Clover
Owned by Fiserv. Clover sells each system two ways and publishes both: a 36-month subscription at a single monthly figure, or a hardware purchase plus a monthly software plan. Full-service restaurant runs Starter $179/mo for 36 months or $1,799 plus $89.95/mo, Standard $239/mo for 36 months or $2,548 plus $109.90/mo, Advanced $354/mo for 36 months or $4,447 plus $129.85/mo. Quick-service starts lower at $135/mo for 36 months or $849 plus $89.95/mo. Retail starts at Basic $16/mo for 36 months or $349 outright on the Starter software plan. Card tapped, swiped or inserted is 2.3% + 10c across every plan; keyed is 3.5% + 10c.
The software range shown here is Clover's published monthly software plan on the purchase path ($84.95 to $129.85 depending on tier and vertical). The hardware range is Clover's published purchase price for the entry retail terminal ($349) up to the Advanced full-service bundle ($4,447). Clover's earlier per-tier names, Register Lite and Register Premium, are retired; the current plans are Starter, Standard and Advanced on restaurant, and Basic, Standard and Advanced on retail.
What this POS actually costs in Year 1.
*Representative buyer: 1 location · 2 terminals · $40K/mo card volume · ~600 transactions/mo.
Clover publishes two payment paths and they do not cost the same. Take full-service restaurant Starter: the subscription path is $179/mo for 36 months, so $2,148 in year 1. The purchase path for the same system is $1,799 of hardware plus $89.95/mo software, so $2,878 in year 1 and $1,079 a year after that. Processing at Clover's published 2.3% + 10c on $40K/mo over 1,600 transactions is $920 + $160 = $1,080/mo, or $12,960 a year, on either path. Year-1 total: about $15,100 on the subscription path, about $15,800 on the purchase path. The paths cross in year 2, and the full 36-month comparison is on our Clover subscription page.
Why this POS is priced this way.
Clover is owned by Fiserv, one of the largest US payment processors, and the economics follow from that: Fiserv earns on the processing relationship, and the POS is how it acquires one. Clover's published card rate of 2.3% + 10c is the lowest in this table, which is consistent with a business that is pricing to win the payment flow rather than to make margin on software. The 36-month subscription option, also published, keeps the merchant attached to that flow for three years.
What first-time buyers miss.
Clover's own pricing page is the trap, read properly. Every system is offered as a 36-month subscription or as a hardware purchase plus monthly software, and across all nine published configurations the subscription costs more over the 36 months than buying the hardware outright, by between 19% and 65%. The retail Basic system is the starkest: $16/mo for 36 months is $576, against $349 to buy the same terminal, so the subscription costs 65% more. The monthly figure is lower on the subscription path in year 1, which is what makes it attractive, and higher in total, which is what makes it expensive. Work out both totals before choosing, and ask what the termination terms are.
Who this POS fits.
Buyers who have done the 36-month arithmetic on both of Clover's published paths and chosen deliberately. Buyers who genuinely want a long-term Fiserv processing relationship. Buyers whose volume makes the 2.3% + 10c rate worth more than the software flexibility they give up. Not a fit for anyone who has only compared the monthly figures.