Heartland POS vs. Square POS : A comparison of key features
Ice cream flavors. Las Vegas buffets. Sometimes it’s nice to be spoiled with choice.
Other times, not so much. When it comes to choosing payments, point of sale (POS) systems and payroll solutions, the sheer number of options can feel overwhelming. And because the wrong choice could disrupt your business, it's important to get it right.
Which is why you're here. And why we're here too. We think it's crucial you understand what leading providers offer and how they stack up against each other. That’s why we’ve created a comparison between Heartland and Square’s solutions for payments, POS and payroll. Read on to learn about Heartland and Square’s:
Payroll features and differences
Service model pros and cons
As you continue, remember: Each provider's offering boasts functionality for small businesses that’s so robust, we couldn't possibly cover it in detail with just one blog. So this is an overview of what we think are some of the most important features the right solution should offer. For more information on any solution, visit these providers' websites.
Another thing to keep in mind: Technology providers are constantly updating, and the facts in this article were true to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We will periodically update this article to keep it as fresh as possible. Now let’s dive in.
Payments features and functionality
OK. So there’s nothing particularly glamorous about payment processing. But, it’s a critical component of your business. Without it, there would be no way to keep the lights on or serve today’s tech-savvy consumers.
That’s why small and mid-sized businesses in every industry must be prepared to quickly and securely accept all of the ways customers want to pay. Let’s compare how Heartland and Square’s offerings can help you do that and more.
Payment processing
Heartland’s payment processing tools and Square’s solutions both equip you to accept and process many different types of payments, including ACH, debit cards, credit card payments, online payments, mobile payments, digital wallets and more. Square POS and Square for Retail also process cryptocurrency, but Heartland does not currently offer this capability.
Both solutions make it easy to accept payments across a wide variety of devices too: mobile phones, tablets, laptops, POS terminals and virtual terminals.
Billing and invoicing
With Heartland and Square, it’s simple to send custom links and digital invoices, making it easy for customers to pay online, via credit card, digital wallet, ACH and gift cards.
Both offerings also boast clean, simple dashboards that help you keep track of invoice statuses. Quickly see who’s paid, who hasn’t and who is overdue from one place that’s accessible on any device.
Accounting software integrations
Heartland and Square both integrate with QuickBooks Online, Xero and FreshBooks. Square’s solution also integrates with Commerce Sync, Hurdlr, TaxJar, Shogo, One Up, DAVO Sales Tax and Zoho Books.
Payments differences
Heartland and Square offer much of the same functionality. The biggest differences are that Square accepts and processes cryptocurrency and integrates with a larger number of accounting software programs. But technical capability isn’t the only criterion for choosing the right solution.
H4: First, a little background info on credit card processing rates
It costs money to move a credit card transaction through the various stages of authorization for payment. The cost, called Interchange, refers to the amount of money a merchant account pays to the cardholder bank to convert a charge on a cardholder’s card to a cash deposit at the merchant’s bank account. Interchange consists of a percentage of the transaction amount and a per transaction fee. For example, a $100 sale processed at a rate of 2.85% + $0.21 means the merchant would pay $3.05 for that transaction.
Interchange costs are set by the card brands and apply to every transaction, regardless of which payment processor is facilitating the transaction. Interchange varies by the type of card involved (debit vs. credit; standard vs. rewards, etc.), the amount of cardholder data submitted with the transaction and the way it is used (in person or online, with or without a chip or a signature, etc.). Payment processors pass this cost along to merchants. Interchange — combined with the payment processor’s own markup — constitutes what’s referred to as "rates."
Interchange accounts for the vast majority of merchants’ costs for accepting card-based payments, regardless of the pricing model. But payment processors also charge their own fees on top of interchange. These fees do vary by provider and can differ depending on the types of features and services included with the merchant account, like underwriting, fraud monitoring, data security features and customer support.
Heartland and Square both offer flat-rate pricing, with differences
At the time of publication, both Heartland and Square offer a flat-rate pricing model, which is exactly what it sounds like. Customers pay a fixed rate that includes interchange and the processor’s fees on every transaction. With flat-rate pricing, the fluctuations in interchange across different card types become irrelevant. The same rate is charged for every transaction. The flat fee could be higher or lower than the specific interchange rate on any given transaction, with the idea being that it ultimately evens out.
A big advantage of flat-rate pricing is predictability. Since flat-rate pricing doesn’t change depending on the card type, it’s easier to know how much payment processing will cost you each month. The volume of transactions you run will determine your costs, not the precise mix of card types and acceptance methods. Flat-rate pricing is predictable, and your monthly statements will be simpler to read and understand.
For some merchants, flat-rate pricing has a drawback. There can be a significant difference in overall costs for two different merchants using the same flat rates. It all depends on the dollar amount of the average ticket and the average number of transactions run in a set period. A sit-down burger joint with higher average tickets but fewer transactions in a day might see very different costs than a quick-serve ice cream parlor with lower average ticket amounts and a higher volume of transactions.
There is a slight difference between Square and Heartland’s flat-rate value. Note that rates are constantly changing due to interchange adjustments determined by the card brands (Mastercard, Visa, etc.), but as of July 2023, Heartland’s rate is 2.6% + $0.10 — both for in-person and online payments. Square’s rate for in-person payments is also 2.6% + $0.10. But online payments are 2.9% + $0.30.
Interchange-plus pricing is an option for Heartland customers
Heartland also offers something called interchange-plus pricing for Heartland Complete customers. It differs from flat-rate pricing in that your payment processing expenses depend on how much it costs to process individual transactions through the various stages of the authorization network. The cost of each transaction varies according to a complex matrix of factors. Just take a look at Visa’s 26-page table of US Interchange fees for 2022 to get an idea. But the pricing of each transaction is specific, not lumped into an average like flat-rate processing.
With interchange-plus pricing, monthly statements can be harder to read because of the different rates in play. Yet for some merchants, the money they save may make the slightly more confusing statements worth it.
The verdict
Businesses that need to process cryptocurrency payments and are confident that they want the predictability of flat-rate pricing — even though it may be more expensive than other pricing structures — might consider Square. If flat-rate sounds good, but you process a lot of online and mobile payments, Heartland’s slightly lower flat-rate on those transaction types may be a better fit.
Also, depending on your volume of transactions and average transaction value, an interchange-plus model could potentially save you money. That’s why we give merchants the option.
Both Heartland and Square have committed to giving customers the best rates because they believe everyone is entitled to that. At the time of publication, only Heartland has enshrined that commitment into a formal Merchant Bill of Rights, which says you deserve the right to the best rate structure for your business type and processing habits.
You also deserve an easy, transparent way to get a gut check on your monthly processing spend. With Heartland’s interchange-plus model, you can do so by calculating your effective rate (total processing fees divided by your total deposits), which is the best way to see the overall percentage you pay for processing.
So bottom line, if you want the flexibility to choose between flat-rate or interchange-plus pricing — depending on which you’ll benefit most from — Heartland might be your best bet.
This pricing is based on information available on squareup.com as of July 2023. Pricing and features of both Square and Heartland (a Global Payments company) products are subject to change.
Ready to find out all that Heartland can do for you?
Point of sale (POS) features and how they stack up
When you hear “point of sale” or “POS,” chances are you think about hardware: cash drawers, monitors, card readers, barcode scanners and so on. And while all that’s important, it’s only part of what the right POS solution should deliver. In addition to the components that make it easy to accept EMV, credit and debit cards, gift cards and more from anywhere, your POS system should help you manage inventory, customer loyalty, marketing and your ecommerce store.
Heartland and Square both deliver all of this functionality through their various POS solutions for retail and restaurants:
Heartland Retail (Essentials, Complete and custom plans)
Heartland Restaurant (Essentials, Complete and custom plans)
Square Point of Sale (Free plan — just pay the cost of processing)
Square for Retail (Free, Plus and custom plans)
Square for Restaurants (Free, Plus and custom plans)
Let’s take a look at just how smart the right POS system should be, and how Heartland and Square compare.
Inventory management
Both Square’s and Heartland’s POS solutions allow you to eliminate shortages and prevent overbuying by keeping an eye on your inventory.
You can see what’s selling — and where — across different stores in real time. Heartland and Square make it easy to transfer inventory among unlimited SKUs and locations. With Square, you receive email alerts about low inventory levels with recommendations on items that need to be replenished. Heartland, too, can provide low-inventory email alerts through an inventory integration like YellowDog or MarketMan.
Reporting
As of July 2023, with both Heartland Retail Complete and Heartland Restaurant Complete, you can run unlimited customized reports to maintain a high-level view or dig down into detailed data. Heartland’s reporting draws in inventory, customer, purchase order (PO) and vendor data across all store locations and channels, letting you slice and dice information any way you please.
Heartland Retail Essentials and Heartland Restaurant Essentials also come with core reports:
Heartland Retail Essentials included reports:
Net sales by location
Net sales by item description
Net sales by custom field
Net sales by vendor
Net sales by sales rep
Top customers
Inventory on hand by vendor
Negative on hand
Adjustment reason
Purchasing reports
On order
Overdue orders
Sales tax collected
Payments by type
Gift card liability
Drawer report
Heartland Restaurant Essentials included reports:
Items
Ingredients
Hourly tickets
Hourly items
Discounts
Adjustments
Taxes
Surcharges
Void reasons
Item stock
Call center
Tips and payouts
Tip outs
Tickets
Transactions
Payment terminals
Cash summary
Labor summary
Payroll summary
Batch credit card
Time clock
Net sales
Customer feedback
Square for Retail Plus also comes with a number of core reports.
Square for Retail Plus included reports:
Cost of goods sold
Vendor sales
Projected profit
Inventory by category
Sell-through
History
You can pull these reports from the POS, making it simple to understand which items you should order and which vendor you should order from.
At the time of publication, reporting is not available with Square for Retail Free.
While Square for Restaurants Free has service charge reporting, you’ll need Square for Restaurants Plus or a custom quote to access any of the following reports:
Shift reports
Closing procedures
Close of day reports
Live sales
Shared settings
Category rollup reporting
Section sales reports
Menu reports
Finally, Square POS offers the most basic reporting.
Square POS included reports:
Sales
Drawer
Purchasing and receiving
With Heartland and Square for Retail (Plus and above), it’s easy to set up and manage vendor profiles and purchase orders (POs) within your POS systems. Both providers’ tools simplify receiving by scanning inventory as it arrives so you can ensure it matches what’s on the PO.
POS differences
Here again, Heartland and Square both offer similarly robust hardware and software solutions. But there are some differences. Square sends email alerts when inventory is getting low while Heartland does not. Heartland’s Complete plans’ custom reporting function makes it possible to pull data and get insight around every part of your business. With Square, POS reports are pre-built so they may not provide as much flexibility.
Also, Heartland and Square integrate with different software programs and applications, but there’s one integration you can’t avoid if you use any of Square’s POS products. Square customers – regardless of plan – must use Square payment processing. While Heartland Restaurant Essentials customers must use Heartland’s flat-rate payment processing, Complete users can use Heartland’s interchange plus payment processing or integrate with a third-party processor of their choice. That means you’re free to switch payment providers — at any time, for any reason — without having to replace your POS system.
The verdict
POS features and functionality between Heartland and Square are largely on par with one another. If you’re looking for robust POS hardware and software, Heartland or Square would be a good choice.
However, businesses that want to dive deep by organizing their customer and inventory data might prefer Heartland’s reporting capabilities. Heartland may also be the better solution if you want to have the ability to shop around for the best payment processing rates.
If you rely on email alerts for low inventory and don't want to add on a third-party inventory integration, Square may be the better choice.
These comparisons are based on information available on squareup.com as of July 2023. Pricing and features of both Square and Heartland (a Global Payments company) products are subject to change.
Payroll features
Chances are you didn’t start your business because you were excited about processing payroll or managing HR. But running both of these areas well is crucial to your business’ success. That’s why the solution you choose should help you accurately and efficiently manage all of your people-related tasks with automation and support.
Payroll processing
Starting with the fundamentals, Heartland and Square both offer a suite of web-based payroll solutions. That’s essentially comprehensive payroll software that makes it easy to pay wages, overtime, bonuses and commissions via direct deposit or check. Payroll management also includes the calculation, filing and remittance of payroll taxes to the appropriate parties.
Time and attendance
Square and Heartland offer solutions for time tracking, scheduling, shift management, PTO management and more. It’s crucial that your time and attendance software integrates seamlessly with your POS system as well. Both Heartland and Square offer this capability.
Hiring
Heartland currently offers Heartland Hire, a recruiting and applicant tracking software complete with mobile-optimized employee onboarding. You can recruit, interview, identify top candidates, electronically onboard new hires and manage compliance and tax credits. Square does not currently have its own recruiting solution.
Payroll differences
Unlike payment processing and POS, the biggest differences between Square’s and Heartland’s payroll solutions come down to functionality.
Square’s Instant Payments feature lets you submit payroll processing later than many providers. Instead of four days, users can submit their payroll the day before payday and trust that employees will be paid on time, even on weekends. Heartland allows you to submit payroll two days prior to the run without fees and one day prior for an extra fee.
Heartland’s solution also includes a robust applicant tracking and onboarding suite. It’s built to help you easily manage it all with dashboards that give you visibility across the entire process. The Heartland team will also help you claim Work Opportunity Tax Credits (WOTC), filing and managing them on your behalf. Square’s platform does not currently offer this functionality itself, but its different third-party hiring and onboarding app integrations may.
The verdict
If you need flexibility around when you can submit your payroll for processing, Square and its Instant Payments feature may be the better option. If you’re planning on growing your business and team, Heartland’s payroll solution that includes hiring functionality may be the right choice.
Service models
Perhaps one of the biggest differences between Heartland and Square is their approach to customer service and support. For payments and POS solutions, Square offers several tools, resources, community forums and websites with a lot of content on how to troubleshoot issues. You can also contact Square representatives via phone, email and chat M-F, 9AM to 9PM EST.
Heartland also provides support tools and resources, including online FAQs, chat and email options. But your ability to pick up the phone and get help whenever you need it is at the heart of the Heartland service model. Payments and POS customers can reach a US-based representative 24/7 — which is key for businesses like bars and restaurants that operate outside of normal business hours and could need late-night or weekend support.
When it comes to payroll, both providers pair their technology with live agents, and payroll services specialists are available by phone and email during regular business hours, M-F (8AM - 8PM EST for Heartland and 9AM - 9PM EST for Square). Heartland also offers a service called HR Complete, which gives you access to a dedicated full-time SHRM-certified HR partner. Users get one-on-one guidance on employee issues and HR labor laws (including professional support for Affordable Care Act [ACA] compliance). At the time of publication, Square does not offer a comparable payroll service.
The verdict
For those who prefer to research and troubleshoot payments and POS issues on their own — or don’t need a lot of live support at night or on weekends — Square could be a good choice. If you’d feel more secure having access to live payments and/or POS support outside of normal business hours, then Heartland may be best for you. With payroll, you get live-agent customer support with both providers, though Heartland also gives you the option of opting into a dedicated HR rep to offload HR tasks and serve as a full-time compliance resource.
Drop us a line
As you’ve undoubtedly discovered during your research, there’s a seemingly unlimited amount of information out there about different solutions and providers. Even in this blog, we covered just a fraction of what Heartland and Square’s solutions can do.
Sometimes asking someone to bring it all into focus can help. If you would like to learn more about Heartland’s payment processing services, payroll or point of sale systems, get information on pricing or just ask a few questions, you can explore our solutions or chat with us here. We would love to learn more about your business needs and how we can help!
