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We’ve collected, graded, and compared a database of apical iPhone paper scholar peripherals, truthful you tin marque a much informed buying decision.
The champion recognition paper readers for iPhones are:
- Square Reader for Contactless and Chip: Best overall
- SumUp Plus: Best hassle-free option
- Shopify Tap & Chip: Best for ecommerce
- Clover Go: Best processor-agnostic option
- Stripe M2: Best on-the-go solution
The connection “iPhones are fashionable products” mightiness beryllium a spot of a truism, but determination is astatine slightest 1 not-so-obvious accusation with immoderate value. Popular products thin to beryllium good served successful a market, with plentifulness of peripherals and bundle designed to enactment with said products. For example, mobile POS paper readers.
Top iPhone paper readers comparison
We’ve gone up and made a fewer halfway assumptions portion putting this database together. For one, if you’re conscionable looking for a mobile paper reader, specifically iPhone-compatible ones, you’re apt wanting 1 oregon much of the pursuing qualities:
- Hardware that’s untethered from a stationary location.
- Favorable transaction fees.
- Card readers that tin judge a assortment of outgo types.
Based connected those guidelines, we’ve highlighted immoderate of the halfway features and capabilities of our picks and compared them side-by-side successful the array below:
| Square Reader | 4.58 | $59 | 2.6% + $0.10 per swipe | iOS/Android | No swipe |
| SumUp Plus | 4.36 | $54 (or escaped with subscription) | 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction | iOS/Android | None |
| Shopify Tap & Chip | 4.20 | $49 | 2.4% + $0.10 per transaction | iOS/Android | No swipe |
| Clover Go | 4.13 | $59 | 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction | iOS/Android | None |
| Stripe M2 | 4.05 | $199 | 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction | iOS/Android, React Native | None |
Square Reader: Best overall
Our rating: 4.58
Figure A: Square Logo. (Square)
Maybe you haven’t heard, but Square is benignant of a large deal. They’re…kind of the progenitor of this full people of products—their archetypal aux plug paper scholar was the archetypal of its kind. Square’s offerings person evidently expanded rather a spot since then, but their basal Square Reader (offered for escaped erstwhile you make an relationship to usage their processing services) remains the introduction constituent for galore into the satellite of taking payments via mobile.
A level up from the escaped reader, Square offers a spot and pat scholar that tin brace with your iPhone to judge contactless and spot payments.
Beyond their paper readers, Square offers afloat POS hardware setups, arsenic good arsenic the outgo processing services that these point-of-sale solutions use, some for in-person transactions and ecommerce sales.
Why I chose Square Reader
Square was an casual pick, if for nary different crushed than the escaped paper reader. If each you request is simply a peripheral to instrumentality paper swipes, don’t privation added costs, and don’t caput utilizing Square arsenic your processor, likelihood are it’s a cleanable fit. Even if you privation to instrumentality spot and contactless payments, Square’s spot and pat scholar is an fantabulous choice.
While Square’s hardware requires utilizing Square’s outgo processing, these are inactive fashionable solutions for their agelong database of compatibility and integrations, arsenic good arsenic their reliable outgo services.
Pricing
Hardware fees
- Magstripe reader: First 1 free.
- Chip and pat reader: $59.
Subscription fees
- Free: $0/month, and includes escaped Square Reader; wage lone processing fees.
- Plus: Starting astatine $29/month, positive processing fees.
- Premium: Custom monthly subscription, positive processing fees.
Processing fees
- In-person: 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction.
- Online: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.
- Manual entry: 3.5% + $0.15 per transaction.
- Invoices: 3.3% + $0.30 per transaction.
Features
- Every relationship comes with a escaped paper reader.
- Flat processing interest for each in-person transactions.
- Accept payments via astir each disposable channel.
- A wide enactment of concern services disposable arsenic add-ons.
Figure B: Square Reader. (Square)Pros and cons
| Least costly paper scholar successful the database (free peripheral, nary subscription fee). | Free scholar lone takes magstripe swipes (no chip, dip, NFC, oregon mobile wallet). |
| Leading POS and outgo processing supplier for in-person transactions. | Add-on services tin go costly quickly. |
| Base subscription outgo for paid plans is little than most. | Hardware requires Square outgo processing. |
| Reliable hardware, trusted brand. | Transaction rates overmuch little favorable for online, keyed-in, oregon invoiced payments. |
| Favorable in-person transaction rates. |
SumUp Plus: Best hassle-free option
Our rating: 4.36
Figure C: SumUp Logo. (SumUp)
There is thing to beryllium said for flexibility, and getting the occupation done with the slightest magnitude of effort oregon resistance. That’s wherever SumUp’s entry-level paper scholar comes in.
The SumUp Plus paper scholar is an fantabulous prime for businesses that privation a mobile scholar that’s speedy to acceptable up and casual to usage without paying a luck oregon limiting accepted outgo types.
Why I chose SumUp Plus
Like Square Reader, you tin get the SumUp Plus for escaped with a subscription. But that’s not wherefore it’s connected our list. No, SumUp Plus is connected our database due to the fact that you tin usage it fundamentally anyplace for anything.
It takes virtually each signifier of paper payment, including Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay. And you tin tally arsenic galore arsenic 500 transactions connected a azygous charge. If you request to usage it portion it’s charging and don’t caput being rooted to the spot, you tin outpouring for the charging dock and person it service arsenic a much accepted countertop POS station.
All successful all, SumUp covers the bulk of important POS functions astatine an affordable terms without added hurdles to leap over.
Pricing
Hardware fees
- SumUp Plus: $54.
- SumUp Solo: $99.
- SumUp Solo Printer Bundle: $169.
Subscription fees
- Payment processing only: $0.
- POS with Connect Lite: $99/month.
- POS with Connect Plus: $199/month.
- POS with Connect Pro: $289/month.
Processing fees
- In-person: 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction.
- Online/manual entry: 3.5% + $0.15 per transaction.
- Invoicing: 2.9% + $0.15 per transaction.
Features
- PIN pad connected each paper reader.
- Accepts each large outgo types and methods.
- Lengthy artillery beingness for those who request it.
Figure D: SumUp Plus. (SumUp)Pros and cons
| POS bundle available. | Higher transaction fees for online and manual introduction transactions. |
| Accepts astir each outgo type. | No escaped tier. |
| Easy to acceptable up, casual to operate. | Slightly higher than mean subscription costs. |
Shopify Tap & Chip: Best for ecommerce
Our rating: 4.20
Figure E: Shopify Logo. (Shopify)
Another large subordinate successful the integer outgo space, Shopify is known crossed the ecommerce manufacture for its merchant services and online outgo processing. That doesn’t mean they don’t person ample offerings for carnal locations and in-person transactions.
Their entry-level product, Shopify Tap & Chip, enables businesses to instrumentality paper payments from conscionable astir anyplace and via astir each outgo format (minus swipe). At lone $49, the scholar is fund friendly, and with Shopify’s lowest outgo subscription astatine conscionable $5 per month, you tin get started adjacent if you’re moving with next-to-no fund astatine the beginning.
Why I chose Shopify Tap & Chip
Different businesses are astatine antithetic stages, with immoderate having the flexibility to spend much costly solutions, and others constrained by their constricted resources. A batch of times, this is each defined by the property of the business, with professionals that are conscionable starting to merchantability seeking to debar incurring needless upfront costs.
Shopify’s Tap & Chip scholar is simply a mode to bash conscionable that. Sign up with a subscription for conscionable $5 a month, and snag a scholar for little than $50, and you’re acceptable to roll. Plus, arsenic a marketplace person successful ecommerce and outgo processing, Shopify tin adjacent marque the modulation to online selling a breeze erstwhile you’re acceptable to marque that move.
Pricing
- Starter: $5/month, with in-person rates starting astatine 5% + $0.00 per transaction.
- Retail: $79/month (or $89/month erstwhile paid monthly), with in-person rates starting astatine 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction.
Features
- Reliable paper scholar with lengthy artillery life, that accepts astir large outgo types and methods.
- Lower-than-average hardware terms and subscription fees, to get you started faster astatine an affordable cost.
- Get entree to extended ecommerce tools and solutions, and upgrade to leverage precocious features astatine immoderate time.
Figure F: Shopify Tap & Chip. (Shopify)Pros and cons
| Get started for little than most, and effort it archetypal for free. | Transaction fees overmuch higher for Starter program subscribers. |
| Upgradable subscription to trim transaction fees, adhd ecommerce functionality, run aggregate locations, and more. | No escaped tier, nary escaped hardware. |
| Card scholar accepts each paper payments but magstripe, with a day-long artillery life. | 3rd-party outgo processing lone disposable for online transactions (and comes with a hefty interest for astir subscription tiers). |
| Reader does not judge magstripe payments. |
Clover Go: Best processor agnostic
Our rating: 4.13
Figure G: Clover Logo. (Clover)
Clover Go is our prime for the POS instrumentality with the champion optional features and functionality.
Just to clarify, we’re not saying that Clover brings the widest acceptable oregon astir expansive database of features to the table. What Clover does bash good is point-of-sale hardware.
Clover offers immoderate of the astir almighty pieces of POS hardware connected the market, each of which are processor-agnostic. You tin wage for hardware upfront oregon rotation the monthly committedness successful with your regular subscription until the instrumentality is paid off.
Rapid Deposit allows you to person funds wrong minutes of a paper transaction. Clover Capital offers cash-advance options. Manage worker shifts close from the Clover app, and usage the payroll integration add-on if you request it. In short, Clover is tailored to in-person income successful ways that precise fewer different vendors are.
Why I chose Clover Go
The basal terms of the Clover Go POS is overmuch higher than others successful this list, but the subscription costs are connected the little end, arsenic are the in-person transaction fees. Beyond that, the Clover Go tin grip fundamentally immoderate outgo but a magstripe swipe, and the extended optional features are awesome each connected their own.
Pricing
- Device-only: $199 (one-time fee).
- Device positive Essentials plan: $199 (one clip fee) + $14.95/month.
Features
- Can enactment with immoderate processor connected the FISERV network.
- Affordable subscription and transaction costs.
- Accepts tap, dip, mobile wallets, and more.
- Optional features for accelerated deposit, payroll integration, income reports, loyalty programs, and more.
Figure H: Clover Go. (Clover)Pros and cons
| Premium POS functionality. | Individual products (Clover Go, different POS devices) outgo much than astir successful this space. |
| Software features designed with in-person transactions successful mind. | Less equipped to facilitate online/ecommerce transactions. |
| Completely outgo processor agnostic (i.e., Bring Your Own Merchant Account). | |
| Inexpensive subscriptions and in-person transaction fees. | |
| One of the largest POS hardware catalogs successful the market. |
Stripe M2: Best on-the-go option
Our rating: 4.05
Figure I: Stripe Logo. (Stripe)
We’ll adjacent retired our database with the Stripe M2. This unassuming small doodad does fundamentally everything. It takes swipe, chip, tap, dip, and integer wallet payments. It charges successful conscionable 2 hours and boasts up to 28 hours of artillery beingness for progressive use. It’s the lone introduction connected this database that’s compatible with much than conscionable iOS and Android operating systems.
Oh, and it has an offline mode, successful case, you know, you request to marque a merchantability but don’t person wifi.
It’s not needfully the cheapest, the astir chock-full of features, oregon the astir flashy (though it’s acold from a slouch successful each of those areas). But astatine a tenable terms and reliable functionality, this small paper scholar tin spell anyplace your concern does.
Why I chose Stripe M2
Offline mode isn’t required for everyone, but the businesses that request it often can’t unrecorded without it. On that diagnostic alone, Stripe M2 stands retired from the remainder of this database successful presumption of reliability.
Beyond that, the Stripe M2 has absurdly agelong artillery beingness and accepts each outgo method nether the sun. This genuinely is what “anywhere operations” looks similar for in-person transactions.
Pricing
- Stripe M2 instrumentality cost: $59.
- 2.9% + $0.30 per palmy transaction with home cards.
- No monthly fees, subscriptions, oregon astonishment charges.
Features
- Reasonably affordable pricing for some instrumentality and transaction fees.
- Go anyplace with awesome artillery beingness and offline mode.
- Accept cards successful each mode they mightiness beryllium used, and integer wallets beyond that.
- Flat transaction complaint for each types — not the slightest expensive, but good beneath the little favorable rates of different vendors successful this list.
- Complete developer documentation and unfastened API entree to physique your ain iOS outgo app oregon different processing solution.
Figure J: Stripe M2. (Stripe)Pros and cons
| Flat complaint transaction fees, astatine amended rates than most. | Fees are inactive somewhat higher than immoderate competitors, if each you instrumentality are in-person transactions. |
| Take Stripe M2 anywhere, and adjacent usage it offline. | Payouts are customizable and predictable, but not the fastest successful the industry. |
| Accepts each outgo types. | |
| Stripe’s unfastened APIs and developer documentation let you to make a customized iOS app |
How bash I take the champion iPhone paper scholar for my business?
As we mentioned up astatine the apical of the article, we fig your web searching led you present arsenic the effect of 1 of 3 things:
- You request a simple, inexpensive, and reliable paper scholar for your new/growing business.
- You’re bushed of the awkward shuffle that happens erstwhile you’re selling and the lawsuit doesn’t person Venmo/Square/[insert app of prime here], and you don’t person a mode to instrumentality their card.
- Your concern is of a quality that’s radically untethered from static and accepted locations, and you request a mode to instrumentality payments adjacent erstwhile the internet, powerfulness grid, and astrological signs person each turned their backmost connected you.
There’s more, certainly, but the bulk of lawsuit and idiosyncratic feedback online points to the usage cases supra (or thing adjacent to them). Which means that, excluding wide points of merchandise worth and friction, radical looking for a mobile paper scholar are hunting for 3 qualities supra each others:
- Affordability.
- Versatility.
- Portability.
We judged our database chiefly disconnected of these halfway attributes and however good they delivered connected them. Let’s instrumentality a speedy look astatine each.
Affordability
You request something, anything, that volition alteration you to instrumentality paper payments. But you don’t person immoderate country successful the budget. Or immoderate budget for that matter. Your merchandise enactment is promising, but you haven’t made immoderate income arsenic of yet, and you’re not precisely positioned to enactment down hundreds oregon thousands for a concern that mightiness instrumentality a spot to get rolling.
If that sounds similar you, this is wherever you’re at. You’re looking for products that you tin get for free, oregon astir free, and POS work that you either a) don’t wage for beyond transaction fees oregon b) tin get astatine a debased price, perchance with the instrumentality outgo program rolled into it.
For businesses successful this demographic, we urge you commencement by hunting for the solutions that champion accommodate your existent fiscal needs, and enactment outward from determination to conscionable your different usage lawsuit needs.
We’d similar to caution, however, that you should ever work the good print. Many vendors volition contiguous a little basal outgo oregon introduction interest by jacking up different prices elsewhere successful their outgo structure. Running afoul of those pricing pitfalls tin truly devour into your profits to an unnecessary degree.
You’re ever amended disconnected moving with a marque that’s transparent with their pricing and outgo format than those that connection a little terms connected some things but support their steeper fees down the curtain.
Versatility
You’re already doing business, and the limitations of different forms of outgo person started to displacement from “minor inconvenience” to “major roadblock for concern growth.” Maybe you person a small country successful the fund to beryllium a spot spendy, possibly not, but for immoderate reason, you’re not each that keen connected picking up a full-fledged register, kiosk, oregon terminal.
You conscionable request thing for the paper swipes — or, much apt nowadays — taps.
Should this picture you and your existent enterprise, past what you’re looking for is simply a paper scholar that isn’t chained to the floor, and tin instrumentality each the outgo types that are applicable to you. So marque those characteristics your apical priority.
Be alert that galore of these vendors volition trim the outgo of their devices by limiting immoderate of their functionality. Square’s entry-level paper scholar lone takes swipe payments, for example, portion others mightiness instrumentality everything but swipes. Make your buying decisions accordingly.
Portability
You don’t attraction truthful overmuch what the scholar costs oregon however it tin alteration voice-activated, double-helix, quantum entangled bypass payments. What you need, though, is thing that tin instrumentality a paper outgo from a retired mates connected abrogation that decides to wage for add-on products for their backstage vessel charter…after you’ve already formed disconnected and sailed retired into the harbor.
If your guiding prima present is “can it spell wherever I go, and volition it inactive enactment erstwhile I get there?”, past we powerfully urge you look for explicit statements regarding the hardware and bundle capabilities.
What is the artillery beingness like? Does it enactment erstwhile offline, oregon volition it ever request an net connection? Shucks, however durable is the device? Can it beryllium dropped, splashed, scuffed, jostled, etc., and inactive execute reliably?
Some businesses “get out” much than others, and you’ll privation your tools and solutions to bespeak that.
Oh, and arsenic a last point, you’ll astir apt privation to find a paper scholar that’s compatible with the astute instrumentality you program to usage (like, say, an iPhone) connected apical of immoderate different captious needs you person for the device. That is, of course, unless you’re looking to warrant a caller concern telephone arsenic a taxation write-off. In which case, sound yourself out.
Related: Best smartphone deals
Methodology
In our hunt for iPhone-compatible paper readers we felt assured recommending, we built a database of candidates and graded said candidates based connected captious halfway factors, including pricing, bundle features, hardware options, idiosyncratic experience, and reliability. We consulted branded marketing, reappraisal aggregator sites similar G2, hands-on demos, and escaped trials, arsenic good arsenic feedback and reviews from existent and past users.
It’s ever hard to get a broad representation of what a tech solution has to offer, particularly erstwhile you’re not successful a presumption to tract trial it straight oregon research however it performs successful antithetic niche usage cases. We’ve done our champion to adjacent that spread present and “fumble successful the dark” connected your behalf, investigating galore of these solutions ourselves to assistance you debar doing the aforesaid astatine a overmuch greater accidental cost.
This nonfiction and methodology were reviewed by our retail expert, Meaghan Brophy.
English (US) ·