Krista FabregasForbes Advisor Staff
Krista Fabregas is a seasoned eCommerce and online content pro sharing more than 20 years of hands-on know-how with those looking to launch and grow tech-forward businesses. Her expertise includes eCommerce startups and growth, SMB operations and log...
See Full Bio
Krista FabregasForbes Advisor Staff
Krista Fabregas is a seasoned eCommerce and online content pro sharing more than 20 years of hands-on know-how with those looking to launch and grow tech-forward businesses. Her expertise includes eCommerce startups and growth, SMB operations and log...
See Full Bio
Written By
Krista Fabregas
Krista FabregasForbes Advisor Staff
Krista Fabregas is a seasoned eCommerce and online content pro sharing more than 20 years of hands-on know-how with those looking to launch and grow tech-forward businesses. Her expertise includes eCommerce startups and growth, SMB operations and log...
See Full Bio
Krista FabregasForbes Advisor Staff
Krista Fabregas is a seasoned eCommerce and online content pro sharing more than 20 years of hands-on know-how with those looking to launch and grow tech-forward businesses. Her expertise includes eCommerce startups and growth, SMB operations and log...
See Full Bio
Forbes Advisor Staff
Cassie Bottorff
Reviewed
& 1 other
Updated: Jun 4, 2024, 4:06am
Have a question we may not have answered?
Ask our editors here
Have a question for Krista Fabregas or our other editors?
Ask here for a chance to be featured in a story.
This form is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policyand Terms of Serviceapply.
Send a note to Krista Fabregas, Cassie Bottorff and our other editors. We read every email.
By submitting this form, you agree to allow us to collect, store, and potentially publish your provided information, including name and question, in the article or any related content. You confirm that the submitted content is original, accurate, and non-infringing on any third-party rights. We may contact you via the email address provided for follow-up questions or to notify you if your question is selected for publication. See our Terms of Useand our Privacy Policy.
Thank you for submitting your question.
Keep reading Forbes Advisor for the chance to see the answer to your question in one of our upcoming stories. Our editors also may be in touch with follow-up questions.
Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.
Our Verdict
Our Verdict
Zettle is a PayPal card reader and point-of-sale (POS) that lets merchants accept a variety of in-person payments via their PayPal account. Zettle replaced PayPal Here in 2021, and its feature-packed POS app is a vast improvement over PayPal Here’s limited toolkit (PayPal Here will actually be discontinued on Sept. 30, 2023). As before, your PayPal account and the Zettle app are free. Your only ongoing costs are payment processing fees of 2.29% plus $0.09 for in-person card and contactless sales.
Zettle let sellers accept mobile and in-store payments using Bluetooth card readers, mobile terminals and iPad POS Systems. The nimble Zettle app works on Apple and Android mobile devices and lets you enter customer, product and sale details on the fly, apply discounts, track inventory and gift cards, run sales reports, track staff and much more.
Pros
- No monthly fees
- Lower fees vs. PayPal Here
- Accept credit, debit, contactless and Venmo payments in person
- Track all sales channel payments in one PayPal account
Cons
- Needs a cellular or Wi-Fi signal to work
- Fewer add-ons than competitors
- Limited e-commerce and accounting integrations
3.9
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
Accept in-person payments via PayPal
Track customers, sales and inventory
No monthly fees or long-term contracts
Table of Contents
- Zettle at a Glance
- Other Benefits
- Fine Print
- How Zettle Stacks Up
- Is Zettle Right for You or Your Business?
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Show more
Featured Partners
Advertisem*nt
1
Stax
Free Trial
No
Offers
First Month Free
Pricing
$99 per month, 7 cents to 15 cents per transaction plus interchange rate
2
North Payments
Free Trial
No
Offers
$0 Setup with Free Equipment + No Cancellation Fee
Pricing
Zero Cost Processing Options - Guaranteed Cost Savings
3
Payment Depot
Free Trial
No
Offer
First Month Free
Pricing
$59 per month, $0.07 - $0.15 per transaction + interchange rate
4
Payment Cloud
Offers
Free terminal, Zero Fee Processing Options, Dedicated Account Manager
Pricing
Zero cost processing options, Customized interchange + Pricing
5
Finix
Free Trial
No
Offers
Save up to 40% on credit card processing
Pricing
Transparent subscription-based pricing with 0% markup on interchange fees
Zettle at a Glance
Zettle is part of the integrated PayPal family of payment services and is the much-anticipated improvement to the bare-bones PayPal Here card reader app, which will be actually be discontinued Sept. 30, 2023. The Zettle app works on Apple and Android devices and delivers a robust set of POS features for managing products, inventory, customers, payments, sales and staff. You can also create and send invoices, track gift cards and run detailed sales reports using the app, plus access all data in Zettle’s online dashboard.
Accepting in-person card and contactless payments is a snap with Zettle’s user-friendly devices. You can use just a mobile card reader, pair a reader with a countertop stand or build an in-store checkout with a tablet stand, cash drawer, barcode scanner and receipt printer. Whichever you choose, in-person card and contactless payments all have a flat-rate fee of 2.29% plus $0.09.
You can also process keyed-in payments using the app and Zettle online dashboard. However, keyed-in payments have a higher processing fee of 3.49% plus $0.09 per sale.
With Zettle, you also enjoy the convenience of managing all of your payments in one place. If you use PayPal to accept payments in an e-commerce store or use PayPal invoices or payment links, your Zettle payments will appear alongside others in your PayPal account. As with most PayPal payments, Zettle deposits are typically accessible within one business day.
Pricing
PayPal Zettle provides a very economical payment solution for all types of small businesses. Other than one-time costs for a card reader or checkout stand equipment, your only ongoing costs are simple, flat-rate payment processing fees.
- Card reader payments: 2.29% of the sale amount + $0.09 transaction fee
- Manually keyed-in payments: 3.49% of the sale amount + $0.09 transaction fee
Card reader payments are in-person payments when you physically capture card data when the card is swiped, read by a chip reader or paid using e-wallets such as Apple Pay or Google Pay. These processing fees are lower than manually keyed-in payments since the card or e-wallet is present for the sale. Manually keyed-in payments are useful for situations such as phone sales but can carry higher risks, thus the higher fee.
- Zettle mobile card reader: One for $29 with account sign-up, additional readers $79
- Zettle reader stand: $49, card reader not included
- Portable receipt printer: $269
- Checkout stand for iPad: $159, does not include iPad
- Checkout register bundles: $249 to $699, does not include iPad
Here’s what you get for free with PayPal Zettle:
- Free Zettle and PayPal accounts. No startup, monthly or termination fees and no contracts, cancel anytime
- Free Zettle POS. Full-featured POS app takes just minutes to download and set up on your mobile device
- Free Zettle dashboard and virtual terminal. Access your Zettle POS data from your computer, plus accept payments via virtual terminal or connected card reader
- Free next-day deposits. Funds are typically available within one business day with no extra fee
Features
Zettle’s POS app gives users a solid set of features that make selling and collecting payments quick and easy. Here’s a snapshot of what you can do with Zettle in your day-to-day operations.
- Payment options: Accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, PayPal, Venmo and more, plus record cash and check sales.
- Product data: Enter product data, including photos, descriptions and barcodes, and sort products into lists or groups for easy management.
- Inventory tracking: Enter and update inventory numbers and set restock alerts.
- Customer tracking: Record customer data, including name, phone and email.
- Staff tracking: Add multiple staff accounts for productivity tracking.
- Seamless checkout: Quick-search items to ring up, apply set or custom discounts and offer digital or print receipts.
- Refunds: Impress customers with quick sale data retrieval and accurate refunds.
- Gift cards: Sell digital and physical gift cards and track balances.
- Track invoices: Create and send invoices for services, collect online payments and track unpaid invoices.
- Sales reports: Track sales data by date, payment type, product or product group, customer and employee, plus get a quick report on bestsellers.
Other Benefits
Zettle integrates with several top e-commerce solutions, external POS systems and accounting packages. These seamless integrations make it easy to expand into e-commerce sales with Zettle as your hub, add a powered-by-PayPal card reader to your existing POS system and streamline accounting tasks.
- E-commerce integrations. You can connect Zettle to Shopify, BigCommerce and WooCommerce to sync product data and inventory.
- POS integrations. Zettle’s PayPal card reader connects to Lightspeed, Loyverse, Revel and Vend by Lightspeed.
- Accounting integrations. Zettle can automate sales data updates in QuickBooks and Xero accounting software to simplify your accounting processes and help minimize errors.
Fine Print
Zettle’s POS toolkit is a perfect fit for many small businesses, but a few elements you get with PayPal competitors such as Square and Shopify are missing. There are currently no extensions or add-ons that bring these features into Zettle’s POS or dashboard tools, free or otherwise.
- Appointments: Zettle doesn’t support built-in appointment sales and tracking or online bookings.
- Loyalty: No loyalty awards tracking via card or app, and loyalty messaging isn’t available.
- Marketing: You can’t create and send marketing campaigns via email or SMS messaging to customers from within Zettle.
If these features are key to your business, you can get the job done using an outside service or app. However, that adds another layer of platform management and costs to your operation.
Another feature miss with Zettle is that it doesn’t support off-line sales. You must have a good cellular or Wi-Fi connection to accept card or contactless payments using the Zettle app and card reader. Sellers in remote locations may have better luck with Square, which has a POS system that’s more robust than Zettle, plus can accept card payments in off-line mode.
How Zettle Stacks Up
  | Zettle by PayPal | Square | Shopify |
---|---|---|---|
Monthly Cost | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Payment Processing | 2.29% to 3.49% + $0.09 based on type of sale | 2.6% + 0.10 to 3.5% + $0.15 based on type of sale | 2.4% + $0 to 2.9% + $0.30 based on plan tier and type of sale |
Card Reader Costs | $29 to $79 | Free to $49 | $49 |
Off-Line Sales | No | Yes | No |
Best For | Sellers who want to manage sales and payments within their PayPal account | Sellers needing built-in appointments, e-commerce, loyalty and marketing tools | Sellers focused on e-commerce with in-store and mobile sales options |
Read Square Review | Read Shopify Review |
Zettle’s core POS product data, sales, customer and staff tracking features compare well with other payment and POS systems. However, the competition tends to offer more built-in features, such as appointments and marketing tools, plus many more expansion opportunities through seamlessly integrated add-ons and apps.
Adding robust e-commerce, loyalty, appointment and marketing features to Zettle requires integration with third-party platforms. Putting this all together takes time and usually adds to your monthly costs. If you need these types of sales tools now or down the road, a Zettle competitor might be the simpler and more economical choice.
Featured Partners
Advertisem*nt
1
Stax
Free Trial
No
Offers
First Month Free
Pricing
$99 per month, 7 cents to 15 cents per transaction plus interchange rate
2
North Payments
Free Trial
No
Offers
$0 Setup with Free Equipment + No Cancellation Fee
Pricing
Zero Cost Processing Options - Guaranteed Cost Savings
3
Payment Depot
Free Trial
No
Offer
First Month Free
Pricing
$59 per month, $0.07 - $0.15 per transaction + interchange rate
4
Payment Cloud
Free trial
No
Offers
Free terminal, Zero Fee Processing Options, Dedicated Account Manager
Pricing
Zero cost processing options, Customized interchange + Pricing
5
Finix
Free Trial
No
Offers
Save up to 40% on credit card processing
Pricing
Transparent subscription-based pricing with 0% markup on interchange fees
Is Zettle Right for You or Your Business?
If you already use PayPal to handle payments for an online store or for invoicing, subscriptions or person-to-person payments, Zettle is the natural choice to start accepting in-person payments. Or, if you use PayPal Here and can benefit from a full-featured mobile POS, Zettle is certain to impress.
Zettle is also a good choice if you want to take advantage of slightly lower in-person processing fees. With no monthly fees and just 2.29% plus $0.09 per in-person transaction, Zettle has the lowest card processing rate of its close competitors. You don’t get as many built-in features as Square and Shopify. However, if you don’t need added POS bells and whistles, Zettle’s lower rates can save you money in the long run.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is Zettle the same as PayPal?
Yes, Zettle is part of the PayPal payments family. It takes the place of PayPal Here for users who want a PayPal card reader for processing in-person payments. Zettle was acquired by PayPal in 2021 and adds a full mobile and in-store POS app, mobile card readers and in-store checkout stations to PayPal’s business services.
Is PayPal Zettle free?
Yes, the PayPal Zettle app is free to download and has no monthly fees. The only ongoing costs are flat-rate credit and debit card processing fees, which are 2.29% plus $0.09 for in-person sales and 3.49% plus $0.09 for keyed-in sales. You will need to buy a mobile card reader to accept in-person sales. The first reader is $29, and added readers are $79 each. You can also add in-store checkout stands and stations starting at $159.
How does Zettle work?
Zettle is a cloud-based, app-driven POS system that lets you accept in-person and keyed-in card payments using PayPal. Download PayPal’s Zettle app to your smartphone or tablet for free, then connect Bluetooth Zettle card readers to accept in-person payments or key-in card information using the app. You can also enter product data, inventory and pricing in the Zettle POS app, plus track sales, inventory levels, customers and staff productivity in the app or using your Zettle online dashboard.
What are the four types of POS systems?
The four types of POS systems include Legacy (traditional, on-premises hardware systems), Tablet-based (use tablets as the main interface), Mobile (operates on smartphones and mobile devices) and Cloud-based (hosted on the internet, allowing data access from anywhere).
Information provided on Forbes Advisor is for educational purposes only. Your financial situation is unique and the products and services we review may not be right for your circ*mstances. We do not offer financial advice, advisory or brokerage services, nor do we recommend or advise individuals or to buy or sell particular stocks or securities. Performance information may have changed since the time of publication. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Forbes Advisor adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. To the best of our knowledge, all content is accurate as of the date posted, though offers contained herein may no longer be available. The opinions expressed are the author’s alone and have not been provided, approved, or otherwise endorsed by our partners.
Was this article helpful?
Send feedback to the editorial team
Thank You for your feedback!
Something went wrong. Please try again later.