SWITCH FROM SQUARE FOR RETAIL
Square for Retail to Calisto Shop
The register and its drawers, every order and return, stock and buying in one app, with your own payment gateway.
- In-Person Retail
Feature by feature
Calisto Shop beside Square Retail
- 43 In both
- 3 Only in Square Retail
| 46 features | Calisto Shop | Square Retail |
|---|---|---|
| Register | ||
| Point of sale at the counter with barcode scanningCalisto: the Register scans or searches the whole catalog, by name or any code printed on the item. | Yes | Yes |
| Keeps selling with no internet connectionCalisto: the till sells through an offline sale queue and sends each sale in order once back online. | Yes | Yes |
| Split one sale across several payment methodsCalisto: split tenders on one sale at the Register. | Yes | Yes |
| Cash drawer with float, cash in and out and X / Z reportsCalisto: Register, Drawers: each drawer opened with its float, cash in and out, X and Z reports, the day closed once. | Yes | Yes |
| Customer-facing display at the counterCalisto: the Register’s Customer Display. | Yes | Yes |
| Register layout arranged by the businessCalisto: Register, Layouts: the tiles and buttons of each till, arranged by the shop. | Yes | Yes |
| Sell by weight with a connected scaleCalisto: a product sold by weight with its tare, weighed on a scale connected in Settings, Devices. | Yes | Yes |
| Sell a gift card at the registerCalisto: a gift card is a line of the sale, at a set or typed amount, its code on the receipt. | Yes | Yes |
| Orders | ||
| Online and in-store orders on one fulfillment listCalisto: one order board for every order: New, Accepted, Packing, Ready and Handed Over. | Yes | Yes |
| Buy online, pick up in storeCalisto: each order card names its handover: collected at the counter, delivered or shipped. | Yes | Yes |
| Local deliveryCalisto: delivery is one of an order’s handovers on the order board. | Yes | Yes |
| Shipping rates set by the merchantCalisto: Settings, Shipping: shipping rules, each with what its method costs. | Yes | Yes |
| Buy and print shipping labelsCalisto: Buy Label on a shipment, with the carrier chosen. | Yes | Yes |
| Returns | ||
| Refund as store creditCalisto: refunded to the original tender, in cash or as store credit. | Yes | Yes |
| Products | ||
| Variants with their own SKU, barcode, price and stockCalisto: one variant record with its own codes, price and count. | Yes | Yes |
| Bulk product import and exportCalisto: Import and Export in the Products list’s menu. | Yes | Yes |
| Pre-orders with an expected dateCalisto: a product sold as a pre-order carries its restock date. | Yes | Yes |
| Bundles that take each component off stockCalisto: a kit’s sale takes each component off stock. | Yes | Yes |
| Collections and categoriesCalisto: Collections, Packages and categories. | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing | ||
| Discount codes and automatic discountsCalisto: Discounts: promotions and codes. | Yes | Yes |
| Quantity breaksCalisto: Discounts: quantity breaks. | Yes | Yes |
| Gift Cards | ||
| Gift cards sold and redeemed online and in storeCalisto: Gift Cards: the cards you sell and every card sold, its balance, top-up and void. | Yes | Yes |
| Subscriptions | ||
| Subscriptions that ship products on a scheduleCalisto: a plan sends its products every so many weeks or months, each delivery an order; billed with Registry. | Yes | Yes |
| Stock | ||
| Stock per locationCalisto: on hand per location, and what may be sold: on hand less what is held. | Yes | Yes |
| Transfers between locationsCalisto: Stock, Transfers, each with its own page to send and receive. | Yes | Yes |
| Stock counts with a scannerCalisto: Stock, Counts, a count’s sheet open on a phone with no signal. | Yes | Yes |
| Low-stock alerts and reorder pointsCalisto: Stock Alerts and reorder points. | Yes | Yes |
| Barcode labels and price tagsCalisto: labels on PDF sheets or label printers, and Labels to Reprint after a price change. | Yes | Yes |
| Cost and margin per itemCalisto: Item Costs, markup rules and cost methods; profit in Reports. | Yes | Yes |
| Purchasing | ||
| Purchase orders and receivingCalisto: Purchasing: purchase orders received against the supplier’s invoice, any difference flagged. | Yes | Yes |
| Suggested reorders from salesCalisto: Purchasing, Reorder: each item’s days of cover. | Yes | Yes |
| Channels | ||
| Instagram and Facebook catalogCalisto: with Sync. The Meta catalog for Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. | Yes | Yes |
| Online store websiteCalisto: with Sites. The website displays what Shop sells and its orders land in Shop. | Yes | Yes |
| Clients | ||
| Client profiles with purchase history across channelsCalisto: a client’s page with one Purchases list, online and in store. | Yes | Yes |
| House accountsCalisto: house accounts on the client. | Yes | Yes |
| Loyalty programCalisto: with Circle. | Yes | Yes |
| Team | ||
| Staff accounts with per-person permissionsCalisto: Team, with what each person opens set in People & Privacy and Screen Sets. | Yes | Yes |
| Staff time clockCalisto: Team, Workforce’s screens: schedules, time and pay. | Yes | Yes |
| Reports | ||
| Sales by location, category and staffCalisto: Reports: sales, by location, by category and by staff. | Yes | Yes |
| Profit and margin reportsCalisto: Reports: profit, and profit and loss. | Yes | Yes |
| Vendor sales and sell-through reports | No | Yes |
| Fiscal | ||
| Spain’s VerifactuCalisto: each sale and refund is sent to the fiscal provider the shop connects, Verifactu and TicketBAI among them. | Yes | Yes |
| Messaging | ||
| Client conversations in one inboxCalisto: with Threads. WhatsApp, text, web chat and shared mailboxes. | Yes | Yes |
| Phone | ||
| Run the store from a phoneCalisto: Today, Register, Orders and Stock as tabs on a phone, the till open with no signal. | Yes | Yes |
| Payments | ||
| Buy now, pay later at checkout | No | Yes |
| Tap to pay on a phone, no card reader | No | Yes |
What moves
Bringing your data from Square Retail
Your data is read in your own browser and sent to your Calisto account. Calisto never sees your login for the old system.
From an export file
Export your data from Square Retail and drop the file in. It is read in your browser and mapped onto Calisto.
Customers
Customer profiles and accounts
Transactions
Point of sale transactions and payments
Products
Product catalog and inventory items
Pricing, side by side
What Square Retail publishes, beside what Calisto Shop charges
Each figure as its publisher states it, in your currency only. Nothing is converted between currencies.
Calisto Shop
Calisto catalog price
Moving from Square for Retail
Questions about switching
How do we bring our Square data over?
Export your item library and customers as CSV files and bring them in with Import in Shop’s Products list and the client import. Calisto has no direct Square connector.
Which card readers work?
Card readers and paired payment terminals from the payment provider you connect, added to a station in Settings, Devices. Payments settle through your own gateway.
Does the register work offline?
Yes. Sales queue with no signal and send in order once back online.
Learn more
Everything Calisto does here
The pages behind this comparison: the sector, the apps and the guides.
- Calisto ShopCalisto for In-Person Retail
One catalog behind the counter, the website, and every location. Turn any tablet or phone into a register with Station, stock it from one inventory, and run the floor on a standard the system enforces rather than one somebody remembers.
Open - In-Person RetailInventory, Purchasing & Transfers
The sale drops the count and the threshold raises the order, with receiving that records what arrived and transfers tracked in transit.
Open - In-Person RetailCatalog & Omnichannel
Photograph once and publish everywhere, with the web store selling from the same stock as the shop floor and a locator that knows which branch has it.
Open - PricingPricing for In-Person RetailOpen
- AppCalisto Shop
Online retailers and in-person retail: the register and the cash drawer, orders picked, packed and shipped, returns in one list, products with variants and barcodes, gift cards and subscriptions, stock, discounts and every sales channel on one live stock.
Open