- Who Square and Clover each tend to suit
- How you get Square and Clover
- Square and Clover side by side
- Hardware and setup
- Features that matter day to day
- Questions to ask before you commit to a POS
- Common POS mistakes small businesses make
- Square vs Clover for different kinds of business
- Switching POS systems without losing sales data
- Card payments and keeping customer data safe
- Reports that help you run the shop
- My take on Square vs Clover
- Frequently asked questions
Square suits small businesses that want to sign up online, start on a free plan and grow into extra features. Clover, a Fiserv platform, suits businesses that want a full countertop and handheld system set up with a merchant services provider. Both handle card payments, inventory and reports. Choose on how you want to buy and support the system.
Square and Clover are two of the best-known point of sale systems for small businesses, and you'll see their card readers on counters everywhere. Both take payments, track sales and manage stock. The biggest differences are in how you sign up, how the hardware is supplied and who you contact for support. I've kept this comparison to features and setup, and based the facts on each company's own pages and on Fiserv's published filings.
Who Square and Clover each tend to suit
| If you run | You may lean towards | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A market stall or pop-up | Square | Sign up online and start with a free plan |
| A busy café or restaurant counter | Either | Both offer countertop and handheld devices |
| A shop that already banks with a Clover provider | Clover | Supplied through merchant services partners |
| A service business taking appointments | Square | Appointments and invoices sit in the same family |
| A business wanting lots of add-on apps | Clover | An app market for extra features |
How you get Square and Clover
This is the difference most people miss. Square's own plans page lists a free plan called Square Free, and you can sign up directly online and choose your hardware. That makes it easy to start small and add features later.
Clover is part of Fiserv. Fiserv's annual reports describe Clover as a platform for small and mid-size businesses, and its merchant pages describe its acquiring and processing business running through the Clover cloud-based point-of-sale and business management platform. In practice, many businesses get Clover through a merchant services provider, so terms and support can vary depending on who supplies it. Read the agreement carefully, including the contract length, before you sign.
Square and Clover side by side
| Area | Square | Clover |
|---|---|---|
| Part of | Square, the payments company | Fiserv |
| How you sign up | Online, directly | Directly or through a merchant services provider |
| Free plan | Square Free listed on its plans page | Check with your provider |
| Hardware family | Card readers, terminals and registers | Station, Mini, Flex and Go devices |
| Add-ons | Built-in tools for retail, food and appointments | An app market with third-party apps |
| Best known for | Fast, simple setup | Full countertop systems |
Hardware and setup
Both offer a range of devices, from small card readers to full countertop systems with receipt printers and cash drawers. Clover's device family, as listed in Fiserv's filings, includes the Station, Mini, Flex and Go. Square sells readers, terminals and registers on its own site.
Think about where you take payments. A market trader needs a portable reader that works on a phone. A café needs a countertop screen plus a handheld for table service. A shop may want a barcode scanner and stock management.
Features that matter day to day
- Inventory: stock counts, low-stock alerts and product variants such as sizes and colours.
- Staff: separate logins, permissions and shift reports.
- Reports: daily sales, best sellers and quiet hours.
- Online selling: an online store or ordering page linked to the same stock.
- Customer data: receipts by email and simple loyalty tools.
- Integrations: links to your accounting software.
If you sell online as well as in person, keeping stock in one system avoids overselling. My guide on streamlining ecommerce for a small business covers the online side, and the abandoned cart email swipe file helps recover online sales.
Questions to ask before you commit to a POS
- How long is the agreement, and what happens if I want to leave?
- Who provides support, and at what hours?
- Does the hardware work with other payment providers if I switch?
- How does it handle refunds, tips and split bills?
- Can I export my sales and customer data?
- Does it link to my accounting software?
Those questions matter more than the brand. A good system badly supported will cause you more headaches than a simpler one with clear terms.
Common POS mistakes small businesses make
- Buying more hardware than you need. Start with what you'll use every day.
- Skipping staff training. A queue at the till is the worst place to learn.
- Not setting up products carefully. Messy product lists make reports useless.
- Ignoring the contract. Read the terms, especially if you're signing through a third party.
If you're opening a physical shop, my notes on the retail store lifecycle help you plan ahead.
Square vs Clover for different kinds of business
Retail shops
Shops need fast checkout, barcode scanning, stock counts and product variants. Both systems cover this, so look closely at how each handles your product list, such as clothing in many sizes or gifts with lots of small items, and how easily you can do a stock take.
Cafés and restaurants
Food businesses need quick menus, modifiers such as extra shots or no onions, kitchen tickets, tips and table service. Ask to see a busy lunchtime flow on each system, including splitting a bill between friends.
Service businesses
Hair salons, therapists and repair shops often need appointments, deposits and invoices as well as payments. Check whether bookings, payments and customer records sit in one place or need separate apps.
Pop-ups and market stalls
Portability and simple setup matter most here. Check that the reader works with your phone, how it handles a weak signal and how quickly you can add a new product on the day.
Switching POS systems without losing sales data
- Export your product list and customer list from your current system.
- Check how the new system imports them, and tidy the data first.
- Set up taxes, staff logins and receipt details before go-live.
- Train staff on refunds and voids as well as sales.
- Run the new system on a quieter day first.
- Keep your old reports saved for your accountant.
A switch done in a rush can leave you with missing products or wrong tax settings, so give yourself time. It's far easier to set things up carefully once than to fix mistakes during a busy weekend.
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Card payments and keeping customer data safe
Whichever system you choose, payments are the most sensitive part of your till. Let the system handle card details and never write them down. Give each member of staff their own login so you can see who did what, and limit refunds to people you trust. Check that receipts by email or text only collect the details you need, and tell customers how you'll use their contact details if you add them to a mailing list.
It's also worth thinking about what happens when the internet drops. Ask each provider how its system behaves offline, whether it can keep taking card payments for a while and how those payments are processed once you're back online. A short outage on a busy Saturday is exactly when you'll want to know.
Reports that help you run the shop
- Sales by hour: shows when to schedule staff and when to run offers.
- Best and worst sellers: tells you what to reorder and what to drop.
- Refunds and voids: helps you spot mistakes or problems at the till.
- Stock levels: warns you before a popular item runs out.
- Customer visits: shows who your regulars are, if you collect that data.
Set aside ten minutes each week to look at these. The till already collects the information, so it's a shame not to use it to make better decisions about stock, staffing and offers.
Make point of sale software or payment hardware? See how to get it featured on this list.
My take on Square vs Clover
If you want to sign up today, start on a free plan and grow, Square is designed for that. If you want a full countertop system and you're comfortable working with a merchant services provider, Clover is a strong option, as long as you read the agreement carefully.
Either way, try the hardware in person if you can, and ask another local business owner what support has been like. That real-world feedback is worth more than any brochure.
Frequently asked questions
Is Square or Clover better for a small business?
Square suits businesses that want to sign up online and start on a free plan. Clover suits businesses that want a full system set up through a merchant services provider.
Who owns Clover?
Clover is part of Fiserv, which describes it as a cloud-based point-of-sale and business management platform.
Does Square have a free plan?
Square's plans page lists a free plan called Square Free, with paid plans adding more features.
Can I use Clover hardware with another provider?
It depends on your agreement and provider. Ask before you sign, because it affects your options if you switch.
Do both work for restaurants?
Yes. Both offer countertop and handheld devices and features for food and drink businesses.
Can I sell online with Square or Clover?
Both offer ways to sell online that can link to the same products and stock.
