Shopify is an all-in-one commerce platform that makes it easy to launch your dream business and start selling to your customers, wherever they might be.

The company’s eCommerce platforms have been widely adopted for years. More recently, Shopify’s point-of-sale (POS) system has become increasingly popular. Within the POS space, Vend is one of its most notable competitors. When assessing different potential POS systems for your business, it helps to compare Vend vs. Shopify.

Let’s take a look at the core differences and overall ratings for the two platforms. Then we will assess Vend and Shopify in two charts: ratings in various categories and available features.

4 Core Differences

Here are four basic differences between these two platforms:

Shopify is a comprehensive solution for online and offline sales, while Vend is a supplementary or additional tool for point-of-sale (POS) functionality.
Shopify offers more attractive and less expensive upgrade opportunities for when your business grows.
Shopify is a widely recognized commerce brand, while Vend is relatively new.
Shopify is a complete sales platform. Its POS integrates directly with the eCommerce system. Vend is specifically a point-of-sale technology.

Overall Ratings

Ratings are a critical piece of the puzzle when you are determining the right POS for your business. For that, we look at a third party that analyzes software impartially, Quebec’s Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC). TEC’s analysis of Vend POS vs. Shopify POS finds that Shopify ratings are higher:

Shopify POS — 4.5 stars (965 reviews)
Vend — 4.0 stars (33 reviews).

Furthermore, TEC found that Shopify has more features than Vend. TEC did note that features are often available through plug-ins. Shopify is especially well-known for having an incredible number of integrations.

Comparing Shopify vs. Vend Reviews

Here is a comparison of the two systems in six different areas:

	Shopify	Vend POS
Ease of Doing Business	4.8 (11)	4.4 (20)
Ease of Admin	4.8 (12)	4.4 (19)
Ease of Use	4.5 (963)	4.3 (32)
Product Direction	4.7 (33)	4.0 (31)
Customer Service	4.5 (11)	4.3 (20)
Meets Requirements	4.4 (31)	4.2 (32)

A Features Comparison

Simply looking at merchant reviews of these POS options is insufficient if you need certain features. Here is a comparison of the feature sets for each platform:

	Shopify	Vend POS
Credit Card Payments	Yes	Yes
E-Commerce	Yes	No
E-Commerce Integrations	No	Yes
Offline Payments	No	Yes
Sales Tracking	Yes	Yes
Employee Accounts	Yes	Yes
Customer Profiles	Yes	Yes
Customer Account Profiles	Yes	No
Gift Card Management	Yes	No
Data Synchronization	Yes	No
Accounting Integrations	No	Yes
Ordering Automation	Yes	No
Layaway Management	Yes	No
Guest Counts	No	Yes
Shift & Log Notes	No	Yes
Inventory Notifications	Yes	Yes
Inventory Management	Yes	No
Inventory Management Integrations	No	Yes
Inventory Tracking	Yes	Yes
Multi Location Inventory Tracking	No	Yes
Partial Payments	Yes	Yes
Split Payments	Yes	Yes
Self-Ordering	Yes	No
Return Tracking	Yes	No
Daily Reports	Yes	Yes
Multi Device Payments	Yes	Yes
Product Organization	Yes	Yes
Permissions	No	Yes
Barcode Scanning	Yes	No
Touch Screen	Yes	No
Discounts	Yes	Yes
Discount Management	Yes	No
Store Credits	No	Yes
Loyalty Memberships	No	Yes
Payment Refunds & Voids	Yes	Yes

Based on the above information, you should have a clear sense of whether Shopify POS or Vend is right for you. The key reason we prefer Shopify over Vend is that Shopify gives you a fully integrated in-person and online platform, while Vend is a standalone POS. Plus, our Shopify eCommerce Development services specialize in leveraging the technology’s powerful features – such as omnichannel selling capabilities – to expand your business.