Shopify POS Pricing 2024: The Complete Guide for Retailers

If you’re confused about Shopify POS pricing, you’re in the right place. Although there’s more to choosing the right point of sale system for your business than analyzing pricing, all store owners have a budget to consider. Unfortunately, POS fees can be difficult to navigate.

If you’re running an ecommerce store, and you want to branch into omnichannel selling with an offline or “in-person” strategy, Shopify POS is a great solution. It helps synchronize online store sales and inventory data with brick-and-mortar transactions.

However, to access the full experience, you’ll need more than just a POS subscription, you’ll also need to pay for a Shopify plan, purchase hardware, and consider transaction fees.

Here’s everything you need to know about Shopify POS costs.

What is Shopify?

Shopify is one of the world’s leading ecommerce store builders.

The all-in-one hosted platform supports business leaders in selling virtually anything online, from digital downloads to physical products, and dropshipping goods.

As an omnichannel sales solution, Shopify ensures anyone, and everyone can sell to customers all over the world. Shopify’s app store even makes it easy to extend the functionality of your store in a couple of clicks.

What is Shopify POS?

A POS system, or “Point of Sale” system, is one of the most important resources for any store owner. It’s essentially the solution that allows you to process transactions and payments.

For an online store, a POS system mostly consists of software, like a checkout process, shopping cart system, and payment gateway.

In the world of in-store sales, POS solutions also include hardware. You might use a card reader to scan debit cards and credit cards, a barcode scanner to find product information, and cash drawers to store money.

Shopify POS is the all-in-one solution for online and offline selling, created by Shopify. It supports omnichannel sales, allowing companies to manage transactions in-store, online, on social media channels and more.

Plus, it provides access to a comprehensive backend, where you can manage marketing campaigns, inventory, orders, and even team members.

While the basic Shopify POS experience is included with most Shopify ecommerce plans, the vendor also offers an advanced alternative, with its own monthly subscription fee.

The Features of Shopify POS

Designed to support large and small business owners alike, Shopify POS comes packed with amazing out-of-the-box functionality.

Alongside access to fully integrated hardware options, users also get a powerful POS app for android, iOS, and iPad devices, and a unified back office for omnichannel sales.

The features included in Shopify POS vary depending on the plan you choose, but core capabilities include:

Omnichannel selling

With Shopify POS, you can deliver a smooth and consistent shopping experience to customers wherever they are. The solution includes options for product QR code management, “cart transfers” when customer want to complete purchases online, and local delivery tools.

There are options to allow customers to buy in store and have their items shipped to them, or allow them to buy online and exchange or return in store. Shopify even supports local pickup options.

Smart Inventory Management

Most of the best inventory management tools for Shopify POS are limited to the “POS Pro” plan. However, the system does allow every company to manage all orders from one platform, and access inventory insights from multiple channels.

Depending on your plan, you can also create purchase orders for vendors, request transfers from other locations, and use demand forecasting tools.

There are inventory analysis options, tools for stock adjustments and sale items suggestions, detailed inventory reports and low stock reports too.

Since out-of-stock issues cost retailers around $1 trillion per year, these tools are incredibly valuable.

Staff Management

The chances are you aren’t running your business alone. With Shopify POS, you create unique staff accounts, with different staff permissions for each of your team members. Both POS plans come with unique PIN assignment options.

Plus, the Pro plan offers manager approvals, unlimited POS staff options, POS roles and permissions, and the option to attribute sales to specific team members.

Streamlined Checkout

Did you know only 25% of customers actually make a purchase after adding a product to their cart? A convenient checkout process can help increase your online sales.

Both versions of Shopify POS allow customers to checkout anywhere, with a customizable “smart grid” experience.

They also include automatic tax calculation tools, options for custom discounts and order notes, custom sales tools, camera barcode scanners, and email or SMS receipts. There are even tools for dealing with offline cash transactions and returns. Plus, with Shopify POS Pro, users can save and retrieve carts, and manage exchanges.

Product and Customer Management

Alongside making it easy to manage inventory and staff, Shopify POS allows users to add unlimited products to their point of sale system, with product collections, variants, and barcode labels. There’s even an option for multi-location inventory management.

When it comes to managing customer relationships, teams can create unique customer profiles, with insights into order history, contact customers directly through their POS, and design loyalty programs and marketing campaigns to suit customer preferences.

Reporting, Analytics and Marketing

Running a successful business requires business leaders to access and leverage valuable data. Shopify POS comes with a host of retail sales reports, product reports, cash flow reports, and cash tracking insights to help you.

Plus, you can leverage inventory and financial reports, and daily sales insights.

To help you make the most of your insights, Shopify also offers access to a range of marketing tools and resources, such as product reviews, email marketing and social media integrations, and connectivity to the Google Merchant Center.

Payment Processing

The easiest way to manage payment processing with Shopify POS is to use Shopify Payments. Included as default in all Shopify plans, this payment solution enables teams to accept all popular payment methods, from credit card and debit card payments, to Google Pay and Apple Pay.

It also includes support for chargebacks, auto-reconciliation, and cashflow management. Companies can also leverage additional payment methods, such as gift cards, split payments, and Apple wallets.

Hardware

Shopify offers a range of hardware options, allowing retailers to customize their checkout counter and customer experience.

Many of the devices come with their own hardware warranty for peace of mind, and can integrate with a variety of different screens and displays.

Plus, Shopify offers free hardware shipping options and returns to business owners in a variety of regions. You can even access a wide selection of compatible hardware accessories, such as receipt printers, and barcode scanners.

👉 Read our full Shopify POS review for more info.

Shopify POS Software Costs

So, how much does all of this functionality cost?

There are two versions of Shopify POS available to business owners. The first is Shopify POS Lite, the solution included in all Shopify plans. While POS Lite is included for “free” in all Shopify plans, you’ll still need a Shopify subscriptions. Options include:

• Shopify Starter: $5 per month: Solutions for selling on social media, via messages and links (though there are no website building options included).
• Basic Shopify: $39 per month: All the basic features of Shopify, plus basic reports, up to 1,000 inventory locations and 2 staff accounts.
• Shopify: $105 per month: All the features of Shopify Basic, plus professional reports, and up to 5 staff accounts.
• Advanced Shopify: $399 per month: The features of Shopify, plus 15 staff accounts, and a custom report builder.
• Shopify Plus: $2,000+ per month: The enterprise level of Shopify, designed for growing brands, with advanced support, headless commerce, and more.

The second option is Shopify POS Pro, an upgraded version of the basic plan, which includes more staff management features, inventory management tools, advanced customer profiles, and tools for omnichannel selling.

The Pro platform also includes advanced retail analytics, and advanced customer support. This option is available for an extra $89 per month per location.

If you choose to pay for an annual plan, you can access a discount, taking the price down to $79 per month per location.

Shopify POS Hardware Costs

The plans above will only give you access to Shopify’s POS software. If you need hardware (beyond an iPhone or iPad) to run your business, there’s an extra fee to consider.

Shopify POS hardware comes in a range of different shapes and sizes, for all kinds of retail business.

Options include the “Shopify POS Go”, a fully integrated mobile point of sale system similar to a smartphone, with card reader and barcode scanner functionality. This costs $429 with an included case. Other products offered by Shopify include:

• Tablet stands: Starting at $149: Simple tablet stands for mobile and pop-up shop sites.
• Barcode scanners: Starting at $229: Mobile Bluetooth-enabled barcode scanners
• Printers: Starting at $119: Receipt and label printers, with wired and wireless functionality.
• Receipt printers: Starting at $299: Comprehensive receipt printers for retail stores.
• Cash drawers: Starting at $139: Secure and lockable cash drawers

You can also access a range of add-ons and accessories for Shopify store, such as mounting kits, and people counters, as well as marketing kits.

Shopify also offers a range of “bundles” that combine multiple tools into one solution, such as the “Shopify Retail Kit” starting at $219.

Plus, companies can build their own bundles with Shopify, to access discounts on larger purchases.

You can find more info about Shopify POS hardware in our detailed guide.

Shopify POS: Transaction Fees & Additional Costs

Alongside paying for your mobile device, hardware, and software, you’ll also need to think about transaction costs.

Shopify charges a transaction fee for each sale made through the POS system. The exact amount you’ll pay will depend on whether you’re making online or in-person sales.

Plus, fees vary for each of the Shopify pricing plans. The more you spend for your Shopify subscription, the less you’ll pay in transaction fees. Here’s what you can expect from each plan:

• Shopify Lite: 2.7% per transaction, 2.9% plus 30 cents for online payments, and 2% additional fees if you’re not using Shopify Payments.
• Basic Shopify: 2.7% per transaction, 2.9% plus 30 cents for online payments, and 2% additional fees if you’re not using Shopify Payments.
• Shopify: 2.5% per transaction, 2.6% plus 30 cents for online payments, and 1% additional fees if you’re not using Shopify Payments.
• Advanced Shopify: 2.4% per transaction, 2.4% plus 30 cents for online payments, and 0.5% additional fees if you’re not using Shopify Payments.

Depending on the complexity of your business, your needs for automation, and your integrations, there may be other fees to consider too.

You might need to pay extra to add more staff members to your system, or to leverage unique add-ons.

Don’t forget, you’ll also have to consider shipping rates, and the fees for any additional tools you’re using from the Shopify app store.

Shopify POS Lite

The cheapest option for companies looking to leverage Shopify’s Point of Sale features is Shopify POS Lite.

This offering comes included with all of the paid plans from Shopify, so there are no additional monthly fees to pay. However, you will still need to manage the costs of payment processing, and any hardware you might need.

The POS Lite solution includes the following features:

• Inventory tracking across all sales channels and locations
• Unlimited product inventory with variants, multi-locations, and collections
• Login PINs for individual members of staff
• Shopify Payments integration
• Compatibility with Shopify accessories and card readers
• Reporting (basic cash tracking, inventory reports and financial reports)
• Custom receipts by email and SMS
• Automatic sales tax calculations
• Order notes for purchase special requests
• Customer profiles with contact information and order histories
• Email for connecting with customers
• QR codes for products in your collection
• Promo codes and discount codes (both online and in-person)

Shopify POS Pro

Shopify POS Pro is designed for people who need to upgrade the functionality of their in-person payment processing solutions.

It’s available for an extra fee of $89 per location, per month. However, if you opt for a Shopify Plus plan, you can access the functionality as part of your package.

Shopify POS Pro comes with all of the features of Shopify POS Lite, and some additional extras. For instance, you’ll also get:

• Manager approval settings for discounts and promotions
• Staff permissions and roles
• Unlimited non-admin staff access for your POS
• Daily sales reports for products and staff performance
• Sales tracking for each of your staff members
• Inventory matching and counting with barcode scanning
• Detailed inventory reporting
• Sale suggestions based in performance
• Product transfers between locations with inventory tracking
• Low stock alerts
• Inventory forecasting based on inventory and sales analysis
• Purchase order creation
• Custom receipts (available via printing)
• Cart retrieval for ecommerce
• Order management for in-store exchanges, local delivery and pickup

Shopify POS Go

If you’re looking for an all-in-one solution for your Shopify POS needs, you can also consider the Shopify POS Go solution.

Notably, you will need a Shopify POS account and Shopify ecommerce account to access this tool. It’s essentially a comprehensive point of sale system, designed a lot like a standard smartphone.

You’ll need to pay either $399 for the simple device, or $429 for the complete device and its protective case.

The product comes complete with an integrated card reader and barcode scanner. Plus, you can customize the Shopify POS app on the device to help manage your stores more effectively.

The tool comes with everything you need to manage products, payments, and staff, both online and in-store.

Shopify POS Alternatives

The Shopify POS solution is an excellent choice for companies already leveraging Shopify to run their online store. You don’t necessarily need to pay anything extra for the software if you’re comfortable using the Lite service.

However, there are some other great alternatives out there if you’re looking for something a little different, such as:

Square POS

One of the best-known POS providers, Square offers a robust POS experience for all kinds of merchants. There are even specialist upgrades available for restaurants, service-based businesses, and large retail stores.

The free POS offering includes access to website hosting, delivery and pickup options, staff management, and order invoicing.

If you upgrade, you can access extra features like exchanges, multi-location inventory and vendor management options.

Plus, Square offers a flat and transparent pricing system, starting at 2.6% plus 10 cents for in-person transactions, 2.9% and 30 cents for online transactions, and 3.5% plus 15 cents for manually entered transactions.

Clover POS

Another excellent alternative to Shopify POS, Clover POS offers a convenient solution for both in-person retail stores and ecommerce business.

The modular solution allows companies to pick the functionality they need, and each monthly plan comes with different tools to explore. More advanced plans include extensive reporting and advanced inventory features.

The processing rates can vary for each plan you choose with Clover POS. However, they start at around 2.3% plus 10 cents for in-person transactions, 2.6% plus 10 cents for in-person transactions on cheaper plans, and 3.5% plus 10 cents for keyed-in and online transactions.

Lightspeed POS

Lightspeed is a convenient cloud-based POS solution with a variety of features to offer. There are numerous tools built into the platform, including marketing and loyalty features, an easy-to-use back end for inventory and sales tracking, and endless integrations and add-ons.

Plus, you can use a range of hardware options to manage your store.

Pricing plans for Lightspeed are offered on an annual basis, starting at $69 per month, per year for the basic plan.

Lightspeed using a predictable one-rate pricing model for transactions. Card-present transactions start at 2.6% plus 10 cents, while CNP transactions start at 2.6% plus 30 cents.

Is Shopify POS Worth It?

If you’re looking for a wide range of POS features, a straightforward interface, and a solution that integrates seamlessly with your ecommerce platform and sales channels, Shopify POS is a great option.

With the Shopify POS system, you can easily track inventory in real-time, manage payments and refunds, and create personalized customer experiences.

Shopify also offers one of the best POS system options for a user-friendly experience, but it does have a number of expenses and monthly fees to consider.

You could always consider looking into other tools like Square or Lightspeed if you’re not sure.

The good news is if you already have a Shopify store, you can start leveraging the basic POS system features today, without any extra costs.

So, it might be worth giving the platform a try.

Shopify POS Pricing: Verdict

Ultimately, Shopify POS is a relatively powerful and attractive tool for business owners looking to manage transactions both in the digital world, and in the offline world.

However, it’s likely to be the best option for you if you already have a Shopify account.

After all, you can’t use the POS functions from Shopify unless you also have an ecommerce plan from the same solution.

If you are already active on Shopify, then Shopify POS will allow you to dive into the world of brick-and-mortar selling in no time, with simple functionality, an excellent back-end environment, and a range of tools to help you keep track of sales and inventory.