Choosing a point of sale used to mean signing a multi-year contract for a proprietary terminal and hoping the features you needed showed up later. That era is ending. A modern POS should adapt to how you run your business, not the other way around.
Start with the total cost, not the sticker price. Many systems advertise a low monthly fee, then charge per terminal, per integration and per feature. Add it all up across a year before you compare. A platform that bundles the core tools you need is almost always cheaper than one that nickel-and-dimes each add-on.
Look closely at payments. Card processing is where a lot of POS vendors quietly make their margin. Transparent, predictable rates matter more than a flashy interface. Ask exactly what you will pay per transaction and whether those rates change as you grow.
Finally, think about how the system grows with you. Can you add a kiosk, a kitchen display or online ordering without ripping anything out? Can it run multiple locations from one back office? The right answer is yes, on every count, without a migration.