Square Retail vs. Shopkeep

Looking for Point of Sale software? Here's how Square Retail and Shopkeep stack up.

Mark Hammersley

Mark Hammersley

Last updated 10o September 2020


Square Retail

3.8  Stackupp rating


Pricing from

$ 60.00 / month

Free Plan?

Yes


Best for

small and medium-sized businesses that are looking for an intuitive interface and a straightforward pricing model.

Shopkeep

3.4  Stackupp rating


Pricing from

$ 49.00 / month

Free Plan?

No


Best for

small brick-and-mortar retailers and those in the food and drinks sector.

Square Retail or Shopkeep: Which is best?

Can't decide between Square Retail and Shopkeep?

Find the best platform for you with our side by side comparison of Square Retail and Shopkeep. See how each platform stacks up across ease of use, features, integrations, support and value for money.

Let the comparison begin. Don't worry, we'll guide you.

Is Square Retail right for you?

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.

Advantages

  • Easy and straightforward to use.
  • Transparent pricing structure.
  • Excellent free plan.

Drawbacks

  • Lack of integrations.
  • Expensive hardware.
  • Limited functionality in some areas.

you’re a small or medium-sized retailer looking for a solution that won’t require large amounts of time and resources to set up. You just need to be wary of purchasing Square’s complete hardware package, which costs $799.

Is Shopkeep right for you?

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.

Advantages

  • Easy-to-use register and back-office interfaces.
  • 24/7 customer support.
  • Affordable pricing options.

Drawbacks

  • Store-owners have to use Shopkeep’s in-house solution for payment processing.
  • Limited number of integrations.
  • Lack of onboarding and one-on-one support.

you’re a small, independent retailer or involved in the food sector (restaurant, bar, food truck, etc.). It’s an easy-to-use, comprehensive solution that will provide you with all the tools you need to manage your inventory.

Ease of Use

Our first comparison criteria, ease of use. Why? Because it’s the most important.

Think about it. You don’t want to invest a lot of your precious time setting up an online store and tweaking the design only to find out that it’s a pain in the butt to manage day to day.

We take a look at how simple the Square Retail and Shopkeep platforms are to run.

How easy is Square Retail to use?

Rated 5/5 for Ease of Use

Square for Retail is very easy to use. Everything from the back-office dashboard to the “smart” store builder is designed to streamline the process of taking and managing payments.

The POS register, which is usually accessed via an iOS tablet or Square’s in-house register, follows a typical block format, with an area that displays individual products and categories, a checkout box, and additional options like discounts, gift cards, popular items, and so on. It’s also possible to use your tablet to receive tips, send email receipts, check inventory at different locations, and so on.

The back-office is also designed in a traditional way, with a left-hand sidebar providing access to dedicated areas for managing sales, analytics and tracking, employee permissions, and more.

What Square Retail customers are saying...

“Square is a great product that is a wonderful tool for small businesses and nonprofits like ours.
“It operates just like your mind works. It is so logical.”
“I liked that it was a convenient way to accept payments anywhere via my mobile cell phone through the Square App.”

How easy is Shopkeep to use?

Rated 4/5 for Ease of Use

Shopkeep is extremely easy to use, and inexperienced retailers in particular will have no trouble managing their inventory and processing orders.

The register screen, which is designed to run on an iPad (although you can buy a stationary register from Clover which is compatible with Shopkeep) follows a standard format, with block item listings, a button for saving sales for later, and “cash” or “credit” options. Further functionality is available from a side menu. The back-office dashboard is also very intuitive. A left-hand sidebar displays tabs to dedicated areas for analytics, inventory (items), marketing tools, staff permissions, and settings. The home-page also provides a “birds-eye” view of your business and shows important metrics like sales and transactions.

The one downside on the usability front is that dedicated onboarding and one-on-one support isn’t available on all plans, although you may be able to add this to your package when you speak to Shopkeep (all subscriptions are on a custom basis). That said, user reviews tend to state that setting up was straightforward, despite the lack of tailored customer service.

What Shopkeep customers are saying...

"I know this sounds crazy but I really don't have any negatives with this system."
"It was fairly simple to set up and use and fairly easy to train people on the system."
"This software was very easy to set up, update and use. "
Square Retail is our winner for ease of use

Square Retail Features

Rated 4/5 for Features

Square for Retail has a fairly comprehensive feature-set and comes with everything you would expect from a point-of-sale system. Keep in mind that you will only have access to all features on the $60/month “Plus” package. The free plan provides only limited functionality.

Square back-office is a browser-based app. The register interface is accessed via an iPad or the Square register. Support for Android tablets is not provided, but you can download a feature-limited Android app to take mobile payments.

Checkout features include saved carts, barcode scanning via the iPad camera or Square register, discounts, item searches, and exchanges. Payment functionality, which works on a straightforward, transparent fee structure, comprises next-day transfers, invoices, and both physical and digital gift cards.

You won’t find anything lacking on the inventory management front, either. Tools include unlimited products, low stock alerts, bulk inventory uploads, barcode printing, and more.

If you decide to use Square’s in-house ecommerce solution, you will also have access to a user-friendly store builder, automated inventory syncing, and integration with Instagram.

Finally, analytics reports cover sales, profit margins, vendor sales, and total costs.

Shopkeep Features

Rated 3.5/5 for Features

Shopkeep offers more or less everything you would expect to find in a point-of-sale system. Features include inventory management, payment processing, barcode scanning, hardware packages, support for gift cards and loyalty programs, and discount options.

Both the browser-based back-office and iPad register dashboards are intuitive and easy-to-use, and set-up is generally very straightforward. This point has been confirmed by numerous user reviews online.

What’s more, Shopkeep offers in-depth analytics - though larger retailers may be looking for more advanced functionality - along with user permissions. There is no cap on the number of items or users that can be added to the system. Retailers can also take advantage of a “pocket” mobile app for keeping on top of sales.

Shopkeep is primarily an iPad system, so you will need to keep this in mind when thinking about your hardware set-up. That said, you can purchase a register kit from Clover, thus removing the need for an iPad, but this will incur additional costs.

The one big downside when it comes to features is the limited integrations library. Only three are provided - Quickbooks, Mailchimp, and BigCommerce. If you’re looking to build a fully-integrated tech stack, then you will have to look elsewhere.

Square Retail is our winner for features

Square Retail Integrations

Rated 2.5/5 for Integrations

Integrations represent one area where Square could have performed better. If you’re looking for a POS system that syncs up seamlessly with your existing tech stack, you may be forced to look elsewhere. That said, Square does provide a small package of integrations, so you may find what you’re looking for. A Zapier integration is also available, so you can sync up with most apps, albeit with limited functionality.

Square performs best in the area of accounting and tax, where a large selection of integrations is offered, including Quickbooks, Xero, Shogo, Kahoo, OneUp, ZohoBooks, and more. A small number of connectors with analytics, team management, and restaurant apps are provided.

Square’s online payment processing tool also integrates with most well-known ecommerce platforms like WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, and so on.

Shopkeep Integrations

Rated 2/5 for Integrations

There isn’t a great deal to discuss when it comes to integrations. Shopkeep offers far fewer connectors than competing platforms. If you’re looking for a point-of-sale system that syncs seamlessly with your existing tech stack, then you will have to look elsewhere. For brick-and-mortar retailers (and restaurateurs) that operate mostly out of a single or multiple stores, this is unlikely to be a problem. If, however, you have a large online presence and rely on several apps, you won’t find the functionality you need.

Furthermore, no intermediary apps are supported, so you won’t be able to connect up your stack by using third-party tools like Zapier.

The one exception to this is if you run your store on BigCommerce, and are happy to use this platform as your primary hub for integrations. Still, some manual data input may be required.

In terms of the integrations on offer, Shopkeep syncs with Quickbooks, MailChimp, and BigCommerce. Shopkeep stipulates that users can build their own “ecommerce store”, but you will have to purchase a separate BigCommerce package in order to take advantage of this feature.

If you are looking for a slimmed-down solution, however, and only need access to accounting and mailing list functionality along with your own store, then Shopkeep provides a straightforward, high-quality solution.

Square Retail is our winner for integrations

How much do they cost?

Everyone’s favourite topic - pricing. Let's dive in to see if Square Retail or Shopkeep offers better value for money.

How much does Square Retail cost?

Rated 4/5 for Pricing

Square has a straightforward, competitive pricing structure. We consider the free plan to be one of the best available to small and medium retailers. Three plans are offered: “Free”, “Plus”, and “Premium”.

The free plan is ideal for small shops and comes with a limited number of features. If you want to add extra team members, you will have to pay $35/month per store. The “Plus” plan, which most users will opt for, costs $60/month per location and includes the full feature-set and discounted payment processing fees.

Finally, the “Premium” plan, which is geared towards larger enterprises, operates on a custom pricing model and is available to sellers turning over in excess of $250,000 a month.

How much does Shopkeep cost?

Rated 4/5 for Pricing

Shopkeep works on a custom pricing model and you will need to get in touch with the company to discuss your needs. From our own research, we found that plans begin at around $49/month, with additional costs for extra registers. Remember that this is a solution tailored to smaller businesses.

Shopkeep has an in-house payment processing solution which charges 2.5% per transaction and an additional ten-cent processing fee. This isn’t bad by any means, but we would have liked to have seen greater support for third-party services. A free terminal is included in all plans.

Shopkeep also offers an iPad-compatible hardware kit. Like the POS plans, pricing is unique to each customer.

It's a draw!

Help and Support

If things go wrong (and they often do) you need to know someone’s there to help get you back on track. So, how does Square Retail's and Shopkeep's support measure up?

How good is Square Retail support?

Rated 3.5/5 for Help and Support

Square customer support is available via phone, email, live chat, and social media. Users also have access to extensive documentation and an active seller community.

User reviews of the quality and speed of support are mixed, with many users talking positively about helpful staff and fast response times but complaining about receiving generic answers.

There are no custom onboarding packages, although the ease of setting up largely removes the need for them.

How good is Shopkeep support?

Rated 3.5/5 for Help and Support

Shopkeep offers a streamlined but high-quality support package. Customer service is available 24/7, 365 days a year, via email. Extensive documentation and training materials are also offered to help users make the most of the platform.

While dedicated onboarding support isn’t advertised, it may be possible to purchase this when discussing your plan. No community support is provided.

It's a draw!

The Bottom Line

The final say. Let's wrap up our thoughts on each platform.

Square Retail: Our Verdict

Overall, we were very impressed with Square. It’s one of the easiest-to-use platforms we reviewed, and the “forever free” plan is arguably the best on the market. Small and medium-sized retailers that are looking for a streamlined, straightforward solution with transparent pricing will find a lot to like. The only real downsides are the limited integrations library and the expensive hardware, although this won’t be a problem if you’re using an iPad.

Larger store-owners will likely require more extensive functionality, especially when it comes to analytics and integrations. Nonetheless, it is still worth getting in touch to discuss options if you’re generating sales of over $250,000 per month.

Shopkeep: Our Verdict

Overall, we were very impressed with Shopkeep. It’s a compact, well-designed, and cost-effective platform that’s aimed squarely at the small business market. Dedicated solutions for restaurants, food trucks, bars, and coffee shops, along with an option for retailers, make it an attractive solution to companies in these sectors.

The options to create an ecommerce store and sync up with Quickbooks and MailChimp are also added bonuses.

The one downside was the limited number of integrations. If you’re not looking for an extensive integrations library, then Shopkeep is definitely worth considering. If, on the other hand, you want a solution that will sync with your existing tech stack, along with providing the ability to use third-party payment processors, then you should consider alternatives.

Overall, we found Square Retail to be the better Point of Sale platform.

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