Lightspeed vs Square: The commerce platform that can keep up with you
Main features
Complete inventory system
Contactless, mobile payments
Item import tool
Complete omnichannel solution on one platform
Custom reorder points
Purchase order management
Complete multi-store management
Special orders and layaways
Customer relationship management
Integrated omnichannel Loyalty program
Complete built-in interactive reporting
Cloud-based across all devices
Track service and work orders
Extensive network of integrations
1:1 onboarding and 24/7 support
Local multi-lingual support teams around the world
Free trial accounts
Why ex-Square retailers are falling in love with Lightspeed
Our integrated eCom actually does it all
Don't settle for Square's third-party eCom. With our POS and eCom built to work with each other, run your entire store from one centralized interface - the way it should be.
Scale faster and sell more with Lightspeed
Growth with Square is very limited. Lightspeed lets you easily add locations, transfer inventory across multiple stores and centralize purchasing.
We give you full control of your inventory
Unlike Square, Lightspeed offers a complete inventory system. Sell serialized items, create bundles and organize products with many variations.
Process special orders / layaways for free
Square simply doesn't support this. Lightspeed lets you order products that aren't in stock and put them on hold for customers, all for free.
We help you get to know your customers
Square only provides half the equation. Lightspeed tracks in-store and online customer activity and information from a centralized interface.
All the support, all the time
You shouldn't have to pay for support. With Lightspeed, you get free 24/7 phone, email and chat support built-in.
We brought Lightspeed in because to do inventory, to do losses, to do analytics, to make sure everything is crossed with each other. It’s the only way to keep track of everything, because doing it by paper, you never know what you’re making.
Logan Elliott, Bros Bike ShopMain features
Tableside and QR code ordering
Always-on analytics
Multi-location capabilities
Fast and transparent integrated payment processing
PMS integration
Free 1:1 onboarding
Free 24/7 support
Cloud-based
Offline mode
Advanced coursing and bill-splitting options
Extensive network of integrations
Flexible hardware options
Why ex-Square restaurateurs are falling in love with Lightspeed
Hit the ground running with personalized onboarding
Your success is our success. Unlike Square, Lightspeed Restaurant gives you unlimited personalized onboarding sessions included with any purchase.
Get full control of your floor plan
Don't settle for Square's limited options. Customize your floor plan to match your dining room, and make changes in seconds.
Make better decisions with Lightspeed Restaurant
Square only provides half the equation. With Lightspeed, you automatically unlock insights from guest profiles, menu items and staff performance to give you confidence in your choices.
Intuitive coursing and bill splitting
Square for restaurants is a basic starter product. Lightspeed is built for restaurants and lets you break up your menu by course and split the bill however your customers choose.
Round-the-clock support
Unlike Square, Lightspeed sticks with you every step of the way. Get free, 24/7 support over phone, email and chat.
A full suite of restaurant software
With Square, you pay for each add on. Our one-stop platform comes in packages built for every level of operation.
“When I open up Lightspeed, my main focus is the reports. The more data I can get about what customers ate and what they spent their money on, the better an experience I can create.“
Kabir Kapoor, Owner, Pastel
Can Square integrate with Lightspeed POS?
Square is not one of Lightspeed’s supported integrated payment processors. Merchants may use Square’s payment processing for unintegrated payments if they so choose, but integrated payments are more secure and less prone to human error.
Lightspeed Payments is our preferred integrated payment processing solution for Lightspeed Retail merchants in Canada and the United States. We offer a favorable flat rate so you always know exactly what fees you’ll be paying, unlike interchange and interchange plus fees.
You can review the options for integrated payment processors for Lightspeed Retail here. You can also learn more about Lightspeed Payments for Retail here.
You can review the options for integrated payment processors for Lightspeed Restaurant here.
You cannot integrate Square’s POS systems with Lightspeed’s POS systems.
What is the difference between Square and Lightspeed?
Lightspeed Retail was designed with the realities of running a small or medium retail business in mind. Square for Retail is more bare bones. Square for Retail doesn’t have its own natively integrated eCom platform; Lightspeed Retail and Lightspeed eCom were built to work with each other seamlessly. Square for Retail has clunky, simple inventory management and purchasing tools, while Lightspeed Retail has features that save you time—such as being able to automatically add all items under their reorder points to your purchase orders.
Lightspeed Restaurant also meets more SMB growth needs than Square for restaurants. There are no options to facilitate self ordering with Square for restaurants, while there are with Lightspeed Restaurant. Square for restaurants cannot serve restaurants that require PMS integrations, while Lightspeed Restaurant can.
In addition, Lightspeed’s support is more available—we’re here for your 24/7 over the phone. Square isn’t.
Will Lightspeed teach me how to use Lightspeed POS?
Yes!
Switching to Lightspeed means getting personalized, one-on-one onboarding where we answer your questions and help you get to know Lightspeed. We’ll also supply you with webinars about Lightspeed to review whenever you’d like.
If you still have questions after your personal training sessions, Lightspeed support is available 24/7 over the phone for free.