Retail POS "Free POS" is one of the most searched phrases in retail software and one of the least accurate. Almost every vendor offering a $0 register still takes a percentage of each card sale, and several that advertise free point-of-sale software require a subscription before the software will run at all. So we scored this category on three questions: is there a plan that costs $0 a month, does it work for a real store with a product catalog, and what do you eventually have to pay for.
Facts in this ranking were read from vendor pricing and product pages on 2026-10-22. Scoring follows our published eight-criterion methodology; the order below reflects fit for a no-monthly-fee store, not overall product quality.
Quick Picks
Square
The only mainstream retail POS here with a real $0/month plan — register, catalog, cards and a free online store included. You pay 2.6% + 15¢ per swipe. Inventory and purchase orders cost $49/month.
See the breakdown ↓Shopify POS
POS Lite is included at no extra charge — but only alongside a Shopify plan from $20/month on annual billing. The best option if you already sell online and want the register bundled in.
See the breakdown ↓Clover
No free plan. The lowest official entry is the Starter bundle at $16/month on a 36-month term (or $349 up front) — and that tier excludes inventory management entirely.
See the breakdown ↓Lightspeed Retail
No free plan and the highest entry price here at $89/month. Its trial exists, but the retail depth you'd want is on paid tiers from the first day.
See the breakdown ↓Free POS Comparison Table
| Square | Shopify POS | Clover | Lightspeed Retail | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Our score | 3.8 / 5 | 4.0 / 5 | 3.0 / 5 | 3.6 / 5 |
| Is a $0/month plan offered? | Yes — Free plan | No — POS Lite needs a $20+/mo plan | No | No |
| Lowest real monthly cost | $0 | $20 (annual) · $27 monthly | $16 on a 36-month term | $89 (annual billing) |
| In-person card rate | 2.6% + 15¢ | ~2.4–2.7% (no flat published rate)* | 2.6% + 10¢ (Starter) · 2.3% + 10¢ (Retail Growth) | 2.6% + 10¢ with Lightspeed Payments |
| Cheapest hardware | $59 reader · Tap to Pay with no device | Reader from ~$49 · BYOD tablet | $349 Compact terminal bundle | iPad-based; hardware sold separately |
| Product catalog at $0 | Yes — items, prices, customers, receipts | Yes, with a paid plan | Starter tier: no inventory management | Yes, with a paid plan |
| Stock counts & purchase orders | Plus $49 / Premium $149 | POS Pro $89 per location | Paid app or Retail Growth tier | Included from Basic $89 |
| Free website included | Yes — Square Online on every plan | Yes — the Shopify store itself | Optional add-on | Not on the entry tier |
| Contract | None | None on monthly billing | 36 months on the $16 bundle | Annual billing typical |
| Trial | 30 days on paid plans | Free trial, then $1/month for three months | Varies by reseller | Free trial offered; length not stated on the pricing page |
* Shopify does not publish a crawler-readable flat card-present percentage; we use a ~2.4–2.7% working range and recommend confirming the exact rate at signup. Square, Clover and Lightspeed rates were read from their official US pages on 2026-10-22. Clover figures are official online bundle pricing; reseller quotes can differ.
The Ranking
1. Square — The Only Genuine Free Plan
3.8/5
Square's Free plan costs nothing monthly and still runs a store: you create items, take card, tap and wallet payments, email or print receipts, keep customer records, send invoices, book appointments and accept gift-card payments — plus a Square Online storefront on the same catalog. A $59 contactless reader, or nothing at all if you use Tap to Pay on a phone, is the whole startup cost.
What you don't get for free is stock control. Inventory tracking, purchase orders, barcode label printing, staff roles and loyalty all require Plus at $49 per location, and transfer orders need Premium at $149. And Square's processing is mandatory at 2.6% + 15¢ in person, so the "free" plan is paid for on every single ticket — see the cost tables below for what that means at real volumes.
Pros
- $0/month with no contract and no minimum
- Working online store included at no extra cost
- Cheapest hardware entry in the group
- Flat published rates — easy to forecast
Cons
- No inventory tracking, POs or barcode labels on Free
- 2.6% + 15¢ is pricey once volume grows
- Square processing is required
- Phone support on the free plan tapers after 90 days
Best free choice if: you are opening a single store or a market stall and want a real register today without a subscription. Read the Square review or visit Square →
2. Shopify POS — Free Software, Paid Platform
4.0/5
Shopify POS Lite is bundled with every Shopify plan at no additional charge, which is a genuinely good deal — but the plan itself starts at $20 a month on annual billing ($27 monthly). So this is free in the same way a hotel breakfast is free: the cost is above it, not beside it.
The reason to accept that trade is omnichannel. If you already run a Shopify store, POS Lite gives you one catalog, one customer list and one inventory pool for online and in-person sales, with pickup and local delivery supported. The serious retail toolkit — unlimited staff roles, returns at any location, inventory counts, purchase orders, low-stock alerts — sits behind POS Pro at $89 per location per month, which is the number that makes Shopify expensive for a single store with heavy stock work.
Pros
- POS Lite included with every Shopify plan
- Best online + in-store catalog sync of the four
- Trial pricing is unusually cheap to test
- Huge app ecosystem for gaps
Cons
- No standalone free tier — the subscription is the price
- POS Pro at $89 per location gates real retail features
- Extra gateway fees unless you use Shopify Payments
- Card-present percentage is not published flat
Best free-ish choice if: you sell online already, or plan to, and want the register thrown in rather than paid for separately. Read the Shopify POS review or start with Shopify →
3. Clover — Cheapest Paid Start, No Free Tier
3.0/5
Clover has no $0 plan. Its lowest official online bundle is the Starter package: $16 a month on a 36-month term, or $349 paid up front for the compact terminal. That is the second-cheapest monthly entry in this ranking — but read the feature matrix before you beeline for it.
On Starter, Clover's own comparison table marks item and category management, detailed sales reports, itemized returns and exchanges, and order-level discounts as not included. In other words, the cheap Clover is a payment terminal, not a retail back office. The Retail Growth bundle ($84.95 per month with the $1,899 Station Duo, or $180 per month across 36 months) is where selling features appear, and the rate improves from 2.6% + 10¢ to 2.3% + 10¢ at the same time. Purchase orders and cycle counting still tend to mean an app from the marketplace.
Pros
- Lowest non-zero monthly entry of the four at $16
- Buy-once hardware option instead of renting
- Strong app market for loyalty and specialty workflows
- Easy day-to-day operation
Cons
- Starter tier has no inventory management or detailed reports
- The $16 price is a 36-month commitment
- Final rates and terms vary by reseller
- No free plan to trial properly
Consider it if: you want a polished terminal with a small monthly fee and you are comfortable signing a 36-month bundle. Read the Clover review or visit Clover →
4. Lightspeed Retail — Best Software, Nothing Free
3.6/5
Lightspeed is the opposite end of the market: no free plan, entry at $89 a month (annual billing) for Basic, then $149 Core and $289 Plus, one register included on each tier, card-present at 2.6% + 10¢ with Lightspeed Payments. The store can be tried before you buy, but the pricing page does not publish a trial length.
The reason it stays on this list is that the money you'd save on a free plan disappears fast when a free plan can't do your job. Lightspeed's catalog handles matrix variants, serialized stock, suppliers, purchase orders and receiving on the entry tier — workflows that Square sells at $49 or $149 and Clover solves with paid apps. For a high-SKU shop, "free" is often the expensive option.
Pros
- Purchase orders, receiving and serials on the entry tier
- Deepest retail inventory tooling of the four
- Card-present 2.6% + 10¢ across all tiers
- Strong reporting for multi-location buying
Cons
- No free plan; $89/month to start
- Annual billing is the norm
- Extra registers cost more
- Steeper learning curve than a $0 register app
Pay for it if: stock operations are the business — bike shops, jewelry, high-SKU specialty retail. Read the Lightspeed review or visit Lightspeed →
What a Free Plan Actually Costs You
Free software does not mean free selling. Every one of these vendors is paid on the transaction, so the number that matters is your card volume and your ticket size. Using Square Free's 2.6% + 15¢ at a $25 average ticket:
| Store profile | Card sales /mo | Transactions | Processing /mo | Year one (software $0) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Market stall / pop-up | $5,000 | 200 | $160 | $1,920 |
| Small boutique | $15,000 | 600 | $480 | $5,760 |
| Busy single store | $30,000 | 1,200 | $960 | $11,520 |
Now the same revenue with half the ticket. A $15,000 month sold at $10 average means 1,500 transactions instead of 600, and that 15¢ per tap becomes $225 rather than $90 — $615 a month instead of $480, a difference of about $1,620 a year for the identical amount of sales. Low-ticket retail is where flat-rate "free" plans quietly get expensive.
Is paying ever cheaper than free? Sometimes. On the same $15,000 month, Shopify's entry plan at $20 with a working range of about 2.4%–2.7% lands near $380–$425 total, below Square Free's $480 — but Shopify's plan is a website plus a register, while Square's $0 plan is a register plus a basic site, and neither includes the deeper retail tooling at that price. For Square's own upgrade tiers the rate arithmetic is blunt: Plus costs $49 more and cuts 0.1% off card-present, so on rate alone it only pays for itself above roughly $49,000 a month in card sales. You buy Plus for inventory, not for the discount.
What the $0 Plan Leaves Out
| You need… | On Square Free | What unlocking costs |
|---|---|---|
| Stock counts and reorder points | Not included | Plus — $49/mo per location |
| Purchase orders and receiving | Not included | Plus $49; PO import on Premium $149 |
| Barcode label printing | Not included | Plus — $49/mo |
| Loyalty program | Not included | Plus — $49/mo |
| Staff permissions | Not included | Plus and up |
| Multi-location stock transfers | Not included | Premium — $149/mo |
| Gift cards | Included | Load fee 2.5% on Free/Plus, 0% on Premium |
| Online store | Included | Square Online on every plan |
| Advanced reporting | Sales basics only | Premium — $149/mo |
Same story, different gates, across the rest: Shopify's free POS Lite keeps returns-at-any-location, inventory counts and purchase orders behind POS Pro ($89 per location), and Clover's $16 Starter simply has no inventory module at all.
When Free Is the Wrong Choice
- You hold real stock. If you buy from vendors, receive against purchase orders and count regularly, a free plan will cost you more in stockouts and shrinkage than $49–$89 a month in software.
- Your tickets are small. Per-transaction fees dominate under about $10 average — model a percentage-only or interchange-plus option before committing.
- You sell across locations. Transfers, consolidated reporting and role permissions are almost always the first things paywalled.
- You need payment flexibility. Square requires Square processing. If your volume is high enough to negotiate, a wholesale-cost processor can beat a flat rate by thousands a year — our Square vs Helcim cost math shows the size of that gap.
Not Ranked, But Worth Knowing
Two systems we track have $0/month plans but are not part of this ranking, because we have not benchmarked them end to end as retail systems. SumUp's Standard plan is $0 with a flat 2.6% + 10¢ in person — cheaper per tap than Square, with a thinner back office (see Square vs SumUp). Helcim charges no monthly fee at all and includes a free POS app and inventory catalog on top of Interchange-plus pricing (see Square vs Helcim). Both are payment-first products; neither documents purchase orders, loyalty or barcode label workflows.
FAQ
Is there a truly free POS system for a retail store?
Yes — Square's Free plan charges $0 a month and includes the register, product catalog, card payments, receipts, customer records and a Square Online store. It does not include inventory tracking, purchase orders, barcode labels, loyalty or staff permissions, and every card sale costs 2.6% + 15¢.
What is the cheapest way to take card payments in a shop?
The lowest published flat rate we track is SumUp at 2.6% + 10¢, just under Square's 2.6% + 15¢. Below about $10 average ticket, or above roughly $50,000 a month in volume, wholesale interchange-plus pricing such as Helcim's becomes materially cheaper than any flat rate.
Are free plans worth it for a pop-up shop or market stall?
Usually yes. At $5,000 a month in sales, Square Free costs about $160 in processing and $0 in software — and you can stop any time with no exit fee. The main things to check are hardware compatibility (a $59 reader or Tap to Pay is enough) and whether you need to track what you sold out of.
Does Shopify have a free POS plan?
No. POS Lite ships with every Shopify subscription from $20 a month on annual billing, and there is a trial period where the first three months cost $1 each. It is the best bundled option if you already sell on Shopify, but it is not a $0 product.
When should I stop using a free plan?
When a manual workaround starts costing you time you can price. The usual triggers: you can't say what you have on hand, you reorder from memory, you employ someone and can't restrict their refunds, or you open a second location. Those are exactly the gates that cost $49 a month on Square or $89 on Shopify Pro.
Final Verdict
Square is the only true free retail POS in this group, and the right start for a single store or a stall. Shopify POS is the best value if an online store is part of the plan, because the register comes bundled. Clover is the cheapest paid option but its $16 tier is a terminal without stock control, on a three-year term. Lightspeed Retail is not free and shouldn't be — it's the one you buy when free plans can't run your back office.
Whichever you choose, model your own card volume and average ticket before trusting the word "free". Our overall retail ranking scores the same four systems on everything except price-to-start.
Prices, rates and plan gates read from vendor pricing and product pages on 2026-10-22 (Square and Shopify via their US pricing pages; Clover, Lightspeed and Helcim via their official US pages). Vendors change terms; verify before signing.