Retail checkout has come a long way since the 1870s, going from simple cashboxes to sophisticated business hubs. 

Today’s cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) systems do more than process payments—they track inventory, analyze customer habits, and streamline business operations across locations. 

However, finding a solution that balances features with budget is key, especially when platforms like Shopify POS offer a 22% lower total cost of ownership (TCO). This guide covers everything you need to know to choose the right system for your business.

Best cash registers for small businesses

Businesses have a wealth of choices when it comes to picking a cash register. Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of various offerings will help you decide what’s right for your company. Here are five top options:

1. Shopify

Ideal for brick-and-mortar retail stores with a thriving online business, Shopify offers a fully customizable POS system that includes inventory tracking, staff management, and advanced sales tracking and analytics. Shopify’s POS offers built-in payment processing for standalone POS hardware and mobile devices. 

Best features

• Omnichannel selling: Offer seamless shopping experiences in-store, online, and everywhere in between.
• Smart inventory management: Keep accurate stock levels everywhere you sell with built-in tools for demand-forecasting, tracking, and alerts.
• Clienteling: Help staff deliver personalized shopping experiences with complete customer profiles that track interests, preferences, and shopping habits.
• Staff management: Control permissions and track performance from one place.
• Secure and reliable hardware: Process payments confidently with Shopify’s POS hardware.
• Shopify Payments: Accept multiple payment methods with built-in payment processing.
• Advanced reporting: Make smarter decisions with real-time business insights.
• Gift cards and loyalty: Offer digital and physical gift cards redeemable anywhere.
• 24/7 support: Get assistance from Shopify’s dedicated customer support team whenever you need it.

Shopify pros

• Strongest unified commerce option with less reconciliation and data silos. See how jewelry brand PDPAOLA increased their customers’ lifetime value (CLV) by unifying their customer data with Shopify POS.
• Robust app and partner ecosystem to extend functionality for loyalty, inventory management, and business intelligence. 
• Easily scales to multi-location if you grow.
• Hardware, payments, and ecommerce are all provided by Shopify. 

Shopify cons

• Expect higher transaction fees if you don’t use Shopify Payments.

Pricing 

Shopify POS Lite is available on all standard plans, starting at $5 per month. For more advanced retail features, POS Pro starts at $89 per location. 

2. Square 

Square offers a variety of POS systems, including a mobile tap-to-pay version and a remote invoicing program that sends e-bills and reminders for increased flexibility for mobile business owners. 

Best features

• Dual-screen setup with seller display and detachable customer display
• Built-in Ethernet
• Offline payments

Square pros

• Low barrier to start
• Good for mobile sellers
• Easy-to-upgrade hardware

Square cons

• Flat processing rates get expensive with volume.
• Some devices don’t support offline payments. 

Pricing

Square’s lowest-cost monthly POS plans are free, but add a processing fee of 2.6% + 15 cents per card-present transaction. 

3. Lightspeed 

The features that Lightspeed provides for small businesses include the ability to create product catalogs, stock-level management, setting up discounts and promotions, and tracking sales. It also provides integrations with popular payment providers and ecommerce platforms. 

Best features

• Multi-store management
• Marketing and loyalty tools
• Open API for customization
• Integrated business funding
• Offline mode

Lightspeed pros

• Offers an open API for custom integrations
• Good customer support

Lightspeed cons

• Long wait times for support
• Reported high fees for POS integration

Pricing 

Pricing is based on a monthly subscription model that starts at $89 per month and includes basic features, but for some businesses, the basic plan may be too limiting when it comes to the number of users and stores they can manage.

4. Clover 

In addition to sales data and inventory monitoring, Clover’s POS systems include employee-management software that can integrate shift scheduling and performance measurement metrics to help managers check in on how their staff is doing. 

Best features

• Inventory management
• Detailed sales analytics and reports
• Customer-engagement tools
• Employee management

Clover pros

• 90-day free trial
• Offers various device options 

Clover cons 

• Requires a three-year contract
• Only works on Clover hardware

Pricing

Depending on the plan, there is no cost to start using Clover’s POS systems, although there can be a payment-processing fee (starting at 2.3% + 10 cents per transaction). 

5. Toast

Toast handles everything from tableside orders to kitchen displays, making it perfect for food trucks and small cafés. It offers a handheld device from which you can run your entire operation, complete with menu management, inventory tracking, payment processing, restaurant management tools, and offline functionality.

Best features

• Kitchen display system 
• Online-ordering integration
• Menu management
• Gift cards and loyalty programs
• Customizable hardware setups

Toast pros

• Diverse feature set for restaurants
• First-rate menu and kitchen ops features 
• 24/7 support

Toast cons

• Pay-as-you-go option uses a higher rate than monthly plans 

Pricing

The Starter Kit plan starts at no cost and the POS plan starts at $69 per month. Payment-processing fees start at 2.49% + 15 cents per transaction if you pay for the hardware up front, and 3.09% + 15 cents per transaction for pay-as-you-go pricing.

How to choose a cash register for your small business 

Cash register vs. POS system: What’s the difference? 

Cash registers and POS systems have blended into one unit in most retail outlets. But they are still slightly different. A cash register processes sales, calculates taxes, and stores cash in a drawer. 

On the other hand, a POS system is the nucleus of your retail store. It combines sales processing with tools for inventory management, customer tracking, and reporting. Overall, a POS system gives you more visibility into inventory levels and can even alert you when stock gets low.

Compared to a standalone cash register, a POS runs on tablets or computers and easily integrates with other tools like accounting platforms, email marketing tools, and loyalty programs. 

Key features to look for 

With many cash register and POS options available, it can be hard to know where to begin. Whichever you choose, make sure it has these key features: 

Inventory management

Carrying too much inventory can hurt your business’s profitability. Cash registers with inventory management offer real-time tracking, low-stock alerts, and multilocation syncing across stores. Plus, they automatically update inventory levels as you sell, return, or exchange products in-store and online. 

Shortlist options with inventory-reporting tools that provide historical data so you can understand what sells and track high-demand products and peak periods to make smarter inventory decisions. 

Retailers who run their businesses with Shopify get inventory management already built in, with access to inventory reports like average sales per day, product sell-through rate, and ABC analysis by product.

Receipts

Unlike basic cash register systems, which are designed only to print paper receipts, modern POS cash registers offer both printed receipts and digital options, like text or email receipts to customers. 

Look for a cash register that enables receipt customization, including options to add business branding, transaction details, and customer information. This will ensure compliance with local regulations, improve your record keeping, and enhance your professional presentation.

Customer profiles

Retailers want to know who’s buying what, when, and how often. A cash register that offers data on your customers’ preferences and shopping habits helps you make better business decisions and create personalized marketing campaigns that engage customers.

When you pair your cash register with Shopify POS, you can track comprehensive customer data, including their contact information, purchase history, and shopping preferences across online and in-store channels. This integration supports targeted marketing campaigns and loyalty programs, which leads to better customer service, customer retention, and lifetime value.

Spanish jewelry brand PDPAOLA wanted to unify their online and in-person sales channels and keep all their customer data in one place. Instead of juggling spreadsheets and losing track of who bought what, where, the brand switched to Shopify POS to get a unified view of each customer’s shopping journey online and in-store under one system. 

With Shopify, PDPAOLA has enjoyed:

• More efficient inventory management with fewer human errors
• 50% improvement on checkout times
• 5% boost in customer lifetime value

“Joining Shopify has been one of the wisest decisions we as a business have taken. Its features have unlocked new possibilities that help us reach our growth aspirations,” says Miquel Cardona, chief business development officer of PDPAOLA.

Marketing

Shoppers get to know about your products and special offers through marketing and promotion. 

Modern cash registers offer marketing features, like email marketing and integration with social media platforms, so you can keep your brand top of mind and bring online customers to your retail stores. 

A cash register with POS software, like Shopify POS, lets you capture customer emails at checkout, send personalized promotions to shoppers, and encourage customers to leave product reviews, driving store visits and sales. 

Its native marketing automation tools let you create, execute, and analyze your promotional campaigns, targeted promotional materials, and tailored customer loyalty programs on a single system informed by unified data. This leads to better customer experiences and a higher return on investment (ROI).

Staff management

As your retail business grows, you’ll likely need to hire more staff. A cash register with employee-management tools gives you precise control over employee permissions, performance tracking, and scheduling functionality from one place. 

For example, if you want a cashier to process returns but require manager approval for anything over $100, look for a cash register with customizable access levels for different roles.

The system should also grow with your team without forcing you to upgrade plans every time you hire someone new, and should provide detailed reports on key metrics, such as daily sales per associate and average transaction values.

With Shopify, for instance, you can:

• Control who can open the cash register
• Track which employee processes cash transactions or balances your cash drawer
• Give staff members unique login PINs
• Attribute sales to employees for commissions or recognition

Reporting and analytics

Your cash register should show you what’s working and what isn’t. That way, you won’t have to jump between spreadsheets to figure out why a product is flying off the shelves in-store but sitting untouched online. 

Look for a cash register that houses all your data in a single platform so you can spot trends and make smarter decisions about everything from inventory to staff scheduling, and more.

Shopify POS’s natively unified commerce approach brings together all employee, customer, and sales data across multiple sales channels. This gives retailers insights into key metrics like product performance, location- or store-specific sales patterns, and channel effectiveness, which are necessary to grow your business. 

Payment options

Shoppers expect flexibility at checkout, with access to their preferred payment method. For instance, they might split their purchase between cash and card, tap their phone to pay, or spread out payments for big-ticket items. 

The best cash register systems make all of this feel effortless, handling everything from cash to cards to mobile wallets to contactless payments, so you never have to turn away a sale. 

Also, think about alternative payment options such as shopping apps like Shop Pay, buy now, pay later (BNPL), store credit, gift cards, and loyalty points, which customers can redeem for free products, discounts, or membership perks.

Find the right cash register for your store 

For retailers who still handle cash, today’s POS systems make it easy to manage both digital and cash transactions in one place. Look for a system that:

• Tracks cash drawer amounts accurately
• Provides detailed cash flow reports
• Manages multiple payment types seamlessly
• Grows with your business needs

Many POS companies offer guides for training users and employees on the intricacies of their systems (see our Shopify POS training guide, for example). 

These can be a helpful resource for business owners onboarding employees or when shifting to a new register system. Business owners can develop training modules for workers that incorporate these guides and offer incentives for their completion.

This article originally appeared on Shopify and is available here for further discovery.