Lightspeed vs Shopify POS 2026: Retail Pricing Compared

Choose Shopify POS if your store already sells online on Shopify or runs a light counter; choose Lightspeed if inventory depth and one flat retail plan matter more. Lightspeed Retail starts at $89 a month on annual billing. Shopify's Basic plan is $29 a month billed yearly, but a permanent shop adds a per-location POS Pro fee that lifts it above Lightspeed. Both charge 2.6% + 10¢ per in-person card sale on the entry plan. Prices checked October 18, 2026.

That makes the head-to-head closer than the sticker prices suggest. The card rate cancels out on the entry plans, so the real gap is the subscription stack: one Lightspeed plan against a Shopify plan plus a per-store add-on.

Toolradar data: Shopify POS averages 4.5 out of 5 across 616 G2 and Capterra reviews, and Lightspeed 4.2 across 1,792, per their Toolradar profiles in October 2026. Lightspeed is listed as an alternative to 11 other tools on Toolradar and Shopify POS to 9, so buyers cross-shop both about as often.

The two price lists side by side

Lightspeed sells three retail plans, each with one register included. Shopify sells its POS through its ecommerce plans, with in-person selling included and the retail feature set sold as POS Pro.

Shopify's top tier, Plus, is listed at $2,300 a month, so it only enters the comparison for large chains. On the Lightspeed side, each extra location is billed at the plan price again, so a second Basic store adds another Basic subscription. Lightspeed still invites larger multi-store groups to talk to sales about a custom plan.

What Lightspeed charges a single store

Lightspeed's pricing page lists the three plans at the annual and monthly prices shown in the table, with a gap of $20 to $50 a month between the two billing options. Every plan includes one register, integrated payments and inventory management, and Basic comes with Lightspeed eCommerce at its basic level. The point for a one-register shop is that inventory tools are not an upsell here.

In the US, Lightspeed Payments charges 2.6% + 10¢ per in-person card sale on all three retail plans, and the POS page adds 2.9% + $0.30 for card-not-present payments. A US store therefore pays the same in-person rate on Lightspeed as on Shopify Basic, whatever plan it picks. The lower percentages shown on Lightspeed's pricing page apply to other countries, not to US merchants.

A second checkout counter costs $59 a month per extra register, on any plan. That matters for a shop with a busy weekend, where the second till is the first upgrade a store pays for.

The page also notes that additional service fees may apply depending on the business, and it lists no hardware prices. For the full product picture, our Lightspeed Retail review covers features and contract terms.

What Shopify POS charges a single store

Shopify's own POS cost guide lists Basic at $39 a month, Grow at $105 and Advanced at $399 on monthly billing. On yearly billing, Shopify's pricing page shows $29, $89 and $359 a month (read 19 October 2026). Every paid plan includes casual in-person selling: limited staff access, simple customer profiles and returns at the original location. That is enough for a market stall or a pop-up.

A permanent shop usually needs POS Pro, which Shopify's App Store listing prices per location, billed in USD, with a 14-day free trial. POS Pro adds unlimited staff logins, roles and permissions, inventory counts and purchase orders, rich customer profiles, returns at any location and retail reports. Without it, Shopify is the cheaper subscription by a wide margin; with it, Shopify costs more than Lightspeed Basic.

Card rates drop as you move up Shopify's plans, from the entry rate on Basic to 2.5% + 10¢ on Grow and 2.4% + 10¢ on Advanced. Lightspeed shows one rate across its plans, so upgrading there buys features, not cheaper processing. Shopify's guide also prices its hardware: the POS Terminal at $349 and the Tap & Chip reader from $49. Our Shopify pricing breakdown covers the online plans in more detail.

A one-store cost model

Take a single store with one register, $40,000 of in-person card sales a month and a $40 average ticket, which is 1,000 sales. At the shared entry rate, processing is $1,040 plus $100, or $1,140 a month on either entry plan.

The yearly gap between Lightspeed Basic and Shopify with POS Pro is $348, exactly the cost of the Shopify Basic plan itself. A retailer who would pay for a Shopify online store anyway can treat that plan as already spent, and the comparison becomes POS Pro against Lightspeed Basic at the same monthly price.

Add a second store with the same sales and the gap holds. Lightspeed bills another Basic plan for the new location, and Shopify bills another POS Pro fee, which are the same amount on annual billing, so the two-store difference stays at the price of the Shopify Basic plan. Processing doubles on both sides, at the same rate.

Shopify's Grow plan pays off only at higher volume. On monthly billing it costs $66 more than Basic and saves 0.1 percentage point on each sale, so the break-even is $66,000 of in-person card sales a month. Below that, Basic plus POS Pro is the cheaper Shopify setup.

How the bill changes as the store grows

The two vendors scale in different directions, and that matters more after year one than the entry price. On Lightspeed, moving from Basic to Core or Plus raises the subscription by $60 to $200 a month on annual billing, while the card rate stays where it was. The upgrade is a feature decision, made when the team needs the tools in the higher plan, and it never pays for itself through cheaper processing.

On Shopify, moving up a plan lowers the card rate, so heavy in-person volume can justify Grow or Advanced on processing alone. Advanced saves 0.2 percentage point against Basic, worth $80 a month at $40,000 of card sales, which is still well short of the price difference between those two plans. For most single stores, the Shopify upgrade only pays once monthly card sales pass the break-even worked out above.

Staff count pushes the other way. Shopify's Basic plan gives limited staff access to the POS, and Grow adds unlimited POS logins and 5 staff accounts, while POS Pro adds unlimited staff logins at the location level. A store with a rotating weekend team will feel that limit before it feels any processing difference. Shops that also stock a warehouse should check the inventory management software ranking, and the best ecommerce platforms guide covers the online side if Shopify is not yet in place.

Where each one wins

Shopify POS wins when the online store already runs on Shopify, because one catalog, one checkout and one customer list cover both channels, and the in-store plan is partly paid for. It also wins for pop-ups and markets, where the free in-person features on Basic are enough and POS Pro is never needed. Compare the platform side with our Shopify review or the cheaper Shopify alternatives if the monthly plan is the concern.

Lightspeed wins when the store is inventory-first: many variants, purchase orders and a supplier catalog, with ecommerce as a secondary channel. One plan covers what Shopify splits between a plan and an add-on, and an extra till at $59 a month is a published price rather than a plan upgrade. Apparel shops weighing both should read our POS for clothing boutiques ranking.

Neither wins on a second store's list price. Shopify adds another POS Pro fee per location and Lightspeed charges its plan price again, which comes to the same monthly figure for a Basic store billed yearly. The deciding cost for a growing chain is the plan tier each store needs, not the per-location fee. The best POS systems ranking and our Square POS review cover the third option most shops price, and cafes can start with the POS for coffee shops guide.

How we checked

We read the US prices on Lightspeed's retail pricing page and its POS page on October 18, 2026, along with Shopify's POS cost guide and its POS App Store listing, which give the US prices. Shopify's POS pricing page shows local currency, so check the current price on Shopify's site before you buy. The cost model is our arithmetic on those list prices for one register, before tax and hardware. We did not run either system in a store, so feature descriptions are the vendors' own. The review counts come from the Lightspeed and Shopify POS profiles on Toolradar, the software directory we run.

Cite this: Retailpresso, "Lightspeed vs Shopify POS 2026: Retail Pricing Compared", October 2026.

FAQ

Is Lightspeed or Shopify POS cheaper in 2026?

For one store on annual billing with POS Pro, Lightspeed Basic is cheaper by $348 a year in software, and both charge the same in-person card rate on the entry plan. Without POS Pro, Shopify Basic at $29 a month billed yearly is far cheaper, but it lacks staff permissions and inventory counts. Prices were checked on October 18, 2026.

Do I need Shopify POS Pro?

Only for a permanent retail location. Every paid Shopify plan includes casual in-person selling, which covers pop-ups and markets. POS Pro adds unlimited staff logins, permissions, inventory management and returns at any location, and it is charged per location with a 14-day free trial.

What are the card processing fees for each?

Shopify charges 2.6% + 10¢ in person on Basic, 2.5% + 10¢ on Grow and 2.4% + 10¢ on Advanced. Lightspeed charges US stores the same in-person rate as Shopify Basic on every retail plan, plus 2.9% + $0.30 card-not-present. Unlike Shopify, Lightspeed does not lower the rate on its higher plans.

Does Lightspeed include ecommerce?

Yes. Lightspeed's Basic retail plan comes with Lightspeed eCommerce at its basic level, alongside inventory management and integrated payments. Shopify includes a full online store on every paid plan, which is its main advantage for retailers who sell more online than in store.

Which is better for multiple locations?

Both publish the cost. Shopify adds one POS Pro fee per location on top of the plan, and Lightspeed bills each extra location at the plan price again, with extra registers at $59 a month. Larger groups can still ask Lightspeed's sales team for a custom plan.

Does either charge for hardware?

Shopify lists the POS Terminal at $349 and the Tap & Chip reader from $49 in its POS cost guide. Lightspeed's pricing page lists no hardware prices, so hardware comes with the quote.

Some offers on this page may be paid placements or contain affiliate links.