Clover Retail POS vs Shopify

Clover Retail POS8.7Visit Shopify8.6Visit

Higher score Clover Retail POS #5 in Point-of-Sale Software 8.7/10 Paid ✓ 5 of 5 features Visit Clover

vs

Shopify #6 in Point-of-Sale Software 8.6/10 3-day trial Free trial✓ 0 of 5 features Visit Shopify

• Clover Retail POS fits best

  Retailers wanting payments and omnichannel selling

• Shopify fits best

  Online-first merchants adding basic in-person sales

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Side by side

Feature	Clover Retail POS 8.7/10 Visit ↗	Shopify 8.6/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	8.7	8.6
Ranking	#5 in Point-of-Sale Software	#6 in Point-of-Sale Software
Best for	Retailers wanting payments and omnichannel selling	Online-first merchants adding basic in-person sales
Pricing model	Paid	Paid
Starting price	—	$29/mo
Free plan	—	—
Free trial	—	3 days
Deployment	Cloud, Self-hosted	Cloud, Browser extension
Platforms	Web, Android	Web
Support	Phone, Live chat, Email, Docs · 24/7	Live chat, Community, Docs · 24/7
Integrations	4 integrations	4 integrations
Built for	Small business, Mid-market	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Clover Retail POS 5/5 · Shopify 0/5
Inventory management	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Offline mode	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Employee permissions	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Multi-location support	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Sales reporting	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Specs
Hardware support	Both	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Tracks SKUs, variants, barcodes, stock levels, reorder points, and low-stock alerts Supports in-store, online, offline, mobile, wallet, QR-code, and Klarna payments Combines employee controls, reporting, loyalty, returns, and multi-location management	Combines online, social, marketplace, and in-person selling Includes inventory, fulfillment, analytics, APIs, and app extensibility Supports up to 200 inventory locations on the Plus plan
Cons	Retail pricing requires contacting sales and varies by business type Proprietary POS devices may add hardware considerations for retailers Its broad feature set may exceed the needs of simple checkout operations	Less POS-focused than dedicated point-of-sale platforms Transaction fees vary by country, provider, and plan No free plan; paid access follows a 3-day trial
Our verdict	Clover Retail POS is designed for small and midsize retail businesses that need more than checkout alone. From the Clover Dashboard and mobile tools, retailers can manage inventory, payments, employees, sales reporting, online selling,… Read the review →	Shopify is a hosted commerce platform for entrepreneurs, retailers, small teams, and larger brands that need to sell online and add physical sales channels. Its feature set covers storefront creation, checkout and payment processing,… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Clover Retail POS — where it wins

  • Tracks SKUs, variants, barcodes, stock levels, reorder points, and low-stock alerts
  • Supports in-store, online, offline, mobile, wallet, QR-code, and Klarna payments
  • Combines employee controls, reporting, loyalty, returns, and multi-location management

  Where it doesn't

  • Retail pricing requires contacting sales and varies by business type
  • Proprietary POS devices may add hardware considerations for retailers
  • Its broad feature set may exceed the needs of simple checkout operations

• Shopify — where it wins

  • Combines online, social, marketplace, and in-person selling
  • Includes inventory, fulfillment, analytics, APIs, and app extensibility
  • Supports up to 200 inventory locations on the Plus plan

  Where it doesn't

  • Less POS-focused than dedicated point-of-sale platforms
  • Transaction fees vary by country, provider, and plan
  • No free plan; paid access follows a 3-day trial

• Clover Retail POS8.7/10 · Paid

  A broad retail POS for businesses that need payments, inventory, and online-to-store coordination.

  Visit CloverFull verdict →
• Shopify8.6/10 · 3-day trial

  A strong online commerce platform with capable POS for merchants adding in-person sales.

  Visit ShopifyFull verdict →