Original research · Official vendor pages only
Global POS Pricing Transparency Index 2026
5 of 7 POS products surveyed (71%) publish at least a starting software price a buyer can use without contacting sales. Only four publish exact plan amounts. This index measures disclosure—not product quality, processing cost, hardware cost, or suitability.
Read 2026-09-20 · 7 products · CC BY 4.0
7
Products audited
4
Exact-price pages
71%
At least a starting price
2
Quote-only pages
The dataset
| Vendor / product | Market | Disclosure | Published price | Important caveat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Square: Square POS | General / retail / services | Exact list price | $0, $49, or $149 per location/month | Processing, hardware, and optional products are separate; high-volume custom pricing is available. |
| Shopify: Shopify POS | Omnichannel retail | Exact list price | Shopify plan from $39/month; POS Pro adds $89/location/month | The total also includes transaction fees, hardware, and the underlying Shopify plan. |
| Lightspeed: Retail POS X-Series | Retail | Exact list price | $89 Basic, $149 Core, or $289 Plus per month | The page says prices can vary; extra-location and extra-register amounts are not displayed. |
| Loyverse: Loyverse POS | Small retail / restaurant | Exact list price | Core POS free; add-ons $9 or $25 per store/month | Payment processing depends on an external integration and taxes are excluded. |
| TouchBistro: TouchBistro POS | Restaurants | Starting price | POS from $69/month; hardware bundle from $119/month | Hardware, processing, add-ons, and additional fees can apply; advanced setup is quoted. |
| Toast: Toast POS | Restaurants | Quote only | Demo / sales contact; no buyer-usable amount in the public page reviewed | The page is labelled pricing, but the public content reviewed did not expose a software amount. |
| Oracle: Simphony POS | Enterprise hospitality | Quote only | Contact sales / request a demo | Oracle describes monthly plans and $1 hardware options but publishes no software amount. |
Method and definitions
- Exact: named software plans show an amount and billing unit.
- Starting: an entry amount is public but the final package depends on quoted components.
- Quote only: the public path provides no buyer-usable software amount.
- US-facing official pages were read on 20 September 2026. Affiliate rankings, reseller prices, search snippets, discounts, and private quotes were excluded.
What the headline price omits
A POS invoice commonly combines software, payment processing, terminals, printers, scanners, locations, registers, staff tools, inventory add-ons, integrations, onboarding, support, and tax. This survey records what is public; it does not normalize those different commercial models into a misleading single league table.
For ownership arithmetic, read the three-year custom POS comparison. For a scoped system, see custom POS development.
Frequently asked questions
Which POS systems publish prices?
Square, Shopify POS, Lightspeed Retail, and Loyverse publish exact amounts in this sample; TouchBistro publishes a starting price. Toast and Oracle Simphony did not expose a buyer-usable software amount on the pages reviewed.
Is advertised POS pricing the total cost?
Usually not. Processing, hardware, locations, registers, integrations, add-ons, onboarding, support, and tax can be separate.
Reuse policy
This dataset is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Quote, chart, or reuse it with a link to this page and the survey date.
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