The 6 Best Free POS Software for Small Business

Small business owners have to pay for a lot of things, but point of sale (POS) software isn’t necessarily one of them. You can get free POS software from several companies—here are our top picks for free POS software.

POS software is the technology used with point of sale hardware—such as a card reader mounted to a smartphone—to process and monitor sales, track inventory, store customer data, integrate with systems and databases and a variety of other functions. It typically comes in the form of a mobile or web application. For small business owners with limited transactions or products, free POS software can satisfy most of your needs.

As with anything “free,” there are a few caveats.

• All of these products work in tandem with POS hardware, which is sold separately.
• Some POS software providers use a “freemium” model, where you use the free version and upgrade to a paid plan later.
• Others allow you to use their system for free but charge you per transaction. There are also open-source POS software programs maintained by online volunteers; they sometimes offer a clunkier experience.
• Most of these plans give you access to the full range of features, but others will only give you access to some of the features.

Square POS is one of the most feature-rich free POS software options. Users of the free version get analytics, inventory and customer management features, invoicing capabilities, the option to send digital receipts and offline mode. The interface is relatively easy to use.

Users get a free card reader that plugs into a smart device to accept mobile payments. However, Square charges a 2.6% plus $0.10 fee for all swiped transactions and a 3.5% plus $0.15 fee for all keyed-in transactions, making it the costliest of the free options.

Imonggo offers free POS software for one user in one location. You get inventory management for up to 100 products and sales analytics.

Imonggo’s free plan doesn’t offer broad integration capabilities, offline access, or the option to accept credit card payments. In addition, Imonggo caps your transaction limit at 100 per month. If you want more, you will have to sign up for the premium version, which costs $30 per month per branch. You can try Imonggo premium risk-free for 30 days.

Loyverse, which stands for “Loyalty Universe,” can manage multiple store locations, send digital receipts, issue discounts, work offline, and accept credit card payments. Loyverse also offers inventory, employee, and customer management, sales analytics, plus the option to institute a customer loyalty program.

The main drawback to Loyverse is that it does not integrate with a lot of other software. There are also advanced employee management and inventory features that cost extra. Users can try Loyverse add-ons risk-free for 14 days.

The eHopper POS software can operate on multiple devices and integrates with a variety of POS hardware, which is perfect if you are migrating from another POS system. Other features include the ability to work offline, implement discounts and loyalty programs, and perform some customer and inventory management functions.

However, you’ll have to pay a monthly fee for merchant services, ecommerce integration, and employee management functions.

UniCenta is one of the most widely used open-source POS software packages available, with more than one million downloads in 150 countries. Features include inventory, employee, and customer management, detailed sales analyses, and barcode scanning. UniCenta also provides customized interfaces for restaurants and retailers, as well as the ability to operate in multiple languages and accept different currencies.

Because uniCenta is open sourced, new features are added all the time. It also works with most POS hardware. Paid plans offer more functionality.

Floreant was created to help a Denny’s restaurant in Oneonta, New York, upgrade its system in 2008; it has been downloaded over 122,000 times.

Floreant can handle a variety of basic POS tasks, such as inventory and employee management, sales reports, and mobile access. There is also an abundance of food service features, such as table and menu management, tip adjustments, kitchen printer connection, and bar tab generation.

As you can see, there are many different types of free POS software that can handle many different functions. Here are a few things to consider to help you find the right free POS software for your business:

• How many registers do you operate? Most free POS software will only operate on a limited number of POS pieces of hardware.
• How many products do you sell each month? And how many customers do you sell to? You will likely face product and customer caps with free POS software.
• What other types of software does your business use? You’ll want to use POS software that integrates seamlessly with your other systems and causes limited disruption.
• Where do you typically sell from? If you operate from multiple locations, you will want a cloud-based system that allows you to service your customers on the go.

POS systems are among the most complex software systems for handling business needs. Aside from processing and tracking sales, here are other features to look for in POS software:

A POS system can deliver receipts in the customer’s desired format (print or digital). If you operate a service business, a POS system can help facilitate tipping, such as displaying pre-calculated percentages or a custom tipping option.

POS software essentially is one large database for your business, so it makes sense that POS software can automate and optimize how you manage inventory. Common inventory management features include reminders a certain product is running low in stock. Some POS software can place orders so that you can handle all your stock inquiries in one place.

POS software should create detailed sales reports based on daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly transactions. This type of analysis could provide useful insights, such as which products need more marketing efforts or how to improve sales techniques.

One cool benefit of POS software is that it can build individual profiles of all your customers and track their purchase history and shopping habits. This could come in handy if you rely on repeat business.

If you operate a business with multiple employees, POS software can help manage them even when you are not around. This may include the ability for employees to clock-in and clock-out and reconcile tips and commissions through the POS system.

POS software can be cloud-hosted, allowing you to process sales and access your data at any time from any location using a web-enabled mobile device. This is especially important if you operate your business from multiple locations, such as a food truck or trade show.

POS systems can integrate with a variety of other business systems and databases to manage operations more efficiently, accurately, and consistently. If, for example, you sell products on an ecommerce platform, your POS system can attach to it to manage your transactions. Your POS system can also streamline your bookkeeping by exporting data to accounting software like QuickBooks and Xero.