Epos Now is a UK-based point-of-sale (POS) company that caters to small and medium-sized businesses in both the hospitality (restaurant) and retail spaces.

It’s one of the UK’s fastest-growing POS companies and has built a loyal following over the last several years. Features include payment processing, inventory management, analytics, and customer management.

Epos Now also provides a number of integrations with third-party accounting and ecommerce tools (although these can incur extra charges) and a selection of affordable hardware packages. Users can also take advantage of 24/7 support, and assistance with onboarding.

The interfaces - for both the back and front offices - are also very intuitive and easy to use.

Overall, we were very impressed with Epos Now and would highly recommend it to businesses looking for their first point-of-sale system.

Octopus’ flagship product is a point of sale system of which there are two variations - one for retailers and one for restaurants. It’s strictly an iPad system and there aren’t any Android or in-house hardware options supported (if you’re not looking for an iPad system then you’ll need to go with an alternative provider). While the documentation still seems to show that the back-office is run on desktop software, at the time of writing, it looks like Octopus has shifted to a browser-based admin app.

Octopus has everything you would expect from a point-of-sale system, including inventory management tools, unlimited user accounts, an easy-to-use iPad app, limited CRM features, barcode scanning, analytics, and several promotional tools. Octopus also provides a number of “add-ons” (each for an additional cost) so that users can build an ecommerce store, take advantage of advanced analytics, or add more features to their CRM.

There are a few downsides, including limited online documentation, virtually no user community, few integrations, and the requirement to install multiple iOS apps to gain access to all functionality. It looks as though Octopus is still finding its feet as a POS, so it’s very likely that more features will be released as the company grows.

If you are thinking about opting for Octopus, make sure to take advantage of the free trial. Creating a new account is fast and easy.

Heartland Retail is a comprehensive point-of-sale system that is suitable for retailers of all sizes, with cost-effective plans for smaller companies and custom packages for larger enterprises. Custom plans come with an array of high-level features like custom user interface branding, training accounts, and location access controls.

Heartland also puts a lot of emphasis on metrics. It has one of the most in-depth analytics platforms we’ve seen in a point-of-sale system, with real-time data and daily summaries.

Users can also take advantage of robust inventory management and customer relationship management tools, along with a dedicated package of features for retail buyers.

On the negative side, the integrations library is a little sparse and payment processing costs are worked out on a per-user basis.

Clover POS is a comprehensive point-of-sale system that’s aimed largely at small and medium-sized retailers. That said, enterprise plans are available on a custom basis. Businesses can choose from four dedicated products: “Table Service”, “Counter Service”, “Retail”, and “Service”.

Clover operates a slightly unique pricing model when compared to competitors. It’s not an iPad POS. Instead, Clover offers a range of in-house hardware packages, its own payment processor, and a relatively inexpensive monthly subscription for its software.

Overall, we thought that Clover was an intuitive, well-designed, and feature-rich solution. There are a few downsides, however. These include additional costs for integrations, lack of compatibility with third-party payment processors, and the requirement to use only Clover hardware solutions.

Revel POS is an iPad point-of-sale solution that’s aimed largely at small businesses in the catering space. It’s used by restaurants, coffee shops, food delivery services, and so on. Revel also offers a dedicated retail solution.

Revel was one of the earliest iPad POS platforms and the feature-kit is reasonably robust. Users have access to everything they need, including payment processing, inventory and employee management, analytics, a wide library of integrations, and a number of reasonably-priced and well-designed hardware packages.

The big downside is the cost. Cheaper small business solutions are available and there are a number of “hidden” costs, such as for use of the API and mobile inventory management app.

Square for Retail is Square’s dedicated point of sale system (POS) for brick-and-mortar retailers. It is offered alongside several other solutions, including Square for Restaurants and Square Appointments (for appointment-based service businesses). This review will focus on the retail option.

Square for Retail has everything you would expect from a point of sale system, including built-in payment processing, integrations with ecommerce platforms, inventory management, a good (if slightly expensive) selection of hardware options, and a fairly comprehensive analytics dashboard.

Notably, Square offers what is perhaps one of the best free plans on the market, although users will have to pay for hardware and the ability to add additional team members at $35 per location.

Square’s fee structure is also relatively straightforward. If you’re not on the free plan, you will pay $60 for each location (with unlimited staff numbers and permissions) and a transaction fee of 2.5% plus ten cents. This is very competitive when compared to other processors, although you will pay slightly more on the free plan. If you run a larger store, with sales above $250,000 annually, you qualify for a custom pricing package.

On the negative side, we would have liked to have seen more third-party integrations, cheaper hardware (many competitor plans include a free card reader), and deeper levels of functionality in some areas.

All in all, however, Square offers an inexpensive and easy-to-use system for small and medium retailers that don’t want the hassle of having to navigate a more complex app. There is also the option to integrate with Square’s ecommerce platform if you don’t already have an online store.

Shopify POS is a point-of-sale system included as part of Shopify’s broader ecommerce package. Retailers that are looking to build an online store will find it a particularly attractive solution. If, however, you already have an ecommerce store with another provider, you should keep in mind that it’s not possible to purchase Shopify POS as a standalone solution.

On the features front, Shopify POS has everything you would expect, including a built-in payments processor, a wide assortment of integrations, intuitive back-office and register dashboards, user permissions, barcode scanning, and more.

It’s also a very well-priced solution, especially when you take into account the extensive feature-set and associated ecommerce platform.

Shopkeep is a point-of-sale and payment processing solution aimed at smaller businesses, with dedicated solutions for retailers, restaurants, coffee shops, food trucks, bars and more.

It has everything you would expect in a POS system, including an easy-to-use register, comprehensive back-office, in-depth analytics platform, staff permissions, support for an unlimited number of items, inventory management tools, and a solid customer support package. Shopkeep also offers its own payment processing service, Shopkeep payments, and users will be tied to this service as no alternatives are available.

The one big downside is that Shopkeep only offers a very limited number of integrations - with MailChimp, BigCommerce and Quickbooks.

Lightspeed Retail is a cloud-based, operating-system-agnostic point-of-sale system that’s aimed at small and medium-sized businesses. Lightspeed also offers dedicated solutions for restaurants and golf clubs. This review focuses on the point-of-sale system for brick-and-mortar retail outlets.

Overall, we thought that Lightspeed was a solid piece of software. It combines a well-designed (if occasionally clunky) back-office interface with feature-rich item management, excellent customer support, and in-depth analytics.

On the downside, we were dismayed by the lack of integrations with other inventory management and ecommerce platforms. If you’re looking for a solution that will connect seamlessly with your existing online store or inventory tools, then Lightspeed probably won’t meet your needs.

Vend is a POS (point-of-sale) and inventory management system aimed at small and medium-sized retailers, although larger custom plans for enterprises are available. New users can take advantage of a free trial.

It’s a popular, feature-rich solution that offers extensive functionality alongside its point-of-sale features. In particular, retailers have access to inventory management tools that sync with their existing online stores and third-party marketplace listings. An advanced analytics dashboard is also included.

Vend is suitable for mobile POS and integrates with a large number of third-party payment processors. It doesn’t offer its own native payment processor but users aren’t charged any additional fees.