Clover vs Heartland Retail
POS integration head-to-head for ERP teams: evidenced capabilities, published pricing, and which ERPs each actually integrates with.
| Starting price | Hardware purchase or 36-month subscription, plus a separate monthly software plan and per-transaction processing fees | Subscription (per POS station) plus separately priced payment processing |
| Deployment | Cloud | Cloud |
| Company size | SMB | Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Stated ERP integrations | QuickBooks, Xero | QuickBooks |
| Vendor | Clover Network, LLC (a Fiserv company) | Heartland (a Global Payments company) |
Our take
Where Clover leads
- Stronger evidenced coverage on 16 of the 25 capabilities where they differ (led by virtual terminal and returns, exchanges & layaway).
- Stated Xero integration the alternative doesn't list.
Where Heartland Retail leads
- Stronger evidenced coverage on 9 of the 25 capabilities where they differ (led by unified catalog & pricing and gl journal sync).
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 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Virtual terminalPayments & Payment Processing | Core strength Virtual Terminal for card-not-present payments | Not evidenced |
| Unified catalog & pricingOmnichannel & eCommerce Fulfillment | Not evidenced | Core strength Published integrations with BigCommerce, Shopify, Magento and WooCommerce with real-time sync |
| GL journal syncPlatform, Accounting & Integrations | Not evidenced | Core strength Posts POS financial events as GL journal entries across eight categories |
| Returns, exchanges & layawayCheckout & Transactions | Supported Refunds, returns and exchanges | Not evidenced |
| Alternative payment methodsPayments & Payment Processing | Supported PayPal and Venmo acceptance | Not evidenced |
| Fast fundingPayments & Payment Processing | Supported Rapid Deposit: funds within minutes of a card sale for a 1.75% fee | Not evidenced |
| Purchase order automationInventory & Stock Management | Not evidenced | Supported Create and receive purchase orders, including from a tablet on the show floor |
| Inter-location stock transfersInventory & Stock Management | Not evidenced | Supported Transfer merchandise between locations |
| Low-stock alertsInventory & Stock Management | Not evidenced | Supported Stock alerts to reduce overselling and shrinkage |
| Variant / matrix productsInventory & Stock Management | Supported Item and category creation with variations and customization options | Not evidenced |
| Inventory performance reportsReporting & Analytics | Not evidenced | Supported Item margin and sell-through trend reporting |
| Shift scheduling & timeclockStaff & Workforce Management | Supported Shift scheduling and time-clock management | Not evidenced |
| Commission & tip trackingStaff & Workforce Management | Supported One-touch tipping; employee tip tracking | Not evidenced |
| Payroll integrationStaff & Workforce Management | Supported Payroll, benefits and HR via ADP app | Not evidenced |
| Delivery order routingHospitality & Vertical Operations | Supported No-fee online ordering with Grubhub and Order with Google | Not evidenced |
| Integrated card paymentsPayments & Payment Processing | Core strength Tap, dip, swipe and mobile-wallet acceptance is Clover's core identity | Supported PCI-compliant payment processing; credit, debit and gift cards |
| Integrated payment processingPayments & Payment Processing | Core strength Clover Network, a Fiserv company, is itself the payment processor | Supported Published in-person processing rate of 2.6% + 10 cents per transaction |
| Real-time multi-location inventoryInventory & Stock Management | Supported Stock tracking and 'sold out' marking | Core strength Real-time inventory updates across all locations |
| Customer profiles & CRMCustomer Engagement & Loyalty | Supported Customer database with order history and contact info | Core strength 360-degree customer profiles covering spend, purchase history and visit frequency |
| Built-in loyalty programCustomer Engagement & Loyalty | Core strength Built-in loyalty/rewards program | Supported Built-in loyalty program powered by Como |
| Marketing campaignsCustomer Engagement & Loyalty | Supported Email, text and app-based marketing campaigns | Partial Email marketing via Mailchimp and Klaviyo integrations, not native |
| Real-time sales dashboardsReporting & Analytics | Core strength Real-time sales tracking from the Clover Dashboard | Supported Customisable, real-time sales and operations reports |
| Public APIPlatform, Accounting & Integrations | Core strength Developer REST API, Ecommerce API and Android Payments API | Supported Developer-friendly open API for custom integrations |
| App marketplacePlatform, Accounting & Integrations | Core strength Clover App Market: curated marketplace of merchant-installable apps | Supported Published marketplace of 75+ point-of-sale integrations |
| Certified ERP connectorPlatform, Accounting & Integrations | Partial QuickBooks/Xero reached via third-party App Market apps (e.g. Commerce Sync), not a native Clover module | Supported Prebuilt QuickBooks Online connector posting journal entries |
Both grade identically on the other 29 capabilities — see each product's full profile: Clover, Heartland Retail.
Clover vs Heartland Retail — FAQs
Is Clover or Heartland Retail better for ERP integration?
Both state integrations with QuickBooks. Clover additionally lists Xero. Always verify the connector against your ERP version with a reference customer.
Which is cheaper, Clover or Heartland 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 Clover and Heartland Retail should each cost you — and whether a third option belongs on your shortlist.