Elo vs SMART Technologies: Which Touchscreen Brand Is Right for Your Business?

• Jun 02, 2026
• By Projex Display

Elo and SMART Technologies both make touchscreen displays, but they are built for completely different markets. Comparing them directly is like comparing a cash register to a classroom whiteboard. This guide clarifies who each brand is for and when you might use both.

The Core Difference

SMART Technologies makes interactive collaboration displays primarily for education and corporate meeting rooms. The touch interface is used for whiteboarding, annotation, and multi-person collaboration. Displays are large (55"–86") and wall-mounted or on stands.

Elo makes commercial touchscreen monitors primarily for retail, hospitality, healthcare, kiosks, and point-of-sale environments. The touch interface is used for customer-facing transactions, self-service, wayfinding, and operator terminals. Displays range from 10" (kiosk-size) to 50" (large-format retail).

SMART Technologies — Who It Is For

SMART Technologies is the right choice when:

• You need a large collaborative whiteboard for a classroom or conference room
• Multiple people will annotate, write, and interact simultaneously (up to 40 touch points)
• You need built-in lesson or meeting software (SMART Notebook, SMART TeamWorks)
• The display will be used for teaching, training, or collaborative work sessions
• You need remote IT management of a fleet of classroom displays

SMART products sold at Projex Display: SMART Board MX V5, QX, RX, GX, M Pro series — sized 55" to 86"

Elo — Who It Is For

Elo is the right choice when:

• You need a customer-facing touch interface for retail checkout, restaurant ordering, or hotel check-in
• You need an industrial-grade kiosk display that runs 24/7 in high-traffic environments
• You are building a custom POS system and need a commercial-grade open-frame touch monitor
• You need medical-grade touchscreen monitors (IEC 60601 compliant for healthcare)
• You need rugged touch displays for manufacturing or logistics environments

Elo products sold at Projex Display: Open-frame monitors (10"–27"), I-Series POS terminals, EloPOS systems, M-Series monitors, medical-grade displays, accessories

Where They Overlap

There is one area of overlap: large-format interactive displays for corporate signage or digital menus. The Elo 5053L 50" interactive display competes with smaller SMART Board models for digital signage with touch. In this case, Elo wins for commercial durability (rated for continuous commercial use) while SMART wins for collaboration software.

Summary Table

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use an Elo touchscreen as a whiteboard?

Technically yes, but it is not what Elo displays are designed for. They lack whiteboard software, have limited touch points (typically 2–10), and are optimized for vertical transaction-type interactions, not multi-touch collaboration.

Can I use a SMART Board for retail POS?

SMART Boards are not designed for retail POS. They lack POS-specific hardware (barcode scanner integration, payment terminal connectivity), are too large for most retail counters, and are priced for AV/education deployments.

Shop Both Brands at Projex Display

Projex Display carries the full lines of both SMART Technologies and Elo. Free shipping, no sales tax in 48 states.

Shop SMART Technologies → | Shop Elo Touchscreens →