Guides
Florist software compared: features, prices and verdicts
Florist software splits into POS, e-commerce and delivery routing tools, and the right pick depends on your bouquet volume, shop size and van routes.
What to take away
- Square for Retail and Lightspeed Retail handle counter sales and stem-level inventory; Shopify and Floranext carry the storefront and delivery windows.
- Ask every vendor for the surcharge on card-present versus keyed-in rates, because wire orders and phone orders price differently. Square charges about 2.6% plus 10 cents when the card is present and about 3.5% plus 15 cents when the number is keyed in.
- Delivery routing is the feature most florist software gets wrong: confirm it accepts time windows, not just dates.
- Get the export file before you sign. Stem cost, shrinkage and average order value must come out in a format you can read.
- Budget the connected tools toopayment processing, SMS confirmations and accounting sync are billed separately and typically add $50 to $200 a month.
A shop selling 40 bouquets a week and a shop selling 400 need different software. Florist software splits into counter POS, storefront and delivery routing. The table below names ten options with listed prices, the job each one does, and a verdict on who should buy it.
The shortlist: features, prices and verdicts
The shortlist
Best for
- Square for Retail
- Counter sales, small teams
- Shopify
- Online storefront and SEO
- Floranext
- Florist-specific POS and website
- Lightspeed Retail
- Multi-location inventory
- Clover
- Simple counter POS
- Curate
- Wedding and event florists
- QuickBooks Online
- Bookkeeping behind any POS
- Xero
- Bookkeeping, strong bank feeds
- Homebase
- Seasonal staff scheduling
- Deputy
- Shift rules and award rates
Listed price
- Square for Retail
- Free tier; Plus about $79 per month per location, Premium about $149; card-present rate 2.6% plus 10 cents
- Shopify
- Basic about $39 per month, Grow about $105, Advanced about $399; Shopify Payments about 2.9% plus 30 cents, and a third-party gateway adds about 2%
- Floranext
- Monthly tiers set by order volume, typically $100 to $300 per month for POS plus site; confirm the current tier
- Lightspeed Retail
- From about $89 per month per location, billed annually, plus a setup fee
- Clover
- Hardware about $600 to $1,800; software plans about $10 to $100 per month
- Curate
- Monthly plans, typically $100 to $300 per month, with setup quoted separately
- QuickBooks Online
- From about $35 per month for the entry tier to about $275 for Advanced
- Xero
- About $20 to $80 per month across the US tiers
- Homebase
- Free tier; paid plans from about $25 per month per location
- Deputy
- About $4.50 to $6 per user per month
The catch
- Square for Retail
- Weak on delivery windows
- Shopify
- Inventory counts stems poorly
- Floranext
- Smaller integration list
- Lightspeed Retail
- Setup cost is real
- Clover
- Limited floral workflow
- Curate
- Not built for daily retail
- QuickBooks Online
- Not a sales system
- Xero
- Same limit
- Homebase
- Payroll is an add-on
- Deputy
- Overkill under ten staff
Verdict
- Square for Retail
- The counter POS for stores that sell mostly in person with under five staff
- Shopify
- Buy it for the website, keep stock in a POS that understands stems
- Floranext
- The default pick when delivery windows and a florist website must sit on one bill
- Lightspeed Retail
- Choose it for two or more shops sharing stock
- Clover
- Fine for one counter, with no routing
- Curate
- For event studios that sell proposals and rentals
- QuickBooks Online
- Keep it behind whichever POS you pick
- Xero
- Pick it over QuickBooks only if your accountant already runs Xero
- Homebase
- Use it for the Valentine's week crew
- Deputy
- Only when shift rules or award rates get complicated
Read the table as a starting point, not a ranking. List prices change, and most vendors quote by volume once they see your order count. Get the current figure in writing before you compare two systems.
What to check before you sign
Ask for a sandbox with your own data. Load 20 real SKUs, a rose bunch at your cost, a mixed arrangement and a delivery order with a two-hour window. If the software cannot hold a window, it will fail on Valentine's Day.
Pre-signing software checks
- Load 20 real SKUs
- Test rose bunch at cost
- Test mixed arrangement
- Test two-hour delivery window
- Export stem cost per bunch
- Export waste and delivery cost
Then check the export. You need stem cost per bunch, waste, average order value and delivery cost per drop to come out cleanly. If the report only exists on screen, you cannot reconcile it.
Security and recordkeeping are the other two checks. The NIST small business quick-start guides set out a plain risk process, and CISA's small business guidance covers the practical side. For what to retain, the IRS recordkeeping page explains which documents support income and expenses.
Where the money actually goes
The subscription is rarely the biggest line. Payment processing on card-present versus keyed-in transactions, SMS delivery confirmations, and the accounting sync each bill separately. Text confirmations commonly run a few cents per message, and accounting sync runs about $10 to $70 a month. Add them before you compare two quotes.
Run the arithmetic yourself: monthly subscription plus processing fees on your card volume plus add-ons, divided by orders per month, gives cost per order. Compare that to your average order value. If software eats more than a few points of margin, the feature list needs to justify it.
Sourcing and markup sit on the same spreadsheet. Stem cost per bunch, plus labor per arrangement, plus waste allowance, sets your floor price. Software that cannot store stem cost cannot protect that floor.
Rolling it out without losing a week
Pick one person to own the switch. The owner sets the go-live date, the operations lead maps the daily workflow, the finance owner checks the export against the bank, and the person who actually takes orders tests it on a busy Saturday.
Give the team two weeks on the new system before you turn off the old one. Keep the old system read-only so you can check history.
If you are writing the wider document this decision sits inside, the florist business plan guide covers the sections that belong in it. For the numbers side, the florist finance and software guide walks through the metrics to track monthly.
Common questions
Does a florist need florist-specific software?
Only if delivery windows and stem-level inventory matter to you. A general POS with a good export can work for counter-heavy shops, and Square's free tier will run a small counter. Wedding and event florists usually need the specialist tools.
What does florist software cost?
Most run a monthly subscription per location or per user, plus payment processing. Expect roughly $25 to $300 a month per location across the range above, with Square free at the bottom and Curate or Floranext at the top. Get the current quote directly, since published prices change and add-ons are billed separately.
Can I run the shop on a spreadsheet?
For a while, yes. It breaks when you need delivery routing, multiple staff taking orders, or a storefront that syncs stock. Move before that point, not after.
How long does switching take?
Plan four to six weeks: two for setup and data loading, two for parallel running, and the rest for training. Rushing it costs more than the subscription.
