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E-Commerce · head to head

Amazon Shopping vs Heartland Retail

Amazon Shopping logo

Amazon Shopping

E-Commerce

Amazon's consumer marketplace app for browsing, buying and tracking orders

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Heartland Retail logo

Heartland Retail

E-Commerce

Cloud point of sale and inventory management sold alongside Heartland card processing

From
$150/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Amazon Shopping has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Amazon Shopping a significant share of listings are sold and shipped by third-party sellers, and counterfeit or mislabelled products from those sellers have been a well-documented, recurring problem that the platform does not fully prevent.; Heartland Retail the software is sold as part of a card processing relationship, so the monthly licence understates the real cost and the processing rate is the number that determines what you pay over a year.
  • They diverge on capability: Amazon Shopping covers Product search and marketplace, Heartland Retail covers Multi-store inventory.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Amazon Shopping and Heartland Retail actually diverge.

Attributes where Amazon Shopping and Heartland Retail differ
AttributeAmazon ShoppingHeartland Retail
Starting priceFree$150/month
Pricing modelFree to use; optional Prime subscription for fast shipping and bundled mediasubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsiOS, Android, WebWeb
FoundedUnknown1997

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (E-Commerce).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Amazon Shopping

  • Product search and marketplace
  • Prime shipping tiers
  • Order tracking and returns
  • Amazon Photos and Alexa integration
  • Sponsored product placement
  • Subscribe and Save

Only in Heartland Retail

  • Multi-store inventory
  • Cloud point of sale
  • Purchasing and receiving
  • Customer records
  • Sales and stock reporting
  • Integrated card processing
  • E-commerce integrations

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Amazon Shopping

  • A shopper comparing prices and reviews across a wide catalogue before buying from any retailernot Heartland Retail
  • A Prime subscriber wanting fast, free shipping on eligible everyday purchasesnot Heartland Retail
  • A household using Subscribe and Save to automate reordering of consumables at a discountnot Heartland Retail
  • Someone managing Alexa devices, Prime Video and Amazon orders from a single accountnot Heartland Retail

Heartland Retail

  • A specialty retailer opening a third or fourth site that needs one stock position across all of themnot Amazon Shopping
  • Replacing a legacy on-premise till system that requires a server in the back office of every storenot Amazon Shopping
  • A retailer whose buying team needs purchase orders and receiving rather than just a cash registernot Amazon Shopping
  • An existing Heartland processing customer consolidating software and payments under one suppliernot Amazon Shopping

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Amazon Shopping

  • A significant share of listings are sold and shipped by third-party sellers, and counterfeit or mislabelled products from those sellers have been a well-documented, recurring problem that the platform does not fully prevent.
  • Search results and product pages mix paid sponsored placements with organic results, so the top listing for a search term is often an advertisement rather than the best-reviewed or cheapest option.
  • Fast, free shipping is effectively gated behind an Amazon Prime subscription, and the app's delivery estimates are designed to make non-Prime checkout feel slower and less attractive.
  • Returns and refund handling differ between Amazon-fulfilled and third-party-fulfilled orders, and a buyer often cannot tell which applies until after ordering.
  • Subscribe and Save and other recurring purchase features require active management to cancel, and abandoned subscriptions can result in ongoing charges for items no longer wanted.

Heartland Retail

  • The software is sold as part of a card processing relationship, so the monthly licence understates the real cost and the processing rate is the number that determines what you pay over a year.
  • Leaving means changing till software and merchant account together, and since the payment terminals, the reporting history and the staff training are all tied to the same supplier, the switching cost is far higher than a software migration alone.
  • It is not an online store platform, so a merchant selling on the web still buys and maintains a separate e-commerce platform, and the stock and order integration between the two is an ongoing operational dependency rather than a one-off setup.
  • Historical sales and customer purchase history rarely migrate cleanly out of a point of sale system, so a retailer who switches typically starts with an empty history and keeps the old system read-only, paying for it, for years.
  • Heartland sits within Global Payments, a group that has repeatedly restructured its portfolio through acquisitions and divestitures, so which entity owns and invests in this specific product is not stable over a long contract term.

Pricing, plan by plan

Amazon Shopping

Free
  • Standard accountFree
    • Browsing and purchase without Prime
    • Standard, slower shipping speeds
    • No access to Prime Video, Prime Music or Prime delivery windows
  • Amazon Prime$14.99/month
    • Free fast shipping on eligible items
    • Access to Prime Video and Prime Music
    • Also offered as an annual plan at a discounted effective rate

Heartland Retail

$150/month
  • Core$150/month
    • POS system
    • Inventory management
    • Customer management
  • Professional$350/month
    • All Core features
    • Omnichannel
    • Advanced analytics

Which should you pick?

Choose Amazon Shopping if

  • You need product search and marketplace.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on iOS, Android, Web.
  • You also want prime shipping tiers.
Amazon Shopping review

Choose Heartland Retail if

  • You need multi-store inventory.
  • You also want cloud point of sale.
Heartland Retail review

Questions people ask

Is Amazon Shopping or Heartland Retail better?
Neither clearly leads. Amazon Shopping starts at Free and Heartland Retail at $150/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amazon Shopping or Heartland Retail?
Amazon Shopping has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Amazon Shopping and $150/month for Heartland Retail.
Does Amazon Shopping or Heartland Retail run on more platforms?
Amazon Shopping runs on iOS, Android, Web. Heartland Retail runs on Web.
Can I use Amazon Shopping for free?
Yes. Amazon Shopping has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Heartland Retail starts at $150/month.
What is Amazon Shopping best used for?
Amazon Shopping is most often used for a shopper comparing prices and reviews across a wide catalogue before buying from any retailer, a prime subscriber wanting fast, free shipping on eligible everyday purchases, a household using subscribe and save to automate reordering of consumables at a discount, someone managing alexa devices, prime video and amazon orders from a single account. Of those, a shopper comparing prices and reviews across a wide catalogue before buying from any retailer and a prime subscriber wanting fast, free shipping on eligible everyday purchases are not what Heartland Retail is typically brought in for.
What can Amazon Shopping do that Heartland Retail cannot?
Amazon Shopping covers Product search and marketplace, Prime shipping tiers, Order tracking and returns, Amazon Photos and Alexa integration. Heartland Retail covers Multi-store inventory, Cloud point of sale, Purchasing and receiving, Customer records.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Amazon Shopping: Do I need Amazon Prime to use the app?

No, browsing and ordering work without Prime, but fast free shipping, Prime Video and Prime Music all require the paid subscription.

Heartland Retail: Can I use it as my online store?

No. It manages the shop floor and stock. Selling online means a separate e-commerce platform and an integration to keep the catalogue and stock aligned.

Amazon Shopping: Are all products sold by Amazon itself?

No, a large proportion of listings are sold and sometimes shipped by third-party marketplace sellers, which affects returns and counterfeit risk.

Heartland Retail: Do I have to use Heartland for card processing?

The product is sold as part of a payments relationship, and that is where the supplier's margin sits. Ask explicitly what the software costs standalone before assuming you have a choice.

Amazon Shopping: How can I tell if a listing is sold by Amazon or a third party?

Check the "Sold by" and "Fulfilled by" fields on the product page, which the app does not surface prominently in search results.

Heartland Retail: What should I negotiate hardest on?

The card processing rate and the contract term, not the software subscription. Ask for interchange-plus pricing in writing rather than a blended rate.

Heartland Retail: What happens to my sales history if I leave?

Assume products and current stock export cleanly and that years of transaction history do not. Budget for keeping the old system available read-only during any transition.

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