PayAnywhere POS Review 2023

PayAnywhere’s POS product is an attempt to compete with modern POS solutions like Square. When compared with Square, however, PayAnywhere’s product falls quite short. And really that’s the main problem with PayAnywhere. It can never quite measure up to its competition.

On paper, PayAnywhere’s pricing structure is cheaper than Square. In practice, however, PayAnywhere loses its footing because of its inconsistent software reliability, lack of features, and user complaints.

So the question becomes: Should you use PayAnywhere? The answer is probably not.

We can’t recommend PayAnywhere to businesses looking to move serious merchandise, but PayAnywhere is a little cheaper than Square. Unfortunately, it has a reliability problem. So, if your processing needs aren’t particularly urgent, PayAnywhere could save you some money.

However, even that recommendation has a few caveats. The first is that you should only use PayAnywhere’s mobile card reader. If you invest in any of the more serious equipment, you’ll be paying a monthly fee to use it. Also, if you don’t make a transaction for over 12 months, PayAnywhere will start charging you a monthly inactivity fee.

So that leaves our recommendation to use PayAnywhere as a casual POS solution. But this is a cautious recommendation more than a serious one.

PayAnywhere has pretty good pricing as long as you don’t invest in any of its smart terminals. The fact that you have to spend a pretty penny on one of the terminals and pay a monthly fee to keep it on is a little silly.

Compare this to Square’s terminals, which you can buy to own outright, and the only fee you have to pay afterward is the basic processing fee when you accept transactions. It’s a simpler model that saves you money in the long run.

PayAnywhere doesn’t list any additional fees on its website, nor is there any information about common extra fees being waived. Because of this, it’s hard to know if PayAnywhere charges a chargeback fee, PCI compliance fee, or other common fees.

We did find a number of reviewers complaining about additional fees, so it’s likely PayAnywhere does charge some additional fees. This lack of transparency is never a good sign in a POS system.

PayAnywhere offers a free mobile card reader—a nice perk for businesses that need basic processing and don’t want overhead costs.

Businesses with low processing needs that are trying to save on costs often process cards sporadically, so PayAnywhere has implemented a flat-rate processing fee where businesses only pay when they transact. But, if you go over 12 months without a transaction, PayAnywhere will start charging you a monthly inactivity fee of $3.99 a month.

As far as a POS system is concerned, PayAnywhere isn’t even close to offering what the best of the best are offering. It offers employee management, inventory management, and reporting—but these features are fairly simplified.

The inventory management, for example, only monitors stock. It can’t be used to make new inventory orders or to fully automate your inventory process. You’ll have to go elsewhere if you want a more detail-oriented inventory system.

You’ll also need to look elsewhere if you want consistently working software. Many of the negative user reviews online complain about buggy software updates that cause slowdowns and crashes.

PayAnywhere users complain about a few key things:

• Buggy software
• Deceptive sales practices
• Unexpected account closures
• Endless support loops

It’s important to note that negative reviews tend to be both louder and more common online. Of PayAnywhere’s online reviews, however, there are numerous complaints, meaning it’s likely a lot of people are experiencing the same problems.

The positive reviews didn’t have too much to say except that PayAnywhere’s system worked fine and there were no unexpected roadblocks. We did not, however, find any user reviews that talked about savings or exceptional service.

This is an indication that PayAnywhere, when it’s working properly, is a passable processing solution. Not exceptional, but perfectly OK.

Alright, so we’ve been pretty lukewarm about PayAnywhere, but that’s because PayAnywhere is a pretty lukewarm product. It’s not breaking any records, setting a new standard for POS features, or even being all that transparent. It’s just there. It’s another option in a sea of great competition.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a future for PayAnywhere. It gets a few things right, like a cheaper processing price and a free card reader. Also, the features its already put together look like a good beta version of an upcoming POS system.

If PayAnywhere continues to improve its service, adding additional features and improving pricing transparency, then it’ll be a real player in the years to come.

In the meantime, feel free to check out our recommendations for the top point-of-sale systems on the market today.

We examined PayAnywhere by looking for essential processing features needed in all modern small businesses. We also compared its pricing to other top providers on the market. Finally, we examined third-party user and professional reviews to confirm and validate our research.

Disclaimer

At Business.org, our research is meant to offer general product and service recommendations. We don't guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services.