The 5 Best POS Systems For A Cashless Society: How To Accept Digital Payment Methods

Square is a portable POS that works great for startups, small retailers, and fast-casual restaurants. This easy-to-use POS works on any smartphone, iPad, or tablet, as well as on the proprietary mobile hardware sold by Square (Square Terminal and Square Register). And customers are increasingly accustomed to using Square in many settings, so it will seem familiar. You do have the option to process cash transactions, or you can opt for a completely cashless setup with no cash drawer.

At a flat 2.6% + $0.10 on every swiped, dipped, and tapped transaction, Square’s in-house payment provider does not provide the absolute lowest processing rates in the industry. However, there is no monthly charge to use this handy pocket POS, so there is a very low barrier to entry. Similar to PayPal, Square is a third-party payment processor, which means you don’t need your own merchant account to use Square, so there are no merchant account fees or any intimidating merchant services contracts to sign. Overall, low-volume businesses with small ticket amounts might save money with Square versus a merchant account.

Some great electronic payment features Square offers include email receipts, NFC support (for Apple Pay, Android Pay, and contactless cards), a free eCommerce website, curbside pickup, and an offline mode that queues credit card payments if you lose your internet connection. Square is always innovating, and its latest online checkout feature lets merchants send online payment links that allow customers to pay from their own devices. You also get unlimited devices on your free Square account, which can be handy if you have multiple employees selling from their own devices.

A couple of downsides to Square are its somewhat impersonal customer support and a touchy security system that may flag/freeze your account if you process a very large transaction or a higher-than-usual monthly sales total. Be sure to read our Square review to learn more about this digital payment system.

Clover is a compact and customizable POS that might be just right for your cashless store or restaurant. Clover offers several sleek, proprietary POS options, including Clover Station, Clover Mini, Clover Flex, and the mobile Clover Go, and you can mix and match different devices for different uses. For example, the Clover Flex also doubles as a portable barcode scanner. Clover also has several software plans that cater to various industries and has excellent digital payment features, including contactless payments, paperless receipts, online ordering, and more. As for Clover pricing, the popular "Register" plan is $39.95/month with in-person processing rates of 2.3% + $0.10 per transaction and no long-term commitment.

The ideal countertop setup for a cashless business is probably the Clover Mini (pictured above), which you can use alongside other Clover devices or on its own. The Mini is an all-in-one POS, it has a 7" touchscreen made with antimicrobial glass, and comes with a built-in receipt printer, a front-facing camera, and the ability to read barcodes/QR codes. You can plug in additional hardware (such as a weight scale) via one of its USB ports. The system is also portable, giving you the option of a "floating terminal" set up where employees can take payments from anywhere in your store/restaurant.

Clover is exceedingly easy to use and learn, and you can customize the system's functionality via the Clover App Market. Clover gives you the option to run the Mini over ethernet, Wi-Fi, or a data connection. If your internet goes down and you don't have a data plan, you can continue to accept and queue offline transactions until your connection is restored. Since Clover a number of different banks and merchant services providers sell Clover, it's important to choose a reputable Clover reseller or buy from Clover directly. Read our Clover Mini review to learn more about this pretty little POS.

Shopify started as eCommerce software but has evolved to become a popular in-person selling tool as well. With its retail-focused tablet-and-smartphone POS, Shopify provides plenty of tools to bridge the gap between online and offline selling seamlessly. These tools range from an eCommerce website to social media selling to in-person payments. Shopify works great for cashless businesses because all you really need to start selling is a mobile device and a card reader — though you also have the option to do a full countertop point of sale setup, depending on your needs.

With plans ranging from $5 to $299/month, Shopify is completely scalable and can support micro-businesses just starting out with in-person selling as well as growing multilocation retail outlets. However, its pricing can get a little complicated, so it's good to make sure you understand the various Shopify pricing plans and add-ons before making your selection. Shopify includes in-house, flat-rate payment processing, but you can use Shopify with your own processor for an added fee.

Shopify POS comes loaded with lots of selling features geared toward retail stores, such as discounts, store credit, customer management, inventory management, and the ability to accept multiple forms of payment for the same transaction. Shopify has kept up to date with newer electronic selling methods, including local delivery, curbside pickup, digital gift cards, and a ship-to-customer option that lets customers pay for an item at your store that is shipped to their home. Alternatively, customers can order and pay online and pick up an item in your store. Another cool socially-distanced selling feature Shopify offers is product detail QR codes in your store that customers can scan with their phone to learn more about your products and buy them from your website.

Perhaps one of the only negatives about Shopify POS is its offline mode is not super robust — you can't process transactions if you're offline. But if you have a stable internet connection or data plan, this shouldn't be an issue. Read our Shopify POS review to learn more about this electronic selling powerhouse.

Toast is the smart POS choice for a restaurant, large or small, that wants to go cashless. Android-based Toast is not just a POS; it's a complete business management solution with features, such as CRM, inventory management, employee management, and more. Made specifically for the foodservice industry, Toast also includes restaurant-specific features, such as service areas and split-check functionality. Toast's Android-based hardware is also custom-designed for the restaurant industry.

Toast has lots of tech-forward features. These include contactless payments, kiosk mode, tableside ordering devices, a QR code payment option that lets customers pay on their phone, and an offline mode so that you can continue to ring up transactions and perform other essential features even during an internet outage. You can also set your credit card authorization so that it will always behave as if it were offline. This makes the system faster since you don't have to wait around for an official authorization, though it is slightly riskier to operate in this mode.

Toast pricing starts at $0/month, though add-ons for online ordering and delivery, a customer-facing takeout app, gift cards, and loyalty cost extra. Toast offers in-house payment processing and a custom-built flat rate that meets or beats the rates you'd get with another processor. However, you cannot use an outside merchant account with Toast; if you want to use your own existing merchant account or don't want to get locked into a long-term contract, Toast is not right for you.

Learn more about what you get with Toast in our Toast POS review.

Revel Systems is an excellent POS for cashless stores. Not only is it sleek and modern, but it also offers a full suite of digital payment and ordering options and is powerful enough to serve as a complete cloud-based business management hub. Revel is also fast and reliable and robust enough to power enterprise-level businesses in either restaurant or retail industries.

This iPad POS is mainly marketed to quick-serve restaurants and retail stores, and some big names, such as Cinnabon and Goodwill, use it to power their franchises. One big advantage with Revel is its full offline functionality. Very few point of sale systems will allow you to process electronic payments and execute all other POS functions offline the way Revel does. For an even faster and more reliable POS, you have the option to connect your Revel-equipped device to a proprietary iPad-ethernet connection — another rarity in the world of tablet POS systems.

Some of the many POS features you get with NFC-ready POS include built-in PayPal acceptance in-store, online ordering options for customers who want to order ahead for pickup/delivery, kiosk mode, QR code payments, a mobile loyalty program, and a direct QuickBooks integration.

Revel is easily the priciest option on this list, starting at $99/month, billed annually, and a three-year contract with Revel's in-house flat-rate payment processor. You do have the option to go with an outside payment processor using the USAePay gateway or others — but you will have to pay extra. Learn more about this impressive cashless POS system by reading our Revel Systems review.