Comparison

Kessel vs Lightspeed

Retail depth, annual terms, priced by module.

Kessel vs Lightspeed, in short

Lightspeed and Kessel are both point-of-sale systems for retail and hospitality. Lightspeed is sold as tiered plans, commonly on an annual term, with capabilities such as advanced reporting, loyalty and e-commerce priced as higher tiers or add-on modules. Kessel is one plan at $49 per location per month, month to month, with every feature included and cards priced at interchange plus 0.60% + 30¢. Lightspeed goes deeper on large-catalog multi-store retail; Kessel is cheaper to start, cheaper to leave, and clearer about what a card costs.

Kessel software: $49 / monthPer location, every feature, unlimited staff.
Kessel cards: 0.60% + 30¢On top of interchange, passed through at cost.
To start: NothingTap to Pay on the phone you own.
Kessel contract: NoneMonthly. A hardware lease has a term; software does not.

Credit where it is due

What Lightspeed is good at

Lightspeed is a capable retail and hospitality platform with genuinely strong multi-store retail inventory, and it is a Montreal company with deep roots in the Canadian market. For a serious multi-location retailer with thousands of SKUs and supplier catalogs, that inventory depth is the product.

The crux

Per-module pricing means the quote grows after you sign

A tiered platform is priced on what you need today. The trouble is that what you need in month eight, loyalty, better reporting, a second register, an e-commerce tie-in, is usually the next tier or the next module, and the annual term means the decision is already made. Kessel has one plan. Everything is in it, including the things other systems keep upstairs: purchase orders, cost layers, real margin, the ledger, offline mode, the API and unlimited staff.

Side by side

Kessel and Lightspeed, dimension by dimension

Models, not digits. We do not publish Lightspeed’s rates: they change, and a stale number here would be a lie told at your expense. Check theirs on their own site and put it into the estimator below.

Compared on the same nine dimensions as every other page here
Dimension	Kessel	Lightspeed
Card pricing model	Interchange plus 0.60% + 30¢. The networks’ cost passes through untouched and our margin is one visible line.Kessel	Lightspeed Payments at a published blended rate, or a third-party processor, sometimes with an additional fee for not using theirs.
Software fee	$49 per month per location. One plan, every feature, unlimited staff.Kessel	Tiered plans per location, with reporting, loyalty and e-commerce as higher tiers or add-on modules.
Cost to start taking cards	Nothing. Tap to Pay on the phone in your pocket, today.Kessel	A register setup, quoted with hardware.
Hardware	Stripe Terminal at Stripe’s price. Buy it, or lease or finance it and pay nothing on the day.Kessel	Bought up front, from Lightspeed or a supported third party.
Contract	None on the software. Monthly, cancel whenever you like. A hardware lease has a term; the software does not.Kessel	Commonly an annual term, billed yearly.
Accounting	A real double-entry ledger. Every sale posts a balanced transaction or it does not post at all.Kessel	Strong retail reporting, with accounting integrations for the ledger.
Inventory	A stock ledger you can audit, with purchase orders, suppliers, cost layers and real margin per line.Kessel	Genuinely deep multi-store retail inventory with supplier catalogs. This one is theirs.
Getting your data out	CSV export of catalog, orders, customers and ledger, plus a read/write API. No exit fee.About even	Export and an API, varying by plan.
AI	Proposes, never applies. Catalog Studio, add-on suggestions measured from your own baskets, dispute drafts. A person clicks Apply.About even	Assorted assistive features across the platform.

Where the money goes

One sale, two routes

The difference is not how much a card costs. It is whether you can see how much a card costs.

When Lightspeed is the better choice

Their retail inventory is better than ours today and we are not going to claim otherwise.

Multi-store retail with thousands of SKUs, supplier catalogs, matrix variants and transfers between stores as a daily routine.
You want a vendor-supplied e-commerce storefront tied directly to the same catalog.
You are a Canadian retailer who wants a Canadian vendor with local account management, and an annual term is not a problem for you.

Moving across

There is no one-click Lightspeed import

There is no one-click Lightspeed import yet. Export your catalog and customers as CSV and we will map them with you. Check your renewal date first: an annual term is the usual constraint on when a move can happen, not the data.

Export

Get your catalog and customers out of Lightspeed as CSV.

Map

Send it to us. We map items, variants, modifiers and taxes with you, usually in an afternoon.

Sell

Tap to Pay works the same day. Readers ship after.

Your numbers

Put your Lightspeed statement into this

Total fees divided by total card volume gives your real effective rate. That is the only honest number to compare against, and it is the one we ask for.

Card volume a month$45,000

Average sale$34

About 1,324 card transactions a month. This is the input that decides the answer, so use your real one rather than a round number.

Your current rate2.60% + $0.10Their per-transaction fee$0.10

Both halves, off your own statement. A percentage on its own cannot describe any real rate card, and on a small sale the fixed fee is most of the bill: 2.6% + $0.10 on a $3 coffee is 5.93% effective, not 2.6%. On your numbers it works out at 2.89% effective.

Assumed interchange on your mix1.55%

The one figure here we cannot know. Interchange depends on your own card mix, and a debit-heavy counter sits well below a rewards-credit-heavy one. Default is a typical United States card-present blend, plus $0.12 per transaction. Send us a statement and we will replace this guess with your actual mix.

What you pay now: $1,302 / month

Kessel, all in: $1,572 / month

+$270

a month WORSE on Kessel at this average sale, and we would rather show you that than hide it.

Break-even is an average sale of about $93.81. Above that Kessel is cheaper; below it, the fixed 30¢ costs you more than the percentage saves, and a flat rate is the better buy.

An estimate, not a quote. It assumes your whole volume is card present, and the interchange figure above is an assumption you can change. The two numbers that are not assumptions are ours: interchange + 0.60% + 30¢ and $49 a month.

Questions

Kessel and Lightspeed

Is Kessel a Lightspeed alternative?

For a single site or a small group, yes. Kessel covers the register, floor plan, kitchen display, catalog, purchase orders, suppliers, cost layers, real margin and a double-entry ledger on one $49 plan with no term. For multi-store retail with thousands of SKUs and supplier catalogs, Lightspeed’s inventory is deeper today.

Does Kessel charge extra if I do not use its payments?

The question does not arise. Kessel runs on Stripe and the card rate is interchange plus 0.60% + 30¢. There is no penalty fee for bringing a different processor because there is no other processor to bring.

Do I have to pay for a year up front?

No. Kessel is $49 per location per month, month to month, after 30 days free. There is no annual commitment on the software.

Also compared