BLAZE POS fits multi-store and delivery-heavy dispensaries that want a web-based register, ecommerce, driver dispatch and ACH payments from one vendor in the 20 states it lists, while Cova fits US and Canadian retailers that want published monthly pricing and an Android register with offline mode. Meadow fits Metrc-state stores and delivery services in its six states that prefer one quoted price per location. POSaBIT fits Washington retailers that want a CCRS-integrated POS with its own cashless payments from a listed company whose results they can read.
This comparison covers product scope, traceability support, payments, pricing and the corporate events to check before signing. Facts are as each company states them on its website, help center or press releases as of October 2026. For the full category, see our dispensary POS software guide; the three larger POS platforms are covered in our Dutchie vs Flowhub vs Treez comparison.
| Cova | BLAZE | Meadow | POSaBIT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | Cannabis and CBD/hemp retailers; says it scales from 1 to 150+ locations | Dispensaries, delivery operators and multi-store groups | Dispensaries and delivery services | Dispensaries; brands added via POSaBIT Brands (2026) |
| Product scope | POS, inventory, Cova Pay, ecommerce add-on, CBD/hemp POS | Web POS, BLAZE ECOM and Sites, driver app and dispatch, BLAZEPAY, loyalty, kiosk | POS, Metrc reporting, delivery dispatch, eCommerce Menus, loyalty | POS, Pocket POS handheld, online menus, payments, brand portal |
| Devices | Android tablets; offline mode | Web-based, hardware-agnostic | Counter POS plus iPads for floor sales | Countertop and handheld hardware |
| State traceability | Metrc and BioTrack | Metrc and BioTrack, including New Mexico's NMS2S move | Metrc, with staff monitoring of the sync | Washington CCRS (approved integrator since 2021) |
| Payments | Cova Pay: ACH and debit in the US; credit in Canada and for CBD | BLAZEPAY ACH through Aeropay, QR scan to pay | Integrated debit and ACH | PIN debit processing and POSaBIT Pay app, from Hypur assets bought in 2023 |
| Ecommerce | Add-on listed at $199, promo $149 a month | BLAZE ECOM; BLAZE Sites CMS (2025); owns Tymber | eCommerce Menus | Ecommerce menus launched 2024 |
| Delivery tools | Not listed on pages reviewed | Driver app (iOS, Android), dispatch, California delivery ledger | Auto-dispatch, delivery zones, Onfleet integration | Not listed on pages reviewed |
| Pricing published? | Yes: $349 (Boutique with Cova Pay) to $599 (Powerhouse without Cova Pay) a month in the US; Enterprise by quote | No; consultation and demo | No; one quoted monthly price per location | Not stated |
| Footprint claim | Says 2,200+ dispensaries; 15 US states, 7 provinces | Says "thousands of businesses"; 20 states; says it also serves Canada | 6 states; says $4 billion+ in orders processed | Said 500+ locations in 20+ states and 85%+ of Washington POS transactions (March 2025) |
| Ownership | Retail Innovation Labs LLC; Cova names iQmetrix as parent | Venture-backed; $8 million Series A (2021) | Independent; Y Combinator W15 | Public: CSE: PBIT, OTC: POSAF |
Cova is a cannabis retail POS and inventory system that runs on Android-based tablets, with US data hosted in Microsoft Azure (US-West), according to its FAQ. Cova says it supports 2,200+ dispensaries across North America. Its FAQ lists 15 US states (Colorado, Washington, California, Oklahoma, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Illinois, Alaska, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Minnesota and Mississippi) and seven Canadian provinces.
Compliance features include automatic Metrc or BioTrack reporting, a purchase limit gauge, "anti-looping" enforcement of limits across stores, ID scanning and an Offline Mode that keeps selling and syncs once the connection returns. One account can manage multiple stores, brands and entities.
Cova is the only one of the four with a public US price list. As of October 2026 its pricing page shows Boutique at $349 a month with Cova Pay or $389 without (up to 2 POS workstations), Powerhouse at $499 with Cova Pay or $599 without (up to 4), and Enterprise by quote, with unlimited users and transactions on every plan. Its FAQ separately says high-volume stores start at $549 a month, so confirm which plan applies. Canadian pricing starts at CA$399 with Cova Pay. In the US, Cova Pay covers ACH and debit; credit cards are limited to Canada and CBD. A separate CBD/hemp POS is offered, and Cova says one platform can handle CBD, hemp-derived THC and licensed cannabis sales.
The site footer names Retail Innovation Labs LLC, trading as Cova Software, and Cova's FAQ calls iQmetrix its parent company. Waitr announced talks to buy Cova in December 2021, and the two agreed on March 10, 2022, to stop pursuing the deal. See Cova's profile in our software directory for its listed integrations and states.
BLAZE POS is a web-based, hardware-agnostic register that BLAZE announced in 2024. As of October 2026, BLAZE says its suite is available to licensed operators in 20 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. It says it serves "thousands of businesses across the U.S." but gives no exact count.
The scope is wider than a register: BLAZE ECOM menus, a BLAZE Sites website CMS launched in 2025, a driver app on the App Store and Google Play with routing and dispatcher chat, loyalty, a kiosk and a customer-facing display that BLAZE showed in beta at MJBizCon in 2025. Its help center has Metrc and BioTrack sections, covers New Mexico's switch from BioTrack to NMS2S and documents purchase limit settings by state. For California, BLAZE builds a per-delivery ledger to meet California's delivery tracking rule, which took effect April 1, 2023 and requires delivery data in CCTT, the state's Metrc system. In 2025 it added a Metrc Retail ID integration and "The Compliance Difference," which flags gaps between BLAZE and state systems such as Metrc. BLAZE said in November 2023 that it had earned SOC 1 Type II and SOC 2 Type II certifications.
BLAZEPAY ACH runs through Aeropay, according to BLAZE's help center, and added QR-code "Scan to Pay" in 2025. Pricing is not published; BLAZE quotes after a demo.
Corporate history matters here. BLAZE closed a seed round in 2019 and an $8 million Series A in 2021. It bought Vancouver-based Greenline, a Canadian POS, in May 2022 and the Tymber ecommerce platform in January 2023, terms undisclosed. In 2025 it refreshed its brand as "AI-first" and showed an AI budtender, Herbie, in beta, saying a wide release was set for January 2026. Its 20-state list is US only, but its FAQ says it also serves "the legal Canadian cannabis market" and it runs a separate BLAZE Canada help center, so Canadian buyers should ask whether they would be on BLAZE POS or Greenline. See the BLAZE POS profile in our software directory for its integrations and states.
Meadow was founded in San Francisco in 2014 and calls itself "Y Combinator's first cannabis startup"; Y Combinator lists it in the Winter 2015 batch. Its October 2026 company fact file says it "has never been acquired or merged" and has no affiliation with Akerna, MJ Freeway or CountHub. David Hua is co-founder and CEO.
As of October 2026, Meadow lists six states: California, Michigan, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Minnesota (its homepage and pricing page still name Washington, D.C., which its fact file says it does not serve). The product runs in-store, online, delivery and pickup orders from one dashboard, with ID scanning and iPads for floor staff. Meadow says it connects directly to Metrc's API, imports all Metrc packages and tags at setup, has its team monitor each customer's Metrc sync and supports California delivery ledgers. Delivery tools include auto-dispatch, dynamic delivery zones and real-time tracking, with Onfleet as an integration. It sells eCommerce Menus and offers integrated debit and ACH payments.
Pricing is "one predictable monthly price per location" set by a custom quote across two plans, Essentials and Growth. Meadow says there are no per-transaction fees, partner integrations such as Leafly and Weedmaps carry no extra cost, seats are unlimited and contracts are flexible. It claims more than $4 billion in orders processed. See Meadow's profile in our software directory for its integrations and states.
POSaBIT was established in 2015, is based in Bellevue, Washington, and trades as CSE: PBIT and OTC: POSAF. It sells a POS, a handheld Pocket POS (launched in 2020), ecommerce menus (added in 2024) and payment processing. It became an approved integrator for CCRS, Washington's traceability system, in November 2021. In a March 19, 2025 release it said it serves "over 500 locations across 20+ states" and processes "over 85% of all point of sale cannabis transactions in Washington State"; the release does not explain how the 85% was measured.
In April 2023 it bought certain Hypur assets, including Hypur Pay and a PIN debit processing service, in a deal valued at up to US$7.5 million. In April 2026 it launched POSaBIT Brands, a producer and processor portal with sell-through data and B2B ACH.
Its financials are public, and they show a smaller company in transition. Revenue for 2025 was $10.0 million, down 34.5% from $15.3 million, with a net loss of about $2.0 million. Second quarter 2026 revenue was $2.25 million, down 15%, with a net loss of $316,642, although POSaBIT said point of sale revenue rose 64%. Its adjusted figures add cash from a 2022 royalty license of its POS software to an unnamed "large cannabis technology provider." On September 2, 2026 it amended a $4.75 million loan from related party Perga Capital Partners: $2 million of principal is due over 18 months and maturity moves to March 31, 2030. The releases we reviewed contain no going-concern language. Pricing is not published. See POSaBIT's profile in our software directory for its products and states.
Traceability coverage. Meadow is built around Metrc. POSaBIT's documented state integration is Washington's CCRS. Cova and BLAZE both document Metrc and BioTrack. BioTrack runs the state system in Arkansas, Connecticut and Hawaii, but none of those states appears on either vendor's state list, so ask before assuming support there. New Mexico replaced BioTrack with its own NMS2S system in September 2026 (BioTrack was switched off for New Mexico retailers on September 4, 2026, according to the state Cannabis Control Division); BLAZE's help center documents the move, so New Mexico buyers should confirm current NMS2S support with Cova. New York has moved from BioTrack to Metrc, with a January 12, 2026 deadline for retailers to enter existing inventory (see our New York Metrc readiness checklist and Metrc vs BioTrack comparison). In Metrc states, a POS reports through a vendor API key issued only after it passes Metrc's validation for that state, paired with your licensee user key, so ask each vendor to confirm validation for your state. BLAZE's Compliance Difference and Meadow's staff monitoring help, but neither replaces month-end Metrc reconciliation controls.
Payments structure. All four sell non-cash payments, built differently. Cova describes Cova Pay as "an integrated, debit-based cashless ATM solution," BLAZE routes ACH through Aeropay, Meadow offers debit and ACH, and POSaBIT acquired Hypur's PIN debit processing. Visa warned acquirers in a memo dated December 2, 2021 that miscoding purchases through "cashless ATMs" violates its rules, Mastercard told institutions in July 2023 to stop cannabis purchases on its debit cards, and a GAO report publicly released September 8, 2026 says accepting customer payments remains difficult. Ask who processes the money and what happens at checkout if that program ends. See our cannabis payments software guide and PCI DSS guide for cannabis ecommerce.
Delivery compliance. BLAZE and Meadow both describe California delivery ledger support. Cova and POSaBIT do not list dispatch tools on the pages we reviewed. See our delivery and logistics software guide.
Outages and vendor stability. Only Cova names an offline mode for its US register on the pages we reviewed; BLAZE's Canadian help center lists an offline mode article for its tablet POS, so ask BLAZE whether its US web POS can keep selling offline. POSaBIT publishes quarterly results, Meadow says it has never been acquired, and BLAZE has made two acquisitions since 2022. Plan for downtime with our seed-to-sale outage playbook.
If you run a single store and want a price before the first demo, Cova is the only one of the four with a public US price list ($349 a month for Boutique with Cova Pay, up to $599 for Powerhouse without it, as of October 2026). It also fits a store that sells CBD or hemp-derived THC alongside licensed cannabis, though Congress has delayed most new federal hemp THC restrictions only until December 11, 2026, so confirm which hemp products you can still sell before you set them up.
If you run several stores or a delivery operation in one of BLAZE's 20 states and want POS, ecommerce, a driver app and ACH from one vendor, shortlist BLAZE POS and review BLAZE's directory profile for its integrations. In Meadow's six states, compare it with Meadow, which bundles delivery dispatch and quotes one price per location.
If you are in Washington, shortlist POSaBIT for its CCRS integration and payments, and read its latest quarterly release as part of vendor due diligence. Cova and BLAZE also list Washington; Meadow does not.
In Canada, Cova publishes pricing and lists seven provinces; BLAZE owns Greenline, so ask for its current Canadian offer in writing.
If loyalty drives your marketing, check CRM connections: Cova lists free Springbig and Alpine IQ integrations, and BLAZE added an Alpine IQ sync in 2025 (see our Alpine IQ vs Springbig comparison and ecommerce and menus guide).
Neither is better in general; they fit different buyers. BLAZE POS is a web-based register bundled with BLAZE's own ecommerce, delivery dispatch and ACH payments in the 20 states it lists, while Cova runs on Android tablets with offline mode, publishes US pricing from $349 a month (Boutique plan with Cova Pay; $389 without) and lists seven Canadian provinces, as of October 2026.
BLAZE does not publish a price list. As of October 2026 it quotes after a consultation and demo, so get the software fee, payment rates and any ecommerce, delivery or kiosk charges in writing.
As of October 2026, Cova's US pricing page lists Boutique at $349 a month with Cova Pay or $389 without, Powerhouse at $499 or $599, and Enterprise by quote. Ecommerce is an add-on with a $149 promotional price.
Yes. Meadow says it connects directly to Metrc's API to automate reporting and that its team monitors each customer's Metrc sync. As of October 2026 it lists California, Michigan, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Minnesota as its states.
BLAZE acquired Vancouver-based Greenline, a Canadian dispensary POS, in May 2022 and the Tymber ecommerce platform in January 2023, terms undisclosed. BLAZE now markets its own BLAZE ECOM and BLAZE Sites products, and its state list is US only. Its FAQ says it also serves "the legal Canadian cannabis market," and its Canadian help center still references Greenline, so Canadian buyers should ask BLAZE in writing which product they would be buying and how long it will be supported.
Yes. POSaBIT trades as CSE: PBIT and OTC: POSAF, reported second quarter 2026 results on August 20, 2026, and amended a $4.75 million related-party loan on September 2, 2026, extending maturity to March 31, 2030.
In this group, the alternatives fit differently: Cova (published pricing, Canada), Meadow (per-location pricing in six Metrc states) and POSaBIT (Washington CCRS plus payments). Larger platforms such as Dutchie, Flowhub and Treez are compared in our Dutchie vs Flowhub vs Treez comparison.
We do not rate or rank vendors. Facts are as each company states them as of October 2026, and no vendor reviewed this article before publication. This is regulatory journalism, not legal advice. Confirm details with each vendor and your counsel.