees on it in hours or even minutes. Mobile point of sale is intuitive for anyone familiar with smartphones and tablets, and many iPad-based systems do not even require professional installation. In most cases, getting started with a new mobile POS is just a matter of setting up your account, installing the app, and going through a self-guided tutorial. The best restaurant POS systems often feature mobile options that are easy for waitstaff to learn and use.
2) Accept Contactless Payments With A Mobile POS
Mobile POS systems generally allow you to take payments on a mobile device and accept payments from customers’ smartphones and smartwatches. Contactless payments (also called NFC payments, mobile payments, or mobile wallets) include options such as Apple Pay, Google Pay (formerly Android Pay), and PayPal.
Some POS systems also accept contactless QR code payments wherein customers scan a code with their phone’s camera and pay from their device. Giving your customers contactless options to pay makes it much quicker and easier for them to buy from you. Especially during COVID-19, many customers prefer safer contactless payments, and most of the best point of sale systems for retail offer this feature.
3) Use A Mobile POS For Line Busting & Flexible Checkouts
Mobile devices can be used in tandem with traditional registers, or you can eliminate the registers if you have that kind of trendy biz! You can use mobile checkouts to reduce lines — for example, a cafe server can work their way down the line at the counter with a handheld device on a busy morning. Or you can offer multiple low-key places to check out in a store. Many people prefer self-checkout POS systems whenever possible, which is another option you have with mobile hardware. With mPOS, it’s all about options!
Sephora is an example of a company that uses mobile checkout options on an as-needed basis. The company gives its staff mobile devices, so the floor sales agents can check people out if there’s a very long line.
4) Pop-Up Shops, Tradeshows, & Sidewalk Sales
Many retail businesses can benefit from non-traditional sales opportunities at special events, such as craft fairs, festivals, or pop-up shops. Retail businesses increasingly take advantage of these events to make direct sales, spread the word about their products, and generate social media buzz. Mobile POS lets you travel to other cities, bring inventory to conventions or tradeshows, or join the local sidewalk sale.
With mobile POS, if you can get an internet signal via your cell or mobile hotspot, it is often a lot cheaper than buying it for a wired terminal at a convention center. Some mobile POS systems even have an offline mode, letting you take credit card payments even when you don’t have an internet or data signal.
5) Mobile POS For Food Trucks & Catering
Mobile POS lets you take your restaurant on the road! Food truck events are super popular, and you don’t want your restaurant to miss out on the chance to impress new customers with your cuisine. Our list of best food trucks POS systems should get you started there.
Even if your restaurant uses a full POS, you can use a mobile system in conjunction with your POS for events. You can also use mPOS to take payments on the go when you are catering events.
Mobile POS systems offer features such as digital receipts and have a much smaller footprint than traditional POS registers, so they are ideal in cramped quarters. Free restaurant POS systems do exist, and many offer great mobile options for smaller businesses.
6) Mobile Systems Make Tableside Ordering Easy For Customers
There are a couple of different ways in which mobile POS lets restaurants leverage tableside ordering.
One way is self-checkout tablets at tables that allow customers to order and make payments right from the table.
Another is with mobile devices that your employees can carry, enabling the servers to digitally send orders to the kitchen and process customers’ payments from the floor. Tableside ordering technology saves time and reduces mistakes in orders because the POS prompts for details, such as dressings, toppings, sides, etc. Many mobile solutions make any gift card systems you already have work easily and well.
7) Accept Payments Wherever Your Client Is With A Mobile POS
Whether you’re in plumbing, pest control, lawn care, contracting, or another type of mobile business — e.g., a business that visits clients at home or primarily interacts with them on a worksite — mobile POS lets you take payments wherever your clients are. Instead of waiting on invoices, you can accept payment right on the spot. That makes things easier for your customers, as it’s typically much more convenient to hand someone your credit card than to hunt down your checkbook or enter your credit card number in an online payment portal. Onsite payments also reduce the number of late payments you’ll have to chase down later on.
Which Mobile POS System Is Right For Your Business?
Mobile POS is the future of point of sale technology, not just due to its portability or small footprint but also its advanced web-based features, scalability, and ease of use. Even if you don’t absolutely need one of the best mobile point of sale systems right now, it’s important to think of the future and the flexibility of a tablet-based POS system.
If you’re brand-new to mobile POS and mobility is the most important quality you’re looking for — particularly if you want to take payments on your smartphone — I’d recommend starting with Square. It’s free to use, and since there’s no commitment required, you can always move on to more advanced POS mobile systems later on if you find you need a Square alternative.
Matt has been helping small businesses make decisions since 2017. He has written reviews and articles across many different channels but specializes in the point of sale, payroll, and small business insurance categories and has been quoted in articles for Fox Business, Forbes, and other publications. Prior to joining Merchant Maverick, Matt was a journalist and editor for 14 years for a pair of weekly newspapers. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon and currently resides in Gladstone, Oregon.
View Matt Sherman's professional experience on LinkedIn.
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We Recommend Square POS For Your Business 🏆User-friendly & feature-rich point of sale system with affordable pricing.Square POS is an intuitive and simple point of sale platform. It offers customizable tools and a variety of add-ons to fit your business needs and reach your goals.Get StartedNo credit card required
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The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
We Recommend Square POS For Your Business 🏆User-friendly & feature-rich point of sale system with affordable pricing.Square POS is an intuitive and simple point of sale platform. It offers customizable tools and a variety of add-ons to fit your business needs and reach your goals.Get StartedNo credit card required
