Clover sells beautiful hardware. A Clover Station on a counter looks like a business that has its act together, and the devices arrive payments-ready — plug in, take a card, done. Fiserv, which owns Clover, has built a large app marketplace around it.
There is one sentence in Clover’s own FAQ that should shape your decision before any feature comparison: Clover devices cannot be used with other payment processors. Everything below follows from that.
The hardware is the lock-in
A Clover terminal is not a card reader you own in the way you own a printer. It is bound to a Clover merchant account. If you decide in two years that another acquirer offers you a materially better rate, the hardware does not come with you. You are choosing a processor for as long as you keep the devices.
This is compounded by how Clover is sold. Banks and independent sales organisations resell it, which means the rate you get, the contract you sign and the early-termination terms all vary by who sold it to you. Clover publishes an “as low as 2.3% + 10¢” in-person rate; what you actually pay depends on your reseller. Read the contract, not the website.
OpenPOS ships no hardware and sells no processing. It supports Stripe Terminal, Square Terminal, Authorize.net, BlockChyp, Clearent, Vipps and LayBuy, and takes no cut. If a better acquirer appears, you switch.
The WooCommerce story is thinner than it looks
Clover does publish a first-party WordPress plugin: Clover Payments for WooCommerce. It is free, and it works. But read what it does — authorise, capture, charge, refund, void. It is a payment gateway. It does not sync inventory, products or in-store orders into WooCommerce at all.
To get your Clover catalogue and stock talking to WooCommerce you need a third-party app from Clover’s marketplace, such as SKU IQ. Now you have two databases, a paid connector between them, and a support conversation with three parties whenever a number disagrees.
OpenPOS has no connector because it has no second database. The register writes ordinary WooCommerce orders.
Cost
| Clover | OpenPOS | |
|---|---|---|
| Software | Monthly plan (Starter / Standard / Advanced), priced by business type | One-time purchase, per site |
| Pricing transparency | You must pick a vertical to see numbers; resellers vary the deal | Published on the product page |
| Processing | Clover/Fiserv only. “As low as” 2.3% + 10¢, reseller-dependent | Your own acquirer, your own rate |
| Hardware | Proprietary, locked to Clover processing | Any browser device; standard printers and scanners |
| Inventory ↔ WooCommerce | Third-party paid connector | Same database, no connector |
Where Clover is genuinely better
- Turnkey certified hardware. The device arrives ready to take EMV and contactless. You never think about PCI hardware sourcing, drivers or firmware.
- A large app marketplace. Payroll, loyalty, scheduling, industry-specific tools, all installable onto the terminal.
- Payments independent of your website. If your WordPress host falls over, a Clover device keeps taking cards. A WooCommerce POS depends on your site being up.
Where OpenPOS is better
- No processor lock-in. Change acquirer whenever you like; the register does not care.
- No proprietary hardware. Any tablet, phone or PC with a browser. Standard thermal printers, standard scanners.
- Real inventory unification rather than a paid connector between two catalogues.
- Transparent, one-time pricing. No vertical-gated quote, no reseller in the middle.
- Restaurant mode included — floor plans, table merge and transfer, kitchen display screens.
Which should you choose?
Choose Clover if you want a payments-first appliance rather than a WordPress project; if your bank offers you a Clover deal with rates you are happy to be locked into; if your shop must keep taking cards even when your website is down; if you do not really sell online.
Choose OpenPOS if WooCommerce is where your products live; if you refuse to marry a payment processor for the life of your hardware; if you want one inventory rather than a connector; if you want to know what the software costs before speaking to a salesperson.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use my Clover terminal with OpenPOS?
Not as an integrated terminal. You could stand it beside the till and record the payment in OpenPOS as an external card tender, which is what many shops do while a contract runs out.
What happens to Clover hardware if I leave Fiserv?
The devices are tied to Clover’s processing. Budget for them as a cost of the processing relationship, not as equipment with resale value.
Does Clover publish its plan prices?
Only after you select a business type, and the terminal deal you are offered depends on the reseller. We are not quoting figures here because we could not verify them from a page we could load.
Does OpenPOS keep working if my website goes down?
The register keeps taking cash orders offline from its cached catalogue and syncs when the site returns. Card payments need a reachable processor. This is an honest limitation, and Clover’s independence from your host is a real advantage.
Clover details above were taken from clover.com’s own FAQ and developer documentation in July 2026. Clover’s pricing pages did not render exact plan figures to us, and Clover is resold by many banks, so your terms will differ. Verify with the reseller before signing.
Read how card payments work at a WooCommerce counter, or open the live demo (admin / admin123). OpenPOS never takes a share of a transaction, and you can try the free OpenPOS Lite on WordPress.org first.