Vendra — POS & Inventory System (PHP + MySQL, Self-Hosted) vs. renting SaaS
Self-hosted POS & inventory engineered so overselling is impossible.
The subscription math
Vendra — POS & Inventory System (PHP + MySQL, Self-Hosted) — yours
$34.00
one-time · self-hosted · your data, your server
Buy once
Square POS — rented
Square Plus $49/mo per location (free $0 tier exists; both paid per transaction) [1]
Break-even: 1 month
of Square POS equals the one-time price.
Assumption: Per location. Figures verified on Square's own press page announcing the Free/Plus/Premium plans (the pricing page renders prices via JS). Honest note: Square's software is free because it earns on every card transaction - and Vendra records card tenders, it does not process cards. If you need software that takes the payment itself, Square is your tool; if you have a card terminal and want the till, stock ledger and data to be yours, that is Vendra.
How their pricing grows:
Square's Plus plan costs $49 per month per business location, so pricing scales up as a business opens more locations.
“Square Plus ($49/month per location) offers everything in Square Free, along with advanced POS features across all seven point-of-sale modes” — read 2026-08-11
What Square POS does that we don't:
Square's top Premium tier includes 24/7 phone support and advanced reporting, plus the lowest in-person card-processing rate.
If you need built-in online card payment processing or plan to run multiple store locations under one HQ, stay with Square — Vendra only records cash/card tender (it doesn't process cards online) and is single-store in 1.0 with no multi-store chain.
Lightspeed Retail — rented
Basic $89 USD/mo (monthly; annual saves up to 18%) [2]
Break-even: 1 month
of Lightspeed Retail equals the one-time price.
Assumption: Per location with 1 register included; extra registers/locations cost more (X-Series pricing).
How their pricing grows:
Lightspeed's published plans are for a single retail location; running more than one location pushes a business into a custom, contact-sales plan.
“Running multiple locations? No problem. Get in touch with us today so we can create your custom plan together.” — read 2026-08-11
What Lightspeed Retail does that we don't:
Lightspeed offers Single Sign-On (SSO) so staff can access all their connected systems with one secure login.
If you run multiple store locations and want a central view, or need integrated online card payments and eCommerce built into the POS, stay with Lightspeed — Vendra is single-store only in 1.0, doesn't process cards online, and has no e-commerce or website sync.
Savings calculator
SaaS figures use the cited plan price above (see the sources below); per-seat plans scale by the seat count from the same cited price. This is arithmetic, not a quote.
Why owning beats renting here
- One payment. No per-month, per-seat, or per-location fees — the license is perpetual.
- Your data stays on your server. Customer records never live in someone else's cloud.
- No plan ceilings. Records, users, and usage are limited by your hosting, not a pricing tier.
- It keeps working if the vendor doesn't. Self-hosted software can't be sunset out from under you.
Fair trade-offs: you host it, you back it up, and updates are yours to apply — see the product page for honest limitations.