Alternatives
Why owners look beyond Lightspeed, the options worth comparing and how to switch without losing a day of sales.
✓ Installed by our team and supported by phone. Rates and equipment are quoted to your business.
Merchant Fund Express offers Clover POS and credit card processing through our partnership, with on-site installation, training and phone support.
Owners look for Lightspeed alternatives when managing iPads, stands and add-on readers becomes a job of its own, or when they want one company to handle hardware, processing and support. Restaurants that started on Lightspeed Restaurant sometimes want handhelds and kitchen screens designed for payments from the ground up.
The alternatives below are grouped by who they fit. If you want a full POS that is quoted to your business, installed on site and supported by one team, Clover through Merchant Fund Express is the option we offer.
Lightspeed is a cloud-based POS with separate products for retail, restaurants and golf. Its site highlights inventory across locations, live reporting, staff permissions, e-commerce that syncs with the POS and integrations with accounting and delivery tools.
It tends to suit businesses that want to choose their processor separately from their POS.
Today: Lightspeed apps run on iPads, with optional stands, cash drawers and its Mobile Tap card reader. Lightspeed sells hardware directly and says it does not lease it. Lightspeed offers Lightspeed Payments, and its site says customers are not required to use it as their processor. Inventory and customer lists can usually be exported from Lightspeed and imported into Clover; plan the cut-over after a stock count.
Most of the work in a switch is information, not hardware: the menu or catalog, staff logins, tax settings and tip rules. We rebuild those with you so the first day on Clover looks familiar to your staff.
| Option | Who it fits | Read more |
|---|---|---|
| Clover through Merchant Fund Express | You want purpose-built payment hardware instead of iPads plus add-on readers. | Clover vs Lightspeed |
| Shopify POS | Omnichannel sellers who need one inventory count across the website and the counter. | Clover vs Shopify POS |
| Square | Businesses that already use Square tools such as invoices, payroll or Square banking. | Clover vs Square |
| TouchBistro | Restaurants that want reservations, loyalty and online ordering in one restaurant system. | Clover vs TouchBistro |
If you are weighing Clover as the replacement, these are the businesses it usually suits:
Choose the slowest day of your week for the cut-over, and avoid the end of a month when you are reconciling.
Send or read us a recent statement. We explain what you pay now and what a Clover setup would look like for your business.
Your item list, price levels and receipt details are loaded and checked before the devices ship.
Installation is on site: we place and test each device, build your items and modifiers with you, connect printers and drawers and run a practice sale with every person who will use the system.
Merchant Fund Express offers Clover through its partnership. We do not publish a price list, because the right setup and rate depend on your volume, your card mix and how many stations you need. Call (305) 384-8391 and we will review a recent statement for free, then quote Clover to your business.
Facts about Lightspeed summarize its own public pages and named announcements as of October 2026. Products and terms change; confirm details with Lightspeed before you decide. Merchant Fund Express is not affiliated with Lightspeed.
At Merchant Fund Express, clover handles SKUs, barcodes, variants and stock counts for most stores. Very large multi-location catalogs should be checked against your exact needs, which we do before quoting.
No. Clover devices such as the Station Duo, Mini and Flex are dedicated payment hardware with the software built in.
Station Duo, Station Solo, Mini, Flex, Flex Pocket, Kitchen Display 14 and 24 inch, and Kiosk. We do not offer Clover Go or a no-hardware plan.
No. Equipment and processing are quoted to your business after a free review of your current statement. Call (305) 384-8391.
Call Merchant Fund Express. We install it, train your staff and stay on the line after launch. Ask for a free rate review while you are at it.
