Clover vs Square vs Shopify 2024: Which POS Solution is Best?

Clover vs Square vs Shopify: Which vendor should you choose to access the best point of sale system for your growing business?

All three of these companies have an excellent reputation in the POS market. With Clover, Square, and Shopify, you can manage and process sales in an omnichannel landscape, combining online transactions with in-person purchases.

They all offer robust payment processing functionality, access to add-on tools like card reader systems and cash registers, and powerful product and inventory management tools.

Plus, all three platforms benefit from exceptional ease of use and flexibility.

So, how do you pick the right service for your needs?

Today, we’re looking at the hardware, software, and pricing of all three solutions, to help you make the right choice.

Square vs Shopify vs Clover: An Introduction

Suitable for small businesses and scaling companies alike, Square, Shopify, and Clover POS are all comprehensive point of sale solutions, with powerful customizable features.

They all integrate with the top ecommerce platforms, for multi-channel selling, and provide access to an intuitive backend environment. However, there are some slight differences between the systems.

What is Square POS?

Square POS is an industry-leading point of sale solution, with specific features for both retail businesses and restaurants.

The point of sale system combines product and inventory management with excellent tools for tracking employee performance and customer profiles.

What is Clover POS?

Similar to Square, Clover is a cloud-based point of sale solution, with dedicated tools for restaurant and food service companies.

It’s a little different to most POS systems, however, as it does require companies to acquire a merchant account, through the Fiserv parent company.

What is Shopify POS?

Finally, Shopify POS is a dedicated point of sale solution for Shopify ecommerce store owners. It integrates seamlessly with your Shopify store, supporting omnichannel sales, marketing, and analytics, with a comprehensive backend dashboard.

Let’s take a closer look at what each of these solutions can do.

Clover vs Square vs Shopify: Software Features

Today’s comprehensive point of sale solutions combine intuitive software with customizable hardware kits to support a wide range of businesses.

All three of the platforms compared here offer access to cloud-based tools. What’s more, they can all process payments in offline mode, which is ideal if you suddenly lose access to the internet in your store.

Here’s what you can expect in terms of software from Clover, Square, and Shopify.

Square POS Software Features

Square POS offers a huge selection of software features to business owners. The exact functionality you’ll access will depend on whether you choose Square POS for Retail, or Square POS for Restaurants.

Notably, the food-service focused POS solution includes more advanced functionality for restaurants and cafes, such as menu management and tableside ordering.

All versions of Square POS include inventory, product, and employee management tools. Plus, they all allow for omnichannel selling, with integrations to ecommerce platforms and social media channels.

Additionally, Square POS supports comprehensive payment processing tools, advanced staff management solutions, and in-depth financial analytics and reports.

Key features include:

• Payment processing with credit card, debit card, gift card, and mobile wallet options
• PCI compliance, fraud protection, and advanced security features
• Customizable checkouts with categories, item information and modifiers
• Transaction management with split tenders and custom receipts
• Customer profiles with feedback and reviews, notes, and customer tags
• Ecommerce integrations and integrations to social media channels
• Customer engagement tools like email marketing and loyalty programs
• Integrations to accounting tools like Xero, as well as ecommerce platforms
• Open API for automating comprehensive workflows
• Employee management with scheduling, performance insights and role permissions
• Delivery, pickup, and fulfillment features

Shopify POS Software Features

Similar to Square, Shopify is an all-in-one point of sale system, which allows companies to manage inventory, orders, and payments through a convenient backend.

There are mobile apps available for iOS and Android, plus, Shopify offers its own integrated payment processing solution in the form of Shopify Payments.

This allows users to accept credit card payments and debit card payments, as well as mobile wallet transactions (Apple Pay and Google Pay).

Shopify POS integrates seamlessly with the Shopify ecommerce ecosystem, making it easy to sync inventory information and financial data between channels.

Plus, the Shopify app marketplace makes it easy to link your system to a range of other tools. Key features include:

• Omnichannel selling for in-store, online, marketplace, and social media sales
• Local delivery and pickup options
• Comprehensive inventory management with demand forecasting
• Instant purchase orders and stock reports
• Custom checkouts with discounts, order notes, and a camera barcode scanner
• Product management for unlimited products with collections and variants
• Customer profiles with contact details, order history and marketing preferences
• Analytics and reports on discounts, inventory, sales and employee performance
• Payment processing with Shopify payments
• Various payment method options including gift cards and split tenders
• Marketing via Google Merchant center, email, and social media
• Customer reviews, loyalty programs, and rewards
• Staff management with customizable roles and permissions
• Integrations with a huge collection of online apps and tools

MORE: Shopify Payments Review: The Complete Guide

Clover POS Software Features

Clover’s easy-to-use point of sale platform comes with a comprehensive dashboard where you can manage online and offline sales, track metrics, and take payments anywhere.

Clover can integrate with a wide range of tools, including ecommerce platforms and accounting software.

Plus, Cover benefits from dedicated solutions for restaurants and food service businesses, such as menu management, tableside ordering, and kitchen displays.

Clover software is available to use through mobile apps, or dedicated hardware solutions like Clover Flex.

Plus, there are built-in security and privacy tools for business leaders. Clover even gives companies comprehensive access to merchant services, for payment and transaction management.

Key features of Clover POS include:

• Online ordering and integrations with third-party delivery companies
• Ecommerce integrations for online selling
• Customizable branded invoicing and receipts
• Built-in payment protection and fraud management
• Cashflow analytics, tracking, reporting, and business insights
• Comprehensive inventory and order management
• Customer engagement tools such as profiles and loyalty programs
• Multiple payment options such as mobile wallets and credit cards
• Employee management with shift planning and scheduling
• Integrations with a range of tools through the Clover app market
• Dedicated tools for restaurants and food service businesses

Square POS vs Shopify POS vs Clover: Hardware Solutions

While cloud-based point of sale solutions allow retailers to access the software they need for payment processing using a smartphone or tablet, most omnichannel sellers will need at least some POS hardware.

Some store owners rely on simple solutions like card readers, for quick credit card processing, for either chip cards or contactless payment methods.

Other organizations use a variety of hardware solutions and accessories, such as a receipt printer, cash drawer, barcode scanner, and more. Fortunately, Clover, Square, and Shopify all offer vendors a range of options to choose from.

Clover’s devices range from convenient handheld card readers, like the Clover Go for $49, which pairs instantly with mobile devices, to the Clover Station Solo, with a cash drawer, touchscreen, and receipt printer.

Companies can also opt for tools like the Clover Mini, and the Clover Flex, a mobile point of sale solution, which works a lot like a smartphone.

Square also produces hardware to suit a variety of business needs. There are simple card readers, as well as all-in-one kits like the Square Terminal, which comes with a credit card reader, receipt printer, and payment processing tools.

There’s also the Square Register, and dedicated bundles like the Square Retail Kit. Square even offers dedicated solutions for restaurants, with self-service screens and kiosks. Square card readers start from as little as $29 per device.

Compared to Square and Clover, Shopify’s hardware options are a little more limited, however, there are still options suited to a variety of business models.

Companies can purchase tools like the WisePad 3 Card reader for $59, which takes tap and chip payments in seconds.

There are also retail bundles available, and business leaders can create their own custom bundles from scratch.

Perhaps the most attractive hardware solution for fast-paced businesses from Shopify is the Shopify POS Go, a comprehensive handheld payment processing device, ideal for retailers on the move. This solution starts at around $399, and includes full access to all of Shopify’s POS software.

Square vs Shopify vs Clover: Customer Support

The good news for companies investing in Clover, Shopify, or Square for their payment processing needs, is all three companies promise exceptional ease of use.

Whether you’re using a POS app to process payments through your smartphone or tablet, or you’re connecting your POS software with dedicated magstripe readers and retail POS kits, you shouldn’t have any trouble getting setup.

All three companies provide business leaders with step-by-step guidance, documentation, and resources.

The POS features are straightforward and convenient, and all three vendors provide access to powerful analytics and reports, so you can consistently improve customer loyalty, track online payments and offline payments, and stay on top of inventory levels.

If you do need support with your solution, Shopify offers customer support through live chat or email, or you can seek out solutions through the Shopify website, where you’ll find FAQs and blogs.

It’s also possible to hire a Shopify Expert to work with you on setup and product implementation.

Clover has its own help center, as well as personalized support available through email, chat, and phone call. However, it’s worth noting that the phone service is currently only accessible for US merchants.

Square also offers phone, email, and chat support, as well as a fantastic resource center, with plenty of information on everything from customer management to software customization.

Notably, all three vendors have also earned fantastic user reviews for their ease of use and approach to customer management.

Clover has a 4.7 out of 5 rating on Trustpilot, while Square ranks at 4.1 out of 5, and Shopify has a 4.4 rating on G2.com.

Clover vs Square vs Shopify: Pricing Plans

While there’s more to choosing the perfect POS solution than choosing a toolkit that matches your budget, it’s worth carefully assessing how much you’ll pay for each service.

Notably, the exact fees you’ll need to account for with all three vendors will depend on the kind of hardware you need, as well as whether you need any advanced features.

Square Pricing

Let’s start with a look at Square’s fees. First, the hardware options from Square vary drastically in price and functionality. You can access a magstripe card reader from Square for as little as $10, or you can choose a full contactless reader for $49.

Comprehensive solutions like the Square Register start at $799. On top of hardware fees, you’ll also need to account for payment processing costs.

Square transaction fees start at 2.6% plus 10 cents for card present transactions, 2.9% plus 30 cents for card-not-present transactions, and 3.5% plus 15 cents for keyed in transactions.

The good news is you can access Square’s software for free, with absolutely no setup costs or contracts.

However, if you want to upgrade to a more advanced version of Square, like Square for Restaurants, there may be additional costs.

You can also request custom rates from Square for transaction processing, depending on your sale volumes.

Clover Pricing

Clover offers a generous free trial to beginners, ensuring you can explore all the functionality of the service before you sign up for a paid plan.

Like Square, Clover’s hardware prices can vary depending on the kind of functionality you need. Notably, you will need to contact the Clover sales team to get a full quote for your toolkit, as prices for most devices aren’t listed on the site.

Clover’s processing and transaction fees are relatively low, ranging from 2.3 to 2.6% plus 10 cents for card-present transactions.

There’s also a no hardware plan available from Clover, which allows companies to access the full virtual terminal for $14.95 per month.

However most packages are priced on a custom basis. When you contact the Clover team, they’ll give you a price based on the overall cost of your required hardware, and the software you want to access.

Prices for software can range up to $84.95 per month depending on the features you need.

Shopify Pricing

Shopify’s pricing may be a little more complicated for some vendors to understand. As mentioned above, hardware can range from around $59 for a basic card reader, to $399 for the Shopify Go mobile POS.

There are also various kits you can purchase, or you can create customized bundles by contacting the Shopify sales team.

Processing fees on Shopify range from 2.4% to 2.9% with a flat 30 cents transaction fee. Your transaction fees will vary depending on the Shopify plan you choose.

There’s also an extra fee for merchants processing payments without Shopify Payments.

While there’s no “free plan” for Shopify POS, you can access the “Lite” version of the Shopify POS solution with almost any Shopify ecommerce plan.

The Lite solution comes with a host of features for customer loyalty, online store management, and more.

You can start with the “Starter” package from Shopify for $5 per month, but this only supports 1 POS account, and doesn’t offer any website building tools. Other plans featuring POS Lite include:

• Basic Shopify: $39 per month with unlimited products, 2 staff accounts, 1,000 inventory locations and basic reporting tools.
• Shopify: $105 per month for all the features of the Basic plan, plus 5 staff accounts, and standard reports.
• Advanced Shopify: $399 per month for all the features of Shopify, as well as 15 staff accounts and custom reports.

To access Shopify POS Pro, you can either pay $89 per location per month to add the functionality to your existing Shopify plan, or you can purchase Shopify Plus.

The enterprise version of Shopify, starting at $2,300 per month, comes with Shopify POS Pro included.

Clover vs Square vs Shopify: The Verdict

Overall, Shopify, Clover, and Square all offer fantastic point of sale solutions, with built-in payment processors, reasonable processing rates, and powerful management software.

All three solutions can integrate with a range of tools, like QuickBooks for accounting, or your ecommerce platform.

Additionally, there are countless hardware options to choose from with each vendor, whether you’re looking for something comprehensive like the Clover Station Duo, or something simple, like the Square Stand for your iPad.

However, each offering has its own pros and cons to consider.

Square offers a fantastic, and easy-to-use solution for retailers, with a free POS software plan, and fantastic customer support.

This could make Square the ideal option for a budget-conscious startup, looking to get started without paying a consistent monthly fee.

Shopify is an ideal POS vendor for companies who already have their own ecommerce store on the Shopify platform.

You can access the Lite version of Shopify POS on virtually any plan, along with a host of valuable tools for creating a robust online presence.

Finally, Clover might be the ideal option for companies in specific industries, such as the restaurant or food service landscape, thanks to it’s unique modules for kitchen and menu management.