If you’re connecting Lightspeed to your WooCommerce store, start by confirming which Lightspeed you’re on. Lightspeed sells two separate retail point of sale systems under one brand, R-Series and X-Series, and they behave differently enough that the answer changes your setup. Whichever one you have, you can sync it to WooCommerce: Lightspeed POS for WooCommerce supports both, including the R-Series line that some connectors leave out.
Find out which Lightspeed you have
Sorting this out is one of the first things our support team helps new Lightspeed merchants with, so if you’re unsure, you’re in good company. The quickest check is the product name in your Lightspeed account:
- R-Series: your account shows Retail (R-Series). This is the original Lightspeed Retail platform.
- X-Series: your account shows Retail POS (X-Series). X-Series is the system that used to be Vend, so if your account, invoices, or old logins ever said Vend, you’re on X-Series.
If the label still leaves you guessing, Lightspeed support or your account manager can confirm it. Check before you connect: you choose R-Series or X-Series once in the plugin’s setup, and switching later means disconnecting and starting over.
Lightspeed eCom and Lightspeed Restaurant are different products again, and the plugin doesn’t connect to either of them.
Know what separates R-Series from X-Series
R-Series and X-Series are two separate Lightspeed products, not two versions of the same one. R-Series is the older retail platform; X-Series is built on what used to be Vend, and it’s the line whose plans appear on Lightspeed’s retail pricing page today. Lightspeed still supports both.
Because they’re different systems, each one handles your catalog, stock, tax, and refunds a little differently, so the setup steps and a few behaviors depend on which line you’re on. Which POS suits your shop floor is a conversation for your Lightspeed rep, since it depends on how you run retail rather than on WooCommerce. For connecting to WooCommerce, both lines work.
Compare R-Series and X-Series at a glance
On both series, the plugin imports your products and keeps inventory in step, and once you turn it on, it sends WooCommerce orders to Lightspeed as sales. The differences sit mostly in tax handling, refunds, customers, and plan requirements.
| What you’re comparing | R-Series | X-Series |
|---|---|---|
| Also known as | Lightspeed Retail, Retail (R-Series) | Vend, Retail POS (X-Series) |
| Supported by our plugin | Yes, since the original release | Yes, since version 3.0.0 |
| Catalog and inventory sync | Yes, with Lightspeed as the source of truth for stock | Yes, with Lightspeed as the source of truth for stock |
| Inventory location | One primary Lightspeed store | One outlet register |
| Tax on synced sales | Manual: click Export tax rates after enabling sales sync and after any tax change | Automatic: matching tax rates are created for you |
| Compound tax rates | Not supported, and neither are tax-inclusive rates (combinations of ordinary rates are fine) | Not supported (combinations of ordinary rates are fine) |
| Refunds | Full and partial refunds sync to Lightspeed | A full refund voids the sale; partial refund sync is a developer opt-in |
| Customers | Attached to (or created with) synced sales, if you turn that on | Synced in both directions, matched by email |
| Lightspeed plan needed | Any plan; the employee who authorizes needs inventory privileges | Lightspeed API access, which comes with the Plus plan on current plans (some older plans include it) |
| Sales sync | Off by default; you turn it on | Off by default; you turn it on |
Plan for the differences that affect your store
Catalog and inventory work the same way on both series, and most of the day-to-day differences come down to tax and refunds.
Catalog and inventory: you manage one catalog in Lightspeed, and it flows to WooCommerce with products, variations (including matrix products), categories, prices, images, and stock. Lightspeed is the source of truth for inventory, so change stock counts in Lightspeed, not in WooCommerce. A stock value typed into WooCommerce is overwritten by the next sync, which is the usual cause of counts that don’t match. Each series syncs stock against one location (a primary store on R-Series, an outlet register on X-Series), so stock for several outlets isn’t split out per location.
Tax handling: this is the biggest setup difference. On X-Series, the plugin creates matching tax rates in Lightspeed when you turn on order sync. On R-Series, tax isn’t automatic: you click Export tax rates after you enable sales sync, and again whenever your WooCommerce tax rates change. Neither series syncs sales that use compound tax rates (a tax on a tax), and R-Series doesn’t sync tax-inclusive rates either, though both handle orders where several ordinary rates combine. Without the export, R-Series sales sync without tax. The R-Series sales sync guide and X-Series order sync guide cover each step.
Refunds: on R-Series, full and partial refunds both sync back to Lightspeed. On X-Series, a full refund or cancellation voids the sale, and partial refund sync is an option a developer turns on rather than a default. If partial refunds are routine for your store, plan for that before you go live.
Plans: check your Lightspeed plan before you connect X-Series. The connection uses Lightspeed’s API, and on Lightspeed’s current plans API access comes with the Plus plan (some older plans include it). Your Lightspeed account manager can confirm what yours includes. R-Series works on any Lightspeed plan; the employee who authorizes the connection just needs inventory privileges.
Set up the sync for your series
Your site needs WordPress 6.3 or later, WooCommerce 9.9 or later, and PHP 7.4 or later with the OpenSSL extension. Syncing runs in the background, so WP-Cron and loopback requests need to work (the plugin shows a notice if they don’t). Turn on stock management under WooCommerce » Settings » Products » Inventory, then connect from Lightspeed » Connection, where you pick your series and authorize your account. Get started with Lightspeed POS walks through the shared steps.
From there, follow the guide for your line:
- Set up Lightspeed X-Series: choose an outlet register (the status reads “Connected (not ready)” until you do), import your products, and check the sync.
- Set up Lightspeed R-Series: choose your primary inventory store, load and import your products, and check the sync.
Sales sync is off by default on both series. Get product and inventory sync working and confirmed first, then turn on sales sync when you’re ready; that order saves a lot of cleanup. Set up that way, you run one catalog and one set of stock counts across your register and your online store, without double entry.
Import matrix products and keep SKUs clean
Variant-heavy catalogs are where a sync earns its keep. Lightspeed variants (X-Series) and Matrix items (R-Series) come into WooCommerce as variable products, with each variation carrying its own stock, price, and SKU. Before a big import, expect your product counts not to match one to one, because Lightspeed counts each Matrix variation as an item. R-Series also allows at most three Matrix attributes per item. Import and manage Lightspeed R-Series products covers the R-Series importer in detail.
One WooCommerce detail trips up a lot of first imports. A product in the WooCommerce trash keeps its SKU, so an import that tries to create a product with the same SKU is rejected as a duplicate, even though you can’t see the original in your product list. Go to Products » All products, open the Trash, and permanently delete the old products to release their SKUs.
Before you import your whole catalog:
- Enable stock management in WooCommerce, so inventory sync has somewhere to write.
- Empty the product trash, so old SKUs don’t block anything.
- If SKUs are how you’ll match existing WooCommerce products to Lightspeed, confirm they line up on both sides.
- Import a single matrix product first and check its variations, SKUs, and images (images download separately, so give them a few minutes).
Fix the two most common sync problems
Check your plan and bot protection when X-Series won’t connect
Start with your Lightspeed plan, since X-Series connections need API access. Next, look for bot protection such as Cloudflare Bot Fight Mode, the most common reason a connection never completes. Then reconnect from Lightspeed » Connection. Troubleshoot Lightspeed X-Series covers the rest, and if it still fails, contact us with the exact error.
Make stock changes in Lightspeed when counts don’t match
Mismatched counts almost always trace back to stock edited in WooCommerce, which the next sync overwrites. Make stock changes in Lightspeed and let them flow down, and make sure no other plugin writes stock to synced products. The R-Series troubleshooting guide and X-Series troubleshooting guide list the other causes for each line.
Connect your Lightspeed to WooCommerce
Whether you run Lightspeed Retail (R-Series) or the newer X-Series, you can sync it to WooCommerce and manage one catalog across your counter and your online store. Merchants rate the plugin 4.3 out of 5 across 41 reviews on WooCommerce.com (October 2026).
See pricing and plan options on the product page.
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