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PayPal’s card reader and point-of-sale (POS) system Zettle has no monthly cost, but it does charge per-transaction and this starts at 2.29 percent of the sale, plus nine cents. The service is one of the least expensive options available to small business owners.
Our researchers gave PayPal Zettle a perfect score of 5/5 for pricing, thanks to a free plan that offers more features than most, along with easy-to-understand transaction fees and reasonable one-time hardware costs.
That said, Zettle doesn’t offer great features or support when compared with other POS systems, such as Square, Lightspeed, or Shopify. If those choices sound better, consider taking a minute to gather quotes from all of the best POS competitors. All you need to do is give us a few details about your business and our trusted partners will get back to you with obligation-free quotes.
In this guide:
| Plan | Transactional fees | Fees for 10 sales, averaging $20 each | Fees for 50 sales, averaging $20 each | Fees for 250 sales, averaging $20 each | Fees for 600 sales, averaging $20 each | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | | | | |||
| Fee w/ Card | Fee When Keyed In | Invoice Fee | Cash Transaction Fee | |||
| 2.29% + 9¢ | 3.49% + 9¢ | 3.49% + 9¢ | None | |||
| $5.48 | $7.88 | $7.88 | $0 | |||
| $27.40 | $39.40 | $39.40 | $0 | |||
| $137 | $197 | $197 | $0 | |||
| $328.80 | $472.80 | $472.80 | $0 |
PayPal Zettle Fees & Transactions Explained
PayPal’s Zettle has no monthly fee and there are no plan tiers. However, Zettle does offer several types of per-transaction fees, so it isn’t completely free to use.
Zettle is owned by the popular payments service, PayPal. This means it wants as many customers as possible to make PayPal transactions. It just makes sense then for it to drop the monthly fee from the service. The Square POS is also free for a similar reason.
Zettle’s transaction fees can be broken down into four types. First, Zettle charges 2.29% + 9 cents for card-present transactions, when a credit or debit card is swiped or inserted (QR code transactions are included for the same fee). Second, Zettle charges a higher fee (3.49% + 9 cents) for keyed-in transactions. This is when a card number is physically typed into the system. Third are invoice fees, which are also 3.49% + 9 cents. Finally, Zettle charges no fee for cash transactions.
Our team scored Zettle across six research categories, and the service earned a perfect 5/5 score for pricing, due, in large part, to the generous free plan and reasonable transaction fees. Zettle is best for small companies, since the per-transaction fee becomes prohibitive with numerous transactions.
In addition, our researchers gave Zettle fairly low feature scores. You won’t get CRM support or an offline mode, so Zettle’s business management tools only earn 2.3/5 in our research, while its support earns an above average 2.8/5 as there is no data backup support. These are two of the lowest scores in those categories when compared to other top POS services. Square POS has more features with the same great 5/5 pricing score.
Card reader
The first card reader will cost $29, plus tax, and each additional reader after the first will cost $79, plus tax.
Zettle currently sells the Zettle Reader 2, which supports chip cards, contactless (NFC) cards, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Google Pay. With a battery life of eight hours or 100 transactions, it connects via Bluetooth and promises to process credit cards in 10 seconds or less.
Card reader dock
If your operation sometimes processes more than 100 transactions in a day, or stays in operation longer than eight hours at a time, the battery life of Zettle’s card reader won’t be enough. There’s a fix: a card reader dock, which costs $49, plus tax. The reader will stay charged through a micro USB port as long as the dock is plugged in.
Terminal
If a card reader is too small and simple, you can opt for the versatile, non-portable solution: a Zettle terminal. Several different configurations are available:
- Terminal only: $199
- Terminal with built-in barcode scanner: $239
- Terminal kit with printer and dock: from $269
Terminals will take an hour and a half to charge, for a battery life of twelve hours or 4-6 hours with “intensive use.” It can accept everything a card reader can, and will accept QR codes without requiring a smartphone or tablet like the card reader does.
Does Zettle Have a Free Plan?
Zettle is only available as a free plan. With PayPpal Zettle, businesses are not charged a monthly fee at all: just the one plan is available and users have access to all of its features and functionality.
Developers can set up a demo account in Zettle to test a software development kit, but that’s likely not helpful for the typical customer who just wants to test out Zettle’s interface and features. For that, we’d simply recommend setting up a free account.
Does Zettle Have Any Extra Fees?
Zettle doesn’t have much in the way of unexpected fees. You won’t pay a software subscription fee, so there’s no chance of an unexpected renewal cost or a deal running out without warning.
However, you will need to have hardware, and some price changes could catch you by surprise: the first card reader will just cost $29, for instance, compared with the $79 charge for each additional one purchased. In addition, you’ll have to pay taxes on hardware devices.
How Does Zettle Pricing Compare with Other POS Providers?
Zettle earns an overall score of 3.8/5 in our research, which places it below most of the top services we’ve looked at, including Square POS (4.5/5), Lightspeed (4.3/5), and Shopify (4/5).
Zettle does have great pricing, but it only offers a few features with low-end support. Here’s a table to further highlight the differences between all of the best POS systems on the market:
| Best small business POS for Tech.co's verdict to help you identify the most suitable choice for your small business | Price from The typical lowest starting price. The lowest price available for your business will depend on your needs. | Additional costs Any additional costs you'll need to pay to get started | User limit | Get started | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPONSORED  | BEST OVERALL  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Square POS | Zettle POS | Talech POS | Clover POS | Lightspeed | SpotOn POS | Vend POS | Epos Now | TouchBistro POS | Shopify POS | ||
| Best for onboarding new staff quickly | Best overall small businesses POS | Great value for money | Android hardware | Best small business growth features | Great customer loyalty app | Best for large businesses | Most customizable POS system | Best for employee tracking | Best for a quick initial set up | Best for hospitality staff | Best for ecommerce |
| Free (but transaction fees apply) | Free (but transaction fees apply) | Free (but transaction fees apply) | $29/user/month | $15 per month | |||||||
| Additional terminals cost $50 per month | Marketing, customer loyalty, and employee management features all cost extra | First card reader costs $29, and Zettle docking station costs $49 | Hardware costs $899+ | Two-hour training package costs $199 | Accounting integrations cost $19.95 per month | $29 per additional register per month | $65 per month for loyalty features, $65 per month for website building tools | Extra registers cost $49 per month | Single training costs $175 or $35 per month for unlimited sessions | Reservations cost $229 per month, online ordering costs $50 per month | Shopify POS Pro is available for $89 per location, per month |
| Unlimited user limit | Unlimited — but each till requires a new license | Unlimited user limit | Unlimited user limit | Unlimited devices on each plan | Unlimited — but each till requires a new license | User limit depends on plan | Unlimited user limit | 1 (Lean) or Unlimited (Standard/Advanced) | Single user per license across all plans | 1 (Solo), 2 (Dual), 5 (Team) | Single user per license across all plans |
| Visit Lavu | Visit Square | Compare Prices | Compare Prices | Compare prices | Compare Prices | Visit Lightspeed | Compare Prices | Compare prices | Compare prices | Visit Site | Compare Prices |
Final Thoughts - Is PayPal Zettle Good Value?
Zettle is free to get started, making it a potential pick for smaller operations that want to get off the ground quickly. However, it doesn’t offer more than what the Square POS system gives you – it’s also free and our research team ranks Square much higher overall. When compared with Square, Zettle lacks data backup, offline mode, CRM, or loyalty tools.
Even though our researchers ultimately rank it low on our list of the best POS systems, Zettle isn’t bad. Overall it still offers great pricing options – including its hardware and transaction fees. You can read more about the system’s pros and cons in our full Zettle review, or you can see how all the top providers compare with our handy quotes comparison tool.
How We Rated POS Providers
Our team of researchers combed through every feature and benefit of all the top point-of-sale systems on the market today. To gain an accurate understanding of how they compare, the team broke down each POS brand into six research categories. Here’s what each one covers:
- Till: Features including transaction processing, training mode, custom receipts, and bill splitting
- Business management: Features such as reports, employee management, sales forecasting, integrations, and offline mode
- Stock management: Features including inventory management, product variants, and barcoding
- Business development: Features covering loyalty, CRM, ecommerce, and brand awareness
- Price: All cost factors, from plans and trials to hardware and free demos
- Help and support: Support options and hours, as well as customer satisfaction levels
Tech.co’s researchers scored each service in each category before compiling a brand’s category scores to create an overall score. This way, our experts can stack each service against the others across any of these categories as well as in general. You can read through our full list of the best retail POS systems here.
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