Best Mobile Payment App for Small Business

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Mobile payment or “tap to pay” apps let small businesses offer in-person checkout to their customers without the need for expensive hardware. Install an app on your Android or iPhone, sync it with your bank account and product catalog, and you’re good to go.

In this article, you’ll learn about the best mobile payment app for your business. You’ll also see why a fully integrated system like HighLevel might be the best-value option.

Table of Contents

What Is a Tap to Pay or Mobile Payment App?

A mobile payment app is essentially a mini point of sale (POS) system that runs on your smart device. You can use it to accept in-person payments and automatically update your inventory without the need for expensive hardware.

The term “tap to pay” refers specifically to the technology that customers can use to tap their credit card or mobile wallet (like Google Pay or Apple Pay) to make contactless payments. The app turns your mobile device into a tap to pay terminal.

Mobile payment or tap to pay apps are much easier to set up and far less costly than traditional mobile POS systems, which include cash registers, barcode scanners, and dedicated card terminals.

Mobile payment apps also typically integrate with inventory management software, whether proprietary or third-party. For example, HighLevel includes an inventory management platform and a tap to pay app that updates stock levels in real time. Many small business owners use a mobile payment app to supplement online payments through their websites.

Try out HighLevel’s all-in-one solution, which includes a tap to pay mobile POS, for free.
You’ll be ready to take payments in minutes and don’t have to worry about any additional software costs.

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How to Take Credit Card Payments as a Small Business

To accept credit card payments as a small business, you simply need to download a tap to pay app, select a payment provider, and, ideally, sync your product catalog. You don’t technically need to sync your product catalog if you want to take occasional payments on the fly.

Let’s use HighLevel as an example to show you how the process works:

Set up a HighLevel account and download the mobile app.
Connect your HighLevel account to a payment processor via your online dashboard.
Open the app and select Point of Sale.
Select a product from your catalog or enter in a new amount.
Follow the on-screen prompts until the tap to pay screen appears.
Take the payment and send a receipt if required.

It really is that simple. Here, you can see full instructions for taking payment with HighLevel or its white-label alternative Lead Connector.

How Much Does a Mobile Payment App for Small Business Cost?

The cost of mobile payment apps varies. You’ll usually pay a payment processor like Stripe 2.9% plus a transaction fee of around 30 cents or so. When picking an app, it’s important to check if the app developer adds any extra charges.

If you pay for a full mobile POS system with hardware like card readers and scanners, costs can add up. You’ll also likely need to account for software. Inventory management, accounting, client admin (CRM), document management for receipts—the list goes on.

A tool like HighLevel cuts these costs substantially by offering an all-in-one solution. You essentially get a complete stack of software for a single monthly cost. This covers all aspects of inventory, accounting, and client management. In addition, you’ll only pay the processor fee when using HighLevel’s tap to pay solution. HighLevel doesn’t take anything extra.

Does a Mobile Payment or Tap to Pay App Work on Its Own?

A mobile payment app can work on its own. However, for anything above occasional sales, you will need supporting software. Even if you forgo apps that many store owners consider essential—such as a management tool for running Facebook ads or an ecommerce platform for the online side of your business—tasks like running email promotions to customers and organizing accounts still require dedicated software.

One option for small businesses and store owners is to opt for an all-in-one solution like HighLevel. With HighLevel, you gain access to a complete suite of tools for accepting payments, managing inventory, running an online store, organizing your accounts, creating a loyalty program, and more.

Best Mobile Payment Apps for Small Businesses

While getting up and running with a mobile payment app is usually straightforward, there are a few things to keep in mind.

You’ll need to check if your mobile app lets you create a suitable catalog for your products. Transaction fees and geographical location are other factors to consider. Ease of use and additional features can also vary significantly from app to app.

Let’s take a look at some of the best payment apps on the market.

1. HighLevel: Best All-rounder

You might level the criticism that we’re a little biased, but we think HighLevel gives the best all-round experience with an easy-to-use mobile payment app embedded in a comprehensive business software suite. Don’t take our word for it, though. You can try HighLevel for free.

Specific tap to pay features include options to add taxes, tips and discount codes at checkout, flexibility with payment processors (you can integrate with any processor in the app store), and support on both Android and iPhone. You can send email receipts to customers from your mobile device after checkout.

Additional business software you won’t have to fork out any extra charges for includes an ecommerce site builder, inventory management, membership schemes, document management and accounting, customer data and customer relationship management (CRM), ads management, customer support chatbots, and much more.

Like we say, don’t take our word for it. You can get up and running with the tap to pay feature in minutes on the free trial.

2. Shopify Payments: Best for Integrations With Shopify

If you already have a store with Shopify, its mobile payment app is worth considering. You’ll need to purchase a Shopify subscription if you don’t already have one, with plans starting at $29/month. The base subscriptions will entitle you to use mobile device tap to pay on the POS Lite plan.

Generally speaking, Shopify’s tap to pay solution is worth considering if you already have or are planning to build a Shopify store. It’s only supported on iPhone and there is an additional charge after the first 100 transactions per month.

3. Square: Best Standalone Provider

Square is a good standalone option that has transparent pricing—it sits at the usual level of around 2.5% + $0.10. If you need additional hardware, such as a card reader, Square has a number of low-price options suited to small businesses.

The point to keep in mind with Square is that it doesn’t come with any additional software. You’ll need to purchase all supplementary software to manage your business.

4. QuickBooks: Best for QuickBooks Users

If you use QuickBooks to manage your accounting tasks, you can use the GoPayment app to accept payments.

You will need to purchase a card reader to sync with the app so this is more of a mobile POS proper rather than a tap to pay solution There’s also the option to manually enter a client’s details to take a card payment, but that carries a higher fee.

If you’re not using QuickBooks, we think there are better alternatives to GoPayment. It’s not a true mobile tap to pay solution, and you will have to pay for the card reader.

Meet all your inventory, accounting and mobile POS needs with HighLevel

A mobile payments or tap to pay app is a straightforward, low-cost way to take payments from your customers and accept Apple Pay, Google Pay and other popular payment methods.

However, it’s only one small part of running a business. An all-in-one solution like HighLevel helps you manage all aspects of your small company, from creating and sending invoices to managing your online reputation and booking meetings.

If you’re open to trying a fully integrated software solution that includes an easy-to-use mobile tap to pay solution to process payments, sign up for a free trial with HighLevel. You can start taking payments in minutes—in addition to everything else!