Talech vs. Vend

Looking for Point of Sale software? Here's how Talech and Vend stack up.

Mark Hammersley

Mark Hammersley

Last updated 22o October 2020


Talech

4.1  Stackupp rating


Pricing from

$ 29.00 / month

Free Plan?

No


Best for

companies of all sizes, with competitive plans for retailers, restaurants, and service-based businesses.

Vend

4.0  Stackupp rating


Pricing from

$ 99.00 / month

Free Plan?

Trial


Best for

small and medium-sized brick-and-mortar retailers that require access to inventory management tools and want to sync data from their ecommerce store automatically.

Talech or Vend: Which is best?

Can't decide between Talech and Vend?

Find the best platform for you with our side by side comparison of Talech and Vend. 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 Talech right for you?

Talech is a point-of-sale system that’s suitable for businesses of all sizes, from small mom-and-pop retailers all the way up to large multi-store enterprises. Users have access to an extensive feature-set at a competitive price-point.

Features include inventory management, order processing, employee tracking and permission settings, customer management, analytics, and a comprehensive support package. Most plans allow for unlimited products and users (although additional devices will increase the monthly subscription cost), loyalty and gift-card tools, and limited ecommerce functionality. If you opt for Talech, you’ll be able to choose from a number of hardware options and payment processors via well-known gateways like USA ePay and Ingenico.

On the downside, Talech doesn’t have a large library of integrations. That said, it is compatible with a small handful of the more popular accounting, ecommerce, and marketing apps. What’s more, some features which might be considered essential are only available on the premium plan.

Advantages

  • Large feature-set.
  • Competitively priced.
  • Excellent 24/7 customer support package.

Drawbacks

  • Small integrations library.
  • Costs can quickly add up for additional devices.
  • Some important features are only available on the top-tier plan.

you’re a retailer, service-based business, or restaurant based in the USA, Canada, or the UK. It’s a feature-rich solution with an intuitive interface and competitive monthly subscription options.

Is Vend right for you?

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.

Advantages

  • Cloud-based solution, so retailers aren’t restricted by their operating system.
  • Easy-to-use interface.
  • 14-day trial and good support.

Drawbacks

  • No native payment processing option.
  • While the feature-kit is very good, large enterprises may need more advanced tools.
  • Limited employee permission settings.

you’re a small or medium-sized retailer looking for an easy-to-use, feature-rich point-of-sale system for your brick-and-mortar outlet that comes with excellent customer support.

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 Talech and Vend platforms are to run.

How easy is Talech to use?

Rated 4/5 for Ease of Use

Talech is a cloud solution with two separate interfaces - the browser-based back office, and the terminal display which is accessible on an iPad or similar tablet device.

Both are fairly easy to use. They’re not the most intuitive we’ve come across, but they’re by no means the worst.

The terminal follows a typical design, with a pop-up sidebar with tabs to areas for processing sales, checking past orders, running reports, and accessing customer details. The checkout page is equally straightforward, with visual product icons and options to split payments, add discounts and gift cards, use store credit, and more.

The back office, which is also accessible from the tablet display, features a horizontal banner menu with links to dedicated dashboards for analytics, inventory management, employee settings, customer accounts, and support.

The interface is perfectly suitable for users without any previous experience using a point-of-sale system. What’s more, Talech offers a number of onboarding and training packages.

What Talech customers are saying...

"Easy to use many choices to choose from equipment-wise and their support is amazing well worth it."
"Makes it easy for customers to check out faster."
"Easy to navigate, fairly straightforward."

How easy is Vend to use?

Rated 4/5 for Ease of Use

Vend scored very well for ease-of-use on all devices, including desktops, iPads, and mobiles. The central dashboard, which links to dedicated areas for reporting, sales, product management, and saved customer details, is minimal and intuitive. Vend integrates with multiple hardware and checkout providers and also provides a customer-facing interface (such as for entering email addresses).

What Vend customers are saying...

“I love Vend. It’s one of the easiest platforms to use, and I have used a lot.”
“Absolutely love the ease of use of Vend.”
“Great easy to use systems on the front-end.”
It's a draw!

Talech Features

Rated 4.5/5 for Features

Talech offers a broad selection of features. With the possible exception of the integrations library, users will have all the functionality they need to run a smooth, customizable point-of-sale system, manage their employees, and keep track of sales and performance metrics. A mobile app, and multiple hardware solutions, are available.

Talech also offers several features that set it apart from other solutions, including customer self-order kiosks, “house accounts”, and 24/7 support. Most plans allow for an unlimited number of users and products.

Inventory management tools include variable-priced products, stock tracking, automated low-inventory alerts, barcode scanning, and supplier management.

In terms of sales and orders, the checkout terminal enables users to add discounts, split payments, exchange items, process gift cards, and email and text receipts. The analytics tools are equally comprehensive, with the option to download auto-generated reports and employee timesheets.

Finally, it is also possible to store customer details and track activity through the customer management dashboard.

Vend Features

Rated 4/5 for Features

Vend has an excellent set of features and, most store-owners and managers will find everything they need. Vend provides integrations with various payment processors, a simple, easy-to-use dashboard and sales interface, secure cloud back-ups, an outstanding customer service package, support for promotions, gift cards, and product variations, and in-depth analytics.

As a cloud-based solution, Vend will run on Windows, Android, iOS, and macOS. Vend also integrates with a wide variety of hardware suppliers. A dedicated app means that mobile devices and iPads can be used to create ePOS (electronic point of sale) stations in conjunction with a main register.

Centralized management of multiple retail outlets and advanced analytics are available on the “Pro” and “Enterprise” plans. Users on the “Lite” plan have access to a limited set of analytics tools.

It’s worth pointing out that while Vend brands itself as an “inventory management” app, its functionality in this area is only really suitable for brick-and-mortar stores. If you need to manage inventory and fulfillment for your ecommerce store, you should look for a dedicated inventory management solution. Vend is perfectly suitable, however, for managing in-store inventory. What’s more, it will integrate with many of your other retail channels, allowing for the seamless flow of data between platforms.

Talech is our winner for features

Talech Integrations

Rated 3/5 for Integrations

Talech doesn’t perform overly well when it comes to native integrations.

Most syncing options are made possible through OneSaaS, a third-party app that allows users to connect with platforms like QuickBooks, Xero, Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and others. Using OneSaas, however, may incur extra costs depending on your plan. A handful of kitchen display screen (KDS) integrations is provided.

Talech is also compatible with most payment processors via gateways like USAePay, Ingenico, and Elavon.

For most retailers and other businesses, this integration kit will be sufficient. If, however, you want to build a fully-synced tech stack that connects with all your apps, then you will likely need to look elsewhere.

Vend Integrations

Rated 3.5/5 for Integrations

Vend offers a good - but not mind-blowing - selection of integrations. Some users have complained that the integrations or “add-on” library could be more extensive. That said, small and medium retailers will likely find everything they need. Just be sure to check that any integrations you absolutely require are included before you subscribe to a paid plan. It was also a little unfortunate that Vend hasn’t built a connector for Zapier, which would have overcome many of the shortcomings of the current library (although a similar app, Workato, is supported).

So what does Vend offer? On the accounting front, users can link up to QuickBooks (online version), Xero, MYOB, and Accounts Portal.

Supported ecommerce platforms include BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Shopify, Ecwid, Pointy, Near St, and Magento (through Vortex HQ). You can also connect Vend with some ecommerce platforms using ShopIQ as an intermediary (if you have an account and want to take advantage of its omnichannel analytics tools). As Vend doesn’t offer direct integrations with third-party marketplaces (like Etsy, eBay, and Amazon), data must be processed by your ecommerce platform or your inventory management solution before syncing. Inventory management integrations include Unleashed, Ecomdash, and Orderhive.

Finally, Vend offers a handful of marketing, scheduling, and deep analytics (including Vonto and 9Spokes) integrations. For enterprises, NetSuite is supported. Link-ups with other leading ERPs are currently in development.

Vend is our winner for integrations

How much do they cost?

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

How much does Talech cost?

Rated 4/5 for Pricing

Talech is among the more competitively-priced solutions that we’ve reviewed. This does come with a few caveats, however.

The “Starter” plan is $29/month and allows for five users and one hundred products. Features are significantly limited on this package and users don’t have access to advanced reporting, loyalty options, or integrations. The mid-tier “Standard” plan, which costs $69/month, will be necessary for most businesses. All but a handful of features are included in this package. The “Premium” subscription, which comes in at $99/month, provides access to all features, including inventory alerts, advanced checkout options (like split orders), and automatic gratuities.

All of this in mind, potential users should be aware of a few “hidden” costs. Additional devices cost an extra $29/month on all plans. On the “Starter” and “Standard” subscriptions, use of gift-cards is $19/month and you’ll have to pay $49/month for ecommerce features (although they are offered free of any extra charges in the “Premium” package). Integrations may also incur extra costs.

Finally, there is a dedicated enterprise option which runs on a custom pricing model.

How much does Vend cost?

Rated 4/5 for Pricing

Vend has a reasonably competitive pricing model. Smaller retailers with a low number of registers will find the pricing reasonable. For larger brands, however, with multiple locations and sales-points, expenses can quickly add up. It costs an extra $59/month to add cash registers. That said, the “Enterprise” plan, which is offered on a custom pricing model, is worth exploring.

There are three plans - Lite, Pro, and Enterprise. The Lite plan is suitable for stores with up to $20,000 in turnover a month. Pro and Enterprise allow for unlimited turnover.

Notably, Vend doesn’t charge any fees on top of those required by payment processing providers.

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 Talech's and Vend's support measure up?

How good is Talech support?

Rated 5/5 for Help and Support

Talech scores highly for “help and support”, with a 24/7 phone and email service for all users. Additional training for new subscribers is also available, including a “Getting Started” package and help for restaurants when first uploading their menus.

Reviews of support from existing users are generally very good.

How good is Vend support?

Rated 4.5/5 for Help and Support

Vend really shines when it comes to customer support. The Vend customer service team, which has won multiple awards and has offices around the world, is available via email or in-app live-chat. Phone support is also offered on all plans.

Dedicated onboarding assistance and a personal account manager are both included on the “Enterprise” plan. Users can also pay extra for one-on-one training, with several service packages available). There’s also the option to search for a local Vend specialist to help with hardware installation and account setup.

Finally, Vend offers a wide selection of training materials, including webinars, courses, and in-depth documentation.

Talech is our winner for support

The Bottom Line

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

Talech: Our Verdict

Overall, we were very impressed with Talech. It’s a reliable, feature-rich solution that’s suitable for businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re responsible for a one-person cafe or a chain of large retail outlets, you’ll find everything you need to run an efficient point-of-sale system.

The main issues to be aware of are the additional costs for extra devices, which may be a problem for restaurants in particular if they require multiple registers, and the limited integrations library. Remember to sign up for a free demo before purchasing a subscription.

Vend: Our Verdict

Overall, we were very impressed with Vend. As a POS system, it’s reasonably priced, has a good selection of features, and is very intuitive and easy to use.

It’s best for small and medium brick-and-mortar retailers. So if you fit into this category, it’s well worth taking advantage of the free trial. It’s also a good option for sellers that have an online presence and want a POS that will sync with their ecommerce stores and inventory management apps.

There are a small handful of downsides, including a somewhat limited integrations library, the absence of a native payment processor (although most popular third-party options are supported), and limited enterprise features, such employee permissions. Most retailers won’t find these drawbacks to be an issue, but they should be considered when evaluating the software.

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

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