Best Mobile POS Systems (2027)

The $59 reader sits mid-range, above PayPal's $29 first unit and Shopify's $49, below Clover Go and Helcim at $199. With $0 per month, the first-year cost of going mobile with Square is the $59 and nothing else.

Two conditions on the Handheld. It needs Wi-Fi, which rules out a field or a festival with no network, and it prints only through a network printer, so there is no receipt in the customer's hand unless you carry a printer too. If a printed receipt at the table is the requirement, Clover Flex solves it and Square does not. Swiping cards also needs a separate magstripe reader.

Pricing: $0/mo (Square Free). Reader $59. Square Handheld $399.

Read the pricing carefully though: $29 is the first reader only. Additional readers cost $79, which is more than Square charges for its first. A two-stall operation pays $29 plus $79, which is $108, against $118 for two Square readers. The gap narrows fast as you add staff.

Two further limits. It works only with PayPal payments, so you are choosing a processor alongside the POS with no option to shop the rate later. And PayPal's own pages disagree on the minimum iOS version, stating both 12 and 14. If your staff carry older iPhones, get that answer before you buy, because the difference decides whether half your handsets work.

Pricing: $0/mo. First card reader $29, $79 after.

Clover advertises hardware for 1 cent a month, and the condition is the story: it requires $100,000 to $200,000 in annual card sales and a three-year agreement. Below that volume you are buying at list, and the three-year term is a real commitment on a device category that turns over every few years. Price the $749 outright purchase against 36 months of whatever rate the agreement carries.

Android support is not stated and neither is offline behavior. If your staff carry Android phones or your pitch has no signal, resolve both before committing to a three-year term.

Pricing: Clover Go reader $199. Clover Flex handheld $749.

The device requirement is specific: Tap to Pay on iPhone needs an iPhone XS or later running iOS 17.4 or newer. That is a higher floor than most systems here, so audit your staff handsets before you plan around it. Android support is not stated.

One operational limit matters more than it first appears: refunds cannot be done in the Scanner app. Every return goes back to the main till. For line-busting during a rush that is fine, since returns are rare mid-queue. For a store where staff handle exchanges on the floor, it breaks the workflow. Software starts at $89 per month billed annually, the highest here, though no reader purchase offsets part of that.

Pricing: from $89/mo billed annually. Tap to Pay in the Scanner app.

Then there is the hardware problem, and it has a date on it. POS Go, Shopify's handheld, is no longer sold, and existing units leave mobile selling mode after May 26, 2027. If someone offers you a used POS Go, you are buying a device with a published end date. Plan around the $49 reader and a phone instead.

Software is $39 per month on Basic, which buys the whole Shopify platform rather than a payments tool. Judge it on that basis, not against Square's $0.

Pricing: Basic $39/mo. Tap and Chip reader $49 (US).

Toast runs only on Toast hardware. There is no bring-your-own-phone option, which means your mobile POS budget is a hardware budget. For a restaurant that is often how it works anyway, since servers carrying personal phones raises its own problems.

Model prices are not published beyond the $0 first device, so you cannot budget a second, third or fourth Go unit from public information. A ten-table restaurant needs more than one. Get per-unit pricing in writing before you commit, because the $0 headline covers exactly one device.

Pricing: Toast Go hardware from $0, first device only.

Two constraints will decide this for a mobile setup. The reader does not support offline payments, so a market with no signal stops you selling. And it pairs with one device at a time, which means two staff selling simultaneously need two readers, at $199 each. For a single operator with reliable data, neither bites. For a festival team of three, that is $597 in readers plus the connectivity question.

Android support is not stated. If your staff carry Android phones, resolve that before the $199 purchase.

Pricing: $0 software. Card reader $199.

Loyverse sells no reader and no handheld. You buy third-party hardware and pair it yourself, which means the mobile POS question splits into two purchases with two support lines. For a seller who already owns a reader, that is fine. For one starting from nothing, Square's $59 or PayPal's $29 arrives as one decision rather than two.

Nothing is published about Tap to Pay or offline card payments. Treat Loyverse as free order-taking software with hardware to source, and price the hardware before you compare it against Square's bundled $59.

Pricing: free app. Third-party readers.