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
$39.00
one-time · self-hosted · your data, your server
Available soon — get notified
Square POS — rented
Square Plus $49/mo per location (free $0 tier exists)
[1]
Break-even:
1 months
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).
Lightspeed Retail — rented
Basic $89 USD/mo (monthly; annual saves up to 18%)
[2]
Break-even:
1 months
of Lightspeed Retail equals the one-time price.
Assumption: Per location with 1 register included; extra registers/locations cost more (X-Series pricing).
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.
Sources
-
Square POS — price checked 2026-07-05 —
source
“$49/month per location”
-
Lightspeed Retail — price checked 2026-07-05 —
source
“$89 USD /mo”
Competitor prices change — always confirm on the linked page. We only
print figures we could verify on the date shown.