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Any entrepreneur knows that running a small business requires more than simply collecting payments. Stripe offers a comprehensive credit card processing and POS system, plus plenty of perks to make the day-to-day of running a business easier.

For example, its revenue and finance tools integrate billing, payments, revenue and tax reporting so you can simplify tedious tasks like bookkeeping. Meanwhile, the built-in reporting feature lets you create your own financial reports – a quick and easy way to see where you could be cutting costs in your day-to-day operations. Stripe also has pre-built integrations that can optimize workflows, like a Freshbooks accounting tool integration and Shopify e-commerce integration.

We also like the collaboration notes feature Stripe offers, which lets you attach notes to payments or refunds. This gives team members context regarding the transaction (like why a refund was issued) which can improve clarity and minimize unnecessary back-and-forth communication. All of these features mean smoother operation for busy business owners.

Stripe is a comprehensive payment collection tool with straightforward pricing. You can bill and collect payments through a wide variety of hardware POS and payment systems. With its versatile feature set, including some nice integration and automation features, Stripe offers a solid bang for your buck.

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Stripe has a clear pricing model that’s transparently posted on its website – something we can’t say for all the providers on this list. The variety of payment options accommodated is fantastic, offering flexibility that business owners will definitely value (pricing is adapted to payment type, which is standard for the industry).

Stripe also has a wide variety of POS devices to choose from, including tap-to-pay readers and phone readers. You have to pay extra for the hardware, but this is predominantly the case among the providers we surveyed. Stripe’s unified onboarding process promises to simplify the hardware logistics, so you don’t have to stress about getting set up.

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Stripe checks all the essential boxes any small business owner needs in a credit card processing tool. In addition to collecting online and onsite payments, Stripe allows you to set up billing, calculate and collect tax and generate financial reports. You can integrate diverse digital wallets, from PayPal to Alipay, giving customers a range of popular payment options to choose from.

We also like the time-saving features, like prebuilt checkout forms. Another time saver: the automated reconciliation feature, which matches activity from your Stripe account to activity in your bank account. This saves you the trouble of reconciling your Stripe and bank statements, making it easy to track cash and implement stricter financial controls in your business.

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When it comes to getting your money, tech glitches are the last thing you want to deal with. Stripe promises comprehensive customer support, with email, chat and phone support all available 24/7 for free. There is also a comprehensive online knowledge base.

To contact support, you’re asked to sign into your Stripe account. Without an account to sign into, we were unable to test out the support options. However, Stripe does have an online contact form in case you don’t have an account or can’t sign in. You select a topic question, input your query and provide your email address, and customer support gets back to you by email.

Learn more: Read our full .

Our editorial team created our expert opinion scores. The expert score contributes to 10% of the data-focused methodology, which underpins our Blueprint rating for each company. The expert score combines first-person experience, subject matter expertise and extensive research to develop these metrics as another source of truth for readers during their decision-making process.

Your business wouldn’t survive without its loyal customers. Square makes it easier to connect with people and keep them coming back thanks to features like the customer directory, which allows you to create a customer profile with basic contact information for every sale you make. You can also create physical or digital gift cards for free, which can be a great way to bring in new customers.

For an added charge, you can take customer connection a step further with POS-integrated email marketing ($15 per month) and text message marketing ($10 per month, plus messaging rates). For example, you can text people directly about sales and share coupons, which is a great way to draw people in.

Square also offers industry-specific features for restaurants and retail that can benefit business owners and customers alike. For example, inventory tools help prevent stock-outs, which are frustrating for buyers and mean financial loss for retailers. All in all, Square helps keep businesses and consumers satisfied.

Square is a practical and simple tool that caters to the needs of business owners and customers alike. Handy features like cash flow monitoring and reporting help entrepreneurs stay on top of their business, while loyalty perks and gift cards are pros for consumers. We also find the pricing model fair and transparent, with good value for the money.

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Square is another provider with clear, transparent processing fees, which is already a plus when compared to providers with less transparent pricing. There’s no monthly fee to pay, with transactions charged on an individual basis, providing a fair value for money in our view. We also think it’s great that Square has a $0 chargeback fee (some competitors charge as much as $15 per dispute)!

We found the hardware offering fair as well. You can get one magnetic stripe reader to affix to a smartphone or tablet for free. Beyond that, there is a wide variety of POS hardware to choose from, covering a range of price points from less than $50 to upwards of $700.

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Square’s customer loyalty and insights tools are a big plus, but they aren’t the only features worth talking about. We like the inventory management features as well, plus the possibility to open up new revenue streams. If you have a multi-hyphenate business, say a cafe that doubles as a boutique or flower shop, this can help keep things streamlined.

Square also makes it easy to manage cash flow with Square Checking. You can automatically set aside the right percentage of tax needed for every sale. You can also get loan offers based on your card sales through Square, which is great if you ever want to scale up your business.

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Square offers a comprehensive online knowledge base as well as a sellers’ community, where you can connect with other Square users to talk tech topics. There is also a live chat function on the website and a customer support number to call, with availability from Monday through Friday 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PDT.

We called the customer support number but didn’t get far, as we were asked to input a customer code to continue through the help prompts. We ran into similar issues when we tried the live chat bot, which also asked us to sign into our Square account.

Learn more: Read our full Square review.

Our editorial team created our expert opinion scores. The expert score contributes to 10% of the data-focused methodology, which underpins our Blueprint rating for each company. The expert score combines first-person experience, subject matter expertise and extensive research to develop these metrics as another source of truth for readers during their decision-making process.

Running a restaurant is very different from running, say, a retail business. Clover recognizes the importance of tailoring a POS system to a specific industry with its unique niches for restaurants, retail and service-based businesses.

For example, the restaurant POS lets you map tables, customize orders and manage your menu. For retail businesses, it’s possible to track inventory. You can also manage exchanges. Finally, for service businesses, you have the ability to do things like take payments on the go and set up recurring payments. These are the kinds of personalized touches that make running your business more streamlined and less stressful.

The diverse hardware options also cater to various business owners’ needs. For example, The Clover Flex device could be good for restaurants, allowing employees to take orders and payments tableside.

Clover also has some useful integrations with tools like Time Clock, Payroll, Quickbooks, Woo and Yelp. Exactly which integrations you want depends on your business. A restaurateur might like to encourage customers to leave Yelp reviews, for example.

Clover’s industry-specific features are where it shines. Beyond that, we have to admit that Clover was a bit of a letdown. We found the information regarding customer service and pricing difficult to track down. Even the online knowledge base seemed scant, compared to those of some competitors. Overall, more transparency and clarity would be a big benefit and could help make Clover a far more appealing option.

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Overall, our researchers struggled to find clear pricing information on details like chargeback fees, which makes it tough to assess Clover’s overall value. Clover’s subscription service lets you essentially rent a POS system on a month-by-month basis instead of paying to own it outright. This can be useful if you’re looking to minimize startup costs and don’t have the cash immediately on hand to pay for your own POS.

Here’s the catch: Even if you don’t want a POS system from Clover, you still get stuck paying a subscription fee for the “Clover Virtual Terminal.” This allows you to process payments and refunds through the Clover Web Dashboard from your computer, tablet or smartphone.

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Clover’s offering checks a lot of essential boxes, from invoicing capabilities to sales tracking. The niche-specific functions are where Clover shines, especially for its advanced plans. For example, with an advanced retail plan, you can create itemized orders, track stock by item, run itemized returns and create loyalty programs. It’s a full retail management tool, not just a POS.

We also want to highlight Clover’s employee management software, which can be a nice add on to your POS system. This tool lets you measure employee performance, for example to identify top salespeople, so you can incentivize them accordingly. Happy employees mean betterservice, which leads to happier customers. That’s what every business wants, right?

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We were underwhelmed by Clover’s support offering. We were able to find a basic FAQ page as well as a help page that covered basics like setting up and logging in. However, Clover seems to lack the robust knowledge bases of some of its competitors.

In terms of actual customer support, we were likewise discouraged by what we found. There doesn’t appear to be any 24/7 support available. The customer service information we did find instructed us to log into a Clover account and select Clover Help as a first step in case of issues.

Apparently, once you log into your account, you’ll be able to find a direct support phone number on your statement, but we couldn’t verify this ourselves. We did find a phone number to call for customer support issues, but when we called, it required a merchant ID to proceed.

Learn more: Read our full Clover review.

Our editorial team created our expert opinion scores. The expert score contributes to 10% of the data-focused methodology, which underpins our Blueprint rating for each company. The expert score combines first-person experience, subject matter expertise and extensive research to develop these metrics as another source of truth for readers during their decision-making process.

Merchant One is a straightforward credit card processing and POS system without a lot of bells and whistles. That alone can make it a good pick if you don’t want to get overwhelmed by too much technology. Beyond that, we found Merchant One’s customer service was clearly posted and easily accessible. We were even able to get a human operator on the line.

Merchant One also promises a simple setup process that’s tailored to your unique needs. Instead of blindly picking a product online, it recommends calling one of its account managers to create a custom solution that fits your needs. Your dedicated account manager then works with you to activate your account, plus get you the information and devices you need to start accepting payments.

Last but not least, it’s worth noting that there are quite a few reviews praising Merchant One’s customer service reps. We actually saw some of their pros mentioned by name repeatedly. That kind of personal touch can be a big boon if you’re otherwise overwhelmed by technology!

Merchant One is a good pick if you only need a credit card processing and POS system. Beyond that, don’t expect lots of fancy features. We aren’t sure the monthly subscription fee is worth it, given the limited functionality. That said, this is one of the few providers where we could easily reach a customer service person.

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Merchant One is another provider that requires a monthly fee, which we don’t love. We also think it seems a bit exorbitant, given the limited functionality (compared to competitors). Basically, Merchant One is a no-frills credit card payment processing and POS system. While there are some niche-specific offerings, like gift or loyalty cards for retail, these are limited compared to the industry-specific perks of some competitors.

We also didn’t find more advanced features seen in some competitors, such as financial reporting, inventory management or employee management. Finally, given that some key payment methods, like Google Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, are available through integrations only, we’re not convinced Merchant One is a great value overall.

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Merchant One’s payment gateway service has a “virtual terminal” where you can key in or swipe sales to accept credit and ACH payments. It’s also possible to set up recurring payments, which can be handy if you run a service- or subscription-based business. To keep customer data on hand, there’s also a customer vault. This way, you can safely store payment information for future use, saving both you, the business owner, and your customers time and hassle.

Merchant One’s basic functions also include advantages like an invoice generator. However, overall we found the functionality to be on the lighter side compared to some competitors. Don’t expect extras like employee management or inventory management, for example.

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If you are the kind of person who prefers to talk to a human support agent ASAP instead of battling through 100 bot prompts, you will love what Merchant One has to offer. Customer service information (email and phone number) is clearly posted and easy to find online. We tried calling the provided service number and were able to connect with a live agent relatively quickly.

Additionally, if you don’t feel like waiting on hold, you can press 9 any time to initiate an SMS exchange with a real live agent. If you know the extension of your dedicated agent, you can enter that immediately.

Our editorial team created our expert opinion scores. The expert score contributes to 10% of the data-focused methodology, which underpins our Blueprint rating for each company. The expert score combines first-person experience, subject matter expertise and extensive research to develop these metrics as another source of truth for readers during their decision-making process.

If you have an e-commerce shop, PayPal has a lot to offer. First off, PayPal offers an impressive range of useful integration for online sellers, from Wix (a website building platform) to WooCommerce, BigCommerce and similar online selling tools. PayPal also makes payments easy through quick-share payment links or QR codes.

Security can be a concern for online retailers, and PayPal helps bring peace of mind with its AI-powered fraud prevention tools. PayPal also offers seller protection on eligible purchases, which protects your money. You don’t have to stress about losing funds to fraud and can keep your business cash flow intact.

PayPal is also currently working on e-commerce tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI), which will help make online shops even more streamlined. The new tool will authenticate PayPal customers without requiring a password to speed up checkout. Paypal claims that merchants already testing the new tech are seeing conversion rates of up to 70%. As a small business owner, the prospect of higher sales is always a plus.

PayPal is all about clarity. We liked the transparency this provider gave regarding customer service and pricing. Couple that with the comprehensive features and some promising perks, like AI-driven fraud protection and a load of e-commerce integrations, and we think PayPal offers a solid value. 24/7 customer service would be nice for a provider that’s this big, though.

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Although we’ve recommended it for online sellers here, PayPal also makes in-person transactions possible with a wide selection of POS terminals to choose from. The diverse options include devices to scan barcodes, which makes checking out customers a fast and seamless process. We also like the diversity of price points available across the range of devices. There’s something for every entrepreneur’s budget.

Lastly, PayPal is transparent about its pricing policies, providing easy access to detailed information about rates. Given how convoluted some other providers are about pricing, it’s a breath of fresh air. All in all, we consider the rates fair and think PayPal delivers solid value.

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PayPal has an impressive range of payment functions and even allows merchants to accept a wide variety of cryptocurrencies. We did not see many other providers offering this option, so if that’s important to you, take note.

In addition to accepting online and in-person payments, PayPal offers a lot of other useful perks for business owners. You can optimize and manage risk with its fraud prevention tools and use its data tools to get insights into your sales. Finally, you can even apply for credit cards or loans through the financial services tools. If you need money to grow your business, that’s a big plus!

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PayPal has a comprehensive online help center where you can look up all kinds of topics from dispute resolution to account setup. There is also a community forum to consult other PayPal users about difficulties which can be a huge boon to business owners who don’t mind doing their own research.

For more personalized help, you can message the PayPal Assistant. Although it’s a chatbot, you can use it to leave a message for an agent, who will then get back in touch with you. Finally, there is the option to call. Customer service hours are 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PT, Monday through Sunday. We tried calling and, after a series of prompts, were able to reach an actual person (not always a given).

Learn more: Read our full PayPal review.

Our editorial team created our expert opinion scores. The expert score contributes to 10% of the data-focused methodology, which underpins our Blueprint rating for each company. The expert score combines first-person experience, subject matter expertise and extensive research to develop these metrics as another source of truth for readers during their decision-making process.