Lightspeed POS Review and Pricing

Why We Chose Lightspeed for Retail Businesses

Lightspeed has all the features necessary to run a brick-and-mortar or e-commerce retail business, whether it’s a growing or mature company. We like that its three retail POS plans include essential retail POS features. For example, Lightspeed streamlines inventory management — typically a massive undertaking for many retailers. When testing the software, we were also impressed that Lightspeed has preloaded catalogs with millions of items — something most competitors don’t offer. Preloaded catalogs can reduce the time spent adding new inventory items to your POS system significantly.

Other retail-specific features we appreciated include bulk uploads, low-stock alerts and integration with clients’ e-commerce stores. We like that Lightspeed also supports popular payment methods and offers free customer service 24/7; not all competitors are this accessible. Another huge perk is the one-on-one training Lightspeed provides at no extra cost.

We were also impressed by Lightspeed’s customer loyalty, employee management and reporting functionality and extensive integrations. You can use its internal payment processing system or partner with a third party, a crucial option that allows retailers to manage sales and processing rates. For these reasons and more, Lightspeed is our choice for the best POS system for retail businesses. 

Lightspeed’s inventory management tools let you track stock, manage inventory levels, set reorder points and much more. Source: Lightspeed

Ease of Use

Lightspeed offers user-friendly software for various businesses. We like that Lightspeed’s industry-specific POS plans increase the software’s usability for each business type:

• Retail: Lightspeed’s POS features are ideal for retail stores in industries like apparel, cannabidiol, electronics, gifts, health, home decor, jewelry, liquor, pets, sporting goods and toys. 
• Restaurants: Lightspeed is also among the best restaurant POS systems and can serve as a hotel or bar POS system. 
• Golf: Lightspeed has customized solutions for golf businesses (multicourse, municipal, private, semi-private, public and resorts). 

When testing the platform, we were impressed by Lightspeed’s mobile-friendly interface, which allows businesses to operate seamlessly while on the go. We also appreciated Lightspeed’s hundreds of integrations that help streamline business processes. It integrates with top credit card processors, analytics programs, marketing services, the best accounting software and other business applications. Many competitors offer far fewer integrations. 

Additionally, you and your team can easily set up personalized dashboards and access customizable templates, making the software effortless to navigate for users. After customizing the Lightspeed dashboard, it didn’t take us more than a few minutes to memorize where everything was. When we used the platform, we were impressed by how easy and seamless Lightspeed made implementation and how helpful the guides are if clients run into issues.

We were also impressed by Lightspeed’s numerous easy customization options that allow retailers to create optimal and unique user experiences. Consider the following: 

• Item grouping: Users can add and group items by brand and type using subscreens and color-code categories for easier management.
• Item controls: Users can see and adjust all item sales descriptions and see how many of each item is left. The system communicates with all devices on the same network, so updates apply across the board.

Restaurants also have helpful customizations, including the following: 

• Table controls: Restaurants can easily customize tables and dining room layouts with drag-and-drop functionality. Servers can assign items by seat or break them down by course. Subscreens allow for many modifications.
• Check splitting: Lightspeed makes it easy to split and process checks. Servers can even split items, such as bottles of wine.

Lightspeed Features

We chose Lightspeed as the best POS system for retail businesses for many reasons, including the must-have retail POS features that come with its Basic package and the e-commerce and loyalty tools in higher-tier plans. We were impressed by Lightspeed’s standout SEO tools that can assist you with retail marketing strategies. Additionally, we like that the vendor regularly updates its software with new features.

Inventory Management

When testing the system, we loved Lightspeed’s full suite of inventory management tools designed for retailers, such as free inventory management spreadsheet templates and free purchase order templates. The software lets you track inventory, bundle items, create product variations and manage vendors and inventory across multiple locations.

The Lightspeed Retail POS software includes the following inventory management features:

• Preloaded catalogs with more than 8 million items
• Bulk uploads of up to 10,000 stock-keeping units at a time
• Low-stock alerts
• The ability to create, maintain and manage inventory reports for physical and online stores 

Numerous inventory management tools make Lightspeed an excellent POS system for retailers. Source: Lightspeed

Customer Management and Loyalty Programs

We like Lightspeed’s customer management tools that help businesses earn repeat business and customer loyalty. Lightspeed’s built-in customer relationship management (CRM) functions allow you to create customer profiles, add notes about preferences and run sales analytics reports. You can also see your customers’ purchase histories, assign VIP status and offer rewards and promotions.

Restaurateurs will appreciate that Lightspeed lets you view purchase histories and segment customers by spending amounts. This information can be valuable when offering rewards and promotions.

During our testing process, we found that Lightspeed has a robust set of loyalty tools to ensure repeat business in retail and restaurant environments. Here are some of the loyalty tool functions we noted:

• Create customer loyalty programs for online and offline sales channels to encourage customers to explore other perks.
• Run special events during which customers can earn double or triple the usual number of points. 
• Send personalized deals and recommendations on birthdays or for VIP customers.
• Send email and short message service notices to correspond with promotions while creating email flows based on customer behavior.
• Allow customers to digitally track loyalty points to keep things organized and in a central location.

Lightspeed’s customer management and loyalty features are similar to what we saw from its competitors, but they’re significant value-adds.

Lightspeed makes it easy to track customer loyalty program information. Source: Lightspeed

Employee Management

During our analysis, we found Lightspeed’s employee management features helpful and insightful. For retail, we liked how the POS system makes employee management easy with a built-in time clock and the ability to run reports on employees’ hours, sales and profits. We also appreciated Lightspeed’s helpful options for restaurants, such as assigning roles and allowing employees to initiate time management functions with a clock-in system.

Lightspeed’s built-in time clock makes shift management easier. Source: Lightspeed

E-Commerce

We were impressed by Lightspeed’s e-commerce focus for retailers. It provides the necessary tools for setting up an online store, selling products from any location and building a strong e-commerce marketing strategy. Choose from more than 50 professional themes and several mobile-responsive and customizable templates. You can even showcase products in high definition. We appreciate how crucial these features are to retailers who want to sell their products online.

We also liked that Lightspeed Retail lets retailers sync online and provides in-store analytics. By syncing your POS system to your website, you’ll have a more organized inventory workflow across all channels.

Reporting

Retailers will appreciate Lightspeed’s more than 50 built-in POS reports, which will allow them to create simple or highly detailed reports. Lightspeed’s retail-focused reporting capabilities include the following:

• Revenue reports showing sales, profits and trends
• Inventory reports tracking costs, margins, negative inventory and transfers
• Employee performance reports based on sales, voids and other criteria
• Product performance reports to gauge how specific products are doing

Additionally, restaurant owners and managers will like the platform’s unique reporting features, which will better help them control staffing and garner customer insights. Restaurant reporting capabilities include the following:

• A sales dashboard allows restaurant managers to set specific periods for overview-level reports.
• Users can compare dates or date ranges and view information about items, categories and order profiles. More detailed reports can reveal information for multiple locations on sales, staff, orders and more.
• Lightspeed Restaurant’s Advanced Insights can help restaurant owners and managers build customer profiles and track online campaign results in real time. 
• View sales activity during different times to inform restaurant staffing decisions. 
• See commonly purchased items to inform stocking decisions. 
• Access servers’ performance numbers and learn what items they’re selling the most.

Lightspeed Restaurant’s Guestbook platform allows users to segment customers and analyze their behaviors to adjust operations. Source: Lightspeed

Hardware

We like that Lightspeed’s platform is iPad-based, giving retailers additional flexibility. For example, an iPad can be used as a mobile POS system, a stationary terminal paired with a stand or a customer-facing display.

You can buy third-party POS hardware directly from Lightspeed as a bundled package or on a stand-alone basis. The company offers a comprehensive list of third-party hardware options with transparent pricing, including barcode scanners, cash drawers, receipt printers, iPad stands and more. (Some hardware can be used for retail stores and restaurants alike; however, you should contact the company for a quote if you need restaurant-specific hardware.) 

We really like that businesses may be able to use their current hardware with the Lightspeed platform, saving them money. The Lightspeed help center offers a comprehensive list of compatible hardware. 

We also appreciate that Lightspeed is an authorized Apple reseller. As such, you can purchase the iPad kit (and other third-party POS hardware) directly from the company — a convenience many competitors don’t offer.

Purchase your iPad-based retail POS hardware and accessories directly from Lightspeed. Source: Lightspeed

Lightspeed Pricing

When it comes to POS system costs, Lightspeed is competitive. Consider the following: 

• Lightspeed offers tiered plans for retailers, restaurants and golf businesses (see pricing details below).
• Lightspeed offers the option of paying monthly, annually or for multiple years upfront. The longer the contract term, the less you’ll pay.
• Unlike some competitors, Lightspeed charges no setup or installation fees.
• Although some POS vendors require you to purchase hardware and software separately, Lightspeed includes one free POS register with each software plan. There’s a charge for additional registers.
• All plans allow you to accept payments with Lightspeed Payments, Lightspeed’s payment processor. Lightspeed’s payment processing rate (2.6 percent plus 10 cents for in-person transactions) is on par with the industry standard.
• While Lightspeed doesn’t offer a free plan like some competitors we reviewed, we like that it includes a 14-day free trial so businesses can try it and decide if its features are a fit.

Lightspeed Retail POS Pricing

Lightspeed’s Retail POS plans include the Lightspeed Payments processing service:

• Basic: Lightspeed’s Basic plan costs $89 per month if billed annually or $109 per month if billed monthly. It includes one register, Lightspeed Retail POS software, unified payments, 24/7 customer chat support, multistore functionality and inventory management.
• Core: This plan costs $149 per month if billed annually or $179 per month if billed monthly. It includes everything in the basic plan, plus e-commerce integration, gift cards, loyalty programs and inventory and sales reports.
• Plus: This plan costs $239 per month if billed annually or $289 per month if billed monthly. It includes everything in the Core plan, plus custom report builders and workflows.

Lightspeed Restaurant POS Pricing

Although we chose Lightspeed as the best POS system for retail businesses, its restaurant POS system is also impressive. It offers four tiered monthly plans, ranging from $69 to custom enterprise pricing.

Its restaurant features — menu and floor management, takeout and delivery, CRM and loyalty programs, online ordering and multilocation management — are on par with those of other restaurant systems we evaluated. 

While Lightspeed is a good restaurant POS system choice, if you’re searching for a restaurant-specific POS system with more robust features and restaurant-specific functionality, check out our TouchBistro POS review.

Lightspeed Golf Pricing

You’ll need to contact Lightspeed for a custom quote if you want to use its robust golf POS software. It includes inventory management features, e-commerce integrations, the ability to process transactions from the tee sheet, pro shop features, data analysis and more. 

Payment Processing Pricing

Lightspeed has its own payment processing service, Lightspeed Payments, with flat-rate pricing and no additional POS charges and fees. This is yet another reason we chose Lightspeed as the best POS system for retailers as not all POS providers offer in-house payment processing. (If a one-stop shop for payment processing appeals to you, you might also want to check out our Toast POS review.)

Lightspeed Payments rates are as follows:

• Credit cards accepted in person using a card reader: 2.6 percent plus 10 cents per transaction
• Manually keyed-in cards and online transactions: 2.6 percent plus 30 cents per transaction

Money deposited with Lightspeed Payments will be in your account within two business days of the initial transaction.

We like that you can also use one of Lightspeed’s payment processing partners, such as Cayan, Worldpay, Vantiv Express or Mercury Payment Services, giving you more payment processing flexibility. 

Implementation and Onboarding

We were impressed that Lightspeed offers one-on-one onboarding to help business owners get started with its POS system, beginning with a phone or video chat consultation. Lightspeed also offers free training for you and your staff to ensure the software is used to its fullest potential throughout your company. We love that Lightspeed provides a dedicated account manager with each plan, which many competitors don’t offer. These services ensure smooth implementation and onboarding, typically a four- to six-week process.

After the initial setup process, customers are moved to the Lightspeed support team, but there’s a grace period during which they can still access an onboarding agent with questions. Most users will run into few or no issues while setting up Lightspeed. If they have issues, Lightspeed provides a detailed guide to help them through many common problems.

We were impressed that Lightspeed is debuting field implementation specialists for some larger customers. These agents will ensure the necessary infrastructure, such as cabling, is in place. They will be available and on-site on launch day to make immediate changes if necessary.

Customer Support

Lightspeed’s customer support options are varied and well-executed: 

• 24/7 service: We like that Lightspeed offers 24/7 customer support. Its representatives can answer questions about the company’s hardware or software anytime via chat (phone support is generous but has varied availability by language). Although this is standard in the POS industry, we always like to see it in our best picks. 
• Personalized support: We also appreciate that Lightspeed’s plans include one-on-one onboarding, additional free training and a dedicated account manager. 
• Responsive help: We found Lightspeed’s customer service very responsive, patient and efficient in resolving customer issues and using customer feedback to improve operations. 
• Online resources: Lightspeed offers free online tools specifically geared toward golf courses, restaurants and retailers. For example, you can access blogs, guidebooks, videos and templates. We found its free barcode generator and preloaded retail catalogs to be especially helpful. Lightspeed’s prebuilt templates can also save retailers hours on organizing and managing their inventory.
• Community forum: If you want to connect with other entrepreneurs to collaborate or learn more about the product, Lightspeed offers a community forum online. It’s free to join. To hear from other Lightspeed users about their experiences, you can also listen to testimonials on Lightspeed’s YouTube page.

Limitations

While Lightspeed is an excellent POS for retailers, we discovered several potential drawbacks:  

• Pricier plans: Lightspeed’s plans are priced somewhat higher than those of other POS systems we reviewed.
• Third-party payment processor fees: Although Lightspeed allows integration with third-party payment processors, there’s an extra fee involved, so you may want to consider the extra cost before moving ahead.
• Fewer payment processors: Lightspeed offers fewer payment processor choices than some rivals, so you may have to forgo your current processor to use Lightspeed. In that case, you could take advantage of Lightspeed Payments, its internal processing service, but some competitors give you more freedom to choose your payment processor. Check out our Epos Now review if you want a solution with more payment processor options.

Methodology

We researched and analyzed dozens of POS systems to identify the top solutions on the market, with a special focus on those built for growing and mature businesses. We looked at pricing, contracts, hardware, platform compatibility, crucial POS features, reports, payment processing, integrations, usability and customer support to help businesses choose the right POS system for their needs. We even got hands-on experience with product videos and demos when possible. When looking for the best POS system for retail businesses specifically, we prioritized features like inventory management, customer management, loyalty programs, employee management, reporting, e-commerce and integrations.

Bottom Line

We recommend Lightspeed for …

• Retail businesses.
• Businesses looking for short- or long-term POS plans.
• Retailers and restaurants that need extensive inventory management features.
• Businesses that want an iPad-based POS system.

We do not recommend Lightspeed for …

• Businesses looking for the least expensive POS system possible.
• Businesses that want an Android-based POS system.

Elizabeth Crumbly and Quinn Springett contributed to this article.