Lightspeed Retail Pricing 2026: Basic, Core, Plus and Payments

Lightspeed Retail costs $89 a month on Basic, $149 on Core and $289 on Plus with annual billing, or $109, $179 and $339 paid month to month. Each plan includes one register, each extra register adds $59 a month, and in-person card payments through Lightspeed Payments cost 2.6% + 10¢. Enterprise is quoted. Prices were read on Lightspeed's US retail pricing page on 18 October 2026.

Our view: the subscription is the smaller half of a Lightspeed bill. For a store taking $30,000 a month in card sales, processing runs to nearly ten times the Basic fee, so the plan you pick matters less than the rate you pay on every tap. This page lays out each tier, the register and location charges that scale the bill, what the higher plans add, and what one store pays against Square and Shopify POS.

Toolradar data: Lightspeed is the #18 most-listed alternative among the 176 inventory management tools tracked on Toolradar, the software directory we run, as of October 2026, and 11 of the 35 POS tools in Toolradar's POS statistics have a free plan. Lightspeed is not one of them: there is no $0 tier and the US plans are priced with Lightspeed Payments built in.

Lightspeed Retail prices at a glance

All figures are US dollars from Lightspeed's retail pricing page, read on 18 October 2026 with the United States selected. The extra-register fee is the same on all three plans. Lightspeed notes that these prices are for Lightspeed Retail (X-Series) and that additional service fees may apply depending on the business and industry. Hardware is sold separately.

How much does Lightspeed Retail cost per month?

Basic is the entry plan, and on annual billing it is the price most comparison sites quote. Paid monthly it costs $20 more, which is the "save up to 18%" Lightspeed advertises on the yearly toggle: $240 a year on Basic, $360 on Core and $600 on Plus. A store that is sure it will stay a year should take the annual price; a pop-up or a first-season shop pays the premium for the right to leave.

The US prices assume you use Lightspeed Payments. The price list carries a figure only for plans with payments included and leaves the without-payments column empty, so a retailer who wants to keep an existing processor should ask sales before signing. Lightspeed's payments page also says existing terminal hardware cannot be reused, because it lacks Lightspeed's certified firmware.

Every plan includes the retail POS, inventory management, integrated payments, purchase orders through NuORDER sync, access to the Lightspeed Wholesale network, 24/7 chat support and onboarding options. Basic gets Lightspeed eCommerce at a basic level; Core and Plus get the full version.

What Core and Plus add over Basic

Core adds the tools that run a growing shop, and for most independent stores it is the plan that matters. Over Basic, it adds in-store and online loyalty, advanced sales, staff and inventory reports, accounting, ecommerce and marketing integrations, the mobile Scanner app and landed costs. Landed costs is the quiet one: it spreads freight and duty into product cost, so the margin report shows what an imported line really earns.

The accounting integration alone often decides it. A shop on Basic exports sales to QuickBooks or Xero by hand; on Core it syncs. At $60 a month more on annual billing, Core pays for itself once the bookkeeping hours it saves are worth more than that, so price an hour of your bookkeeper's time before you decide.

Plus is for multi-store and back-office control. It adds Insights with forecasting, order recommendations and custom reports, API access, Workflows to design the checkout process, custom user roles, single sign-on and 24/7 phone support. Those features suit a chain where a buyer, a finance lead and several store managers each need their own view. A single store with one owner at the till rarely needs them, and the $140 monthly gap over Core is a large charge for features nobody will open.

Registers and locations: how the bill scales

Each plan includes one register, and each additional register costs $59 a month on every tier, according to Lightspeed's US price list. A store with three tills on Core pays $267 a month on annual billing: the plan plus two extra registers. On Basic the same three tills cost $207 a month, and on Plus $407.

A second location is priced at the plan rate again, so on annual billing each extra store adds the full plan fee every month, before any extra register fees. That makes Lightspeed's location math simple and steep: two stores on Plus pay twice the Plus fee. Compare that with Square, where Plus costs $49 a month per location, and Shopify, which charges a per-location POS Pro fee on top of its online plan.

For a buyer weighing a second shop, the useful number is the yearly cost of the extra site's software alone: $1,788 on Core annual billing. If the second store will take less than a few thousand dollars a month, that fee eats a real share of its margin.

Lightspeed Payments fees

In-person card payments on every US retail plan cost 2.6% + 10¢ through Lightspeed Payments. Lightspeed's payments page says the rate is the same whatever card the customer uses, that the only other fee to expect is a $15 chargeback fee, and that you can add a surcharge to eligible credit card transactions to offset processing costs. Enterprise customers get preferred rates, the one place on the price list where processing is negotiable.

The flat card rate is easy to budget but leaves no room for a premium-card discount. On a $40 average sale the fee is $1.14, or 2.85% of the ticket once the 10¢ is counted. Small tickets feel the fixed fee most: a coffee-shop-sized $8 sale pays an effective 3.85%.

One store, one register, $30,000 a month

The scenario assumes $30,000 of in-person card sales in 750 transactions ($40 average), one location and one register. Processing uses each vendor's printed in-person rate: 2.6% + 10¢ on Lightspeed and Shopify Basic, 2.6% + 15¢ on Square Free and 2.5% + 15¢ on Square Plus, read on 18 October 2026 on the Square retail pricing page and the Shopify POS pricing page. Hardware, taxes and promotions are excluded.

Processing is about 90% of the Lightspeed Basic bill. Over a year, Basic on this volume costs $11,328, and only $1,068 of that is the subscription. Square Free comes out cheapest here because it charges nothing for software, but it is also the thinnest retail toolset of the five rows. Lightspeed earns its premium on inventory depth, landed costs and the wholesale catalog, not on price.

Hardware and the costs outside the price list

Lightspeed sells hardware separately and prints no hardware prices on the retail pricing page, so budget a quote for terminals, a receipt printer, a cash drawer and a scanner before you compare totals. The rule on reusing terminals means a store switching from another processor should assume new card readers.

Three other costs sit outside the subscription. Chargebacks cost $15 each. Lightspeed Capital, its cash advance program, is available in select regions with flexible repayment terms, and its cost depends on the offer. And Lightspeed's footnote warns that additional service fees may apply depending on the business and industry, which is a reason to get the full fee schedule in writing.

Which Lightspeed plan should you buy?

• A single store that needs inventory and a till: Basic on annual billing, the cheapest way into Lightspeed's inventory system.
• A store with loyalty, accounting sync or imported stock: Core, for landed costs and the accounting integration.
• A chain with buyers and managers: Plus, for forecasting, custom roles, SSO and phone support.
• A high-volume merchant: Enterprise, because preferred processing rates are worth more than any plan saving.
• A shop that needs only a till and simple stock counts: compare Square Free first, which costs less than any Lightspeed tier in our one-store scenario.

For the product beyond the price, read our Lightspeed Retail review. The Lightspeed vs Shopify POS comparison covers the Shopify decision in depth, and the best POS systems ranking compares the wider field, with Square POS, Shopify POS and Clover pricing for the main rivals.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Lightspeed Retail cost in 2026?

Lightspeed Retail Basic costs $89 a month billed yearly or $109 monthly, Core $149 or $179, and Plus $289 or $339, read on Lightspeed's US pricing page in October 2026. Each plan includes one register, extra registers cost $59 a month, and Enterprise is quoted.

Does Lightspeed have a free plan?

No. Lightspeed Retail has no free tier, and its US prices are set for plans that include Lightspeed Payments. Square Free is the closest $0 alternative for a small store, though with fewer inventory tools.

What are Lightspeed's credit card processing fees?

In-person payments through Lightspeed Payments cost 2.6% + 10¢ on Basic, Core and Plus in the US, with the same rate for every card type. Chargebacks cost $15 each, and Enterprise customers can get preferred rates.

How much does an extra register cost on Lightspeed?

$59 a month per additional register on every plan, on top of the one register each plan includes. A second store location costs the plan price again, for example the full Core fee again on annual billing.

Is Lightspeed cheaper than Shopify POS?

On software for one store, Lightspeed Basic billed yearly costs less than Shopify Basic plus POS Pro at $128 a month billed monthly. Both charge 2.6% + 10¢ in person on those plans, so at $30,000 a month in card sales the gap in our scenario is $39 a month in Lightspeed's favor.

Can I use my existing card reader with Lightspeed?

No. Lightspeed's payments page says existing terminal hardware cannot be used because it has not been injected with Lightspeed's certified firmware, and Lightspeed hardware is sold separately.

Sources and method

We read Lightspeed's US retail pricing page with the United States selected, the Lightspeed Payments page, the Square retail pricing page and the Shopify POS pricing page on 18 October 2026. Monthly totals add each vendor's printed software fee to its printed in-person card rate applied to the stated volume; they exclude hardware, tax, promotions and negotiated rates. The Toolradar figures come from Lightspeed on Toolradar and Toolradar's POS statistics, with Square, Shopify POS and Clover profiled there too.

Lightspeed changes promotions and plan contents during the year, so confirm the price and the processing agreement with sales before you sign.

Cite this: Retailpresso, "Lightspeed Retail Pricing 2026: Basic, Core, Plus and Payments", October 2026.

Related reading: Lightspeed Retail review, Lightspeed vs Shopify POS, best POS systems, Square POS review, Shopify POS review, Clover pricing, Square vs Shopify POS, best POS for clothing boutiques, best POS for liquor stores and Shopify pricing.

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