POS Systems Reviewed: EliteTeQ, Lightspeed, Square, Pesapal, Loyverse and Odoo

Most owners don't go looking for a new POS on a quiet Tuesday. They go looking after a bad week: the till froze during the month-end rush, a stock count came out short again, or a second branch opened and suddenly nobody knows what's on the shelves there.

If that's where you are, this guide is for you. We've looked at six systems owners regularly ask us about. We make one of them, so read our view of EliteTeQ with that in mind. We've tried to be straight about where the others are the better choice.

The short version: there's no single best POS. Square and Loyverse are easy starting points for a small shop, where they're available. Lightspeed is a mature system for retailers in North America, Europe and Australia. Odoo suits businesses with a developer or partner. Pesapal is a Kenyan payments company that also offers POS. EliteTeQ is built for growing shops and branches that need stock control, offline selling and local payments in one place.

We haven't given star ratings or scores. A score can't tell you whether a system fits your counter, your connection or your customers. What it's best for can.

01What we looked at

• Day-to-day selling: how quickly a cashier can ring up a busy queue.
• Stock: whether the numbers on screen match the shelf, and whether you can buy from suppliers inside the system.
• Local payments: whether Octopus, card and cash can sit on the same sale.
• Offline selling: what happens when the internet drops.
• Branches: whether you can see every location from one place.
• Support: who you can actually reach when something breaks.

02EliteTeQ

EliteTeQ is a cloud POS with real stock control, purchasing, multi-branch and staff roles built in. It runs in a browser on devices you already own.

• Suits: supermarkets, mini-marts, pharmacies, hardware shops, restaurants and any business with more than one branch.
• Good at: stock that matches the shelf, every branch in one view, selling offline and syncing later, staff roles and audit logs, returns and damages tracked, product movement reports, and our own support team on phone and WhatsApp.
• Keep in mind: it's a younger brand than some names here, and it isn't an online store builder. If e-commerce is the heart of your business, look elsewhere for that part.
• Price: from USD 499 per year.

03Lightspeed

Lightspeed is a Canadian company with well-developed retail and restaurant systems, popular in North America, Europe and Australia. Lightspeed Retail grew partly from Vend, which it acquired.

• Suits: established retailers and restaurants in its core markets, especially those using card payments.
• Good at: deep retail tools, multi-store setups and a large set of add-on apps.
• Keep in mind: it's priced by subscription, which grows as you add locations and registers, and it's designed around card payments in its main markets. If most of your customers pay by mobile money, check carefully how those sales would be recorded.

04Square

Square is known for its free POS app and simple card reader in the countries where it operates, including the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and Japan.

• Suits: small and mobile sellers in those countries who mainly take cards.
• Good at: very fast setup and an easy interface.
• Keep in mind: it charges a fee on each card transaction, and it isn't offered in most African countries or much of the Middle East and Asia. If you're outside its markets, it isn't really an option.

05Pesapal

Pesapal is a Kenyan payments company that handles card and mobile-money payments and also offers POS products.

• Suits: businesses in East Africa whose main need is accepting payments, especially at a single location.
• Good at: payments, and it's a familiar local name.
• Keep in mind: its roots are in payments rather than stock control, so if you need purchasing, multi-branch stock and detailed product reports, ask to see those in a demo.

06Loyverse

Loyverse offers a free core POS app for phones and tablets, with paid add-ons for things like employee management and advanced inventory. It's used by small shops and cafés in many countries.

• Suits: a single small shop, kiosk or café starting out.
• Good at: getting you selling in an afternoon at no software cost.
• Keep in mind: as you add staff, suppliers and branches, you'll likely need paid add-ons, and support is mostly self-serve. We cover this in more detail in [Loyverse vs EliteTeQ](/blog/eliteteq-vs-loyverse/).

07Odoo

Odoo is a broad open-source business suite with a POS app, available as a free Community edition and a paid Enterprise edition.

• Suits: businesses with in-house developers or a trusted Odoo partner, and those needing manufacturing or HR tools too.
• Good at: breadth and deep customisation.
• Keep in mind: setting it up properly is a project, and costs come in pieces (edition, hosting, apps and partner time). See [EliteTeQ vs Odoo](/blog/eliteteq-vs-odoo/).

08At a glance

09How to choose without regret

1. Start with your worst week. What went wrong? Pick the system that fixes that, not the one with the longest feature list. 2. Test it offline. Pull out the router cable during the demo and keep ringing up sales. 3. Count your payment types. If customers pay by Octopus, card and cash, make sure all three end up on the same sale and the same end-of-day report. 4. Think two years ahead. If a second branch is likely, choose something that handles branches now rather than migrating later. 5. Call support before you buy. See how long it takes to reach a person.

If you'd like to see how EliteTeQ handles your business, book a free demo or message us on WhatsApp to talk to a real person.