Sero vs Lightspeed

Scope and structure

Lightspeed, headquartered in Montréal, offers separate products for retail, restaurants and other verticals, as of 2026 per its public site. Each is capable and well established, and each is its own system with its own plans, its own back office and its own set of add-ons. Merchants generally pick the product that matches their main business.

SeroPOS is one app. A business with a café inside a gift shop, a bakery that sells packaged goods, or a brewery taproom with merchandise runs both sides from the same catalogue, the same reports and the same staff permissions. There’s no second subscription for the other half of the business, and no second set of numbers to reconcile.

Inventory and purchasing

Lightspeed is known for solid retail inventory, and inventory is also a strength of SeroPOS: real-time counts, low-stock alerts, purchase orders, suppliers, transfers between stores, adjustments, lot and expiry tracking, recipes for kitchens and Excel import and export for bulk changes. AI sales forecasting helps with reorder timing. Lot and expiry tracking matters most for pharmacy, grocery and specialty food.

For businesses that need more, SeroBooks adds serial numbers, warehouse bins, barcode labels, landed cost, assemblies, stock valuation and demand forecasting with two lead times, all on the same ledger as the sales. Wholesalers and multi-store retailers often find that combination replaces a separate inventory app entirely. Maya, the AI employee in SeroBooks, can also draft reorder suggestions for approval.

• Purchase orders and suppliers
• Transfers across locations
• Lot, expiry and serial tracking
• Forecasting in SeroBooks

Accounting and payroll

SeroPOS posts sales into SeroBooks, a double-entry accounting system with 160+ reports, sales tax for every province, US economic nexus tracking across 50 states and T2/GIFI at year-end. SeroPOS Pro also syncs with QuickBooks Online and Xero, so you can keep your accountant’s preferred ledger if you’d rather not change that too.

SeroPayroll handles Canadian payroll from $25/mo for up to 10 employees, covering all 13 provinces and territories with T4 and ROE files generated for upload. SeroBooks Pro includes Canadian and US payroll on the same ledger. With Sero, the till, the books and payroll come from one company rather than three.

When Lightspeed may be the better fit

Established retailers with large, complex catalogues, or merchants who want Lightspeed’s particular vertical features, such as specialized tools for golf courses or bike shops where offered, may prefer Lightspeed. It has a long track record, a large partner network and many years of retail experience behind its product. Those are genuine advantages for the right merchant.

If you’re already on Lightspeed, happy with it and invested in its e-commerce and integrations, the switching cost may outweigh the savings. Lightspeed may also suit merchants who prefer an iPad-centred setup and want a vendor with a large established customer base and local partners. Ask for a demo of both before you decide.

Trying SeroPOS

Download SeroPOS on any device, sign up in-app and start the 14-day free trial with no credit card. Import your catalogue with Excel import, set up a printer and a payment terminal, and ring a few days of real or test sales before committing to anything. Demo data is available if you’d like to explore first.

Our team can help map your locations, printers and payment terminal, and the knowledge base sits on every admin screen. There are no onboarding fees and no contracts. If you sell online as well, connect Shopify, WooCommerce or Amazon to see how stock stays aligned across channels. There’s nothing to lose by testing it on a quiet week.