Lightspeed vs Square: The commerce platform that can keep up with you

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The complete retail POS comparison:
Lightspeed vs Square

We do inventory management like no one else. And that's not all. From free 24/7 support at your back to effortless eCommerce management, see why retailers pick Lightspeed over Square.

Main features Square

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

Native inventory scanning app

Track service and work orders

 

Extensive network of integrations

Integrated B2B catalogs

 

1:1 onboarding and 24/7 support

 

Local multi-lingual support teams around the world

 

Direct connection to NuORDER by Lightspeed

 

Free trial accounts

Complete inventory system

Square

 

Contactless, mobile payments

Square

Item import tool

Square

Complete omnichannel solution on one platform

Square

Custom reorder points

Square

 

Purchase order management

Square

Complete multi-store management

Square

Special orders and layaways

Square

 

Customer relationship management

Square

Integrated omnichannel Loyalty program

Square

Complete built-in interactive reporting

Square

Cloud-based across all devices

Square

Native inventory scanning app

Square

Track service and work orders

Square

 

Extensive network of integrations

Square

Integrated B2B catalogs

Square

 

1:1 onboarding and 24/7 support

Square

 

Local multi-lingual support teams around the world

Square

 

Direct connection to NuORDER by Lightspeed

Square

 

Free trial accounts

Square

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 Shop

The complete POS comparison:
Lightspeed vs Square for Restaurant

Find out what your restaurant can do with the cloud. Offer delivery service without a hitch, update your menus from anywhere, speed up your backend and more. See why restaurants are picking Lightspeed over Square.

Main features Toast TouchBistro Square Clover

Order and pay at table

Core sales reporting

 

 

In-depth insights

 

 

 

 

Integrated payments reporting

 

Multi-location management

 

Advanced inventory management

 

 

Fast and transparent integrated payment processing

 

 

Extensive PMS integrations

 

 

 

 

Free 1:1 onboarding

 

 

 

Free 24/7 support

 

Cloud-based across all devices

Offline mode

 

Advanced coursing and bill-splitting options

Extensive network of integrations

Flexible hardware options

 

 

Order and pay at table

Toast

TouchBistro

Square

Clover

Core sales reporting

Toast

TouchBistro

Square

 

Clover

 

In-depth insights

Toast

 

TouchBistro

 

Square

 

Clover

 

Integrated payments reporting

Toast

TouchBistro

Square

Clover

 

Multi-location management

Toast

TouchBistro

 

Square

Clover

Advanced inventory management

Toast

TouchBistro

Square

 

Clover

 

Fast and transparent integrated payment processing

Toast

TouchBistro

Square

 

Clover

 

Extensive PMS integrations

Toast

 

TouchBistro

 

Square

 

Clover

 

Free 1:1 onboarding

Toast

 

TouchBistro

Square

 

Clover

 

Free 24/7 support

Toast

TouchBistro

Square

 

Clover

Cloud-based across all devices

Toast

TouchBistro

Square

Clover

Offline mode

Toast

 

TouchBistro

Square

Clover

Advanced coursing and bill-splitting options

Toast

TouchBistro

Square

Clover

Extensive network of integrations

Toast

TouchBistro

Square

Clover

Flexible hardware options

Toast

 

TouchBistro

Square

Clover

 

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

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.