The Clover Mini, free for merchants who qualify.
Searches for a free Clover Mini usually end at a lease dressed up as a gift, not at hardware genuinely free for merchants who qualify. Here is the version worth reading: on qualifying accounts we place the device at no hardware charge, you own the pricing question separately, and this page tells you exactly who qualifies and why the economics work without a catch.
No hardware charge on qualifying accounts · No lease, no rental · Processing priced separately and shown before you sign
What the device is
The Clover Mini is a countertop point of sale — a touchscreen terminal that takes chip, tap, swipe and digital wallets, prints receipts, and runs the Clover software your staff learns in an afternoon.
Full point of sale, small footprint
Orders, payments, refunds, basic inventory and end-of-day reporting in one countertop unit. It replaces a terminal and a cash-register brain at once.
Takes every common payment
EMV chip, contactless tap, magstripe, Apple Pay and Google Pay out of the box. Tips and receipts — printed or emailed — are built in.
Software that stays current
Clover’s app market and updates come with the platform. The device is maintained as part of the processing relationship, not sold and forgotten.
What “free” means on a qualifying account, and what it means elsewhere
The same three words hide three very different deals. The honest comparison is the shortest sales pitch we have.
A lease is not free. The most common version of this offer elsewhere is a 36- or 48-month non-cancellable equipment lease — the device arrives at no upfront cost and then costs $30–$70 a month for years, often totalling several times its retail price. Read any lease’s total-of-payments line before signing anything, including ours if we ever offered one — we do not.
A rental is no gift either. Month-to-month device rental is more honest than a lease but still a recurring charge that outlives the hardware’s value.
Our version: on qualifying accounts the device carries no hardware charge, no lease and no rental. The economics are simple to state: the account’s processing volume is what makes the placement sustainable for us, which is exactly why qualification is about volume and not about paperwork gymnastics. Processing is priced separately, in the open, at our published target of interchange plus 5 basis points and 5¢ per transaction — a target we commit to pursuing on every account, shown to you before you sign.
Who qualifies
Qualification is an underwriting decision on the merchant account, not a coupon — so the honest answer is criteria, not a guarantee.
Real card volume
The placement makes sense on accounts with steady in-person card sales — typically an established storefront or counter business. Very low-volume or seasonal accounts may be offered different hardware terms instead.
An approved merchant account
The device ships on approval of the processing application — the same application either way, with no obligation created by asking. If the account is not approved, no hardware changes hands and nothing is owed.
A fit for the device
The Mini is a counter unit. If your floor needs handheld ordering, the Flex is the right device — the same qualification logic applies to it for merchants who qualify, and the application is the place to say which fits.
The application asks for the numbers this decision actually uses — monthly card volume and average ticket — and the number you enter there is the number we submit. Nothing on this page is an approval, and no offer exists until underwriting makes one.
Price the processing before you price the hardware
A free device for merchants who qualify is still a bad trade if the processing behind it is expensive — ours or anyone’s. Run your own statement through the calculator and see the whole picture first.
Our pricing page publishes the model in full: interchange at cost, a target markup of 5 basis points plus 5¢ a transaction, no monthly fee. The calculator turns your real volume and ticket into an estimated monthly cost you can hold against your current statement — and if the comparison does not favor us, you will see that too, in your own numbers.
Asked every time
Is the Clover Mini really free for merchants who qualify?
On qualifying accounts, yes — no hardware charge, no lease, no rental. Qualification is an underwriting decision built on processing volume, so accounts that do not qualify are offered plain hardware pricing instead, stated before anything is signed.
What is the catch?
The economics, stated plainly: the device is sustainable for us because the account processes card volume on our published pricing. If the pricing were padded to bury a hardware cost, the calculator on this site would expose it — which is why the pricing is published and the calculator exists.
Do I sign a lease or a contract for the device?
No lease and no rental on qualifying placements. The device belongs to the processing relationship; if the account closes, the hardware conversation is handled then — not through years of remaining lease payments.
What if I need more than one device, or the handheld Flex?
Say so on the application. Multi-device and Flex placements follow the same volume-based qualification for merchants who qualify, and anything beyond the qualifying placement is priced as hardware, in writing.
How fast does it arrive?
Hardware ships after the merchant account is approved. Underwriting speed depends on the application and the acquirer’s queue — we do not promise approval timelines, and anyone who does is selling something.
Find out in one application.
The application asks for your volume and ticket, underwriting decides the account and the hardware placement together, and the number you clicked is the number we submit. No obligation until you sign.
Applying carries no obligation. Underwriting, approval and final rates are determined by the processor.
Not sure this is the right account? See every way to apply →