Free POS System
Want to save money by using a free POS system to operate your business?
We've compiled a list of the top 5 free POS software and hardware brands on the market so that you can get all the features you need without spending a dime!
Read on as we compare each of these 5 winners and help determine which is right for you.
Free POS System Comparison Table
Best For | Top Features | Price | Limitations | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Overall | Inventory management, mobile access, digital receipts | Free with 2.6% + $0.10 credit card processing fee | None | |
Multi-Location businesses | Digital receipts, customer management, mobile access | Freemium | None | |
New Businesses | Customer management, mobile access, digital receipts | Freemium | Single register, single-user, 1,000 products in inventory | |
Food-service | Reporting and analytics, digital receipts, tip reconciliation | Freemium | Single register, single-user, 25 products in inventory | |
Low-Volume Businesses | Third-party integration, inventory management, digital receipts | Freemium | Single register, single-user, 10 products in inventory |
The 5 Best Free POS Systems
Quick Answer:
1# Square - Best Free POS Software Overall
2# LoyVerse - Best For Multi-Location Businesses
3# Imonggo - Best For Brand New Businesses
4# Linga - Best For Foodservice
5# Vend - Best For Low-Volume Businesses
#1 Square - Best Free POS Software Overall
If you're in the market for a feature-rich POS system with tons of flexibility, then we highly recommend checking out the Square POS system.
The beauty of this system is that you don't have to pay monthly, yet you still get access to inventory management features, customer management features, analytics and sales reporting, third-party bookkeeping integration, invoicing, and e-commerce integration.
The POS software even gives users the ability to send out digital receipts and collect secured data on the intuitive interface.
All users who sign up with the Square POS system are sent a free card reader. The card readers are incredibly easy to use, as you simply plug them into a smartphone or tablet to accept credit card payments.
While Square does not charge a monthly fee for its point of sale system, the company does charge for credit card processing. As of right now, the fee is 2.6% + $0.10 for swiped (credit card/debit card) transactions. For keyed-in transactions, it is 3.5% + $0.15. Lastly, for online transactions, it is 2.9% + $0.10.
In this regard, it can be quite costly depending on the types of payment processing that you find yourself doing. There are many cheaper options available that are free, though none of them come with all of the latest and greatest features like Square does.
#2 LoyVerse - Best For Multi-Location Businesses
LoyVerse is short for "Loyalty Universe" and is a wonderful piece of POS software that is absolutely free! The best thing about LoyVerse is that it excels with small businesses that have multiple locations.
It can also provide discounts for customers, send out digital receipts, and work without the Internet. LoyVerse makes use of Vantiv, which is a credit card processing software integrated within the system. As for the payment processing rates, it all depends on your business.
Some of the other great features present on the LoyVerse system include inventory management, customer management, employee management, reporting, sales analytics, and customer loyalty programs.
One of the major downsides to LoyVerse, besides the fact that it is already integrated with a payment processing system that you may or may not like, is that it lacks the ability to integrate with other third-party software. Plus, if you want to upgrade your inventory management and employee management features (which is necessary as your business grows), then you will have to pay extra.
#3 Imonggo - Best For Brand New Businesses
Imonggo is an incredible option for any business that is just getting its feet wet. This free POS system has no monthly fee. You can set up a single location and get prepped for business! We were surprised to find out how in-depth the inventory management features are with this free POS software, as you can plug in up to 1,000 products.
Imonggo also gives you the ability to look at reporting and sales analytics, send out digital receipts, and sell offline.
You can also connect to mobile to sell or make use of several customer management and employee management features.
The one thing to note is that this particular free plan from Imonggo does not provide users with a ton of possibilities for integration.
For example, if your system is offline, you are not able to perform and payment processing operations with credit cards. Plus, the free plan doesn't allow users to make any more than 1,000 transactions each month, which doesn't make it the best choice for high-volume businesses.
For those who want to make the most out of Imonggo and its capabilities, there is a premium version. With a $30 monthly price tag, it's not much more of a cost than the free plan. The cool thing is, Imonggo gives people the chance to try out the software on the premium plan for free for 30 days before they have to make a decision.
#4 Linga - Best For Foodservice
Linga is a wonderful, feature-rich piece of free POS software that is best for small business owners in the food-service industry.
Linga is cloud-based, meaning all of the data on this free point of sale system is uploaded to a remote server. The inventory management features are able to manage up to 25 products at once.
Linga also has the ability to manage a ton of other things besides inventory, including employee management, credit card processing, sales analytics, offline operation, and digital receipts.
We were surprised to learn how diverse the currency system on Linga is, as it has the ability to process 30 currencies. You can even translate the POS system into 30 different languages as well!
Of course, one of the main draws of Linga is its food-service features, such as discount applications, table transferring, split pay, coupons, refunds, and gratuity.
Do note that Linga is what they refer to as a "freemium" POS system. If you decide that the features on the free POS system are lacking, then you can upgrade to the plan that costs $19.99 annually.
#5 Vend - Best For Low-Volume Businesses
For small business owners, the Vend free point of sale system is a wonderful choice. This particular POS system has the ability to support a single cash register and up to 10 products. As for transactions, the free POS software can accept up to 1,000 every month.
It is worth noting that the free Vend POS system is cloud-based, meaning all of the features and data, including employee management, inventory management, customer management, sales, reporting analytics, and digital receipts, are stored on a remote server.
Plus, you can integrate with several different merchant services, including PayPal, Square, and Shopify. If you're looking for bookkeeping services, it even integrates with Xero.
If you are a small business owner that is only making transactions every once in a while, such as working at a farmer's market every Sunday, then this free POS software is a wonderful choice.
Plus, Vend provides its customers with 30-day free trials that allow you to try out the free POS software risk-free. We highly recommend doing this to see how it feels for your business. The paid POS software starts out at $69 monthly, perfect for when your business starts growing.
Factors To Consider When Buying
Your POS system needs to be able to handle all of the complex operations of your establishment. Beyond processing all of your payments and tracking all of your sales, there are other considerations that you need to make when looking for the right free plan. Here are some of the most important features that you should look for in a POS system.
Inventory Management
Remember, your POS system needs to act as the brain of your operations. This means that it needs to essentially be a database for your business inventory. Your free POS system should be able to optimize the way you approach inventory management by automating some of the mundane tasks.
For example, while there are plenty of in-depth inventory management features out there, one of the most important to consider when looking for free POS software is the ability of the system to tell you when you need to stock a certain product.
You might even be able to find some free POS software that lets you easily place orders. Being able to deal with all of your stock in a single place is extremely important and can help you stay organized as you order and go through inventory each day.
Customer Management
We love when free POS software gives its users the ability to build customer profiles. The beauty of a good customer management system is that it can track the purchase habits of customers to make recommendations for them in the future. Small businesses that have a ton of repeat customers can highly benefit from this kind of feature.
Employee Management
Small businesses that have multiple employees working at a single location may often find themselves having to spend a ton of time managing schedules, commissions, or payroll. These kinds of features help business owners manage the daily operations of employees, such as clocking in and clocking out, tip reconciliation, commissions, and much more.
Reporting and Analytics
Your business likely has quite a bit of data that it collects from sales each week or month. With high-quality reporting and analytics features, you could gain some very useful insights into the way that your business is running. The best free POS systems provide access to analytics such as how your employees might be able to improve their sales techniques or what kinds of products are selling really well so you know which ones to market.
Third-Party Integration
To help you operate with total efficiency, your free POS software should be able to integrate with a number of databases and applications so that you can manage all of your operations accurately. For example, let's say that all of your products are sold on an e-commerce platform. In that case, you should be able to tie your e-commerce platform to your free POS system so that you can export data and streamline your bookkeeping. For bookkeeping, look for free POS software that has the ability to integrate with Xero and QuickBooks.
Customer Support
You should always consider the kind of customer support that a POS systems manufacturer provides its customers. Some businesses require different levels of customer support. For example, while a regular restaurant might be able to survive with 9-5 customer support over the phone, a bar or nightclub might need 24-hour customer support.
A free plan might not offer this kind of support, which is why many small businesses end up upgrading from the free plan. You should also see what kinds of support they offer. Is it phone chat or live chat online?
Multi-Location Support
Many small businesses operate with multiple locations. Some POS systems are able to compile data from different locations into a single POS system. If you want to be able to run your business by checking out your sales reports or other back-office functions from a single location with an Internet connection, then having free software that has the ability to give you real-time information can be extremely helpful
Hardware
What kind of hardware is your POS system able to connect with? For example, you'll need a credit card reader to run credit card payments. Some free POS options provide these while some charge extra. you might also need to get a cash drawer so that customers can make basic cash payments.
Fees
If the free POS system that you are looking at has an integrated payment processing system, then it likely charges fees when customers make payments. These payment processing fees can have a drastic impact on how you get paid. Fees can also differ based on how people pay. For example, credit card payment fees are typically less than online payment fees.
Loyalty Program
If you have repeat customers, you might consider setting up a customer loyalty program. Many restaurant POS systems come with integrated loyalty programs, though some cost extra. These can be very helpful for motivating people to come back to your establishment and increase sales.
Free POS vs Purchased: Is a Free POS Best For Your Business?
If you are a small business owner or you are just getting started out, then starting with free POS software is an excellent choice. Free point of sale software has quite a lot to offer. However, when it comes to growth, you might need to consider upgrading to paid POS software to handle higher volume business.
Think of the number of registers that you need for your business. Some free POS software options only allow for a single register. If you need to integrate more hardware, then you might need to consider upgrading from that free point of sale software.
It is also worth noting that a lot of free point of sale software limits that the number of products in the inventory, as well as how many transactions one can make each month. If you want to get rid of potential caps, then going with a paid POS system might be the move.
Consider where and how you want to sell your products with your POS software as well. For example, does your business operate from multiple locations? If so, you might consider going with a cloud-based point of sale software. You might also consider going with POS software that works on a mobile device if you are often on the go with your business, such as a food truck.
The Final Verdict - Finding the Best Free POS Systems for Your Business
When it comes down to it, there are plenty of things that you need to consider when you are searching for the best free POS software. Your choice for your free POS software will also depend on what kind of business you run and what kinds of products that you sell.
You should also look into how many products that you are selling each month, as it'll determine the number of transactions that your POS system should be able to handle.
We hope that this article was helpful in narrowing down your free POS software options. It is important to remember that this free POS software is what your employees are going to use every single day. Make sure to check out the available features on your chosen free POS software to see what kinds of features that you need.
Lastly, a few related articles that could be helpful for your search are our cheap POS system and POS system cost guides.
Tyler Connaghan
Contributing Author
