Do you want to grow your business? Well, this means that you need to identify a good POS right away so that you can secure your sale, and make use of the right software to take care of your administrative tasks. When you are looking for the best POS brand, then Square comes across your mind, but it is essential that you should have an idea about Square competitors too.

Now, before we assess any of the competitors, let us talk about the concept of POS systems and what Square is all about.

A Point of Sale transaction takes place between the merchant and the customer when a product or service gets purchased. The transaction takes place using a POS system like Square.

What is Square, and what makes it a leading POS system?

Square is one of the top-notch POS systems. The best thing about Square is that it has no monthly fee, and this is why you can use it without any stress. It has an impressive set of features and works well for the low-volume merchants.

Plus, if you are looking for free tools to sell online, then Square facilitates you. It is undoubtedly an all in one payment system, and it has affordable chip card readers also. Square offers you the facility to integrate with various card readers without a problem.

Additionally, you can make use of Square’s API for creating a custom setup. If you are looking forward to creating a PCI compliant system, then you can make use of Square for integrating its payment services into different software having its API.

There are times when merchants need their funds fast. Well, Square offers instant deposits to such merchants, and they can receive the funds on a daily basis also.

What is Square card processing?

Now, you can swipe your credit cards anywhere with Square. All you need is free of cost Magstripe reader for swiping your credit card anywhere. Square’s credit card processing allows you to accept all the major cards, and get your payment the very next day.

Additionally, Square has fraud detection and chargeback protection, so that as a business owner, you can continue to focus on your customers.

What is the difference between a POS system and credit card processing and how to choose the better fit?

It is essential to identify the difference between a POS system and credit card processing so that you can use it in an effective way. The credit card terminals are the payment gateways that can process the card payments without a problem.

Now, the POS systems have an edge here. They act as payment gateways but have some additional functions also. Deciding what is suitable for your business depends upon the nature of your business.

For example, if you have a clothing store or restaurant, then a POS system is a good option for you. However, if you are a contractor, and travel from client to client, then you should consider a credit card terminal.

Square advantages

Square has predictable flat-rate pricing, and it is also available for the Canadian merchants. What you will appreciate about Square is that it provides Analytics also. The photos of items that you purchase get displayed on the receipts.

Well, these photos are useful to identify the trends. When you decide to open up a Square account that is easy also because it takes you about 15 minutes to sign up and open your account.

Square disadvantages

The only problem with Square is that it is not suitable for the high-risk industries.

When would you want to use an alternative?

Live support is the lifeline of a POS system. However, when you go for Square, then they fail to offer live chat support to the merchants. Square does provide email support but most of the merchants consider it inefficient as this support fails to address their urgent needs.

If you are tired of the random holds on transactions by Square, then this is yet another reason to look for another POS system.

Square is an ideal POS system when you have low sales. If you have high transactions on an average or sell expensive products, then Square can turn out to be a costly option for you.

It also lacks effective stock keeping facility for large inventory.

Square competitors

Lightspeed is one of biggest square competitors, it is great for restaurants and retail businesses. Multi store enterprises will find it a great fit for their business.

Secondly, if you are operating in the food industry you can also consider using Touchbistro, it offers full restaurant management system, staff management, kitchen orders, taking payments and more.  Another competitor is Shopkeep, an ipad cloud based point-of-sale system with a unique credit card processor. it provides print, reporting and all other pos features. It is one of the most popular pos systems because it is easy to use.

If you are in the habit of processing over 5k, then Payment Depot Logo is a viable option for you. The best part is that you do not have to deal with long contracts and you can pay on monthly basis.

The funds are also available the next day. There are times when you are in urgent needs of funds, and prefer to get the funds on the same day. In that case, Flagship Logo is a good option because they grant you the funds on the same day.

Make sure that you use your discretion when selecting your POS system.