2025 Small-Business Point-of-Sale System Scorecard

The intersection of finance and technology has never been more crowded. As the number of point-of-sale software companies offering payment services grows, banks and payment processing companies are fighting back by bringing their own POS software to market. With the U.S. Census Bureau reporting that 95% of small businesses ring up less than $1 million in annual sales, this segment of the market is where the battle for market share is really heating up. Various types of businesses need varying features in their POS software to support the differences in the products they sell and how they sell them. Unlike large enterprise merchants, small companies don’t have the budget for custom software and are drawn to off-the-shelf POS platforms that come with flexibility and customizable options out of the box. These businesses need basic functions to accept payments, tally sales, manage payroll, and track inventory. 

For this scorecard, Javelin’s evaluation is limited to POS platforms designed to serve merchants in the revenue segment of less than $1 million. Enterprise solutions like Oracle and other upmarket platforms were not included for that reason. Companies also needed to have at least a basic solution for all three business types, including retail, restaurant, and service businesses, for example, companies like PNCs Linga and Toast were excluded since they focus solely on restaurants. 

The 10 companies included in this report are Fiserv’s Clover, Epos Now, Exatouch from Electronic Payments Inc., Lightspeed, National Retail Solutions, Paypal’s POS, Shopify POS, Square from Block, Inc., SumUp, and US Bank’s Talech platform. When Javelin concluded research for this scorecard, no other companies were identified meeting the criteria for inclusion. Clover emerged as the Best in Class offering, with Square and Epos Now finishing as Overall Leaders.

Key questions discussed in this report: 

• What are the leading providers of POS platforms for small businesses?
• Can banks compete effectively with software companies by offering a POS software platform aimed at small businesses?
• How can banks and financial services companies best add value to their service stacks by adding a software component?
• How should banks and non-tech companies looking to enter the small-business POS market assess the competitiveness of their proposed offering?

Companies Mentioned: 

Block Inc., Clover, Elavon, Epos Now, Exatouch, Fiserv, iZettle, Lightspeed, McDonald’s, National Retail Solutions, PayPal, Shopify, Shopkeep, Snowdevil, Square, SumUp, Talech, US Bank, Vend