7 Best Tablet POS Systems

The Square For Retail Plus plan includes inventory management features like vendor management, inventory counts, automated purchase ordering, and barcode printing. You can also accept cross-location returns and exchanges on the Plus plan.

The Square For Restaurants Plus plan includes an unlimited number of Square KDS software licenses that you can install on tablets, full-service restaurant features like seat and course management, plus operations management features like menu reports, section reports, and the ability to duplicate one tablet’s settings across all devices.

Square also offers an appointment booking software for service businesses, called Square Appointments.

Note: All free plans apply to single-location businesses only. If you open up multiple locations, you must upgrade to a Plus plan.

Popular add-ons include Square Loyalty ($45+/month), Square Payroll ($35+/month), and Square Marketing ($15+/month).

Square has software features for retail, restaurant, and service businesses, but no matter which industry plan you choose, you get these free features:

• Square Online: Free Square online store builder that allows you to sell retail items, take restaurant orders, and/or schedule appointments
• Square Invoices: Free invoice builder to send estimates, charge deposits, and charge cards on file for things like catering orders, multi-stage home improvement projects, or B2B retail orders
• Unlimited Devices: On the free plan, you can use an unlimited number of tablets at your location
• Square Checkout Links: Accept payments via QR code, hyperlink, email, text, social media profile, or buy button embedded in a website
• Square Dashboard: Manage your inventory, reports, online store, appointments, customer profiles, and your team from anywhere on one tablet dashboard

Square Online free online store builder.

Retail establishments will appreciate the Square social media integrations so you can sell on Instagram or make TikTok sales, the Google product listing integration, and features like product reviews and saved carts.

Restaurants will appreciate that Square offers delivery solutions for restaurants that have delivery staff as well as those who need to call on Square’s DoorDash delivery partners. You can also integrate Square with all major third-party delivery platforms, embed your Square ordering site on your Google business profile, and route all orders from all ordering sources to your kitchen display screens.

Service businesses such as salons or home repair businesses will appreciate the Google appointment booking integration, customer confirmation notifications and automated reminders, retail sales capabilities, and the ability to manage resources like manpower, in-store product usage, and tools.

Square POS software on tablet, tablet in Square Stand, and on mobile device, with Square contactless card reader.

Square is compatible with just about any tablet, Apple or Android, as well as desktops and smartphones.  You’ll need at least the $49 Square contactless card reader to take payments in person.

The Square Stand costs $149 and includes a sleek stand with an integrated card reader, turning a basic tablet into a sleek countertop POS solution.

You may only use Square for payment processing, and the provider charges these payment processing fees for these payment types:

• Card-Present: 2.6% + $0.10
• Online: $2.9 + $0.30
• Invoice: 3.3% + $0.30
• Manually-Keyed Card: 3.5% + $0.15

Square offers month-to-month contracts with no early cancellation fees, plus an excellent POS hardware warranty if you decide to buy any Square hardware.

Revel’s only advertised software plan applies to business owners who sign up for Revel’s standard three-year contract, agree to use Revel’s in-house payment processor and use a minimum of two POS terminals.

Most businesses will need a custom quote since many add-ons, like online ordering or the holistic driver delivery solution, cost an extra monthly fee.

Revel uniquely offers one tablet POS software plan that includes retail, restaurant, and service features, so business owners won’t have to choose one type of software and try to make it work for several different things. This is great for businesses like restaurants that also want to schedule private events, grocery stores that want to start a hot food area or businesses that want to sell B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to consumer).

All Revel users can make use of Revel’s online ordering for pickup, local delivery, or shipping, as well as the customer loyalty program and thorough business report generator. Inventory management is incredibly flexible with Revel, and includes purchase ordering, vendor management, and stock exchanges between multiple locations.

Revel’s most unique restaurant features include:

• Delivery Management: Revel offers an excellent custom online ordering and delivery management solution that allows you to create an app that functions like DoorDash, with customer order updates and driver tracking, without having to pay per-order fees.
• Drive-Through Ordering: Revel is one of the best drive-through POS systems because it integrates with Delphi Systems, a drive-through hardware provider, to equip your drive-through with headsets, order timers, digital signage, and more to create a seamless drive-through ordering experience. You can also use a tablet as an expo screen so drive-through attendants can check orders before handing them through the window.
• Customer Order Ready Screen: Revel offers an order-ready screen that allows customers to monitor the status of their order, which is a common feature of quick-serve establishments like boba tea shops and hot food areas of gas stations.

Revel’s in-house delivery solution is why it’s one of the best POS systems for pizza shops.

Revel customer-facing order status screen.

If you offer services, custom-made items, or have a rental business, you can use Revel’s open-pricing tool to create custom packages. If you work with other businesses, you can create B2B catalogs, customer house accounts, and volume pricing.

Revel POS iPad POS register, iPad stand, and customer-facing display.

Most Revel software runs exclusively on iPads, which you can use as cash registers, customer-facing displays, self-serve kiosks, tableside ordering screens, and kitchen display systems.

Revel kitchen display system software can work on Android devices, and the company’s customer order-ready monitors only work with Android TVs.

You may purchase your POS hardware directly from Revel or, with the company’s express written permission, source your POS hardware on your own.

Revel offers an in-house payment processing system, Revel Advantage. Each business gets a custom payment processing quote.

Alternatively, you may work with a third-party payment processor such as Heartland, TSYS, Elavon, or Chase Paymentech for an additional monthly fee.

Revel’s standard contract lasts three years and comes with substantial early termination fees. We recommend making extensive use of demos and possibly negotiating a shorter contract length until you’re sure Revel is the right tablet POS system for you.

If you don’t use any integrations or add-ons, TouchBistro is $69/month for one register, billed annually. The Dual plan includes two user licenses and costs $129/month. The Team plan includes five user licenses at $249/month, and the Unlimited plan includes unlimited user licenses at $399/month.

The company also charges a nonrefundable setup fee that starts at $200 and includes your hardware setup plus software walkthrough.

Optional add-ons that could be beneficial for food trucks and catering companies include:

• Online Ordering: $50/month
• Gift Cards: $25/month
• Loyalty Program: $99/month
• Marketing: $99/month

TouchBistro’s loyalty program is a great feature for food trucks and restaurants to turn one-time visitors into repeat customers.

TouchBistro’s most unique features for food trucks and caterers include the system’s offline mode, online ordering platform, and catering functions.

Food truck owners can use TouchBistro’s online ordering platform to create a unified online presence that includes all the locations where people can find their trucks, online ordering for pickup using their preferred location, and an estimated wait time. Plus, TouchBistro offers a highly customizable loyalty program and patrons can redeem points at your restaurant, food truck, and popup events.

Food trucks, quick-serve, and full-service restaurants will have no problem with offering catering since TouchBistro offers both restaurant and catering features rolled into one solution.

With TouchBistro, caterers can:

• Set custom delivery zones and fees depending on how far the delivery location is
• Require a minimum catering order amount
• Set an automated “contact us” message for people who try to place an order outside your designated delivery zone (depending on the occasion and order size, it could be worth it to drive a little farther out than usual)
• Create catering order settings and notes on your kitchen display systems to prep staff for a large order
• Sell on-site if you’re catering at an event and not dropping off an order ahead of the event
• Create customer house accounts for repeat customers if you frequently cater to businesses, schools, community organizations, etc.

TouchBistro POS system delivery parameters.

TouchBistro hardware for large venues.

TouchBistro is an iPad-based system, and you may use several models as POS registers, customer-facing displays, and kitchen display systems. You can purchase iPad cases from TouchBistro or use your own.

You may purchase hardware kits from TouchBistro, which can include one or several iPads, a router, cash drawers, kitchen/receipt printers, card readers, a desktop setup, and a Mac mini server. Alternatively, you may purchase several of these items on your own.

You’ll get a custom quote for any hardware you purchase from TouchBistro.

You can use TouchBistro Payments, the company’s in-house payment processing (powered by Chase), or you can choose from several third-party processors, including Square.

TouchBistro Payments uses an interchange-plus pricing model, which is an excellent pricing model for midsize/large restaurants looking to save money, and TouchBistro will give you a custom payment processing rate quote.

TouchBistro offers monthly and annual contracts, with the best per-month pricing on annual contracts. TouchBistro will charge an early termination fee for canceled accounts, though, so consider a short-term contract before committing to anything in the long run.

If you want Lightspeed’s customizable loyalty program builder but don’t need the highest-level plan, you can get a lower-level plan and talk to Lightspeed about a Lightspeed Loyalty add-on.

Note: With each new location, you get another register. For example, if you have two locations, you’ll get two registers, one in each location, but will only pay the added location fee. If you purchase a third register license, you’ll pay the added location fee and an additional $59/month.

Lightspeed offers several proprietary add-ons such as Lightspeed Subscriptions and Lightspeed Workflows. The company also offers third-party integrations like Booxi appointment scheduling software and Hubtiger rental software.

Lightspeed Retail’s most unique features are its extensive inventory management, loyalty program setup, and several third-party integrations that add niche functions your business may need to succeed. The provider’s eCommerce integration also pairs nicely with the entire Lightspeed ecosystem.

When it comes to inventory management, you can:

• Open multiple locations and temporary locations and monitor/transfer stock between them all
• Set automated reordering points for individual products and product groups, with preferred reordering vendors and purchase order settings
• Create product catalogs for B2C and B2B customers, with customer portals to restrict wholesale/custom pricing to only registered clients
• Mark inventory as used in store (e.g. shampoo used at a hair salon), stolen, or spoiled and generate usage/wastage reports
• Manage rentals, services, digital goods, and work orders as inventory

Lightspeed tablet POS purchase order.

One of Lightspeed’s best integrations includes quoting software, which you can use to convert quotes to estimates to invoices. There’s also a warehouse management integration, property management software, a rental shop manager, and customer service integrations. Plus, you can choose from several marketing platform integrations and employee management software if needed.

Lightspeed Retail POS register, Bluetooth barcode scanner, and online storefront.

Lightspeed products run exclusively on iPads, and you can use tablets as POS registers, customer-facing displays, and POS dashboards.

You can purchase a Lightspeed Payments-compatible WisePOS E-card reader for $299 and an iPad for $329.

Lightspeed offers accessories such as an iPad stand for $199, a cash drawer for $129, a barcode scanner for $199, a label printer for $124, and a receipt printer for $399.

Lightspeed has its own processing solution, Lightspeed Payments, which qualified business owners are required to use (this includes pretty much everyone in the US and Canada.)

Lightspeed Payments charges 2.6% + $0.10 for card-present transactions and 2.9% + $0.30 for card-not-present transactions for business owners on the Essentials and Plus plans.

Users on the Pro plan will get a custom lower payment processing rate. We suggest that high-volume restaurants invest in the Pro plan for these lower rates.

Lightspeed requires you to fill out an order form, which will show your custom pricing. You will pay one-time fees upfront and you may (depending on your billing cycle) pay for your software subscription monthly or upfront (in the case of annual or long-term plans.)

In general, the longer your POS subscription is, the less you’ll pay per month. However, Lightspeed charges an early termination fee if you decide to cancel your subscription early, and hardware return windows are short, so consider starting on a monthly plan until you’re sure Lightspeed is the POS for your store.

The best omnichannel sales features come with the $89/month/location POS Pro app, which you can add to one of these pricing plans. These features include things like in-store returns/exchanges on online purchases, local delivery order fulfillment, and shipping in-store purchases to a customer’s preferred location.

Shopify’s unique features come in the form of its synced online/in-person sales features, which (depending on your version of the POS app) include:

• An elegant yet easy-to-use eCommerce store builder with in-store pickup, local delivery, and lots of shipping options
• Exchanges and returns on online items at any of your retail locations
• In-app social media sales through TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, WhatsApp, and more, so customers can buy products without having to leave their feed
• Integrations with online marketplaces such as Etsy, Walmart, Amazon, and Wish so you can get more sales and more exposure online
• Inventory syncing between all online and offline sales platforms

Return online sale on Shopify tablet POS.

Additionally, Shopify’s app market of over 8,000 add-on apps (both free and paid) for your online store and your tablet POS system. These apps allow you to add functions like event ticket sales, subscription sales, a catalog builder, customer accounts, a loyalty program, an appointment booking calendar, gift registry and wish list signups, and more. There are very few limitations with Shopify for both online and in-person sellers.

Shopify POS register stand with a card reader.

You need at least the $49 Shopify card reader as well as a tablet (or smartphone.) While Shopify works on Apple and Android tablets, Shopify supposedly has more features available on the iOS version of the app.

You can purchase a retail kit for $459, which includes a tablet stand for Apple or Android devices, a card reader, and a dock for the card reader. You can also purchase accessories like barcode scanners ($229), cash drawers ($139), and label printers (starting at $299) from the Shopify website.

Read our Shopify POS hardware guide to learn more about what types of hardware your business may need to run efficiently.

Shopify offers its own in-house payment processor, Shopify Payments, in many countries. To avoid transaction fees that range from 0.5% to 2% per transaction, qualified business owners must use Shopify Payments.

Shopify Payments charges a payments processing fee between 2.4% and 2.7% for in-person orders, while online orders have a processing fee between 2.4% and 2.9%, plus a $0.30 flat fee.

The higher your monthly Shopify subscription, the lower your payment processing fees will be. As companies increase their sales volumes, they should move to a higher plan to save money on fees. At some point, it may be worth it for larger businesses to switch to a third-party payment services provider that offers better payment processing rates and just pay the transaction fees.

Shopify has monthly and annual contracts. Annual contracts have better pricing, and Shopify doesn’t charge early termination fees. However, you won’t get a refund on any plan, so consider this as you’re purchasing your subscription plan. As always, make extensive use of your free trial before committing.

Most Shopify POS users get a one-year warranty on Shopify POS hardware. If you sign up for the POS Pro plan, you’ll get an extended two-year warranty.

Helcim started as a merchant services provider and, from there, built free tablet POS software, so you only pay your payment processing fees (which you have to pay no matter which POS system you use).

With all checkouts, whether online or in person, customers will be automatically added to a customer registry. You can sign customers up for subscriptions, take deposits and partial payments, and send invoices, in addition to quickly adding custom products and services, all at the tablet POS register.

Helcim’s unique subscription settings include the ability to create free trials, and customer portals so they can manage their subscriptions, bill on a prorated or metered basis, add one-time fees and add-ons, and send automated reminders to customers when their card is about to expire. If a customer cancels a subscription, you can also get feedback about why they canceled to improve your offering.

Helcim adds a customer to a subscription at tablet POS.

Service-based businesses will appreciate the system’s drag-and-drop template builder that allows you to customize information fields. You can build quotes, estimates, and invoices with custom recurring payment schedules. With customer cards/accounts on file, you can bill automatically so customers won’t miss deadlines. You can also send reminders about upcoming and overdue invoice payments.

Helcim POS custom invoice theme designer.

Finally, with Helcim’s higher levels of payment processing security, you can accept B2B and B2G (business to government) payments and get lower payment processing fees.

Helcim POS on smartphone, tablet, and desktop, plus Helcim card reader.

The Helcim app is compatible with just about all smartphone, tablet, and desktop devices. To take credit and debit card payments in person with lower card-present payment processing rates, you’ll need at least the $99 Helcim card reader.

Since our last update, Helcim has released a new mobile POS system. The all-in-one Helcim Smart Terminal handheld POS system, which includes a built-in POS register, card reader, and terminal receipt printer costs $349. It allows you to create orders and invoices, and add retail items to an order on the spot. It’s also similar to the Square Terminal and Clover Flex in terms of shape and functionality.

There are also a few compatible receipt printers available.

All business owners, no matter their size or industry, will get their own custom interchange-plus payment processing rate. For many business owners, interchange-plus processing is much more cost-effective than flat-rate processing provided by companies such as Square and Shopify.

The company offers a calculator on its website to give you an idea of how much you may pay per transaction based on your industry, total monthly sales volumes, average transaction size, payment method mix (online or in-person), and card mix (e.g. Visa, Discover, etc.)

The more money your company makes, and the higher the average transaction size, the better your payment processing rates will be.

Note: Helcim allows you to capture Level 3 transaction data, which translates to less risk on the part of credit card companies, volume payment processing discounts, and a lower payment processing rate for your business. With a Level 3 PCI compliance level, you can also accept corporate cards and government spending account payments.

Helcim offers flexible month-to-month contracts and charges no early termination fees, making Helcim a low-risk POS provider for you to try out.

Add-ons such as third-party software and Lightspeed Kitchen Display cost an extra monthly fee.

Lightspeed’s most unique restaurant features include a loyalty program that’s available on all plans, excellent inventory and menu management, and numerous third-party integrations available for you to create your own custom tablet POS solution.

The loyalty program allows you to:

• Create certain loyalty groups and rewards that apply to those groups only (e.g. student and senior discounts)
• Allow customers to accumulate and redeem different amounts of points for different items (e.g. apply points towards any coffee order)
• Create custom time-based rewards (e.g. double the points on all entrees on Tuesdays)
• Allow customers to redeem points on all dining types (in-person, online, QR code, self-serve kiosk)
• Create SMS and email campaigns for your most loyal customers, for those who haven’t been to your establishment in a while, and any other group
• Offer digital loyalty programs and physical loyalty cards

Lightspeed Restaurant loyalty program customer group discounts.

Lightspeed’s thorough inventory and menu management settings make it easy for restaurants, especially fast-casual restaurants selling buildable foods, to create orders out of composite items, flag out-of-stock items, and generate purchase orders when inventory dips below a set stock number. You can create custom menus for different ordering methods and restrict menus to certain tablet POS registers or self-serve kiosks, and of course, you can duplicate these settings across all locations.

Additionally, Lightspeed has one of the best KDS systems because of the ability to restrict menu items to certain prep station tablets, create a custom expo station, and funnel all orders from all platforms (including third-party delivery platforms) into one unified screen.

Lightspeed’s most useful integrations are its waitlist and reservations apps, property management system apps, liquid inventory management apps, and employee/payroll software. The hotel bar management capabilities are what makes Lightspeed one of the best bar POS systems.

Lightspeed Restaurant POS system hotel management integration.

Lightspeed Restaurant iPad stand, receipt printer, kitchen printer, and cash drawer.

Lightspeed Restaurant software runs exclusively on iPads, which you may use as tablet POS registers, customer-facing displays, kitchen display screens, self-serve kiosks, and delivery managers.

You may contact the company for a quote on iPad bundles as well as iPad stands, cash drawers, and other POS accessories.

Alternatively, you may purchase your own Lightspeed-compatible hardware. You can view compatible hardware on Lightspeed’s support page or ask a Lightspeed representative.

Lightspeed has its own processing program, Lightspeed Payments, which all eligible restaurant owners in the US and Canada are required to use. Its fees are 2.6% + $0.10 for card-present transactions and 2.9% + $0.30 for card-not-present transactions for business owners on the Essentials and Plus plans.

Restaurant owners on the Pro plan will get a custom lower payment processing rate for their tablet POS system package.

Lightspeed requires you to fill out a custom order form, which will detail your contract length.

While longer contracts cost less in the long run, Lightspeed does charge an early termination fee if you decide to cancel your subscription early, and hardware return windows are short, so consider starting on a monthly plan until you’re sure Lightspeed is the POS for your restaurant.