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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Clover

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/AClover Networks, a First Data company (merged with Fiserv July 2019) offers a modular suite of Point of Sale systems (PoS) for restaurant and retail. This modular suite features fixed PoS stations, a customer loyalty program and gift card, an analytics module, as well as a mobile point of sale that Iplugs into the users smartphone and tablet to accept secure credit card swipes, as well as dips and taps like Apple Pay®, Samsung Pay™ and Android Pay™.

    $9.95

    per month

    Smile.io

    Score10 out of 10
    N/ASmile.io is a customer loyalty platform from the company of the same name in Kitchener, Ontario. Notably, Smile.io offers a free plan (available for Wix users) to help new entrepreneurs get started with a rewards program, including basic features to reward customers on every order, social sharing & birthday rewards, offer discounts for redeeming points, or style the program to match the site's brand.

    $49

    per month up to 500 monthly orders.

    Square POS

    Score9 out of 10
    N/ASquare POS is a point-of-sale software solution for restaurants, retail, or appointment-based businesses. It features numerous inventory (or menu) management and control features, and options that allow customers to pay in any way they want or can.

    $10

    per each additional reader; first reader free

    Pricing
    CloverSmile.ioSquare POS
    Editions & Modules
    Subscription
    $9.95
    per month
    Wix - Free
    $0
    per month
    Wix - Premium
    $49
    per month
    BigCommerce - Starter
    $49
    per month
    Shopify - Starter
    $49
    per month
    BigCommerce - Growth
    $199
    per month
    Shopify - Growth
    $199
    per month
    BigCommerce - Plus
    $999
    per month
    Shopify - Plus
    $999
    per month
    Each Transaction
    2.6% + $0.10
    per transaction
    Square Reader for magstripe
    $10
    per each additional reader; first reader free
    Square Stand for contactless and chip
    $16
    per month
    Square Terminal
    $27
    per month
    Square Register
    $39
    per 24 months
    Square Reader for contactless and chip
    $49
    per reader
    Square Point of Sale
    Free
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    CloverSmile.ioSquare POS
    Free Trial
    NoNoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYesYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    CloverSmile.ioSquare POS
    Considered Multiple Products
    Fiserv
    Chose Clover
    Clover has just the right combination of affordability with extra features and flexibility that isn't offered by some cheaper options. Clover is flexible enough to allow integration with Shopify and other useful retail technologies, as well as integrating with many payment …
    Incentivized
    Smile.io
    No answer on this topic
    Block, Inc (Square)
    Chose Square POS
    Square is what I’m most used to and seems to be great for the cross between invoices, single sale items, and things in between. In comparison to Clover, I probably like them equally. In comparison to Honey Book, I appreciate the ease of setting Square up for as few sales a …
    Incentivized
    Chose Square POS
    I chose Square because it is more well-known and widely used than Clover. It also can do marketing, inventory, syncs with QuickBooks, and, if desired, can have employees track hours. It really covers all the bases and becomes a one-stop-shop for everything small business. I'm …
    Incentivized
    Chose Square POS
    Clover was another front-runner for us but we decided against them. Their website was difficult to use in figuring out the actual cost of the equipment, differences between the equipment they offered, and fees. The product looked very clean and user-friendly but we felt that …
    Incentivized
    Chose Square POS
    Talech (through Elavon): a lackluster programme that seemed more fitting with restaurants than retail; we had trouble with tech support and high turnover of customer service representatives.

    Heartland: another lackluster programme; no compatibility with existing hardware, tech …
    Incentivized
    Chose Square POS
    I think Square POS was the most universally adopted by peers and had the easiest interface to learn. Costs were also competitive, so we decided on the brand we'd heard the most about.
    Incentivized
    Chose Square POS
    The only other real competitor that we looked at was PayPal Here and we went with Square because the fee structure felt fairer, and because our customers were much more familiar with the Square hardware and ecosystem, rather than trying to convince them that Paypal was a viable …
    Incentivized
    Chose Square POS
    We chose Square because the simplicity of setup and reduced fees over its competitors. We liked the ease of setting up inventory alerts, tracking and sales reports. Its competitors had good functionality and even some things that Square does not, but in overall respect, Square …
    Incentivized
    Chose Square POS
    Square is way better. They have excellent customer service, it is easy to use, and there is no contract or monthly fee. You pay as you use it which is great. The reporting aspects are about the same.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    9 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    98%
    Would buy again
    39 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    9 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    39 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    9 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    38 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    8 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    32 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    9 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    37 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    CloverSmile.ioSquare POS
    Small Businesses
    Square POS
    Score9 out of 10
    Growave
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Clover
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    CloverSmile.ioSquare POS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.1
    (12 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (61 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    9.3
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (11 ratings)
    Support Rating
    5.2
    (6 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.7
    (18 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    CloverSmile.ioSquare POS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Fiserv
    Clover is well suited for high-volume environments where quality and dependability are paramount. The hardware can scale easily and always looks good on the counter. I have even seen Clover hardware used in small mom-and-pop type stores. The ability to swing the monitor around for signature is really nice. Customers appreciate the ease of use. The stations we have to use nice large bright screens. Not familiar enough with the Clover product line to know if the smaller screen sizes are available for applications where space is a concern.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Smile.io
    No answers on this topic
    Block, Inc (Square)
    Square POS is by far the easiest POS software to use at events and train additional team members on - even with temporary or first-time employees. It's easy to see how each event is doing in live time. It gives the event manager a real-time view of revenue earned. Its really easy to create/manage/delete users to keep the platform secure.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Fiserv
    • BluePay has been very responsive when we've had questions and gone out their way to make sure that users understand the answers that are given.
    • During our cut over to BluePay we found that there were reports that our users were used to having that didn't have an equivalent on BluePay's site. Our account rep went above and beyond to make sure that our users had the information that they needed by having custom reports sent on the schedule that we determined.
    • Overall our interchange rates are much lower with BluePay than they were with our previous gateway provider.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Smile.io
    No answers on this topic
    Block, Inc (Square)
    • Mobile transactions (not like from a phone, but in terms of the ability to physically relocate rapidly).
    • Simple setup.
    • Generally uncomplicated pricing.
    • Widespread customer familiarity: because it's so regularly in use in our industry (musicians/entertainment professionals), people know and trust it in a way that you might not with a different provider.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Fiserv
    • Focus functionality on retail use and not broad based with focus on food services
    • Build a turn table into the countertop unit so both the employee and customer can use the tablet
    • Offer color choices in units (white is not always friendly with long term use)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Smile.io
    No answers on this topic
    Block, Inc (Square)
    • Too much going on for simple users. There are so many different apps and pages now that I get lost almost every time I log onto Square
    • The high percentage of fees taken from sales
    • The difficulty in changing default settings
    • The layout of the “website” you can create is truly a nightmare
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Fiserv
    No answers on this topic
    Smile.io
    No answers on this topic
    Block, Inc (Square)
    I don't really foresee anything being able to dislodge Square from our organization—we're not evangelists or anything like that—it's just the best solution we've found for our use case. Being able to quickly handle transactions from customers and then track all of those sales for analysis/bookkeeping later on.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Fiserv
    There are numerous aspects to Clover's usability: the usability of their point of sale systems, the usability of their CRM and web dashboards, and the technical side of integrating with other third-party services. All are top tier. Clover's usability is excellent and I have never had a problem figuring out how to use their services at any level. The POS system has a very low barrier to entry and an easy learning curve for newcomers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Smile.io
    No answers on this topic
    Block, Inc (Square)
    We find Square POS is very user friendly. Its interface is customizable to our needs and very easy to use. Before we adopted Square POS, we used a combination of solutions from different manufacturer to try and achieve a portion of the functionality that Square POS provides under only 1 login
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Fiserv
    We rarely have problems, but when we do, they are major and the system becomes unusable. While Customer Support does eventually respond and fix the issue, they can take a long time. If a major problem occurs on a weekend during the dinner rush, it can be catastrophic to sales and customer returns.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Smile.io
    No answers on this topic
    Block, Inc (Square)
    An admission - I have NEVER had to use Square POS support. The system is seamless, it just works! I have never had any queries about how the system worked as everything is so clearly laid out. I have never had any problems with payments. If their support systems are anywhere near as good as their software, I think we'll be in good hands.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Fiserv
    None are available on the list. Clover competes with HotSauce, Paradise, Poynt, and many more POS systems. We easily sell Clover more than anything else and everyone loves it. It's easily one of the best products I've seen since I have been in integrations. The sales managers love it, our sales reps love it, and most importantly our merchants love it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Smile.io
    No answers on this topic
    Block, Inc (Square)
    We only used Square POS while we were getting set up with Authorize.Net. It isn't as flashy or recognized by the general public, but in our industry, that isn't a priority. We do very large transactions so the higher rates and fees from Square add up insanely quickly making the lower rates and fees from Authorize.Net the nail in Square's coffin for us.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Fiserv
    • Definitely makes us look more professional, and we are able to handle products much smoother and faster
    • The reporting allows us to see what is really selling and how much money we have actually made, which is also great, especially when you are selling things you have made or grown because you may not always have an inventory, but you can tell how much you've sold.
    • We can't pause the fees for the "off-season," so it definitely is wasted money during those times.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Smile.io
    No answers on this topic
    Block, Inc (Square)
    • The opportunity cost of waiting for payments and manually bringing them to a bank means that we don't have to visit our bank branch. That alone saves us several hours each month.
    • We can use ordinary computers and mobile devices with Square instead of paying for expensive software or terminals.
    • Our clients appreciate not having to process payments to us, and anything that helps our clients and makes them happy carries more import than I can explain in this space.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots