Revel Systems vs Shopify POS Comparison

Nothing. There is nothing redeeming about this POS system and I have personally used over 20 POS systems over the last 12 years.

The code is deeply bugged. We have worked with the most senior professionals at Revel including the officials and others in Tier 3 tech support only to realize by admission to them that the system has several critical failure points that will result in financial loss if you are an advanced user. Be EXTREMELY careful using this POS it is underdeveloped and has costed us hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses over the last two years (contract period we were unable to terminate).

We love the fact that technical support is available 24/7 and they are always willing to find a solution to your problem. API availability is also great for other software integrations.

We dislike the fact that all POS front-end stations need to have the same version to work properly. If the main station accidentally updated the application version, then the rest need to do the same. This will be unfortunate if it happens during working hours as it will slow down your sales waiting for the stations to update.

Nice clean look and fairly easy to find what you're looking for. Good POS software that can help you clean up your POS offerings. Provides fairly good POS protection and security for your business. Closing and opening is very simple. Saves a good amount of time from previous system used.

When you have two items and only one is discounted, the discount shows in the second item as well. This makes it hard to get the price right. Have had to do a manual discount, rather than percentage to work around this.

Ease of use, data tracking, time tracking, mobile access, fantastic customer support, quality hardware.

I would like to see a more advanced Kiosk-style option that includes a user-friendly means of incorporating product pictures along with pricing.

There are many POS providers out there today but I think Revel does a great job for small business owners. They utilize a familiar hardware (iPad) and turn it into a POS system that's easy to navigate. Being in a rush or training new employees can be a disaster if you have the wrong POS system but Revel does a great job with their easy layout.

Customer service can be disastrous at times, especially if your POS system is down during a rush. It doesn't happen frequently but it does happen so you should be aware of that before making your choice.

Hi There, Thank you so much for the review and feedback! We are sorry to hear that you do experience the occasional outage -- if you have additional info regarding an issue of that nature, we would love to hear it to address it with our agents and engineers. Please feel free to contact me at community@revelsystems.com. Kind Regards, Sarah, Customer Advocacy Manager at Revel

In theory, it would be awesome, but we needed reality and it's miserable.

Standard features are missing, support is rude and one of our tech guy spends 70 percent of his day on the phone with support trying to get help which takes days or weeks (or never) to resolve. The networks (emphasis on the plural) we had to set up to make this work were ridiculous. Each individual POS terminal requires it's own network with 4 appliances which is really messy and seems redundant, but it doesn't work any other way.

Unlimited expand-ability Remote access to information Clean, simple iPad based POS

Rapid changes that ultimately benefit me, but sometimes I'm not ready for Managing Apple's updates with Revel's new builds

Overall they have all the same features as all other POS systems

Zero customer service, they are based in the US

Easy to use POS system, I see it in many retail stores.

There should be a mobile swipe plug in or add on.

The interface is great, fairly easy for staff to learn when compared to traditional POS

The support is non existentent, despite paying a monthly fee for a "VIP client success manager" This product is not viable for a full service restaurant. Even the higher level support/management seems lack a basic understanding of financial operations required in a full service restaurant.

The ease of use and ease of training stands out amongst all cloud based POS.

The price is little expensive and the stand provided by the company is not the best design. We purchased a stand through another manufacturer for a more slick use.

We appreciate the feedback, Matt. We're constantly trying to do better and input like this really helps. Thanks!

The features looked cool-too bad we NEVER got to use the fully functioning POS.

Um Everything else.

Back End Management software is good. Nice use of iPad.

Un-Intuitive setup. Most expensive iPad POS software in the market does not provide value for money.

Nothing, this software is an absolute disataster.

Literally everything. Split checks. Have minimum features that every other POS offers. Please. Don't waste our time.

-Innovative cloud based solution -Low Capex vs. other full fledged POS solutions -Hardware can be purchased separate

-Poor reliability, frequent updates / changes to the system make it difficult to maintain. Updates which are not announced cause a lot of disruptions in restaurant -Poor customer service -API is poorly documented, limited calls allowed

Hello Chris, I'm very sorry to hear that you're having a poor experience with your system and support. We definitely want to be sure to meet your customer service needs. I will be reaching out to you directly to learn more about how we can turn things around here. We're also happy to work with partners to increase API calls. We do set a limit at the outset of our relationship with our partners but we are always available to increase limits if we realize there is a specific need for one of our valued merchants. Revel's Business Development team will work with the partner providing you the integrated service to find an immediate solution. Thank you for sharing your feedback and for bringing it to our attention. Regards, Sarah, Community Manager, Revel Systems

Formerly integrated with QuickBooks desktop Offline sales if internet goes down Somewhat intuitive POS station (still some issues)

Eliminated Desktop integration on short notice Back end dashboard is difficult to navigate Customer service can have EXTEMELY long wait times Sales team is unreachable after you start paying

Thank you for your feedback, Kerry. We apologize for the frustrating and disappointing experience you've had; someone from Revel will be reaching out soon to see what can be done to make things right.

It is a high quality POS platform. It takes very few time in processing. It has ultimate security features.

Processing time can be reduce more. Though it is easy to use but can be add more features for easy customer access.

What it can do in theory

The reality of how it actually works. The cost. Tech support. Customer support. Losing customers because of POS mishaps.

Hi Shan, I am really sorry to hear that you have experienced so much frustration. I have taken a look at your ticket history and I can see what the source is here. Software updates are consistent across all iPad based POS software. Most clients never hit a bug, so we're very sorry to see you were hit by one or more in a row. This is not standard and we can assure you we're working to improve testing and our overall quality with each release. I can see that you are now working with a senior agent and that things apprear to be moving in the right direction. Again, we apologize and appreciate your patience in working with us. Regards, Sarah, Community Manager, Revel

Very easy to use and efficient. I've tried a few other POS systems but nothing competes with this software!

No cons were added to this review

Fast, easy-to-use POS interface. I like Apple products so that was a bonus that they use Apple branded iPads.

Revel is a decent product backed back some terrible customer service. The on boarding process, done remotely, is not robust enough and as a result you are left unable to use most of the features without paying for ongoing account support. Most importantly, I was sold on the idea that Revel had total and complete integration with Quickbooks, which is NOT the case. The integration creates a total mess in Quickbooks, and employee hours can only be ported over to Quickbooks in whole numbers and no overtime. The sales team was, for the most part, unresponsive after the sale was made. Extra equipment was sent and billed to us that we did not order. Revel is extremely expensive compared to the competition. I would not purchase this product again.

Ward, thank you for the feedback—we're sorry that we let you down. We've been in touch on other platforms and with you directly, but please let us know if there's anything we can do to help. Thanks, Holden

No pros were added to this review

There is nothing good to say about this company or its products. The entire sales, setup and support process was a completely miserable process. I wasted 30-45 days just to check out the "free trial" and then I wasted another 45 days trying to get the "free trial" account cancelled and my account credit for the fraudulent bank charges.

The product is easy to use on both the front end and back end. Being able to access the backend from anywhere to update products makes keeping your POS up to date really easy.

Sometimes adding new features that can improve functionality of the front end can take sometime but they will get it done.

Options for most situations and plenty of flexibility in the software. Easy to use POS interface and very quick to work with.

Online ordering is still not 100%, they're still working out a lot of the bugs and does not have some of the things I was promised (as of October 2016). The back end is VERY confusing and difficult to learn. They give you a support rep which is nice but they defer a lot of questions to the technical support team in which some of them are not helpful at all. Overall, I haven't been thrilled with their support team.

-When it works it is more robust and better at speaking to Quickbooks than any other POS systems that we've used.

There are many, many issues that I can't explain because it works fine one day and not at all the next, with no reason. -Past POS companies have emailed me monthly updates about changes that are coming and information about updating the app or problems that have been discovered. Revel does no such thing.

Hi Emily, I'm sorry to hear that you've experienced frustration with the QuickBooks integration. I've looked into your support ticket history and it looks like support has resolved your most recent ticket. Additionally, in reviewing your QuickBooks support history with a QB Support Specialist, it appears that our sync has paused most frequently following deletion or removal of QuickBooks records,...

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What I like the most is the customer support that we have received that may seem menial in retrospect, but when you are having issues that need to be corrected immediately the ease at which Revel support has either explained the issue or outright guided us to fix it has been amazing. Some of the best customer service I have ever experienced.

There are a girth of options on the back end that can at times be difficult to navigate and recall. Most of this is a non-issue because support will walk you through any questions or issues and offer succinct explanations that make many of the settings "set and forget."

Shopify POS is our main POS system for a large retail space. Easy to use and train all staff. Easy to integrate with other systems.

The Shopify shop is a bit too templated as well as the products. Need quite a few extensions to modify and customize products.

I love that I am able to create and scan barcodes versus entering prices and descriptions when customers make a purchase, its more efficient and I can keep track of what I have, sold and sale items. It's really great!

They are a couple of pricing plans you can choose from (monthly rates) but there are still some charges you will incur; like fees for on line sales and in-person sales.

Simple set up, reasonable price point, easy to add and adjust our product offerings, so nice to have a system that does the "heavy lifting" for us by providing our online storefront, so to speak.

There isn't really anything we don't like about this software. It has been a positive experience overall.

Relatively easy to set up with recommended hardware for not a ton of money. Runs off an iPad and supports multiple users and cash management. Isn't like a lot of the antiquated POS systems out there

Checkout flow can be slow which is difficult when there is a long line. Wish it were better at handling exchanges and returns. Would require us to go to the web version of Shopify to get full access to order controls.

The ease with which one can customize the buttons (discounts, etc.), product selection, adding multiple products to an order, the ease with which one can accept payment methods (cash, cc, or third party payment), and the ability to take the system anywhere where there is an internet connection (i.e. mobile).

The fact that you cannot use any bluetooth hand scanner with the system (there's only one and it's very expensive).

The shopify POS is extremely easy to use and train in employees on. It may not be as powerful as some stores require, but as an ecommerce business that runs the occasional popup shop, it has more than enough features for what we need. I like how well it integrates into the systems we already are running.

I have no major complaints. The hardware accessories can be a bit buggy, but there's always an easy workaround.