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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Lightspeed Retail

    Score9.2 out of 10
    N/ALightspeed Retail is a retail PoS system from Lightspeed headquartered in Quebec. Core retail POS features are expanded on higher service tiers with ecommerce option and payments gateway, an accounting system, and a customer loyalty program.N/A

    Square Online

    Score7.7 out of 10
    N/ASquare Online (formerly Weebly) is a basic content management system with blogging and eCommerce features. It can be utilized for building standard websites or specialized webpages for online stores.

    $13

    per month

    Pricing
    Lightspeed RetailSquare Online
    Editions & Modules
    Basic
    $79.00 ($69.00)
    per month (when billed annually)
    Starter
    $119.00 ($99.00)
    per month (when billed annually)
    Standard
    $139.00 ($119.00)
    per month (when billed annually)
    Advanced
    $189.00 ($169.00)
    per month (when billed annually)
    Pro
    $259.00 ($229.00)
    per month (when billed annually)
    Enterprise
    Contact Sales
    Personal
    $13
    per month
    Professional
    $16
    per month
    Performance
    $29
    per month
    Free
    Free
    Free
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Lightspeed RetailSquare Online
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Pricing decreases when paid annually: Personal - $10/Month Professional - $12/Month Performance - $26/Month
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Lightspeed RetailSquare Online
    Considered Both Products
    Lightspeed
    No answer on this topic
    Block, Inc (Square)
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    60%
    Would buy again
    6 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    70%
    Delivers good value for the price
    7 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    70%
    Happy with the feature set
    7 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    70%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    7 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    80%
    Implementation went as expected
    8 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Lightspeed RetailSquare Online
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Lightspeed Retail and Square Online
    Feature
    Lightspeed Retail
    -
    Ratings
    Square Online
    7.6
    31 Ratings
    8% below category average
    Role-based user permissions00 Ratings7.631 Ratings
    Platform & Infrastructure
    Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Lightspeed Retail and Square Online
    Feature
    Lightspeed Retail
    -
    Ratings
    Square Online
    9.4
    22 Ratings
    19% above category average
    API00 Ratings9.417 Ratings
    Internationalization / multi-language00 Ratings9.418 Ratings
    Web Content Creation
    Comparison of Web Content Creation features of Lightspeed Retail and Square Online
    Feature
    Lightspeed Retail
    -
    Ratings
    Square Online
    6.6
    43 Ratings
    17% below category average
    WYSIWYG editor00 Ratings5.636 Ratings
    Code quality / cleanliness00 Ratings5.339 Ratings
    Admin section00 Ratings8.739 Ratings
    Page templates00 Ratings6.143 Ratings
    Library of website themes00 Ratings6.243 Ratings
    Mobile optimization / responsive design00 Ratings8.242 Ratings
    Publishing workflow00 Ratings5.435 Ratings
    Form generator00 Ratings7.136 Ratings
    Web Content Management
    Comparison of Web Content Management features of Lightspeed Retail and Square Online
    Feature
    Lightspeed Retail
    -
    Ratings
    Square Online
    9.3
    40 Ratings
    21% above category average
    Content taxonomy00 Ratings8.626 Ratings
    SEO support00 Ratings9.636 Ratings
    Bulk management00 Ratings9.621 Ratings
    Availability / breadth of extensions00 Ratings9.333 Ratings
    Community / comment management00 Ratings9.430 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Lightspeed RetailSquare Online
    Small Businesses
    Square POS
    Score9 out of 10
    Umbraco CMS
    Score7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
    Joomla
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    RWS Tridion Sites
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Lightspeed RetailSquare Online
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.5
    (15 ratings)
    9.6
    (44 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    9.5
    (3 ratings)
    9.5
    (3 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.8
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Lightspeed RetailSquare Online
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Lightspeed
    It is perfect for any small business looking for inventory control, Tracking purchase history, and just an all round easy to use software for retail and beyond. I would not use it if I have only a few hundred items or was a larger company that can afford to build my own POS software.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    If you are having students create websites or information pages about something they are studying in class, this is a great option. The fact that students can spend less time getting situated and learning the app and get right to work researching and creating their pages is great. For middle to high school, this is a fantastic app to use. However, if you want more nuanced analytics or want students to focus on blogging more than webpage building, this is limited.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Lightspeed
    • Lightspeed Retail has great reports that are very easy to read and understand.
    • Lightspeed Retail is great to train new employees on because of its ease of use. There are not lots of different things that you have to learn just basics.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    • Drag and drop interface makes it very easy to add all types of content, including images, text, video (and YouTube videos), embeddable applications and more.
    • It's very easy to set up navigation features like cascading menus and sticky navigation (where the menu stays put - may depend on the template chosen though).
    • A technical backend is fairly straight-forward for setting up a fav icon, 301 redirects, SEO, Google Analytics, etc.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Lightspeed
    • With a larger SKU assortment size, the software really starts to struggle with doing physical inventory after scanning in a few hundred items.
    • Several times throughout each year Lightspeed went down on us (not our internet connection but actually Lightspeed verified).
    • Special order system could use a lot of modern improvements (ability to schedule ahead of time, etc.)
    • Reports are very basic, and will likely require there Lightspeed Analytics to actually get reports useful for day to day operations.
    • Weak system for receiving purchase orders.
    • Does not handle items and cases for reordering very well. Have used multiple Point of Sale systems in the past 10 years that allow to set reorder points based on single items, but reorder the case automatically, Lightspeed has no support for this.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    • Weebly doesn't have a lot of templates to choose from, so if you don't have any experience with CSS or HTML, it's hard to customize your site to an extent.
    • Weebly isn't fully SEO friendly. They don't allow you to add H1 tags to pages out of the box.
    • You can't create folder structures when it comes to web page URLs. You can put web pages under a main menu dropdown, but they don't allow you to put all sub-menu items in a structured folder (like site.com/folder/page-1 and site.com/folder/page-2).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Lightspeed
    No answers on this topic
    Block, Inc (Square)
    Weebly is consistently adding features that line up with our needs. The ease of use makes it the perfect program for us since we have users of multiple age brackets and knowledge of web design. We love that we can give users access to only the pages they are affiliated with
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Lightspeed
    Simply well designed with obvious icons per component, making it easy to interface with.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    Very easy to use and intuitive to design after all of our business needs. From the website and POS system to how we represent ourselves internally and to our customers... Square is second-to-none in helping our business and others in our same boat become the kind of businesses we want to be when it comes to our inventory and sales of these kinds of products.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Lightspeed
    I gave the rating of a 9 because ninety percent of the time when I talk to their support they're very helpful. One of the only real issues I have is there are times where the queue will be 7-9 people deep. When you have an error you don't know how to fix, sometimes this is very troubling. But overall their support is usually quick and friendly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Lightspeed
    Lightspeed is faster, sleeker and more modern than our previous POS system. I can’t express enough how easy the online store portion of Lightspeed is - it just intuitive and sometimes, is TOO easy, I feel like I have to be forgetting something. Lightspeed is staying modern and current where our previous POS was not
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    Weebly's designs, plugins, and customization options are a little more advanced in some cases than other similar programs. WordPress requires a different level of expertise and knowledge of code, keywording, and plugins, so I wouldn't even compare them. Wix is a little more user-friendly because you can drag and drop your design, which was very convenient for customizing your site. I didn't personally select Weebly, but it is user-friendly and nearly anyone comfortable with a computer could figure it out. Weebly support is also pretty good.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Lightspeed
    • Certainly has saved money on cash-outs/ accounting due to QuickBooks integration.
    • Faster processing through tills means happier customers and more sales per hour.
    • Expensive product at $5K a year has taken away some profitability for this small business. It's way, way over priced.
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    • Weebly has allowed our business to create a connection with our customers by offering home decor, cooking and styling tips.
    • Weebly gives us the chance to relay information to customers regarding merchandise, current sales and promotions, store hours and locations etc. Which has helped increase business.
    • Weebly has given our not very tech savvy business the opportunity to have a website and stay relevant with our competitors.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots