Shopify POS vs Lightspeed POS 2024: Which is Best?

Shopify POS vs Lightspeed POS: Which point of sale solution is best for your business?

On the surface, there are a lot of overlapping features and functionality between the two vendors. Both Lightspeed and Shopify support omnichannel and multichannel selling, with integrated payment processing, order, and inventory management tools.

They can both integrate with your existing ecommerce platform, making it easy to sync information between your in-person and online store.

Plus, they both benefit from exceptional ease of use, excellent advanced features, and a wide range of hardware options to choose from.

So, how do you choose the right toolkit for your company?

We’ve taken a deeper look at each platform, to help you make the right choice.

Shopify POS vs Lightspeed POS Comparison Table

	Shopify POS	Lightspeed POS
Features	Shopify POS combines common point of sale solutions like inventory, order, employee and customer management with marketing tools, in-depth analytics and reporting features, and full access to a range of ecommerce and website building tools. The POS system integrates directly with the Shopify platform, for robust omnichannel selling.	Lightspeed POS offers companies an all-in-one environment for inventory, customer, employee and order management. It also supports payment processing, omnichannel selling, marketing integrations, and multi-location sales tools.
Best for	Companies interested in omnichannel selling. Shopify POS aligns with the Shopify ecommerce platform to make synchronizing and managing data, sales, and customers as simple as possible for online and offline sellers.	Companies looking for advanced solutions for in-person selling. Many of Lightspeed’s plans come with included hardware, and feature exceptional onboarding and customer support options.
Pricing	Shopify POS Lite is included as-standard with all initial Shopify plans, including the Shopify Starter plan for $5 per month. Full POS and website builder plans start at $39 per month. The Shopify POS Pro service is available for $89 per month per location, or it can be included in Shopify Plus plan. There’s also the ”Retail” plan for $89 per month.	Lightspeed plans start at $89 per month for the Lean package, which includes access to all of the POS software features retailers need, 24/7 customer support, a dedicated account manager, and a single register.
Transaction fees	Shopify’s transaction fees start at 2.4% and range up to 2.9% plus 30 cents for standard transactions, based on the ecommerce plan you choose. There are additional fees to use payment providers other than Shopify Payments.	Transaction fees start at 2.6% plus 10 cents for each in-person transaction. However fees can vary depending on the type of payment method chosen.
Hardware pricing	Starting at $59 per month for a basic Wisepad 3 card reader. Options are available for custom kits and retail bundles. There’s also the Shopify POS Go mobile system for $399 per month.	Lightspeed doesn’t list its hardware prices on its website. However, a register is included with all of the payment plans offered by the brand. You can contact the team for a custom quote for your hardware needs.
Payment processing	Support for cash, credit card, debit card, gift card, mobile wallet, and contactless payments. You can also send invoices, set up subscriptions, create custom payment options, and process payments through an online checkout.	Support for all common forms of payments, such as cash, credit card, debit card, gift cards, and credit accounts. You can also send invoices to customers.
Customer support	Chat or email customer support options, as well as a robust resource center with blogs, guides, FAQs and articles. You can also purchase assistance from a dedicated Shopify Expert.	Phone, chat, and email support, as well as locations you can visit in regions throughout the world. Lightspeed offers a dedicated account manager on every plan, as well as exceptional onboarding services and self-service resources.

Lightspeed POS vs Shopify POS: An Introduction

Shopify POS and Lightspeed POS are both powerful point of sale solutions which combine customizable hardware with state-of-the-art cloud-based software.

What is Shopify POS?

Shopify POS is the dedicated point of sale solution from the world-leading ecommerce platform provider, Shopify. It integrates directly with the Shopify website building and ecommerce tools, and offers users access to a convenient dashboard environment for managing sales and orders.

Shopify POS is brimming with useful features for virtually every kind of business, including integrated marketing tools, employee management features, and more.

Additionally, thanks to the Shopify app store, businesses can add new functionality to their POS solution in seconds.

What is Lightspeed POS?

Lightspeed POS is part of a huge variety of powerful tools offered by the Lightspeed brand. Lightspeed offers solution for marketing and accounting, building automated workflows, and even designing your own ecommerce store.

The POS solution is designed to support businesses, large and small, from a range of industries. Lightspeed POS has a presence in more than 100 countries, and even offers dedicated tools for specific types of companies, such as those in the retail or restaurant industries.

Lightspeed POS vs Shopify POS: Software Features

Today’s modern POS solutions consist of a combination of exceptional hardware, and dedicated software for processing payments and managing business data. To start our comparison of Lightspeed and Shopify, we’re going to focus on the POS software offered by each vendor.

Lightspeed POS Software Features

Lightspeed promises companies an all-in-one environment where they can manage various parts of their store, track inventory, and access in-depth reports in seconds. The easy-to-use software solution can unite multiple stores and channels in a single backend, for comprehensive visibility.

Plus, it makes it easy to combine and monitor all of your business data. You can get real-time updates into sales patterns, spot trends across locations, quickly order and manage stock, and even automate your marketing strategy.

There’s even access to Lightspeed Capital within the POS ecosystem, so you can request additional funding to scale your business.

Notably, the exact functionality you’ll get from your Lightspeed POS software will vary depending on the type of service you access. LightSpeed offers specific solutions for retail, restaurant, and golf companies.

Here’s a quick overview of the general features included:

• Inventory management: Lightspeed makes managing your inventory as simple as possible. You can track inventory levels to reduce stockouts, order products instantly, and even gain visibility into multiple locations and channels at the same time.
• Open API and integrations: Connect your POS wide variety of business tools using either native integrations and add-ons, or the Lightspeed open API.
• Payment processing: With built-in LightSpeed payments, you can instantly streamline payment reconciliation and accept a wide range of payment methods, including credit card payments, debit cards, and mobile wallets.
• Omnichannel selling: Combine in-store selling with online selling either by connecting LightSpeed to your ecommerce platform, or building a Lightspeed store.
• Customer management tools: Track customer sales history and preferences, create automated discounts for regular customers, or link your POS to your CRM system.
• Multi-store: Take advantage of a comprehensive point-of-sale system that aligns management tools and insights for all of your retail stores, online and offline.
• Marketing: Sell products directly through social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. You can also use Lightspeed’s store builder to create a blog and leverage search optimization capabilities.
• Product and order management: Manage orders, fulfilment, and other information across all sales channels in one convenient location.
• Employee management: Tack each employee’s sales and performance, make sure you’re staffing your store correctly, and assign accounts to each of your employees.

Shopify POS Software Features

Like Lightspeed, Shopify POS provides companies with a comprehensive environment for managing all of their sales, customers, and product information. You can view reports and analytics from a mobile device or desktop, and process payments using virtually any method.

Shopify POS supports everything from gift cards and loyalty program creation to powerful inventory management.

What’s more, because the POS software integrates directly with your Shopify store builder, you can align your online and brick and mortar stores in seconds.

Shopify will instantly sync sales and inventory information across all channels in real-time, so you’re less likely to encounter stocking issues.

Shopify’s omnichannel POS solution works with the Shopify platform to support sales across social media and marketplaces like Amazon or Ebay.

What’s more, you can customize the functionality of the POS for your business needs, leveraging add-ons and integrations from the Shopify marketplace.

Key features include:

• Omnichannel sales: With Shopify POS, small business owners can sell online, offline, through marketplaces, and on social media at the same time. You can even offer customers a variety of local delivery and pickup options.
• Inventory management: Track all of your inventory in one place with ease. Shopify’s inventory management tools include options for creating purchase orders, forecasting demand, monitoring stock levels and more.
• Employee management: Provide each of your employees with a dedicated Shopify POS account, and track their performance throughout your store.
• Product and order management: Sell unlimited products across any channel with custom product collections and variants, barcode labels and multi-location management.
• Checkout: Design a custom checkout experience for every user with a customizable smart grid, discounts, order notes, a camera barcode scanner and receipt customization.
• Payment processing: Accept any kind of payment through Shopify Payments, and keep track of your financial performance with powerful insights into cash flow.
• Marketing: Take advantage of product reviews, email marketing tools, social media integrations, and the Google Merchant center to increase sale opportunities.
• Analytics: Access everything from daily sales reports, to inventory, discount, retail, and product reports, depending on your business needs.
• Customer engagement: Design gift cards for customers, or create your own loyalty programs within Shopify POS. You can also offer customers various ways to pay, such as split and partial payments.
• Customer profiles: Design rich customer profiles brimming with information such as contact details, order history and marketing preferences.

Lightspeed POS vs Shopify POS: Hardware Solutions

For retailers, exceptional software is just one part of the point of sale equation. You’ll also need to ensure you can access the hardware you need to create compelling experiences for customers.

Fortunately, both Lightspeed and Shopify give companies plenty of tools to choose from.

For retail customers, Lightspeed offers individual hardware options from a range of vendors, including cash drawers, receipt printers, card readers, and barcode scanners.

You can also take advantage of a range of kits for different types of businesses.

Kits can include everything from receipt printers to Bluetooth scanners, and stands for your iPad. There are even dedicated options for restaurants, with kiosks, displays, and similar solutions.

Shopify doesn’t have quite as many hardware options to choose from, but its solutions are excellent.

Companies can start with simple solutions, such as affordable card readers, or stands for their iPad, which integrate with payment processing tools.

There’s also the option to build your own kit, combining various accessories and tools for your specific business needs.

Shopify recently unveiled a new hardware solution in the form of the Shopify POS Go too. This $399 handheld device combines payment processing and software into a smartphone-style solution that employees can carry and use anywhere.

Notably, Shopify says all hardware solutions can be customized to your specific business needs. Plus, Shopify offers free returns and delivery on all products, and a 1 year warranty for POS Lite customers, or a 2 year warranty for those using Shopify POS Pro.

Lightspeed POS vs Shopify POS: Analytics and Performance

When it comes to performance, business owners can rely on Lightspeed and Shopify POS to offer phenomenal reliability when they need it most.

With either POS system, you’ll be able to continue taking payments even when the internet isn’t available, thanks to an offline mode.

Additionally, both tools come packed with solutions to help you optimize and scale your ecom and in-person business. Square provides end-to-end insights into your inventory, customer, and sales data, allowing business leaders to create custom reports in no time.

With the retail POS, you can also leverage real-time insights to help you spot sales trends, and segment customers based on their preferences and behavior.

If you take advantage of the Lightspeed website builder, you can also access insights into your ecommerce business performance.

Similarly, Shopify offers a host of reporting and analytical tools, even on the “Shopify Lite” plan. You’ll have access to endless reports on product performance, retail data, and employee performance. You can even see which discounts drive the most sales to your company.

Shopify also ensures companies can create custom reports based on crucial financial data, covering information like taxes, sales, and returns.

With the Shopify ecommerce website builder, you’ll also be able to leverage valuable insights into your customers across every channel.

You can track the differences between your offline and online sales, set up comprehensive plans for excellent customer support, and monitor alerts in real-time. On the Shopify POS Pro plan, you’ll also have access to valuable daily reports, covering sales and performance metrics.

Lightspeed vs Shopify: Pricing Plans

For any business owner, pricing will always be an important consideration when choosing the right POS system. Notably, there are various plans available from both Shopify and Lightspeed, but neither tool has a dedicated free plan.

The price you pay for Lightspeed will depend both on your hardware needs, and your software requirements. There are different packages available based on your industry. Plus, there’s a small discount available if you opt for an annual plan, rather than paying monthly.

On a pay-monthly basis, retail plans include:

• Lean: $89 per month: All of the retail POS software features, integrated payments, a B2B catalog, 1 register, a dedicated account manager and 24/7 customer support.
• Standard: $149 per month: All the features of Lean, plus account and ecommerce tools.
• Advanced: $269 per month: All the features of the Standard plan, plus omnichannel loyalty programs and advanced reporting.

There’s also an Enterprise plan available for a custom price, with unlimited onboarding and launch services, personalized consultation, dedicated premium support and API assistance.

Notably, you’ll also need to account for Lightspeed’s transaction fees, which start at 2.6% plus 10 cents per transaction.

Shopify offers two variations of its POS solution. The first option is Shopify POS Lite, which comes with most basic Shopify subscriptions. If you already have a Shopify account, this means you can access the basic feature set of the mobile POS for free.

You can also leverage Shopify Lite with Shopify’s Starter plan for $5 per month, though this comes with fewer ecommerce features and a high transaction fee.

Pricing plans for Shopify with Shopify Lite include:

• Basic Shopify: $39 per month for all the tools you need to process online sales and in-person transactions. This plan includes 1,000 inventory locations, unlimited products, 2 staff accounts, and basic reports.
• Shopify: $105 per month for all the features included in the Basic plan, plus standard reports, 5 staff accounts.
• Advanced Shopify: $399 per month for all the standard Shopify features, plus custom reports, and up to 15 staff accounts.

Transaction fees on Shopify range from 2.4% to 2.9% plus 30 cents, depending on your chosen Shopify plan. You’ll also need to pay extra to use payment processors other than Shopify Payments.

To access Shopify POS Pro, you can purchase a Shopify Plus account, for access to enterprise-level ecommerce business features, and advanced APIs and integrations.

Shopify Plus is offered at a custom price, starting at $2,000 per month, depending on your required feature set.

Alternatively, you can add Shopify POS Pro to any Shopify plan for $89 per month per location. Remember, you’ll need to account for extra transaction fees on any plan if you’re not using Shopify Payments.

There’s also the Shopify Retail plan for $89 per month with one Shopify POS Pro location, 2 admin accounts and unlimited logins.

Shopify POS vs LightSpeed POS: Which is Best?

Both Shopify POS and Lightspeed POS offer excellent solutions to business owners in search of an intuitive point of sale solution.

These tools can integrate with a wide range of apps and services, such as QuickBooks for accounting, and social media channels for marketing.

They also both come with mobile apps available (via Android and iOS) so you can manage payments, SKUs, and analytics on the move.

However, the two solutions focus on specific audiences. Lightspeed is likely to be the best option for retail companies or brands in specific industries who need comprehensive tools for offline selling.

Shopify POS, on the other hand, is likely to be the ideal choice if you already have a Shopify store, or want to build a comprehensive ecommerce website, with the option for brick and mortar sales.