Heartland Retail vs Square for Retail
POS integration head-to-head for ERP teams: evidenced capabilities, published pricing, and which ERPs each actually integrates with.
| Starting price | Subscription (per POS station) plus separately priced payment processing | Per-location subscription plus card processing rates |
| Deployment | Cloud | Cloud |
| Company size | Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise | Small business, Mid-market |
| Stated ERP integrations | QuickBooks | QuickBooks, Xero |
| Vendor | Heartland (a Global Payments company) | Block, Inc. (Square) |
Our take
Where Heartland Retail leads
- Stronger evidenced coverage on 11 of the 25 capabilities where they differ (led by unified catalog & pricing and split & partial payments).
Where Square for Retail leads
- Stronger evidenced coverage on 14 of the 25 capabilities where they differ (led by native ecommerce platform and offline-resilient checkout).
- Stated Xero integration the alternative doesn't list.
Where they differ
The 25 capabilities (of 54 in the POS integration taxonomy) where the evidence separates them, biggest gaps first. “Not evidenced” means our research found no public documentation of this capability — the vendor may still offer it. Confirm on a demo.
| Capability | ||
|---|---|---|
| Native eCommerce platformOmnichannel & eCommerce Fulfillment | Not evidenced | Core strength Square Online store builder synced to the in-store catalog |
| Unified catalog & pricingOmnichannel & eCommerce Fulfillment | Core strength Published integrations with BigCommerce, Shopify, Magento and WooCommerce with real-time sync | Not evidenced |
| Offline-resilient checkoutCheckout & Transactions | Not evidenced | Supported Offline payment processing when internet is down |
| Split & partial paymentsCheckout & Transactions | Supported Contactless and split-transaction payment options | Not evidenced |
| Returns, exchanges & layawayCheckout & Transactions | Not evidenced | Supported Exchanges and discounts on in-person and online sales |
| Digital wallet supportPayments & Payment Processing | Supported Apple Pay and Google Pay | Not evidenced |
| Alternative payment methodsPayments & Payment Processing | Not evidenced | Supported Cash App Pay and Afterpay at checkout |
| Barcode & label managementInventory & Stock Management | Not evidenced | Supported Barcode label printing and barcode scanning |
| Promotions & discount engineCustomer Engagement & Loyalty | Supported Coupon and promotion management with fraud safeguards | Not evidenced |
| Staff performance reportsReporting & Analytics | Supported Employee performance tracking with custom permissions | Not evidenced |
| Shift scheduling & timeclockStaff & Workforce Management | Not evidenced | Supported Shift scheduling, time off and trades |
| Commission & tip trackingStaff & Workforce Management | Not evidenced | Supported Tip pooling and commission tracking |
| Payroll integrationStaff & Workforce Management | Not evidenced | Supported Square Payroll integration |
| Public APIPlatform, Accounting & Integrations | Supported Developer-friendly open API for custom integrations | Not evidenced |
| App marketplacePlatform, Accounting & Integrations | Supported Published marketplace of 75+ point-of-sale integrations | Not evidenced |
| Integrated card paymentsPayments & Payment Processing | Supported PCI-compliant payment processing; credit, debit and gift cards | Core strength Tap, dip, or swipe card payments |
| Integrated payment processingPayments & Payment Processing | Supported Published in-person processing rate of 2.6% + 10 cents per transaction | Core strength Square is itself the payment processor |
| Inter-location stock transfersInventory & Stock Management | Supported Transfer merchandise between locations | Partial Transfer orders between locations is a Premium-tier feature |
| Ship-from-storeOmnichannel & eCommerce Fulfillment | Not evidenced | Partial Cross-location returns and fulfillment is a Premium-tier feature |
| Customer profiles & CRMCustomer Engagement & Loyalty | Core strength 360-degree customer profiles covering spend, purchase history and visit frequency | Supported Customer profiles and purchase history |
| Marketing campaignsCustomer Engagement & Loyalty | Partial Email marketing via Mailchimp and Klaviyo integrations, not native | Supported Automated email and text message marketing campaigns |
| Inventory performance reportsReporting & Analytics | Supported Item margin and sell-through trend reporting | Core strength COGS, sell-through, aging-inventory and projected-profit reports |
| Vertical-specific complianceHospitality & Vertical Operations | Not evidenced | Partial Age-verification prompts and bottle-deposit handling |
| GL journal syncPlatform, Accounting & Integrations | Core strength Posts POS financial events as GL journal entries across eight categories | Supported Transactions posted to the QuickBooks/Xero general ledger |
| Certified ERP connectorPlatform, Accounting & Integrations | Supported Prebuilt QuickBooks Online connector posting journal entries | Partial Native App Marketplace connectors to QuickBooks and Xero; accounting-app tier, not a full ERP-marketplace certified connector |
Both grade identically on the other 29 capabilities — see each product's full profile: Heartland Retail, Square for Retail.
Heartland Retail vs Square for Retail — FAQs
Is Heartland Retail or Square for Retail better for ERP integration?
Both state integrations with QuickBooks. Square for Retail additionally lists Xero. Always verify the connector against your ERP version with a reference customer.
Which is cheaper, Heartland Retail or Square for Retail?
Neither publishes a list price — both quote. Ask each for the all-in first-year cost at your seat count, as one number, and compare those.
Get pricing for both
Tell us your ERP, seat count and must-haves and we'll come back with an independent view of what Heartland Retail and Square for Retail should each cost you — and whether a third option belongs on your shortlist.