Best Lightspeed alternatives and competitors in retail [2024]

1. Magestore POS: Best for online selling on Magento and Shopify with flexible third-party payment processor integration

Flexibility in integrating with third-party payment processors

While Lightspeed restricts merchants to its payment solution and imposes hefty fines for using third-party processors, Magestore POS provides you with more flexibility. Whether for Magento POS or POS for Shopify, it gives you the freedom to integrate with your preferred payment processor.

Take a look into some of the payment processors that seamlessly integrate with Magestore POS:

Magestore POS is open to integrating with a wide range of local payments based on your country/ region. If you have a specific payment solution in mind and require integration, feel free to reach out to the Magestore team for assistance.

Likewise, Magestore POS accepts multiple payment methods, offering flexibility for both merchants and customers during the payment process. Some of the options include cash, debit and credit cards, reward points, store credits, gift cards (Magento POS), split payments, layaway, “buy now, pay later”, and more.

Seamless integration with Magento and Shopify

Lightspeed is a cloud-based standalone POS, which means that you need to have a connector or middleware for integration with eCommerce platforms. This type of integration needs frequent updates to stay compatible with platform changes. If not, syncing issues can arise.

For Magento merchants, Magestore POS, a Magento-native solution, is a smart choice for resolving syncing issues. All data seamlessly syncs with the Magento backend—no connector or middleware needed. Order data, product data, and customer data are synced in real time, ensuring consistency between the POS, inventory, and website.

With accurate system data, merchants can track inventory, sales revenue, profits, and margins for their offline store, while also accessing detailed working session records through X and Z reports directly in the POS system.

Moreover, Magestore POS ensures you never lose any sales, even with the internet interruption. If the connection to the channel database is lost, the system seamlessly switches to the offline mode, ensuring continuous operation.

Dedicated customer support

Unresponsive Lightspeed retail customer service is a major challenge for its users. Many merchants express frustration over long wait times due to Lightspeed’s limited support resources.

Magestore team is confident in providing dedicated support and ensuring that customers are never left without assistance. When merchants encounter technical issues, they will work directly with a Business Analyst (BA) from Magestore’s product team, without being redirected through multiple departments. The product team member will document the issue and provide effective solutions to resolve it. Magestore’s focus is on quickly addressing and resolving customer issues.

Here are some of Magestore’s customer support channels, ensuring merchants receive prompt and helpful responses:

• Free consultation with experts
• Support via Magestore ticket system
• Slack instant messaging
• Direct call via Google Meet

Magestore POS vs Lightspeed POS: Key features to compare before switching

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Magestore POS pros and cons

Quick start with a full-featured set provided in the free plan

While the Lightspeed POS system price remains a concern for many merchants, Square stands out with its free plan, offering a full-featured set that enables small merchants with tight budgets to start selling immediately.

No monthly fees, no setup fees, and no contract are what Square offers to merchants. Inventory management functions are included even in the free plan, and merchants receive free hardware with no monthly rental or purchase required.

With Square’s free plan, reporting and analytics are also available. It includes sales reports and product sales data to help merchants track their sales performance and gain insights for making informed business decisions.

Some other essential functions to smoothly run an omnichannel business, like payment and checkout, order management and fulfillment, customer management, staff management, etc., are all covered in this free plan.

Square POS vs Lightspeed POS: Key features to compare before switching

Square POS pros and cons

Tight integration with Shopify

As mentioned above, the Lightspeed standalone POS requires a connector or middleware for integration with other eCommerce platforms, such as Shopify. This can lead to syncing issues if not regularly updated.

Therefore, for Shopify merchants, Shopify POS, a first-party POS solution of Shopify, is an effective option to resolve this syncing issue. It uses the same database as the Shopify online store, ensuring seamless synchronization of sales data between stores and the Shopify inventory. This tight integration doesn’t require the need for any connector or middleware – which can often cause syncing issues without regular updates.

Besides, the huge Shopify ecosystem offers more than 100 third-party apps that smoothly integrate with Shopify POS, serving the specific needs of merchants. For example, Stocky for inventory or Bundler for product bundles.

Shopify POS vs Lightspeed POS: Key features to compare before switching

Shopify POS pros and cons

Intuitive interface and backend software

Many merchants encounter challenges with Lightspeed right from the setup process. They report that the system is not user-friendly, difficult to customize certain features or functions, and often requires duplicated efforts during use.

Fortunately, ePOS Now can address these issues associated with Lightspeed.

One advantage frequently highlighted by merchants reviewing ePOS Now is its ease of use. “The software is easy to use and can be edited to suit your business needs with time-saving folders. It also features a very user-friendly interface that can be learned in minutes, making it ideal for quickly getting new employees up to speed.” – according to an ePOS Now user.

The simplicity of ePOS Now front end is a key selling point, allowing merchants to quickly train staff and tailor the system to their business needs.

Alongside its smart, modern, and intuitive interface, the backend software is equally user-friendly and highly customizable. It offers comprehensive reporting tools, providing clear insights into profitability, revenue, staff performance, and product analysis, whether by location, team members, or across the entire business.

ePOS Now vs Lightspeed POS: Key features to compare before switching

ePOS Now pros and cons

Question 1: What are the Lightspeed alternatives and competitors?

Some of the Lightspeed competitors are Magestore POS, Square POS, Shopify POS, and Epos Now POS.

Question 2: Is Magestore POS or Lightspeed POS Retail better?

Lightspeed is a standalone POS known for its robust inventory and reporting features. However, Magestore POS stands out with its flexibility to integrate with third-party payment processors, seamless compatibility with eCommerce platforms, and dedicated customer support.

Question 3: Is Square POS or Lightspeed POS better?

When comparing Lightspeed vs Square, they are both standalone POS offering robust feature sets for retail and hospitality businesses. However, Square stands out as a more affordable option for small merchants looking to start selling quickly. It offers an attractive free plan: no monthly fees, no setup fees, no contract, free inventory, and basic hardware included.

Question 4: Is Shopify POS or Lightspeed POS better?

Lightspeed is a standalone POS that can integrate with numerous systems. However, if you are looking for a POS that tightly works with Shopify, Shopify POS, a first-party POS of Shopify, should be your go-to solution.

Question 5: Is Lightspeed point of sale expensive?

Yes. For some small merchants, Lightspeed may be a relatively expensive POS solution, as it lacks a free plan and comes with high subscription fees, additional costs for each location or register, and numerous upsell add-on fees.