POS System Cost 2026: Monthly Fees and Card Rates Tracked

A POS system costs $0 to $109 a month in software for one store on the entry plans of the 8 vendors we tracked, plus a card fee of 2.6% to 3.09% and 10¢ to 15¢ on every in-person sale. For a store taking $10,000 a month in card sales, the full bill on those entry plans runs from about $285 to $413 a month, and card processing is most of it.

We read every fee below on the vendors' own pricing pages on 19 October 2026: Square, Clover, Toast, Shopify POS, Lightspeed Retail, SumUp, KORONA POS and Helcim. Our view: shoppers compare subscription fees, but at any real sales volume the card rate decides the bill, so the cheapest POS on paper is often not the cheapest one to run.

Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, tracks 35 restaurant and retail POS tools on its POS statistics page as of 18 October 2026, and 11 of them (31%) offer a free tier. Five of the 8 vendors on this sheet start with no software fee, so free entry plans are the norm among the big names even though they are the minority across the category.

The POS price sheet: 8 vendors, October 2026

Entry plan and top published plan for one location, with the in-person and keyed card rates each vendor prints.

Every row is a published US list price. Clover's figures are its online-only prices, and Toast's apply to new, single-location restaurants. Helcim's rates are its margin under $50,000 a month in card volume, on top of the card network's own interchange cost.

Five findings from the sheet

1. Five of 8 vendors charge nothing for entry software. Square, Clover, Toast, SumUp and Helcim all start free, and KORONA, Lightspeed and Shopify are the only ones with a mandatory subscription.
2. The flat in-person rate has converged on 2.6%. Square, Clover, Shopify, Lightspeed and SumUp all charge 2.6% on their entry plans; the difference is the fixed fee, 10¢ at four of them and 15¢ at Square.
3. Toast's $0 kit costs more per sale. Its Starter Kit swaps the subscription for 3.09% + 15¢ per card and a two-year software agreement, the highest entry rate on the sheet.
4. Paid plans buy rate cuts of 0.1 to 0.3 points. Square Premium takes 0.2 points off, Shopify Advanced 0.2 and Clover Retail Growth 0.3, so the plan only pays for itself at high volume.
5. Two vendors split software from payments. KORONA sells software only and lets you keep your processor, and Helcim sells processing only, at interchange plus a margin, with no monthly fee.

What a POS costs per month at $10,000 in card sales

This is the bill a small shop pays on each entry plan: software plus in-person card fees, for $10,000 a month in card sales at an average sale of $40, which is 250 transactions. Hardware is left out because it is mostly a one-off purchase. Card fees at the common flat rate make up the whole Clover and SumUp totals, Square's 15¢ fixed fee adds $12.50 to its version, and the rest of each total is the subscription.

At this volume the free plans win by $40 to $128 a month, because no rate cut on a paid plan can earn back a subscription when sales are this small. Card fees are 76% of the Lightspeed bill and all of the Clover, SumUp and Square Free bills.

Helcim does not fit a flat-rate table. Its margin at this volume is $60 a month (0.40% of sales plus 8¢ on each of the 250 sales), and the interchange cost on top depends on the cards your customers use. Helcim states that most merchants land near or below 2% all-in for in-person sales. KORONA's $59 per terminal adds to whatever your processor charges.

What it costs at $30,000 in card sales

At three times the volume (750 sales of $40), the order changes, because rate cuts now matter more than subscriptions. The common flat rate costs $855 in card fees at this size, against $765 at Clover Retail Growth's 2.3% + 10¢.

Clover Retail Growth becomes the cheapest line, by $5 a month over its own Starter plan, because 0.3 points on $30,000 is $90, slightly more than the subscription. Square Premium still loses to Square Free at this size: its 0.2-point cut saves $60, and the plan costs $149.

Toast's Starter Kit is now the most expensive way to take cards, about $185 a month more than Clover Starter for the same sales. A restaurant at this volume should ask Toast for a quote on its $69 Point of Sale plan instead. Helcim's margin here is $180 before interchange.

Hardware and the fees outside the sheet

Software and card rates are not the whole bill. Each vendor adds charges that change the real cost:

• Clover: the Basic retail bundle with a compact terminal costs $349, or $16 a month for 36 months; the Station Duo bundle is $1,899 plus $84.95 a month on Retail Growth. Rapid Deposit, which pays out within minutes, costs 1.75% of the amount.
• Toast: the Starter Kit hardware is $0 to own but needs a two-year agreement. A cellular backup plan costs $40 a month, an extra 14-inch terminal $749 plus $50 a month, and Toast-built menus or guided installs $250 each.
• Square: custom processing rates open up only above $250,000 a year in card sales, and keyed or card-on-file payments cost 3.5% + 15¢ on every plan.
• Shopify: POS Pro adds $89 a month for each store location, and new merchants get three months at $1 a month on the plan.
• KORONA: industry modules add $10 a register a month (food service or invoicing), and month-to-month contracts can switch to discounted annual terms.
• Helcim: optional 4G data on its hardware costs $7 a month, and a lost chargeback costs $15.

The contract matters as much as the rate. Toast's two-year agreement is the only multi-year term on the sheet; KORONA and Helcim sell month to month and Square lets you cancel its paid plans at any point, so you can leave when a cheaper rate appears.

Which pricing model fits your store?

Free software with a flat rate (Square, Clover Starter, SumUp, Shopify POS Lite) suits a shop under roughly $20,000 a month in card sales, where no subscription can pay for itself through a lower rate. Pick on features and hardware, since the bills sit within $40 of each other.

A paid plan with a lower rate (Clover Retail Growth, Square Premium, Shopify Advanced) starts to pay once card sales are high enough that the rate cut beats the fee. On Clover the crossover sits just under $30,000 a month; on Square Premium it is above $70,000.

Software and processing bought separately (KORONA with your own processor, or Helcim) suits a store that already has a cheap processing contract, or a high-volume shop that wants interchange-plus pricing instead of a flat rate.

For plan-by-plan detail, read our Square POS pricing, Clover pricing, Toast POS pricing, Shopify POS pricing and Lightspeed pricing breakdowns. Our best POS systems ranking compares features and fit, with vertical picks for clothing boutiques, coffee shops and liquor stores. Two head-to-heads go deeper on the closest matchups: Square vs Shopify POS and Lightspeed vs Shopify POS.

How we built this price sheet

Louis Corneloup, founder of Dupple and Toolradar, compiled this sheet for store owners comparing POS bills. We read fees on 19 October 2026 on Square's pricing page and fee page, Clover's retail pricing page, Toast's pricing page and its Countertop Starter Kit page, Shopify's POS pricing page, Lightspeed's retail pricing page, SumUp's pricing page, KORONA's pricing page and Helcim's pricing page. Monthly totals are our arithmetic from those list prices at the stated sales volumes, and the category count comes from Toolradar's POS statistics. We will re-read the sheet each quarter. Publishing rules sit on the Retailpresso about page.

FAQ

How much does a POS system cost per month in 2026?

On the entry plans of 8 major vendors, POS software costs $0 to $109 a month for one store, read on vendor pages in October 2026. Card processing adds 2.6% to 3.09% plus 10¢ to 15¢ per in-person sale, so a small store pays about $285 to $413 a month in total on those plans.

What is the cheapest POS system for a small store?

At $10,000 a month in card sales, Clover Starter and SumUp Free tie at about $285 a month, since both charge no software fee and the same flat in-person card rate, so the whole bill is processing. Square Free costs a little more because its fixed fee is 15¢ per sale.

Is a free POS system really free?

The software is free on Square, Clover Starter, SumUp, Toast's Starter Kit and Helcim, but every sale carries a card fee, and hardware is usually bought separately. Toast's free kit also requires a two-year agreement and charges 3.09% + 15¢ per card, the highest entry rate we tracked.

When does a paid POS plan pay for itself?

When the rate cut on your card volume exceeds the subscription. Clover Retail Growth cuts 0.3 points for $84.95 a month, which pays off just under $30,000 a month in card sales. Square Premium cuts 0.2 points for $149, which needs more than $70,000 a month.

Which POS lets me keep my own payment processor?

KORONA POS. It charges $59 to $99 per terminal a month for software and takes no cut of card sales, so you can keep your current processor. Helcim is the reverse: processing only, at interchange plus a margin, with no monthly fee.

Do POS systems require a contract?

Most on this sheet do not. KORONA and Helcim run month to month, Square's paid plans can be cancelled at any point, Lightspeed offers yearly billing at a discount of up to 18%, and Toast's Starter Kit comes with a two-year software agreement.

Cite this: Retailpresso, "POS System Cost 2026: Monthly Fees and Card Rates Tracked", November 2026.

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