Lightspeed vs Square POS
Features, use cases, pros and cons, and pricing side by side — and which one to pick.
Best for: Multi-channel retailers selling in-store, online, and on social platforms, Apparel, footwear, and home decor stores
Read the full Lightspeed reviewBest for: New businesses and first-time sellers who want a working point of sale with no upfront software cost., Pop-up vendors, market stalls, and mobile sellers who need to accept payments on the spot with minimal setup.
Read the full Square POS reviewCommission may apply at no extra cost
Lightspeed vs Square POS: features compared
Compare key features side by side
Feature Comparison Summary
Which should you choose?
Choose Lightspeed if
- You sell in-store, online, and on social from one system.
- You need vertical tools for apparel, bike, garden, or CBD shops.
- You want 24/7 chat and phone support on every plan.
Choose Square POS if
- You're a small shop needing a simple checkout setup.
- You prefer usage-based or one-time payment options.
Lightspeed vs Square POS: pros and cons
Lightspeed
Lightspeed Retail pulls in-store, online, and Meta selling into one system, with workflows tailored to verticals like bike, garden, and vape shops. Base plans run $89–$289 monthly, but register and location add-ons require a sales quote. Overall, it's a strong pick for multi-channel retailers in supported verticals who don't mind a sales-led buying process.
Pros
- One system handles in-store, online, and Meta social selling, so inventory and sales data stay synced without duplicate entry.
- Workflows are tailored to specific verticals—bike shops get vendor catalog imports for work orders with special-order parts, and CBD/vape stores get compliance-minded selling tools.
- NuORDER catalog integration with PO Sync dramatically cuts purchase-order busywork — customers report 80% less PO data entry and 10x faster purchase-order handling.
Cons
- There's no free plan, and the jump to Plus at $289/month is steep for single-location shops that only occasionally need forecasting, API access, or custom roles—all of which are locked to that tier.
- Additional registers and extra locations cost extra, and those prices aren't published anywhere, so you must get a sales quote to know your true monthly total.
- No refund or money-back terms are published, and the pricing page notes that prices can vary with additional service fees depending on your business type and industry.
Square POS
Square POS bundles payments, inventory, and sales analytics in one system that's ready in minutes, and the free plan means you can start without spending a dime. It's built to grow with you, though card fees rise with sales and top tiers get pricey. Overall, it's a smart first pick for small and growing sellers.
Pros
- The core point of sale starts at $0/month, so new sellers face no upfront software cost.
- Setup takes minutes rather than weeks, making it practical for pop-ups and businesses that need to start selling immediately.
- Payments, inventory tracking, and sales analytics are unified in one platform instead of requiring separate tools.
Cons
- Card processing is usage-based, so per-transaction fees scale with sales volume and can become significant for high-volume sellers.
- Square's plan range is extremely wide — from $0 to $56,227/month — so businesses with complex needs need to budget carefully to avoid paying for capabilities they do not use.
- Hardware such as readers and registers typically involves one-time purchases on top of the software subscription.
Lightspeed and Square POS in detail
Lightspeed
Lightspeed is a point of sale and commerce platform, with Lightspeed Retail as its flagship for retailers. It's built for businesses that sell in more than one place—stores, websites, and social platforms like Meta. The company targets specific verticals: apparel, footwear, bike shops, garden centers, home decor, sporting goods, CBD, and vape. It serves businesses in over 100 countries, from single-location shops to brands like Apricot Lane, which runs 115 stores on it.
Standout features
- Sell everywhere from one platform
- Tailored to what you sell
- Inventory tools that scale with you
- Purchase orders without the busywork
- Payments and support that back you up
Use cases
- Multi-location brands standardizing stores on one system of record
- Bike and sporting goods shops with service departments
- CBD and vape shops that need compliance-minded selling
- Garden centers managing seasonal and perishable stock
Square POS
Square POS is a point of sale platform that combines card readers, registers, and POS software in one system. It processes transactions, tracks inventory, and analyzes sales data from the same dashboard. The platform serves a wide range of business types, from a single-counter shop to multi-location and specialized operations, and Square sells both the software plans and the supporting hardware.
Standout features
- Accept Almost Any Payment Method
- Inventory Tracking
- Sales Analytics and Reporting
- Fast, Low-Friction Setup
- Built to Scale
Use cases
- New and Small Businesses
- Retail Shops
- Cafés, Food Stalls, and Pop-Ups
- Growing Multi-Location Businesses
Pricing compared
List prices from each vendor's pricing page, before taxes and add-ons. Costs are per month.
| Pricing compared | Lightspeed | Square POS |
|---|---|---|
| From (cheapest paid plan) | $89/mo Basic | $10/mo Start running your business with Square |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Not stated |
| Money-back guarantee | Not stated | Not stated |
| Annual billing savings | — | — |
| Pricing model | Flat price | Flat price |
| Cost for 1 user | $89/mo Basic plan, billed monthly | FreeCheaper Cash or check plan, billed monthly |
| Cost for 5 users | $89/mo Basic plan, billed monthly · price per account (user limit not stated) | $10/mo Start running your business with Square plan, billed monthly · price per account (user limit not stated) |
| Cost for 10 users | $89/mo Basic plan, billed monthly · price per account (user limit not stated) | $10/mo Start running your business with Square plan, billed monthly · price per account (user limit not stated) |
| Cost for 25 users | $89/mo Basic plan, billed monthly · price per account (user limit not stated) | $10/mo Start running your business with Square plan, billed monthly · price per account (user limit not stated) |
| Plans | 3 | 7 |
| Prices checked | Checked Oct 13, 2026 | Checked Oct 13, 2026 |
| Price history | Tracking prices since Oct 9, 2026. No price change detected yet. | Tracking prices since Oct 1, 2026. No price change detected yet. |
- Cheapest plan that fits each team size. Per-user plans are multiplied by the number of users (respecting stated minimums and seat packs). Plans that include some users cost their base price plus the extra-user price for each user beyond those included. Flat-priced plans with no stated user limit are counted as one licence per user.
Cheaper for your team size
For 1 user (billed monthly), Square POS costs $0/mo vs Lightspeed at $89/mo.
- Only Square POS has a free plan.
Computed from published list prices on the dates shown. Excludes taxes, add-ons and promotions.
More comparisons
Frequently Asked Questions
Which tool is better for growing retailers?
Lightspeed has documented multi-store scale, with customers running 115 stores and 10,000+ SKUs. Square's scale details aren't published here, so Lightspeed is the safer pick for complex retail growth.