What does a dispensary POS cost over 12 months?

A software subscription is one part of the bill. For a store with two registers, compare hardware, payment acceptance, data migration, training and support along with the monthly license. DubLedger publishes this guide and sells a POS. The sample favors no vendor: ask every provider for a written quote using the same assumptions. Prices and cited vendor pages were reviewed September 28, 2026. They may change.

Start with the same store and timeline

Suppose one independent store needs two checkout stations for twelve months. Both must take cash. Staff already have a reliable internet connection, and the owner wants customer records, inventory, purchase-limit checks and a way to review state reporting. This is a comparison exercise, not a recommendation to switch. No one can calculate your actual total without your hardware inventory, state license, transaction mix and signed vendor terms. Write down whether the quote covers both stations, one location, implementation and access to historical records after cancellation.

Our DubLedger Beta offer is $99 per location per month for up to three registers, with a 30-day free trial, no setup fee and month-to-month billing. The beta price is locked for 12 months for beta operators. Processing and hardware are excluded; bring your own iPad or tablet, scanner, printer and cash drawer. If the trial waives one of the first twelve monthly invoices, the illustrative first-year software outlay would be 11 × $99 = $1,089. If you instead count twelve paid months after trial, it is 12 × $99 = $1,188. Confirm when billing starts and whether your requested setup qualifies before placing either number in a budget. There are no verified production processor rates to add for DubLedger.

Compare a published workstation card, not a search snippet

Cova's US vendor pricing card, reviewed September 28, 2026, lists Boutique at $349 per month with Cova Pay or $389 without, up to two workstations. Twelve paid months give $4,188 or $4,668 in listed software charges before taxes, equipment, processing or extra services. The card lists Powerhouse at $499 with Cova Pay or $599 without, up to four workstations: $5,988 or $7,188 for twelve paid months. These are not quotations for your facility and the payment-conditioned rates cannot be compared without processor terms. Cova separately lists ecommerce; do not assume it is included. Ask whether your two tablets count as two workstations and how a third one changes the plan.

Dutchie's public POS page does not publish an extractable monthly POS subscription rate in the cited research. Flowhub's pricing page also does not provide a defensible public monthly rate in that review. Record those entries as “not published; request a quote,” not as zero or a guessed industry average. Vendors may bundle ecommerce, integrated payment acceptance, hardware or support differently. A larger software number can still be the better operational choice if the included functions work in your state and replace separate bills. A smaller number is not proof of lower lifetime cost.

Price the stations separately

List each tablet, case, stand, barcode scanner, receipt printer, cash drawer, networking device and any external payment terminal. Add tax, shipping, warranties and replacements. If existing equipment is usable, enter its remaining value and the cost of testing it, rather than pricing two new stations by default. If you need purchases, get line-item hardware quotes from suppliers. As directional, vendor-produced context only, Meadow's 2026 POS cost guide estimates $1,000–$3,000 per register. Another third-party cost guide gives $3,000–$6,000 per register. Those ranges disagree and neither is a quote for this store. At two stations they imply very different illustrative one-time ranges: $2,000–$6,000 versus $6,000–$12,000. Do not add both ranges together. Substitute supplier invoices for either estimate as soon as available.

Payment fees need an actual processor agreement

Cash has handling costs: counting time, secure transport, change, loss controls and reconciliation. An external card terminal can incur terminal rent and transaction fees under its own processor agreement; recording that tender in a POS does not mean the POS processed it. DubLedger's live retail tender is cash or a recorded payment taken on an external card terminal. Integrated debit and ACH, including CanPay and Aeropay, are planned pending processor go-live. Stripe subscription checkout pays for the software service, not your shoppers' purchases. Never model unlaunched processing as an included DubLedger benefit.

Meadow's vendor-authored guide offers directional ACH fees around 1–1.5% and PIN debit around 2.5–4% plus roughly $0.50. These are not independent market rates, Meadow contract rates or offers from DubLedger. For a hypothetical $20,000 monthly volume across 500 transactions, a hypothetical 3% plus $0.50 fee would be $600 + $250 = $850 monthly, or $10,200 for twelve months. This arithmetic is an illustration only; your effective rate depends on tender, merchant risk, refunds, minimum fees and contract terms. Ask a live provider for all fees in writing and do not treat that example as an available integration.

Include migration, training and failure recovery

Ask for source export fees, mapping labor, historic receipt access, customer consent review and parallel-test time. Count staff hours for training and closing reconciliation; assign an hourly cost you actually pay. For example, eight employees × three paid training hours × an illustrative $20 per hour equals $480, excluding manager preparation. The $20 figure is an assumption, not a local wage claim. Record the number your payroll supports. If you retain the old system for one month during validation, include that overlap. Ask whether a state traceability mismatch is repaired by your team or the provider, and who provides an error receipt. Metrc's API explanation distinguishes the POS from the state system. A POS license alone does not certify or complete state reporting.

Availability also has a cost. DubLedger requires internet today; offline mode is planned. Model your fallback procedure and lost trading hours rather than assuming offline checkout. Test ID checks, configured purchase limits, tax, printed receipts and reconciliation with representative sales. Ask every vendor to show what happens after connectivity returns, whether duplicate reports are possible and who notices failed calls. Do not book “automatic retry” or “instant recovery” as a saving until the behavior is observed in your own test.

Copy this twelve-month worksheet

For each candidate, enter: (1) number of paid months × monthly location charge; (2) register or workstation surcharges; (3) purchased and rented hardware; (4) terminal and payment fees based on your actual transaction mix; (5) implementation and import fees; (6) training payroll and travel; (7) dual-system overlap; (8) add-on ecommerce, loyalty or reporting; (9) taxes; (10) contingency for outage and rework. Add these ten line items for a twelve-month total. Beside the number write “quoted,” “published,” or “assumed.” A zero must mean included in writing, not unknown. Request renewal and cancellation terms before signing; a twelve-month teaser price should not conceal a higher month thirteen.

The useful decision is whether a provider can show the complete sale and traceability workflow at a price and risk you can carry. Keep sample exports and test receipts as evidence. Choose a system only after your staff, accountant, processor and state compliance lead have checked their respective parts. For DubLedger, start with the published beta terms and evaluation checklist; ask us directly about any gap.