Gas station owners have unique needs for their point-of-sale (POS) systems. Gas station POS systems should be able to handle fuel pumps and transactions for in-store retail and food items, kitchen- or fresh-made items, and even car washes. Plus, of course, a gas station POS needs to have basic POS functions like reliable payment processing and reporting tools.
The best gas station POS systems are as follows:
- NCR Voyix: Best overall gas station POS
- LS Retail: Best software for high-volume gas stations
- Verifone: Best gas station POS for travel stops
- Petrosoft SmartPOS: Best for choice of payment processor and loss prevention
All of our recommendations include lottery sales features (though you’ll need integrations in some cases), basic food and grocery sales, gift cards, and age verification tools.
Not quite what you need? Check out our lists of the best overall POS systems and leading retail POS systems for other options.
Why You Can Trust Us
Our team of retail and POS experts evaluated nine different point-of-sale systems that included specific features useful for gas stations. We assessed each system using 17 data points under the categories of pricing and payment processing; features for checkout, fuel management, and convenience store operations; and ease of use and user popularity.
Retail Staff Writer at FitSmallBusiness
NCR Voyix: Best Overall Gas Station POS
Pros
- It offers mobile, EMV, and contactless payment at the pump.
- It accepts credit, debit, loyalty, and fleet cards.
- It offers marketing programming for pumps.
- It offers self-checkouts.
- It allows you to accept food orders from the pump.
Cons
- Customers say it’s more expensive than other systems.
- It has limited phone support hours.
- It has lots of resellers and potential for inconsistent experiences and pricing.
- It has long-term contracts.
Overview
Who should use it:
Gas stations that are willing to pay a premium for a POS system with a complete feature set for fuel management, loyalty and gift cards, lottery sales, and food sales would be an ideal fit for NCR Voyix.
Why we like it:
NCR takes first place for best gas station POS because it’s a single software system for forecourts and convenience stores. In addition to the POS, back-office, and business intelligence tools, it can handle vendors and staff, allow program marketing at the pumps, and even let customers order food from the pumps.
User reviews:
NCR Voyix scored an average of 3.8 out of 5 based on scores from several different review sites. Customers liked its ease of use and ability to accept multiple forms of payment. They disliked the high pricing, occasional software glitches, and slowness.
- Because quoting prices are undisclosed on the provider website, you will need to contact NCR Voyix for a custom quote. However, real-world users have noted that this is an expensive POS system.
- NCR also provides an end-to-end payment processing solution, which may be included in the price. You will likely need to purchase NCR’s integrated hardware for POS terminals and pump POS.
The NCR Voyix self-checkout system can be configured with various hardware, alerts store staff if a problem is detected, and includes marketing and advertisements. (Source: NCR Voyix)
- Mobile checkout: Customers can use their smartphones to scan items as they shop and pay via smartphone with a stored payment method or via a self-checkout kiosk.
- Real-time sales reports: Monitor your sales with NCR analytics, which gives near real-time insights, predictive insights, and alerts. Reports include sales, fuel, and end-of-day.
- Front-end consumer engagement: NCR’s pump POS systems have highly customizable video functions that you can use for promoting products, loyalty programs, sales, or other items.
- Multiple payment options: It allows you to accept credit, debit, loyalty, and fleet cards. Outdoor pumps can handle EMV, mobile, and contactless payments.
- Age verification: The NCR Voyix software lets cashiers perform age verification at the register when processing sales for age-restricted items such as alcohol.
LS Retail: Best for High-volume Gas Stations
Pros
- It has a comprehensive set of POS features.
- It has excellent fuel monitoring.
- It allows you to control pumps from your POS.
- It allows you to manage restaurant, pump, and C-store purchases on one system.
Cons
- Its customer support is only available through its online portal.
- The pricing is not transparent on its website.
Overview
Who should use it:
LS Retail is the best POS system for gas stations wanting to prioritize fuel management while also having a comprehensive set of features for loyalty, age verification, food sales, and more.
Why we like it:
LS Retail makes it easy for cashiers to manage pumps, from approval to shutdowns, and calculate wet inventory levels using the built-in tank gauge tracking system so that you know what fuel to reorder and when. The backend is powered by Microsoft Dynamics 365 for customer resource management and inventory.
It offers two gas station POS systems, LS Central and LS First, plus business intelligence, payment processing, and other programs for different business sizes. LS Central is an all-in-one POS and ERP software solutions and LS First is for large-scale businesses.
User reviews:
LS Retail got an average score of 4.3 out of 5 on third-party review sites. Users liked the rich feature set and functionality, as well as the ease of use and efficient software. They were frustrated with the limited or slow customer support, lack of training materials, and some issues with customizing the software.
- Contact LS Retail for detailed pricing.
- LS Retail also has a payment software solution called LS Pay. This may require a separate subscription as well as a separate merchant account.
If you have an attached restaurant, LS Retail can manage it, even the back-of-kitchen tasks. (Source: LS Retail)
- Central/cashier pump control: Cashiers have complete control of the pumps. They can authorize, pause, stop, and lock or unlock pumps. You can log drive-aways and refund money if customers don’t use their full prepay.
- Automatic stock replenishment: The system can automatically replenish wet stock based on sales history and stock levels.
- Real-time performance monitoring: Get a real-time overview of your inventory and merchandising system. Analyze sales distribution according to POS, total income, number of customers, number of items, or average purchase amount at any given time.
- Loyalty management: LS Retail allows you to set up in-store, online, and mobile loyalty schemes and offers with a click of a button.
- Full food service functions: You can manage the kitchen, menus, ingredients, and meal deals from the POS.
Verifone: Best Gas Station POS for Travel Stops
Pros
- It allows you to sell lottery tickets at the pump.
- It allows you to manage up to 64 pumps.
- It can process RFID payments.
- It offers car wash management (through partners).
Cons
- It lacks built-in loyalty and marketing features.
- Other than for hardware issues, its support for other issues can be slow.
- Customers have complained about touch-screen malfunctions.
- The pricing is not transparent.
Overview
Who should use it:
If you own a travel stop with gas pumps, souvenirs, and food to order or if you have multiple gas stations, then Verifone is worth considering.
Why we like it:
Verifone earns a top spot because of its purpose-built solutions that cover all your gas pump and convenience store needs.
In addition to handling up to 64 pumps, it can manage store sales and even food service and self-serve kiosks. It also handles age-dependent sales like tobacco, and you can sell lottery tickets at the pump. Verifone lists several integration partners for loyalty management, fleet cards, tank level monitoring, and electric fuel signage.
User reviews:
Verifone achieved an average rating of 3.8 out of 5 based on scores from several review sites, though only a few users left reviews. They liked the system’s intuitive nature, ease of use, and the detailed reports. They reported occasional problems with the touch-screen functionality, plus some instances of unhelpful customer support.
- Contact Verifone for custom quotes (software and hardware).
- Verifone offers card processing services but does not list prices online.
Verifone’s kiosks come with a payment terminal and large screens for customer engagement. (Source: Verifone)
- Kitchen management system: Food-service and self-service kiosks have a built-in kitchen management system, so orders are directly sent to the kitchen.
- Multiple payment options: It accepts mobile payments, RFID payments, and credit, debit, loyalty, and fleet cards. It also has a coupon-scanning feature at the pump.
- Car wash management: This allows your customers to pay for their car wash service through a POS terminal if they are paying with a card or through a pay point device if they are paying in cash.
- Money order selling: Verifone integrates with Western Union and MoneyGram Delta, which allows it to sell money orders from the c-store POS terminal.
Petrosoft SmartPOS: Best for Analytics & Loss Prevention
Pros
- It offers lottery, beer, and tobacco sales functions.
- It has comprehensive reporting tools.
- It has kitchen and food prep tools.
- It has mobile apps for back office tools.
Cons
- You will need CStoreOffice for fuel inventory management.
- It has limited customer service hours.
- Some features are add-ons.
Overview
Who should use it:
Gas stations and convenience stores wanting an all-in-one hardware and software solution—including strong tools for analytics, loss prevention, and reporting—would be happy with Petrosoft.
It’s also the only system on this list that works with multiple payment processors, meaning you have the option to shop around for low rates.
Why we like it:
When combined with CStoreOffice, SmartPOS by Petrosoft gives you a powerful backend with over 200 customizable reports for optimizing your sales and inventory, including a mobile app so you can access your business data anytime.
Petrosoft also installed processes to manage employee performance. For example, you can create automated workflows for closings or to ensure individual employees get their tasks done. The optional loss prevention analytics system analyzes key sources of information, from transactions to security video, to track down the sources of inventory losses. These are unique to the software on our list.
User reviews:
Very few online user reviews exist for Petrosoft SmartPOS. Users of this system are likely to appreciate its comprehensive sales and reporting functions, but may have difficulty with customer service and adding more features to the software.
- Self-Service Terminal: $1,199
- SmartPOS 129: $799
- CStoreOffice: $269/month
- Retail 360 (for loss prevention tools): $199/month
- QwickServe: from $99
- Scan Data Subscription: $29/month
- Scan Data Loyalty: $15/month
CStoreOffice works on mobile as well as desktop. (Source: Petrosoft)
- POS screen customization: Cashiers can customize their screen with their favorite or most used buttons for quicker checkouts.
- POS system and lottery management safeguards: If you limit the amount of cash in your registers as a theft deterrent, the system can signal you when it’s time to do a safe drop. For instant lottery sales, SmartPOS also includes early theft detection.
- Price book manager: It allows you to add, update, and push price changes to your POS system.
- Electronic journal: It comes with event tagging and bookmarking that helps highlight suspicious transactions.
What to Look for in a Gas Station POS System
The best gas station POS systems will have standard features such as reporting tools, transaction management, and inventory management; but also tools specific to gas stations or convenience stores. Here are some features to look for when choosing a gas station POS.
General POS Features
Any business, whether gas station or otherwise, will need its POS system to perform a number of universal functions. These include transaction management (product sales, refunds, and returns); inventory management (item counts, purchase orders); reporting (store and sales performance); and employee management (productivity, shifts, and time off). The more of these general features your gas station POS system has, the better.
Gas Station-specific Features
An ideal POS system for gas stations would also include industry-specific features such as tools for managing, tracking, and pricing fuel; transactions and age verification for tobacco, liquor, and lottery tickets; and grocery or convenience store sales.
Fuel Management
A gas station POS will include specific pump management tools, ideally with control centralized at the cashier. This should include fuel inventory tracking, secure dispensing with authorization, and data collection per pump. You might also be able to display marketing materials for customers to see at the pump and advertisements for your in-store products.
How We Evaluated Gas Station POS Systems
The best gas station POS systems should let you handle all your business needs from a single register without having to integrate several POS software programs. We found many POS systems that worked for convenience stores, so our first criterion was the built-in ability to sync with fuel pumps for control and monitoring. Next, we looked for special features needed for tobacco, alcohol, and lottery ticket sales, plus the ability to handle food sales from the register.
Finally, we made sure to only include POS systems that offer fuel, lottery sales, and grocery sales management tools. Age verification is also a requirement to sell alcohol and tobacco.
Based on our evaluation, we found NCR Voyix to be the best overall, scoring a 4.58 out of 5 in our grading system. It’s a highly popular POS system for other uses and offers excellent features for convenience stores and gas stations.
Click through the tabs below for our full evaluation criteria.
40%
Fuel & C-Store Management
10% of Overall Score
Nearly all the POS companies on our list have custom pricing, which can depend on hardware, software, and payment processing. We gave premium points to products that offer affordable subscriptions and integrated payment processing, while also making note of those that offer volume discounts.
25% of Overall Score
A customer’s checkout experience is crucial for gas stations to build a customer base. We gave weight to loyalty programs and the availability of gift cards as a payment option. We also gave high marks for age verification tools to facilitate the sale of alcohol or tobacco. LS Retail and NCR had perfect scores.
40% of Overall Score
We chose only those POS systems that explicitly included fuel management for tracking and pricing as well as controlling and monitoring the pumps. We also looked at management features for lottery sales and food inventory sold in convenience stores. NCR and Verifone had perfect scores here.
5% of Overall Score
Gas stations typically don’t follow business hours. So, we gave favor to 24-hour phone support, as well as installation and training in person or online. We also gave premium points to gas stations that can support offline transaction processing through a hybrid or cloud POS setup. Verifone had the only score of 5 out of 5.
20% of Overall Score
We considered ease of use and the overall feature set, plus any standout features, user reviews, and customer support, to determine the value for your dollar. Verifone and LS Retail had the highest scores, with 4.38 out of 5.
*Percentages of overall score
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
A gas station POS system includes fuel management tools, such as the ability to control the pump, read fuel levels, and even order more fuel.
The main reason is convenience. By running all your gas station sales in one system—from gas to food, car washes to tchotchkes—you streamline operations for faster checkout. You can also better track where you’re making money, where your resources could be better allocated and more.
We’ve only covered the basics in our review. When you are selecting a gas station software, you should ask how easily it integrates into your fuel pumps, what lottery programs it can run, what gas loyalty cards it can accept, and other questions specific to your business.
Depending on the system, you may have to. Most on our list sell hardware but say their system is compatible with other hardware. Changing payment processors can also cause issues with hardware.
Bottom Line
A POS system that addresses the needs of a gas station, from pumps to hot snacks, can improve the efficiency of your checkout and help customer satisfaction. It also makes it easier for cashiers and managers to handle varied sales and inventory and keep up with regulations like legal age limits. We found NCR Voyix to be the best overall for gas stations. Visit NCR Voyix for a quote and get started.
