Retail POS Choose SumUp (3.4/5) if you want the absolute cheapest way to start taking cards: $0/month, no minimum, a flat 2.6% + 10¢ in person and hardware from $54. It's a payment tool first — its retail back office and online selling are limited.
Choose Shopify POS (4.0/5) if you sell online as well as in-store. POS Lite is included with every Shopify plan (from $20/mo annual) and its omnichannel engine — one synced inventory for web + store, pickup, delivery, ship-to-customer — is the best we've tested. Serious retail tools (counts, purchase orders, permissions) need the $89/mo-per-location POS Pro add-on.
The short version: SumUp is the cheaper way to start if you never go online; Shopify is the better system the moment online sales, unified inventory or scale matter. Because Shopify's card rate is a flat percentage with no per-tap fee, it can actually process more cheaply than SumUp once your tap volume climbs — see the cost math below.
At a Glance
| Shopify POS | SumUp | |
|---|---|---|
| Our score | 4.0 / 5 | 3.4 / 5 |
| Monthly cost to start | From $20/mo (Basic, annual; $27 monthly) | $0/mo (Standard, no subscription) |
| In-person rate | ~2.4–2.7% flat — no per-tap fee (Shopify Payments) | 2.6% + 10¢ per tap |
| Online rate | 2.9% + 30¢ (Basic) → 2.5% + 30¢ (Advanced) | 3.5% + 15¢ (links/checkout) |
| Retail add-on | POS Pro +$89/mo per location (counts, POs, permissions) | POS Plus $49/mo · SumUp POS from $99/mo |
| Own processor? | Yes — any gateway (0.6–2% extra fee by plan) | No — SumUp only (payfac) |
| Online store included | Full Shopify storefront on every plan | Payment links + invoices only |
| Inventory depth | Strong — syncs web + store (Pro for POs/counts) | Basic catalog & stock levels |
| Cheapest hardware | $49 Tap & Chip reader (BYOD tablet) | $54 reader · $99 Solo · $249 Terminal |
| Best for | Omnichannel retail (online + in-store) | Lowest-cost card taking |
Shopify plan and online prices read from the official US pricing page (curl re-read 2026-10-15: Basic $20 annual / $27 monthly, Grow $49/$65, Advanced $299/$399, Plus from $2,300, POS Pro +$89/mo per location). Shopify does not publish its exact card-present % on a crawler-readable page — the ~2.4–2.7% in-person range is compiled from independent 2026 sources and should be confirmed at signup. All SumUp figures read from its official US pricing, hardware-comparison and shop pages (2026-10-15).
Pricing
The two businesses are priced on opposite philosophies. SumUp charges nothing monthly and takes a flat 2.6% + 10¢. Shopify asks for a subscription, and hands you a POS (and a whole online store) with it.
| Tier | Shopify | SumUp |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | Basic — $20/mo annual ($27 monthly): full website + POS Lite, syncs online & in-store | Standard — $0/mo: reader or POS Lite, Business app, invoicing, booking |
| For more online features | Grow — $49/mo annual ($65): better reporting, more staff seats | POS Plus — $49/mo: multi-device sync, ticket printers, floor plan, cash/profit tracking |
| Serious retail back office | POS Pro — +$89/mo per location: counts, POs, low-stock alerts, permissions, BOPIS | SumUp POS — from $99/mo (contact sales): full suite, SMS, multi-store back office |
| Trial | 3 days free, then $1/mo for 3 months | 30-day money-back on hardware; $0 plan is free forever |
Winner on pure price-to-start: SumUp. There is no $0 Shopify plan — the cheapest Shopify door is $20–$27/mo, and real retail workflows cost another $89/mo/location on Pro. If your only requirement is "take a card payment for nothing fixed," SumUp wins unambiguously. The full Lite-vs-Pro breakdown is in Shopify POS Lite vs Pro, and the true first-year cost in our Shopify POS pricing guide.
Payment Processing
| Type | Shopify (with Shopify Payments) | SumUp |
|---|---|---|
| In-person | ~2.4–2.7% flat — no fixed per-tap fee (by plan) | 2.6% + 10¢ (all plans) |
| Online | 2.9% + 30¢ (Basic) → 2.5% + 30¢ (Advanced) | 3.5% + 15¢ |
| Using your own processor | Allowed — adds 2% (Basic) → 0.6% (Advanced) extra per sale | Not allowed |
On the headline percentage they look similar, but the fee shapes differ in a way that decides the winner at scale. Shopify's in-person rate is a flat percentage with no per-transaction cents; SumUp adds 10¢ every tap. At high card volume and normal ticket sizes that 10¢ compounds: 1,500 taps/mo = $150 of fixed fees you don't pay on Shopify. Online, Shopify's 2.9% + 30¢ also beats SumUp's 3.5%. The offset is that Shopify's in-person percentage isn't published crawler-readable and can land above 2.6% on the Basic plan, and if you refuse Shopify Payments you pay a 0.6–2% gateway penalty on top.
Winner: Shopify on structure, SumUp on entry transparency. Shopify's no-fixed-fee in-person model and lower online rate give it the edge once volume climbs, plus the rare freedom to bring your own processor. SumUp wins on simplicity — one obvious flat number, no percentage range to check.
Hardware
| Device | Shopify | SumUp |
|---|---|---|
| Entry reader | $49 Tap & Chip / WisePad 3 | $54 SumUp Plus reader |
| Standalone smart reader | — (BYOD tablet + reader) | $99 Solo · $169 Solo+printer |
| Handheld POS | $399 POS Go · $349 Terminal | $249 Terminal (touchscreen + printer) |
| Full counter setup | Retail Stand Kit $219 · receipt printers, scanners, drawers | $499 POS Lite + Solo tablet bundle |
| Bring your own device | Own iPhone/iPad/Android; Shopify-approved readers only | Reader pairs to your phone/tablet; Solo/Terminal standalone |
Shopify sells the fuller retail counter — stands, printers, scanners, drawers and POS Go — but its readers must be Shopify-approved, so you can't reuse another system's hardware. SumUp's lineup is leaner but cheap: a $54 reader, a $99 standalone Solo, and a $249 Terminal with a built-in printer. For the least money that still prints receipts, SumUp's $169 Solo bundle is hard to beat.
Winner: tie. Shopify for a real, expandable countertop; SumUp for the cheapest capable standalone device. Neither forces a monthly hardware rental.
Inventory & Omnichannel
This is the whole reason Shopify exists, and where SumUp isn't really competing.
| Capability | Shopify POS | SumUp |
|---|---|---|
| One inventory for online + in-store | Yes — synced automatically | No unified web store |
| Buy online, pick up in store / local delivery / ship-to-customer | Native (POS page, checked 2026-10-01) | Not a shipping/pickup system |
| Unified customer profiles | Yes — web + store merged (rich on Pro) | Basic contact capture; loyalty is a $269+ add-on |
| Purchase orders, counts, low-stock alerts | POS Pro (+$89/mo) | No true PO/receiving engine |
| Subscriptions / recurring | Native subscription selling | No |
| App ecosystem | 8,000+ apps for any gap | Small |
Winner: Shopify, decisively. If any part of your business is online — or will be — Shopify's single product pool with automatic stock sync, BOPIS, local delivery, ship-to-customer and emailed carts is simply the best omnichannel tool at this price, earning it a perfect 5.0 omnichannel subscore. SumUp's catalog and basic stock are fine for a purely physical seller, but it has no website builder, no purchase-order workflow and no cross-channel returns. For inventory-heavy pure brick-and-mortar, also compare Lightspeed Retail; for omnichannel ranking see Best Omnichannel POS.
Ease of Use & Support
Both are quick to start. SumUp is the plainer system because there's less to learn — order a reader, download the app, take payments. Shopify's setup is fast too, but the admin is genuinely bigger because the platform does far more. Support runs 24/7 via chat/email on all Shopify plans with callback phone; Plus adds priority. SumUp backs its hardware with a 1-year warranty, free shipping and a 30-day money-back guarantee, with business-hours phone and chat/email support.
Winner: Shopify for always-on reach; SumUp for a low-risk, minimal-support start.
Pros & Cons Recap
Shopify POS
Pros
- Best-in-class omnichannel: one synced inventory for online + in-store
- POS Lite included on every plan; full website thrown in
- In-person processing is a flat % with no per-tap fee
- You may use a third-party processor if you choose
Cons
- No $0 plan — starts at $20–$27/mo before any POS add-on
- Real retail tools need POS Pro at $89/mo per location
- Declining Shopify Payments costs 0.6–2% of every sale
- Card readers must be Shopify-approved models
SumUp
Pros
- $0/month, no minimum — the cheapest way to take a card
- Flat 2.6% + 10¢ in person; hardware from $54
- Dead-simple setup; 30-day money-back guarantee
- Invoicing, payment links and appointment booking included free
Cons
- No real online store or omnichannel inventory sync
- No purchase-order/receiving engine; thin inventory tools
- Loyalty is a $269+/mo separate product (FiveStars)
- Higher online rate (3.5%) than Shopify's 2.9%
Which Is Cheaper? First-Year Cost Math
Two scenarios for one store, all sales card-present, because the answer flips with volume — this is the finding most "Shopify is expensive" takes miss.
| Scenario | SumUp (Standard) | Shopify (Basic + Lite) | Shopify (Basic + Pro) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small: $5k/mo, ~250 taps | ~$155/mo | ~$150/mo* | ~$239/mo |
| Year one | ~$1,860 | ~$1,800* | ~$2,868 |
| Busy: $30k/mo, ~1,500 taps | ~$930/mo | ~$800/mo* | ~$889/mo |
| Year one | ~$11,160 | ~$9,600* | ~$10,668 |
*Shopify figures use a ~2.6% in-person rate with no per-tap fee (mid-range of the published ~2.4–2.7%; confirm your exact rate) plus the $20/mo annual Basic fee; the "+Pro" column adds the $89/mo POS Pro per location. SumUp uses 2.6% + 10¢, $0 subscription. One-time hardware (SumUp $54–$499, Shopify $49+) is excluded. Shopify Basic + Lite is the cheaper number, but Lite can't do POs or counts — that's why the "+Pro" column matters for real retail.
Here's the honest takeaway: at low volume SumUp is cheaper or a dead heat — no subscription to pay while you're small. But because Shopify's in-person fee is a flat percentage with no 10¢-per-tap add-on, the moment your card volume climbs the fixed-fee gap (10¢ × 1,500 = $150/mo) lets Shopify under-price SumUp even with the $89 Pro add-on. The rough crossover is around 1,000–1,100 taps a month. So the real question isn't "which has the lower sticker" — it's whether you sell online. A store that also runs a web shop gets Shopify's entire commerce platform for roughly the same or lower cost at scale, which SumUp cannot match at any price.
Which Should You Pick?
Go SumUp if you're a purely physical, low-volume seller who wants to pay nothing fixed and just needs to tap cards — a market stall, a small counter, a service business adding retail. Below a thousand taps a month it's the cheaper, simpler answer.
Go Shopify POS if you sell online today or will, if you need one inventory across web and store, or if you process enough card volume that Shopify's no-per-tap-fee rate pays for the subscription. For growing omnichannel retail it's the stronger long-term system.
Final Decision
You want the cheapest, simplest way to take a card — $0/month, no minimum, 2.6% + 10¢, hardware from $54 — and you don't sell online or need purchase orders. The lowest-friction start we track.
Visit SumUpYou sell online and in-store and want one system for both. Start on POS Lite (from $20/mo), add Pro ($89/mo per location) when a gated feature becomes your bottleneck, and let its omnichannel engine do work SumUp can't.
Visit Shopify POSFAQ
Is Shopify POS or SumUp cheaper?
Depends on volume and whether you sell online. At low card volume SumUp is cheaper or a dead heat because it has no subscription. At higher volume Shopify's in-person rate is a flat percentage with no per-tap fee, so it can under-price SumUp's 2.6% + 10¢ even after adding POS Pro — roughly around a thousand taps a month. If you also run an online store, Shopify bundles a full website that SumUp doesn't offer at any price.
Is SumUp a real POS system?
It's a capable payment and light-POS tool — catalog, basic stock, invoicing, booking, optional POS Plus/SumUp POS tiers — but it isn't a retail back-office or ecommerce platform. No purchase-order/receiving engine, no unified online store, and loyalty is a $269+/month add-on. For those, look at Square, Shopify or Lightspeed.
Do I need POS Pro?
Only when you hit a Lite limit: staff role permissions, inventory counts, purchase orders, low-stock alerts, returns at any location and full BOPIS are Pro features ($89/mo per location). A simple single store can run a long time on Lite. See Lite vs Pro.
Can I use my own payment processor?
On Shopify, yes — any gateway, though it adds a 0.6–2% extra fee per sale by plan. On SumUp, no — SumUp is its own payment facilitator, so the 2.6% + 10¢ is the rate.