SpotOn vs Square

Both Square and SpotOn POS solutions are engineered to do much more than just handle customer payments. So what's the difference between them?

The last thing you want to do is invest in a POS system that doesn't have the features you need.

We're here to help.

Continue reading to learn everything you need to know about these two leading POS systems in order to make the best possible decision for your operation, whether it be retail, restaurant, or appointment-based.

Choose SpotOn If...

SpotOn is ideal for business owners who need a completely customized cloud-based POS system. With a range of creative and exciting features for retailers, restaurants, and more, the sophisticated nature of this POS system is ultra-versatile. It also has robust tools for restaurant owners.

Choose Square If...

Square is an excellent choice for small business owners looking to sell both in-store and online. With a user-friendly interface, strong community, smart integrations, and flexible inventory management options, Square POS has a lot to offer small businesses.

SpotOn VS Square POS System Comparison

	SpotOn	Square
Ideal For	Restaurants of all shapes and sizes	New sellers & small retailers
Hardware Cost	$65 to $95 per month + quote-based setup fee	$49 to $799
Software Cost	$25 per month starting	$0 per month starting
Online Transactions	2.99% +$0.20	2.9% +$0.30
In-Person Transactions	1.99% +$0.20	2.6% +$0.10
Mobile Device	Yes	Yes
Customer Service	24/7 Customer support	Customer support from 6 AM to 6 PM PST over phone, email, and live chat. 24/7 support for Premium plan users
Contract	One-year contract	No contract
What’s Missing	Intuitive training tools, monthly contracts, open-source hardware	24/7 support hours with free plan, vendor management tools in the free plan, tiered payment processing fees, and age-restricted online purchasing tools

Digging Into The Details

SpotOn's Best Features:

Industry-Specific Features

While Square has industry-specific features for restaurants, retailers, and appointment-based businesses, industry specificity is not the main focal point of the company's POS software.

SpotOn POS has made its purpose to offer affordable and intuitive solutions with ultra-specific tools and features. The custom-built software is more than suitable for restaurants and retailers and can be used by a wide range of alternative services companies, such as auto repair shops, nail and hair salons, plumbers, and more.

Hardware

While Square has a powerful set of hardware, SpotOn takes the cake in terms of versatility. The SpotOn Poynt is the company's flagship device, which features dual screens and two modes for POS and terminal use.

You can integrate the SpotOn Register into your system, which comes in a sleek, modern package with a 13.3" touchscreen and quality peripherals, including a cash drawer, thermal printer, and barcode scanner.

SpotOn even has restaurant-specific POS hardware that works for food service businesses of all shapes and sizes. This restaurant package comes with a 19.5" touchscreen monitor, cash drawer, EMV Pinpad, a 10" touchscreen tablet with a built-in card reader, a receipt printer, a backup wireless router, and more.

If you need to customize your system further, SpotOn also offers unique additions, such as food scales, kitchen printers, and handheld devices.

Restaurant Tools

While Square does have a number of industry-specific tools, the features found within SpotOn's Restaurant POS system offer an all-in-one solution for food service businesses and is a better value than Square. SpotOn's software is geared toward full-service restaurants, quick-service restaurants, cafes, nightclubs, bars, and more.

Some of the top restaurant tools found in the SpotOn point-of-sale system include the backhouse menu builder, table layout generator, online ordering tools, employee clock-in system, and tableside ordering.

Insightful Reporting

Those who run successful businesses know how important data is. Luckily, most modern point-of-sale solutions offer support for extensive data reporting.

The SpotOn point-of-sale solution provides real-time data and insights that you won't find on many outdated point-of-sale solutions.

You can view time-based product trends, employee productivity, and inventory movement, all on an intuitive dashboard. The software even allows you to set up alerts to notify you of particular issues.

One of the other features we like about this point-of-sale software is the reporting app, as it allows you to access data from any iPhone mobile or Android mobile device, no matter where in the world you are.

Square's Best Features:

Third-Party Integrations

Square POS has a long list of third-party integrations that you can use to customize your system, and all of these integrations are part of the comprehensive app marketplace. You'll find all kinds of solutions, including invoicing, accounting tools, recurring billing tools, and more.

Square also offers a number of industry-specific integrations as well, including restaurant employee management tools or healthcare management tools. If your business has a developer on staff, you can use Square's APIs to create integrations that are customized to your business.

Inventory Management

Basic inventory management tools come free with your Square account, allowing you to intuitively control your inventory in a number of ways, making adjustments or adding items in a pinch.

However, with an upgrade to Square for Retail, you can track inventory from multiple locations and get an overview of your stock with more in-depth features, such as bulk order management, modifiers, stock conversions, and store transfers.

While the inventory management features found in SpotOn offer more than enough for the average retail shop to get by, they aren't nearly as streamlined as those from Square.

Square Appointments

Square Appointments is part of Square's specialized POS software. This solution evolved out of a basic scheduling app that the company introduced back in the day. Nowadays, it's an absolutely stellar application, perfect for linking transactions to your schedule, managing your bookings, sending out notifications, and more.

The Appointments app has flexible pricing and a wide range of features, including:

Card saving
Customer profiles
Invoices
Automated reminders
Google Calendar integration
Pre-payments
Tips and discounts
Client self-service

Customizable Dashboard

The customizable dashboard found on Square is undeniably one of its best features.

The Square dashboard is essentially the central hub, which controls everything from your employees to your customer data to your sales.

With full personalization, you can add unique widgets and get an overview of the data you need at the drop of a dime.

We love that it continuously updates with real-time analytics as well, helping you keep track of your inventory and marketing efforts day to day.

Loyalty programs

While Square's loyalty program features aren't integrated with the free version of the software, we highly recommend paying for them if they're relevant to your business. For $45 per month, you can start using one of Square's robust loyalty programs, which allow you to track large customer lists and data based on parameters like spending or visitation frequency, adjusting rewards levels along the way.

You can also use these loyalty program features to see what specific customers are purchasing in your store, allowing you to target them better with specific offers.

SpotOn Drawbacks:

One of the main drawbacks of SpotOn is its customer support. In fact, most complaints regarding SpotOn have to do with slow calls or not getting responses regarding system glitches or shutdowns. Customer support is not something people often think about when buying a POS system, though when you consider the fact that your POS system is the brain behind all of your data and operations, you want to make sure it is in good condition at all times.

Many user reviews point out the unnecessary complexity of some of SpotOn's features. The learning curve is higher than it needs to be, which can be a major disadvantage for businesses with a high employee turnover rate, as training new employees on a system can be time-consuming and mistakes can be costly.

Square Drawbacks:

While Square has strong reporting and analytics tools, the lack of customization can be frustrating for some business owners. You may want to streamline your data in a particular way, and with lengthy data exports and locked-in reporting functionality, the versatility isn't there.

Which is A Better Value?

Both of these POS solutions offer a great value for money, though their distinctive features make each better geared toward specific types of businesses.

If you run a small brick-and-mortar business, eCommerce business, or non-profit organization, Square POS is the better choice. It was designed for retailers, restaurants, and appointment-based businesses selling in-store and online.

On the other hand, if you're looking for an advanced POS solution with customizable, industry-specific features for restaurants, automotive, plumbing, and health and beauty businesses, SpotOn may be the better choice.