Calisto Pro vs Square & Lightspeed Retail
Square and Lightspeed run the register well. Then they charge for inventory tiers, loyalty add-ons, and per-location fees, and connect to nothing past the counter. Calisto runs the register, the inventory, the online store, loyalty, and the books on one database, with no per-location premium. Core carries no additional cost. Every other suite is priced per app in the Marketplace.
Traditional retail tools vs. Calisto Pro
Feature by feature
Calisto replaces Square, Lightspeed, and the five tools you bolt on around them.
| Feature | Calisto Pro | Square | Lightspeed Retail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Point of Sale with Gift Cards and Layaway | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Built-in Online Store (No Separate Shopify) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Built-in Loyalty Program (No Third-Party App) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Built-in Email and SMS Marketing (No Mailchimp) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Vendor Receiving with Invoice Discrepancy Flags | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Shrinkage Tracking and Cycle Count Scheduling | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Multi-Store Inventory Transfers with Tracking | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Google, Yelp, and Facebook Review Management | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| In-Store Digital Signage and Queue Displays | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Employee Scheduling and Time Clock | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Custom Order Intake and Gift Registry Forms | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Branded Loyalty Mobile App | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Consignment vs. Owned Inventory Tracking | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Consignment Vendor Payout Split at Checkout | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| NCF and DGII e-CF Issued at the Terminal | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Offline Register with Duplicate-Safe Reconciliation | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Store Locator with Real-Time Inventory Peek | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Vendor Agreement and Lease Document Management | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| PCI Compliance and Security Audit Tracking | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Built-in VoIP Phone System | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Multi-Store Financial Reconciliation | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Buy Online, Pick Up In Store | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Staff Training and Onboarding LMS | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
Choose your processor. Not theirs.
Lightspeed mandates its own payment processor. Calisto connects to 75 gateways across 11 global regions. Your merchant account, your rates, fees passed through at cost.
Switching questions
Square and Lightspeed are point-of-sale platforms. They run the register well, then charge for inventory tiers, loyalty add-ons, and per-location fees, and they connect to nothing past the counter. Calisto runs the register, the inventory, the online storefront, loyalty, accounting, and the customer record on one database. A sale updates all six without re-entry.
No. The multi-store governance layer is free. Adding a second location does not add a per-location fee. Each location pays for its own usage, but the standards push-down and consolidated reporting that competitors charge a premium for are part of Core, which costs zero. Core carries no additional cost. Every other suite is priced per app in the Marketplace.
Points post at the register and the cashier sees the tier, balance, and available rewards on the checkout screen. Square charges $45 per month for loyalty as a separate add-on with no connection to email marketing. Shopify has no native loyalty. Calisto runs loyalty inside the transaction and feeds the same purchase data into ad audiences and re-engagement campaigns.
Core is included with every account: inventory, catalog, purchase orders, receiving, and multi-location governance at no cost. You migrate from a spiral notebook, a SumUp terminal, or a Square register and only pay revenue share on Commerce and Ops once you process transactions. The platform earns when the business earns.
Yes. The terminal holds the catalog and prices on the device, queues each sale signed with a local audit key, and replays the queue when the line returns. Transaction IDs are assigned at the terminal, so the ledger takes each sale once and you spend zero minutes hunting duplicates. In markets where the internet drops during storms, that is the difference between closing the register and staying open, the exact scenario Square and Lightspeed leave you stranded in.
Yes. The cashier picks Consumidor Final or Factura de Crédito Fiscal on the transaction, the sequence issues from the register, and the e-CF files to DGII. The 606 and 607 download for the accountant. No fiscal printer bolted to the counter and no middleware vendor between the register and the tax authority. Square and Lightspeed require a local integrator for any of it.
Yes. 75 gateways across 11 global regions: Cardnet, Azul, Redsys, M-Pesa, Stripe, and more. You keep your existing merchant relationship and rates. Fees pass through at cost. Lightspeed mandates its own processor; Calisto does not.
No setup cost. Pay when you use it.
Square and Lightspeed charge a plan fee per location, then charge again for inventory tiers and loyalty. Calisto charges nothing to set up and nothing per location. Core carries no additional cost. Every other suite is priced per app in the Marketplace.
Bring your Lightspeed Retail data with you.
Upload your current contract and we will read the cancellation terms and credit your wallet for the exit fee. Bring your records across with a CSV import. Setup costs nothing.