How are Square and Loyverse different?
They come at free from opposite ends. Loyverse is a POS app first and lets you pick from a few card processors. Square is a payments company that gives the POS away and makes its money on card processing, hardware and paid plans.
Square Free
Our pick for most small businesses
- No monthly fee, no contract
- Full sales history in your Dashboard
- Cards offline on supported Square hardware
- Free online store, invoices and booking
- Processing, hardware and support from one company
Loyverse
A generous free plan for cafes and small shops
- No monthly fee, no credit card to sign up
- Loyalty, kitchen display and customer display included
- Reports cover the last 31 days on free
- Loyverse Payments, SumUp or Zettle for cards
- Paid add-ons per store for history, staff and inventory
How do Square Free and Loyverse compare, feature by feature?
This is what each free plan includes, based on what Square and Loyverse say on their own sites. "Limited" can mean a cap, a paid plan or a paid add-on, and the rows below explain which.
- Included
- Limited or paid
- Not offered
| Feature | Square Free | Loyverse free plan |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly POS fee | Yes: None, no contract | Yes: None, no contract |
| Runs on | Yes: Phone, tablet or Square hardware | Yes: Phone, tablet or POS device |
| Card processing | Limited: Square only | Yes: Loyverse Payments, SumUp or Zettle |
| Cards with no internet | Yes: On supported Square hardware | No: Sales record, cards wait |
| Sales history | Yes: Full history in Dashboard | Limited: 31 days, longer is paid |
| Inventory | Limited: Counts and alerts; full is paid | Limited: Essentials; advanced is paid |
| Loyalty | Limited: Paid plans | Yes: Included |
| Kitchen display | Limited: Paid add-on, paid plans | Yes: Included |
| Staff tools | Limited: Scheduling and timecards paid | Limited: Employee add-on |
| Online store | Yes: Free online site | Limited: Through integrations |
| Invoices and booking | Yes: Included | No: Not listed |
| Support | Yes: Chat, email; phone at first | Limited: Help center; chat with add-ons |
What's free on each, and what do the add-ons cost you?
The POS app is free on both. You pay for card processing on both. The difference is what you pay for next.
Loyverse: one free plan, three paid add-ons
Loyverse's free plan covers the POS on a phone, tablet or supported POS device, sales analytics for the last 31 days, essential inventory with low-stock alerts, a loyalty program, a customer display, a kitchen display, more than one store and integrations for accounting, ecommerce and marketing. It doesn't ask for a credit card to start.
Three add-ons cost money, each billed per store, monthly or yearly: unlimited sales history, employee management and advanced inventory. Each comes with a 14-day free trial, and Loyverse says there are no contracts or cancellation fees. Current prices are on loyverse.com/pricing.
Square: a free plan, two paid plans and a few add-ons
Square Free covers the POS app, Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android, a free online site with ordering and booking, invoices and estimates, appointments, simple stock counts with low-stock alerts, sales reports and offline payments on supported hardware. Square Plus and Square Premium add loyalty, marketing, staff scheduling, full inventory and more reporting, and both come with a free 30-day trial. A kitchen display, Kiosk and Payroll are add-ons. The numbers are on our pricing page.
What hardware do Square and Loyverse need?
Neither needs anything you don't already own to get started. A phone or tablet runs both.
| Square | Loyverse | |
|---|---|---|
| Take your first card | Tap to Pay on a compatible iPhone or Android phone | Tap to Pay on iPhone or Android through Loyverse Payments |
| Card readers | Square's own reader, Stand, Terminal, Handheld and Register | A Loyverse Payments mobile reader or smart reader, or a SumUp or Zettle reader |
| Counter gear | Works with some third-party printers, cash drawers and scanners | Works with receipt printers, barcode scanners, cash drawers and label printers |
| Back office | Square Dashboard in a web browser | Loyverse Back Office in a web browser |
| The catch | Square card readers only work with Square | Readers outside Loyverse Payments, SumUp and Zettle aren't integrated |
Square's devices and what each one does are on Square rates and hardware. For a plain walk through which setup fits which business, see our POS hardware guide.
Who processes your card payments?
With Square, Square does. The POS, the reader and the processing come from one company, so there's one bill and one place to call. The tradeoff is that you can't plug a different processor into Square.
Loyverse gives you a choice. In the US its own Loyverse Payments is built into the app, with no monthly fees and payouts every business day, and it works with Tap to Pay, a Bluetooth mobile reader or a smart reader. Loyverse also integrates SumUp and PayPal Zettle readers. With other processors you'd usually type the amount into a separate terminal yourself, which means double entry and no automatic match between the sale and the payment. Source: loyverse.com/payments
Either way, every card payment carries a processing fee and cash costs nothing to take. Our guide to whether free POS is really free explains how those fees work.
What happens when the internet goes down?
Both keep ringing up sales. Only Square keeps taking cards.
Square offline
- Takes card payments offline on Square Reader (2nd generation), Stand, Terminal, Handheld and Register
- Saves each payment and uploads it when you reconnect
- Not on Tap to Pay or keyed-in cards
- Time limits apply, and a card that declines later is your loss
Loyverse offline
- Keeps recording sales and shifts, and syncs receipts later
- Integrated card terminals and Loyverse Payments need the internet
- Refunds are off, and you can't add or edit customers
- Don't sign out while receipts are still unsynced
Sources: Square Support Center, "Process offline payments," and Loyverse Help Center, offline use. The details, time limits included, are in our offline POS guide.
Which has better inventory, loyalty and a kitchen display for free?
Loyverse, and it isn't close. Its free plan includes a loyalty program, a kitchen display app and a customer display app. On Square, loyalty comes with the paid plans and the kitchen display is a paid add-on that needs Plus or Premium. Square Free does print kitchen tickets to a kitchen printer.
Inventory is closer. Both give you items, stock counts and low-stock alerts for free. Loyverse also handles items made from components on free. Suppliers, purchase orders and the deeper stock tools are paid on both: Loyverse's advanced inventory add-on, or Square's paid plans. Our POS inventory guide covers what you actually need.
How far back do the sales reports go?
This is Loyverse's biggest free-plan limit. Its free sales analytics cover the last 31 days. To view or export anything older you add unlimited sales history for each store. Your sales are still recorded, you just can't see the older ones until you pay.
Square Free includes sales reports, a reconciliation report and a daily summary email. Square's Support Center says detailed reporting in the Dashboard shows your full history, while the app shows a shorter window. Advanced reporting comes with Square Premium.
Who do you call when something breaks?
On Square Free you get chat and email support on every plan, plus phone support on weekdays for your first 90 days. Premium adds phone support around the clock.
On Loyverse's free plan you get a help center in many languages and the Loyverse Town community. Live chat, around the clock, comes with any paid add-on. If you'd rather talk Square through with a person before you sign up, POSUSA is an authorized Square reseller and you can call us.
Should you pick Square or Loyverse?
Pick Loyverse if the free extras matter more to you than history and offline cards. Pick Square for almost everything else.
Loyverse is the better pick if
- You run an owner-operated cafe, quick-service spot or small shop
- You want loyalty, a kitchen screen and a customer display without paying
- A month of reports is enough, or you'll pay for longer history
- You want to choose your processor, or you already use SumUp or Zettle
- Your internet is reliable
Square is the better pick if
- You want your full sales history without an add-on
- You need to keep taking cards when the Wi-Fi drops
- You also sell online, send invoices or take bookings
- You'd rather have one company for the POS, payments and hardware
- You want phone help while you're getting started
That's why Square is our pick for most small businesses, and Loyverse is still the one we point some cafes to. See how both stack up against the rest in our best free POS systems roundup, or look at Loyverse alternatives if you're on Loyverse now and it's not fitting. Weighing a countertop system instead? See Square vs Clover.
Questions people ask
Is Loyverse really free?
Yes, the POS is. The free plan covers the app, 31 days of sales analytics, essential inventory, loyalty, kitchen and customer display apps and more than one store. Unlimited sales history, employee management and advanced inventory are paid add-ons, billed per store, each with a 14-day free trial.
Is Square or Loyverse better for a cafe?
It depends on what you need on day one. Loyverse gives you loyalty and a kitchen display for free. Square Free prints kitchen tickets, keeps your full sales history and takes cards offline on its own hardware, with loyalty and a kitchen display on its paid plans. A small owner-run cafe with steady Wi-Fi can do well on either.
Can I use a Square reader with Loyverse?
No. Square card readers and terminals only work with Square. In the US, Loyverse's integrated card options are Loyverse Payments, SumUp and Zettle.
Which keeps sales history longer, Square or Loyverse?
Square. Square's Support Center says detailed reporting in the Dashboard shows your full history. Loyverse's free analytics cover the last 31 days, and older sales need the unlimited sales history add-on to view or export.
Can I switch from Loyverse to Square?
Yes. Export your items and customers from Loyverse's Back Office as CSV files, then import them into Square Dashboard. Sales history doesn't carry over, so export the reports you want to keep first. Our switching guide covers the rest.