PayPal POS Review 2025: Features & Pricing
PayPal's simple POS system can take payments and help you manage inventory and track sales.
Overview
The bottom line:
PayPal POS delivers the essentials at a relatively low cost with a small commitment. But consider other options if you want features like customer loyalty and email marketing programs. Although PayPal POS can expand through hardware, it doesn’t offer plan upgrades or those types of add-ons.
Software details
Payment processing fees
In-person: 2.29% + $0.09
Online: 3.49% + $0.09
Monthly fee
$0
Pros & Cons
Pros
No long-term contract or termination fees.
Accepts a variety of payment types, including Venmo and PayPal payments.
Inexpensive card reader with a keypad, plus built-in payment processing and a free mobile app lets you quickly accept in-person payments on the go.
Low in-person processing fees for a flat-rate processor.
Cons
Accepting online transactions involves additional monthly fees, depending on your gateway.
No offline mode.
Full review
PayPal POS (formerly known as PayPal Zettle) is a point-of-sale system
PayPal POS may be a good choice if you’re looking for an entry-level POS system or a PayPal mobile card reader. Its POS app is free and can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play. After downloading the app to your device, you can create an account and order a card reader. The card reader lets you accept credit and debit card transactions and contactless payments.
Your mobile device acts as a POS to take payments, track sales, generate reports, manage inventory and monitor staff productivity. You’ll also have the option to collect customer email addresses and integrate with accounting and e-commerce apps.
PayPal POS is best for businesses that:
- Prioritize payment processing over full-service POS. PayPal POS makes it easy to get up and running quickly to accept payments, but it lacks POS tools and features beyond the basics.
- Already have a PayPal account or don’t mind opening one. A PayPal account is required to use the POS app. Funds are typically transferred to your PayPal account within one business day, and you have the option to set up deposits to your bank account.
- Want flexibility in payment and transaction types. With PayPal POS, you can accept payment by credit and debit cards, digital wallets and QR codes. This includes Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Discover, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, PayPal, Venmo and others. In addition to in-person transactions, you can accept payments over the phone, create invoices and send payment links to customers.
Deciding factors
| Payment processing model | Flat-rate. |
| Payment processing fees |
|
| Monthly fee | $0. |
| Hardware cost |
|
| Contract length | No long-term contracts. |
| Customer support | Phone support is offered from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific time every day. Online chat with a bot is available along with the option to message an agent. A resolution center and a community forum are also available. |
Where PayPal POS stands out
Solid basic features
PayPal POS has a robust payment system that can handle card, digital wallet and QR code transactions, plus allow you to manually enter payments. You can add discounts, enter refunds and issue receipts. Features to help you manage your inventory, monitor top-selling products and track the productivity of your staff are also included.
Sales tracking and reports
The app allows you to track sales and receive automatic reports. In the reports section of the app, you’ll find an overview of the prior day’s sales numbers. More detailed reporting is available in your PayPal POS account, including a summary of sales, a breakdown of payment types and fees, top-selling products, gift cards sold and staff performance. These reports can be exported to PDF, Excel or a raw data format.
Inventory management
The app allows you to build a product library. You can import a product list from a spreadsheet, group the products by category, and then add photos, descriptions and bar codes. New products can be added, too. Inventory can be managed from the app or your online account, and you’ll be notified when it’s time to restock products.
Integrations
PayPal POS integrates with QuickBooks Online BigCommerce
Low initial costs
Getting started with PayPal POS is relatively quick, easy and inexpensive. Because there isn’t a long-term commitment, you can try the system at a minimal cost. The fees for payment processing are similar to the fees for Square POS
Where PayPal POS falls short
No add-on features
Although PayPal POS provides the core features of a POS system, it limits users to a single plan. PayPal competitors
Limited integrations
PayPal POS offers a limited number of app integrations. Some competitors offer integrations for a larger number and variety of apps, including those for accounting, e-commerce, customer engagement, scheduling and employee management.
Alternatives to PayPal POS
Square
Why we like it: If you want more bang for your buck, Square may be a better option for you. Square’s payment processing rates are comparable to PayPal’s, plus you’ll get access to built-in inventory management. Add-ons such as team management, loyalty programs and email marketing are also available. Read our full Square POS review
FEATURED
Monthly fees
Payment processing fees
Hardware
Shopify
Why we like it: Shopify POS may be more expensive than PayPal — it charges a monthly fee for e-commerce plans, which are required to use Shopify Payments, in addition to the transaction fees. But if you’re looking for a more advanced POS that can unify your in-store and online transactions and let you market to customers and manage inventory, Shopify may be a fit. Read our full Shopify POS review
FEATURED
Monthly fees
Payment processing fees
Hardware
Compare POS providers
To compare POS options, check out NerdWallet’s list of point-of-sale systems
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions
There is no monthly fee to use the PayPal Zettle software and no long-term contract.
PayPal bought Zettle in 2018 and replaced its previous simple POS solution, PayPal Here, with the new PayPal Zettle POS.
Zettle charges a flat-rate transaction fee of 2.29% plus 9 cents for in-person transactions and 3.49% plus 9 cents for manual-entry transactions.