Can You Close A Register From Your Dashboard On Shopkeep

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shopkeep-vs-square

ShopKeep	VS	Foursquare
	Features	✓
Tie	Fees & Rates	Tie
Tie	Contract Length & Cancellation	Tie
Tie	Hardware & Software Requirements	Tie
	Integrations & Add-Ons	✓
✓	Customer Service & Technical Back up
✓	User Reviews
Tie	Final Verdict	Tie
Visit Site Read Review		Visit Site Read Review

If you lot're in the market for a costless POS, you're going to eventually come up to a short list of names — the ones with the best production, the best service, and the best pricing. And odds are pretty proficient you lot're going to have both ShopKeep and Foursquare on the list. With some brief digging, you'll start to see some similarities between the two. Both offer a free POS too as monthly subscription options, both target a fairly wide range of industries with particular emphasis on quick-serve and small retailers, and both have payment processing built-in. Simply at the same time, there are some important, central distinctions between the two.

For starters, Square is a very large company, with more than ii one thousand thousand merchants using its services. It'south too a LOT more than only an iPad POS or an mPOS system—it's a whole platform of business services all rolled into 1. ShopKeep'southward primary focus is its iPad POS, with a few integrations and a few add-on features to sweeten the deal for merchants. I don't want to say the 20,000 businesses on the ShopKeep platform is chump change, only…well, numbers are numbers. ShopKeep is a very hands-on, personal visitor. Square offers extensive resource for its merchants but the personal attention and 24/7 back up yous get with ShopKeep just aren't present here. However, that doesn't necessarily brand Square a worse choice than ShopKeep. Both have very solid, well-designed products.

Though Square and ShopKeep both offer paid plans, in this piece I will focus on comparing ShopKeep'south free plan with Square's costless plan. Read on to take a closer wait at how these 2 companies stack up in the ShopKeep vs. Square fence.

O verview of Foursquare'southward Most Popular Services

Features

Winner: Square

TL;DR: ShopKeep and Square's free plan are both solid options and are comparable in many areas. However, ShopKeep'south free plan has limitations on its features for functions such equally reporting and number of users, whereas Square'southward does not.

Here, I'm going to compare ShopKeep and Square's POS features, taking a look at the dorsum-office features (the dashboard), the POS app itself, and the reporting functions. In particular, I'm by and large comparison Shopkeep Starter (free plan) with Square's gratuitous plan. If you lot desire a more than detailed look at each of these products we recommend you bank check out our in-depth ShopKeep and Square reviews for more than information.

Back Part

ShopKeep'due south spider web dashboard controls all of the POS app'southward dorsum-part functions, including inventory, labor management and reporting. It also controls the layout of the register buttons. Coming from a space where I piece of work primarily with mPOS apps such as Square, this was a bit odd to me that ShopKeep wouldn't machine-populate buttons. Simply it does put y'all in control of the customization and layout of your register. Bird's Centre View volition give you a quick glance at your concern and performance, while Analytics offers a deeper look at the data. However, nearly of ShopKeep'due south sales reporting tools aren't available with the free program.

ShopKeep'south inventory features far outclass Foursquare'due south. Here's what you can expect:

Item tracking
Detail matrix for variants
Modifier/improver groups
Detail costs
Raw appurtenances tracking
Variable pricing (at register)
Items past quantity (per ounce, per pound, per 1000, etc.)
Set reorder triggers and recommended quantities
Inventory and raw appurtenances value reports
Track items by supplier (including supplier ID)
Client database with option to annotation tax exemption

Even so, there are a few notable shortcomings, as well:

Detail matrix doesn't support all features
No bundling supported
Reorder report non bachelor on free plan
Supplier listing does not include contact details

On the free ShopKeep Starter plans, only one user is allowed, so at that place is no employee management. On paid plans, ShopKeep's employee management allows yous to set Pin numbers and control access to features on the register and in the dorsum office. ShopKeep's permissions aren't as advanced as Square's merely they do address a mix of needs. The app works equally a timeclock as well, assuasive y'all to pull shift reports in the dashboard.

ShopKeep also offers a loyalty program on paid plans. It's not included with the free subscription, but you can inquire about it when you lot request your custom pricing quote. The loyalty program is really powered by AppCard, and it appears to exist quite flexible besides equally data-rich. For marketing, ShopKeep integrates with MailChimp (nosotros'll talk almost that in the Integrations & Add-Ons department).

Square'south Dashboard, like ShopKeep, is the centralized control for everything Foursquare related. It's the simply platform where yous take access to or can control all of Foursquare'south many features, including your inventory, customer database, virtual final and card vault, invoicing, and more than. The but restrictions placed on features and reports are those available in the upgraded POS systems—Retail, Restaurants, and Appointments—or add-ons (loyalty, marketing, employee direction). Y'all'll have to pay for those subscriptions to admission those features, just it'southward non a tiered structure based on your subscription plan, like ShopKeep.

Square's inventory tools are more than basic than many paid POS apps, but you lot do get quite a fleck compared to most other free options:

Customer database, including purchase history
Rail inventory numbers
Support for variants and modifiers
Variable price points
Bulk import/export of inventory via CSV
Items by quantity (per ounce, per pound, per yard, as well every bit custom units.)
Scale integration

All of that said, you might detect a few features missing from Square:

No supplier listings
No bundling
No raw goods
No support for particular costs
No profitability reporting or cost of appurtenances sold
No dead particular report/final sold date

Withal, it'due south worth noting that Foursquare for Retail, one of the company's premium iPad POS systems, does support particular costs, COGS reporting, and a supplier database, as well as purchase order direction (not bachelor in ShopKeep). Read our full review of Square for Retail for a closer look at the avant-garde features.

In addition, Square offers basic employee direction with timekeeping for costless, but you tin upgrade to Squad Direction Plus for unlimited sets of permissions and more. (Information technology's included with Square for Retail at no boosted charge.) With this characteristic enabled you lot can assign your employees their own unique pins and set permissions based on office. This characteristic is actually very customizable, so merchants with very specialized needs could find that Square has a major reward.

Square's loyalty program is an add-on that is also highly customizable and allows you to prepare your ain perks, including how you name them. Pricing is based on usage, and the whole program syncs with the residue of Foursquare's products. It also integrates with Square'south marketing, another monthly add-on.

POS App

ShopKeep's POS app is well designed and intuitive. I'm far more familiar with entry-level mobile POS systems than I am with their full-featured iPad cousins, simply ShopKeep felt easy to me. The only surprise, as I said above, was that buttons for trade don't motorcar-populate when you create an item in your inventory. Instead, ShopKeep requires you to prepare all of your buttons yourself. It's non hard, only you may want to put some thought into how to lay out the buttons earlier you commencement the process.

ShopKeep does accept an offline fashion that volition permit you to keep operating fifty-fifty if there'due south an cyberspace outage. However, you won't be able to process credit cards unless you take a transmission machine to enter them into the system later.

In addition, ShopKeep offers the post-obit features:

Cash drawer management
Discounts by $ and % (and by item or transaction)
Tips by $ and %
Tips on printed receipts
Gift receipts
Barcode printing
Open check (with Serverless Sync)

If you're on the free ShopKeep plan, Serverless Sync won't apply to you, but anyone who has multiple devices on the ShopKeep plan will appreciate that you tin save checks and admission them on any other device that's running ShopKeep, with no additional hardware or local servers required.

Square Bespeak of Sale really blurs the line between free mPOS apps and paid iPad POS systems. While it is free, information technology offers many more advanced features beyond what similar sorts of businesses offering. However, it nevertheless lacks some features that iPad POS systems such as ShopKeep offer. Using an iPad gives yous access to the greatest number of Square features, merely non every feature. A few are smartphone-only, or Android-only.

The app is quite intuitive equally far as layout and pattern, and I call up very few people will have trouble understanding how to navigate Square Point of Sale and its features. You can expect the standard fare every bit far as register functions go, including the (relatively new) ability to customize your tender types and how they appear in your checkout screen. In addition, tablet users can as well set up a custom item grid to lay out products.

I of Foursquare'southward most powerful features is its offline mode. In example you find yourself with an internet outage or completely without cell signal, you lot can even so procedure transactions through Square — even credit card transactions. So long as you reconnect to the internet and open up the app inside 72 hours, Square volition automatically process those transactions. However, the caveat is you are responsible for and will consume the cost of any transactions that are declined.

Beyond this, Square offers the post-obit:

Cash drawer management
Discounts by $ and %
Tips by $ and %
Tips on printed receipts
Gift receipts
Append ticket (does information technology sync across multiple devices)

In improver, your Square account comes with access to invoicing (from the dashboard and in-app), a virtual terminal, and the ability to shop cards on file so that yous can process transactions without needing to physically present the card. Some merchants may be unhappy that Square doesn't support barcode printing. However, the app does back up scanners and Square is happy to disclose that many of its merchants have had good luck using the Dymo 450 characterization printer for barcode generation. (To notation: Square for Retail does include back up for barcode printing directly from the Foursquare dashboard.

Reporting

Both Square and ShopKeep offer a quick summary of activeness in their respective dashboards. With Foursquare, yous can also view select bones reports within the app. ShopKeep is far more limited in that regard. But in both cases, the dashboard is where you'll find near of the relevant data. You can as well download ShopKeep Pocket, an iOS app with detailed analytics. Square's equivalent is called Square Dashboard and is an iPhone exclusive (no Android or iPad back up here). Both allow yous to check your sales reports on the go without needing to access the POS app directly.

Foursquare's reporting is one of the more advanced toolsets available for free. You can track sales by item, category, and employee, every bit well every bit modifiers. The reporting tools also permit yous to sort data by discounts, taxes, payment types, fees, and more. The customer insights tools include new vs returning customer reports, too every bit data on customer spending and number of visitors. And of course, you can run reports on employee shifts and cash drawers.

Notwithstanding, as mentioned, a few notable items are missing: Square doesn't offering cost of appurtenances sold (COGS) reports or profitability reports. There'due south as well no mode of tracking raw goods. COGS and profitability reports are only available in Square for Retail, along with a couple of other exclusive reports. The Retail app likewise includes multi-location inventory management, purchase social club management and the ability to receive inventory directly from inside the app.

ShopKeep locks you out of many reports on the complimentary plan, which is disappointing simply not surprising. A deciding gene for some merchants may be access to gratis reports using Square. ShopKeep's advanced analytics include many of the same reports as Foursquare, plus others that Square doesn't. For example, the marketing dashboard gives you client data including your nigh frequent visitors every bit well as interactions with links in emailed receipts. And as I discussed earlier, yous can check the value of your inventory at a glance also as generate a reorder report based on what stock items are running depression. ShopKeep even offers specific restaurant reporting tools with information relevant to total-service businesses.

You won't become buy order management even with a paid subscription, just you exercise go easy tools for updating your inventory and moving it betwixt locations. If you want a more comprehensive look at your inventory, yous can export your stock list to a spreadsheet, which fifty-fifty includes when an item was last sold. A dead inventory written report like the ane offered in Shopventory would be much easier, just this still a relatively like shooting fish in a barrel and price-effective ways of identifying slow-moving products, especially if yous know how to work conditional formatting in a spreadsheet.

To put everything in context, ShopKeep's inventory direction tools and reporting are superior to Square'southward, but annals functions are about the same. If you're comparing gratis plan to gratis plan, Square beats out ShopKeep in the reporting category because of how restricted ShopKeep'southward complimentary reporting tools are. However, merchants with paid subscriptions to ShopKeep can unlock many more than tools than Square offers. Foursquare for Retail comes closest to matching ShopKeep, just fifty-fifty then information technology lags somewhat behind. The deciding factor will really be what features merchants absolutely demand versus which ones they are willing to compromise on.

Fees & Rates

Winner: Necktie

TL;DR: Foursquare's payment processing is cheaper for low-volume merchants with a lot of pocket-sized transactions (and you lot go a free credit card reader); ShopKeep's processing is a meliorate deal for higher-volume merchants.

ShopKeep'southward gratuitous Starter programme includes one agile register, one location, and one employee, plus limited reporting. All the same, you exercise go full inventory direction and integrated ShopKeep payment processing with a customized interchange-plus rate. ShopKeep used to have a $5,000/month transaction limit on the free plan, just they recently removed this restriction.

Square POS is too free. There are no limits on the number of locations or devices you can have, nor on the number of users. Square'due south Team Direction feature allows for complimentary time tracking, individual user logins with passcodes, and custom user permissions.

Because both Square'due south and ShopKeep'due south POS is gratuitous, with by and large comparable features, the pricing comparing really comes downwards to their payment processing. ShopKeep has custom rates with interchange-plus pricing; payment processing with Square costs 2.6% + $0.ten per transaction, or two.five% + $0.10 if yous use Square Register. Considering ShopKeep doesn't disclose their rates and interchange-plus rates are inherently variable, it'due south difficult to compare the two. Usually, though, interchange-plus rates are a better deal than flat-charge per unit pricing, except, perhaps for very low-volume sales of less than effectually $10K/month. Your average transaction size is also a factor; very small transactions are oft more costly to process when your processing rate includes a big flat fee ($0.20 compared to $0.x, for example).

Permit'southward exercise a little quick math. Using a sample interchange-plus rate (non necessarily ShopKeep's) of interchange + 0.twenty% + $0.10 per transaction, and bold an average interchange fee of 1.54% + $0.12 + for card-present transactions, you'll pay a full of 1.74% + $0.22/transaction with an interchange-plus pricing model. If yous process a $v.00 transaction, that equates to $0.31 in fees. Using Square'due south rate of 2.6% + 0.ten, yous'll pay just $0.23. Only on a $15.00 transaction, you lot'll pay more with Square vs. interchange-plus—$0.48 with interchange-plus vs. $0.49 with Foursquare. On a $50 transaction, you'll pay its $1.09 with interchange-plus and $1.40 with Foursquare.

So to summarize, you could foreseeably save money with Foursquare payment processing vs. ShopKeep's interchange-plus pricing if y'all have an boilerplate ticket size of less than about $15 and/or you lot process less than $10K/month. But your rates will vary so y'all should do the math for your specific situation.

Keep in heed that Foursquare is also a third-political party processor, which means merchants face a sure amount of take a chance in terms of account stability (see the User Reviews section below for more information about this). ShopKeep's free POS subscription is more than express overall, but you'll get an interchange-plus plan for bill of fare processing through ShopKeep Payments, and ShopKeep promises to friction match or crush other quotes. In improver, ShopKeep Payments bug traditional merchant accounts, which translates to a greater amount of business relationship stability.

Hardware Pricing

If all you need is a credit menu reader, Square offers more than affordable hardware; if you desire a more extensive setup with a cash drawer, credit card terminal, iPad enclosure, etc., ShopKeep's and Foursquare's prices are pretty comparable.

Foursquare nonetheless offers merchants a free magstripe reader, merely you should absolutely upgrade to an EMV-capable card reader to protect your business organization in the event of a fraudulent transaction. Foursquare's EMV-compatible reader, the Contactless & Chip reader, goes for $49. Whatsoever hardware orders of $49 or more are as well eligible for financing.

As mentioned, Square Annals, Square'south countertop POS solution designed to more or less supplant the iPad, comes with cheaper 2.5% + $0.ten processing. This device retails for $799.

ShopKeep Starter users volition need to buy a credit card reader separately, i.e., there is no complimentary menu reader like you get with Square. Looking at the ShopKeep website, ShopKeep's basic lightning-continued magstripe reader will still set y'all back $99, and they as well offer a sturdier, Bluetooth-enabled, EMV/NFC last for $329. A ShopKeep representative also told u.s. in October that they offer options starting at $98 that support EMV, magstripe, and NFC transactions.

Keep in mind, none of this includes whatever hardware bundles, tablet stands, cash drawers, receipt printers, or barcode scanners. Bundles will go you the all-time deal with both Foursquare and ShopKeep, though prices vary depending on which item hardware packet you cull.

In this case, I struggle to say one visitor clearly has a better-priced free plan than the other, considering you need to consider several factors, including your payment volume, average transaction size, and hardware needs. Square may take a slight edge in that the pricing is predictable and up-forepart, and could be a more affordable choice for merchants with a lot of small-scale transactions, and particularly those who use Square Register. Higher-volume merchants and merchants with average ticket sizes larger than about $fifteen volition likely save money processing with ShopKeep.

Though I'm primarily comparing the free plans, I should mention that either service makes it like shooting fish in a barrel to upgrade to a paid program with access to more features. ShopKeep does non disclose its monthly pricing, but generally, it should run you lot somewhere around $69 to $99/month for a fully-featured program with unlimited users and avant-garde reporting, while Square's eating house- and retail-centric POS packages are $60/month. Foursquare also offers various add-ons at different price points; for case, using Square with the Appointments characteristic for one user is gratuitous, and for two-five employees, your POS volition cost you lot $fifty/month, but you lot'll become the lower payment processing charge per unit of 2.five% + $0.10. Note that Square'south proprietary POS terminals Foursquare Terminal and Square Register do not support the paid Restaurant, Retail, or Appointments packages; yous'll demand an iPad setup to run those (Foursquare Appointments as well works on smartphones).

Contract Length & Cancellation

Winner: Necktie

Here'southward the good news: Neither ShopKeep or Square require a long-term contract. Yous can cancel anytime.

Square Signal of Sale is entirely pay-equally-you-go, except for whatsoever add together-ons, which are billed monthly. ShopKeep's free programme is also pay-equally-y'all-go, and if you upgrade to a paid programme, ShopKeep bills you in advance for the month. Y'all can cull to pay for multiple months in advance, but have annotation: According to the terms of service, if you cancel your subscription before the end of that contract, you aren't eligible for any refunds. This is pretty standard practice with SaaS providers, only make sure y'all're certain before you commit to annihilation long term.

Hardware & Software Requirements

Winner: Necktie

ShopKeep that works on iOS, Android, and Clover devices. The register functions are all centralized on the app, only whatsoever sort of management feature, from creating inventory to fifty-fifty customizing the layout of the register buttons, is managed in the back office dashboard, attainable online. Y'all could conceivably operate this spider web interface from your browser on your iPad or Android tablet, simply the interface has been optimized primarily for desktop and laptop computers.

Every bit far as operating specs, ShopKeep works best on iPad (sixth gen), iPad Pro, or iPad Mini 4 running iOS 10 or above. ShopKeep also works on tablets running Android v5. You tin can also use ShopKeep with a scattering of Clover devices: the Clover Station, the Clover Mini, and the Clover Flex. Opting for 1 of these Clover devices doesn't lock you into using First Data's software or its payment processing in whatever manner, shape, or form. You can purchase the hardware from ShopKeep and operate the ShopKeep app on the device. Technically, the Clover devices operate on Android, and the Mini and Flex are both portable devices. So if you're looking for a setup with a lilliputian fleck more mobility this could exist exactly what you need.

In add-on the POS app, ShopKeep'due south mobile reporting app, ShopKeep Pocket, is available on iOS. It's not an iPad exclusive, so y'all can take it on the go with you and monitor your business even if you're not onsite. Notation that ShopKeep's free Starter program includes merely "express" access to ShopKeep pocket.

Foursquare is a adequately open organization that operates on both iOS and Android. You can manage many of the backend features of Square from within the app, but the web dashboard can handle anything the app does not support. Dissimilar ShopKeep, back up for features varies past device blazon, with some capabilities merely available on tablets, or iOS devices, or Android devices. The baseline requirements for the Foursquare app are equally follows:

iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch on: iOS 9.3.5
Android phones and tablets: Android Bone 5.0 or higher

Foursquare has a very helpful compatibility checker on its website if you want to see whether a specific device is supported.

Square's own dashboard analytics app, called Square Dashboard (I don't think Square believes in creative names at this bespeak). Information technology's an iPhone exclusive, and so this feature doesn't currently work on iPad or Android phones/tablets.

Every bit far as hardware compatibility, you shouldn't accept besides much trouble with either Square or ShopKeep, then long as yous stick to their lists of recommended equipment. And of course, buying directly from the visitor is a expert way to ensure compatibility.

As far as software compatibility, ShopKeep has the advantage of every feature existence guaranteed to piece of work on the iPad, which might be more than appealing to some merchants. With Foursquare, no single platform supports every characteristic. Yous'll need to make sure the features you need are supported on your intended device, instead. Even so, Square allows you to handle quite a bit of management from inside the app itself rather than requiring you to access the dashboard on the estimator. In many mobile situations, the onetime is much more than of an asset.

Integrations & Add-Ons

Winner: Square

Foursquare has a adequately extensive listing of supported integrations that span industry-specific categories such as eating place management and healthcare to broader needs such as accounting, employee direction, and eCommerce. That listing is growing pretty consistently as Square adds partnerships on a regular basis. However, there are a couple of notable gaps in integrations: marketing and loyalty. Square has its ain software solutions in these categories and makes sense that information technology would steer merchants toward them.

Foursquare offers its own gratis online store in addition to its various eCommerce integrations. While the online store builder is quite basic, information technology's easy to operate and allows you to launch an online store virtually equally shortly as you've populated your inventory.

Foursquare'southward various other add-ons (some free, some paid) include features such as Appointments, Team Management, Gift Cards, Invoices, and others.

ShopKeep has opted to keep the number of integrations to a minimum—you get all of two options: MailChimp, and QuickBooks. On the one hand, this simplifies your choices and it increases the likelihood that the integrations volition work seamlessly. On the other, information technology could exist a deal-breaker if you prefer other services to these. (As well, I'd also like to point out that MailChimp offers a free program for businesses with nether 2,000 subscribers, and so this could be a actually corking no-cost starter selection for marketing.)

ShopKeep also has a few in-firm add-ons, including eCommerce back up, a loyalty program, and modules for online ordering and gift cards. They don't work with the free Starter plan, though. Overall, Square is a lot more expandable, either via its ain branded add-ons, or through third-party software.

Customer Service & Technical Support

Winner: ShopKeep

ShopKeep offers 24/7 customer support. And while that'due south not uncommon, the visitor's attitude toward customer support is. ShopKeep actually is dedicated to providing high-quality, round-the-clock support. There are no service tiers based on your subscription parcel; you won't pay more to get "premium" back up with phone access.

In addition to ShopKeep's adequately comprehensive self-service knowledgebase, you tin can get live chat, telephone support, and electronic mail support at all hours of the twenty-four hour period and night. You lot will need to give your location code, which is easily accessible in your ShopKeep POS app and the back office portal.

While I have seen the odd singular complaint most the quality of client service, the overall chatter about ShopKeep'due south customer service is extremely positive. Comments unremarkably mention how the team is e'er available, the short corporeality of time it takes to reach someone, and the fact that their questions are always answered, among other praises.

Compared to ShopKeep's 24/vii support, Foursquare is more express. Merchants have admission to telephone and e-mail support, though neither is circular-the-clock. Foursquare's officially stated hours for phone support are Monday through Friday, half-dozen a.m until 6 p.thou. CST. Email queries generally require upwards to a day to respond to.

To be able to call into Square, yous must first obtain a client lawmaking, which you can exercise through the Square website. Y'all'll have to log into your account to become through the carte du jour. I suppose there's some sort of expediency factor hither, simply it is a bit of a sore indicate for some merchants.

If you opt for a more DIY approach, Square offers a very thorough noesis base of operations, too as an extremely active forum called the Seller Customs. It's made up of existing Square merchants, client support staff, product managers and others. If you have questions nigh how a feature works or what something costs, the customs could be a really great place to outset with your query.

Foursquare has a fair number of complaints nearly its customer service. However, having read them, virtually of the complaints most client service pertain generally to the client service after an account hold or termination. (Run across User Reviews beneath for a more detailed explanation of what happens with account terminations.) Information technology's frustrating, but Foursquare locks terminated merchants out of telephone back up (email support available only) and won't give whatsoever details about what triggered the event, generally speaking.

All the same, with the exception of those complaints, a lot of the remaining talk near Square is pretty good. Email support is by and large helpful and the addition of telephone support is welcome, even if the code system is dull for some people. The Seller Community is honestly the almost populated and busy community for a POS-related product that I've ever seen, and it's total of helpful responses. Plus, Square remains the gilt standard for cocky-help knowledge bases.

I don't think Square offers bad customer service. But it's pretty clear that ShopKeep offers much better back up with constant availability, which could exist the deciding factor for some people.

User Reviews

Winner: ShopKeep

ShopKeep has a few complaints confronting them—about pricing, almost counterfoil issues, and about client service. However, I can say with confidence that gripes are few and far between. The overwhelming bulk of user reviews from ShopKeep merchants are very positive. These users applaud ShopKeep for its excellent client support, its ease of use, and its fair pricing.

Square has a much more than mixed-purse of reviews. At that place are plenty of happy business owners using Foursquare. They similar how unproblematic Foursquare is, they like the pricing and they similar the characteristic set. Many of them say the customer back up is great and they capeesh that help is always bachelor.

I've mentioned the elephant in the room already, merely now it's time to talk about it in depth: Square is a third-party payment processor. That means all merchants using its service confront an inherent risk of potential account holds or even terminations. If Square'south organisation flags an unusual behavior—a very large gild, a suspicious transaction, or even a massive spike in book, Square volition investigate and perhaps concur your funds or close your business relationship down. Holds and terminations brand up the bulk of complaints about Square.

Some merchants will read this and think that whatever small amount of take a chance isn't worth information technology. In those cases, I suggest you take a look at ShopKeep. If you lot go through ShopKeep Payments, you will go a traditional merchant account and all the stability that entails.

However, looking at just the number of complaints is misleading because you have to consider how many merchants Square serves — upwards of 2 meg at final count. The percentage of account holds and terminations is really very small compared to Foursquare's overall user base. So yes, there is a take chances you could face a hold or termination, but it is a small-scale one. You tin learn more about how to protect your concern in our article on how to avoid merchant account holds, freezes, and terminations.

Final Verdict

Winner: Tie

I felt reasonably confident after finishing my offset typhoon that ShopKeep would be the clear winner here. But then I went back, fabricated my edits, added in more information and re-evaluated the facts. In the end, I feel almost the same about the two services equally when I started this article: they both have their claim and it's going to come down to some very particular criteria for merchants to make up one's mind which one works best for them.

Foursquare offers astronomical value as a POS system and equally an entire business ecosystem. If you're looking for a platform to seamlessly manage multiple sales channels and accept payments in many different ways, Square is one of the best solutions out in that location. And there's a long list of supported integrations to further extend Square's capabilities. Merely in the end, it's still a gratuitous piece of software and so information technology lacks some of what makes paid software subscriptions so valuable. Its payment processing is transparent and anticipated, simply at that place's a certain amount of risk inherent to choosing a third-party processor, and that may not be to everyone's tastes, fifty-fifty if the risk is a small one.

ShopKeep's free plan is limited in comparison to its subscription plans every bit well as to Square'south gratuitous plan. Y'all can simply take one user, and you lot can't access advanced reports. However, you also go ameliorate customer service than you become with Square, including 24/7 phone, email, and live conversation support. Plus, with ShopKeep's integrated payment processing, you'll get a traditional merchant account with interchange-plus pricing and a charge per unit-friction match guaranteed from ShopKeep. This could make ShopKeep a superior free-plan pick for higher-volumes users with higher transaction sizes, who are fine with sacrificing a scrap in terms of reports and other extras (or are fine with upgrading to a paid subscription, which might run you lot $69 to $99/calendar month, compared with Foursquare'south $60/calendar month on its more advanced Retail and Restaurant-specific POS packages).

Accept yous used ShopKeep or Square? What was your deciding factor? We're e'er happy to hear from merchants and then delight leave us a comment with your thoughts!

If y'all're still non sure what the best option for you is, we recommend checking out our iPad POS reviews. If mobility is your priority, our mobile processing comparing nautical chart is a actually expert place to commencement, likewise.

As e'er, cheers for being here!