Lightspeed vs Square: Get a POS that can keep up with you

I'm a retailer ｜ I'm a restaurateur

Lightspeed vs Square: Get a POS that can keep up with you

The complete retail POS comparison:
Lightspeed vs Square

We do inventory management like no one else. And that's not all. From recurring monthly revenue through subscriptions to effortless eCommerce management and more, see why retailers pick Lightspeed over Square.

Watch a demo Try it for free

Main Features

Complete inventory system

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Sell serialized inventory, create assemblies out of your products and easily organize items with multiple variations using matrices. Run your inventory with one centralized database for your store and online shop.

Contactless, mobile payments

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Offer your customers a way to pay contactlessly, anywhere in store or for curbside pickup.

Recurring revenue with Subscriptions

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Automated collection of revenue from customers for recurring subscriptions or services at monthly, weekly or custom intervals.

Item import tool

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Built-in item importing tool is included with the system, allowing you to import and update items in bulk.

Complete omnichannel solution on one platform

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Manage your eCom and physical stores from the same system for increased efficiency and customer experience consistency.

Custom reorder points

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Never run out of stock. Set your desired reorder points for all your products and see when it's time to restock.

Purchase order management

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Order from any vendor and centralize purchasing for multi-store operations. Consolidate your purchase orders and special orders in one master order.

Complete multi-store management

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Reporting, gift cards, customer profiles and inventory management across all locations, from a single cloud-based platform.

Special orders and layaways

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Place special orders from the sales screen for products you don't have in stock or set items aside as a layaway order for your customers. Both features included in the POS for free.

Customer relationship management

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Track relevant information about your customers to personalize your service.

Integrated omnichannel Loyalty program

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Integrate with an omnichannel loyalty platform with built-in email marketing, a rewards program and a customer insight dashboard.

Complete built-in interactive reporting

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Build, customize and run comprehensive reports to track your sales, employees and overall performance over the last week, month, year or more.

Cloud-based across all devices

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Run your retail operation from your mobile device and access all your sales and customer data remotely.

Track service and work orders

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Create work orders, track repair status, accept deposits and create quotes for customers.

Extensive network of integrations

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Build the perfect POS solution for your business with a huge selection of plug-and-play integrations built in-house or by our trusted partners.

1:1 onboarding and 24/7 support

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24/7 phone, email and chat support included with every purchase.

Local multi-lingual support teams around the world

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The POS has been used and trusted by retailers globally for over 10 years, and is backed by experienced local retail experts who understand your reality.

Free trial accounts

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Take the POS for a free spin before you commit.
Shopify POS
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Main Features
Complete inventory system
Contactless, mobile payments
Recurring revenue with Subscriptions
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
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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 ours built in-house, 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.

You get our full support, all the time

We're always here for you. Get free personalized training and 24/7 phone, email and chat support included with any purchase.

Get going with Lightspeed faster.

Migrating from Square to Lightspeed Retail? No problem. Transfer your data using Doosync by Enkidoo so you can pick your business up where you left off. No compromising your data—just business continuity with your brand new Lightspeed POS system.

Learn more

“It’s easy to train new people with Lightspeed. Once onboarded and taken through it, they learn it the same day.”

Edwin Morel, Owner, Talent Cycles

The complete POS comparison:
Lightspeed vs Square for Restaurant

See what you can do with the cloud. Offer delivery service with less hassle, update your menus from anywhere, speed up your back-end and more. See why restaurants are picking Lightspeed over Square

Watch a demo Try it for free

Main Features

Cloud-based

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Run your restaurant from your mobile device and access all your sales and customer data remotely.

Offline mode with full feature set

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If your internet goes down, even for extended periods of time, service is uninterrupted and every feature continues to function as usual. Once you regain connection, all your information is synced automatically with no data lost.

Free trial accounts

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Take the POS for a free spin before you commit. No credit card required.

Tablet & smartphone table-side ordering

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Bring the POS with you on an iPad or smartphone wherever you go: to the table, terrace, kitchen, market, etc.

Free 1:1 onboarding

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Get unlimited personalized training at no extra charge.

Free 24/7 support

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24/7 phone, email and chat support included with every purchase.

Cloud product & menu control

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Create, customize and quickly update your menus—and do it all yourself, with no third-party assistance needed.

Fully customizable floor plan

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Build or change a floor plan to match the exact layout of all your individual service floors. Screen reader support enabled.

Built-in customizable reports

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Build and run reports to track your sales, employees and overall performance.

Multi-location capabilities that help you grow

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Reporting, gift cards and menu replication across all locations, from a single platform.

Advanced coursing and table service

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Fire orders to the kitchen or bar by assigning categories to specific printers, or use partial printing.

Multiple check-splitting options and single-seat checkout

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Split the bill however your customers choose—by seat, amount, or item—and seamlessly check out one guest at a time.

Built-in and add-on CRM and loyalty options

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Track relevant information about your customers to personalize your service and integrate with a loyalty platform with built-in email marketing.

Self-order menu with kiosk and table service options

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Let customers place orders themselves with a self-order menu that comes in both kiosk and table mode.

Flexible payment integrations

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Choose from multiple payment processing options, both integrated and non-integrated—the choice is yours.

PMS integration

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Integrate your PMS into your POS for a seamless customer experience everywhere in your hotel.

Extensive network of integrations

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Build the perfect POS solution for your business with a huge selection of plug-and-play integrations built in-house or by our trusted partners.

Ability to go fully paperless

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Use a digital kitchen display system instead of printing chits, check guests out tableside and send checks by email.

Minimal investment in hardware

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Getting started is cost-efficient with a use-the-hardware-you-have approach. You are not forced to purchase any specialized hardware.

Local multilingual support teams all over the world

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Our POS has been trusted by restaurateurs globally for over 10 years, and is backed by experienced local restaurant experts who understand your reality.

Supports partial payments

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Let customers pay however they want, in as many methods they choose.
Toast
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Square for restaurant
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Micros
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Main Features
Cloud-based
Offline mode with full feature set
Free trial accounts
Tablet & smartphone table-side ordering
Free 1:1 onboarding
Free 24/7 support
Cloud product & menu control
Fully customizable floor plan
Built-in customizable reports
Multi-location capabilities that help you grow
Advanced coursing and table service
Multiple check-splitting options and single-seat checkout
Built-in and add-on CRM and loyalty options
Self-order menu with kiosk and table service options
Flexible payment integrations
PMS integration
Extensive network of integrations
Ability to go fully paperless
Minimal investment in hardware
Local multilingual support teams all over the world
Supports partial payments
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Square for restaurant
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Why ex-Square restaurateurs are falling in love with Lightspeed

We set you up: you start on the right foot

Your success is our success. Unlike Square, Lightspeed gives unlimited personalised onboarding sessions included with any purchase.

We give you full control of your floor plan

Don't settle for Square's limited options. Lightspeed lets you build or change a floorplan to match the exact layout of your service floor in seconds.

Make better decisions with Lightspeed

Square POS only provides half the equation. Lightspeed has built-in reports that bring you valuable insight into your restaurant.

Set up coursing and split-bills with Lightspeed

Square simply doesn't support this. With Lightspeed, break up your menu by course and split the bill however your customers choose.

We support you around the clock

Unlike Square, Lightspeed sticks with you every step of the way. Get free, 24/7 support over phone, email and chat included with any purchase

We have 10+ years of POS experience

Square is four years behind us in experience. Backed by happy customers worldwide, you simply can't go wrong with Lightspeed.

“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

Frequently Asked Questions

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.