Square review 2024: Cost, plans, features and more
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BLUEPRINT
Updated 9:06 a.m. UTC Jan. 18, 2024
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Pros
- Easy to setup with no startup costs.
- POS and merchant-services specific to business type, such as retailers.
- Free card reader.
Cons
- Customers report holds on accounts and funds.
- Not cost-effective for high-volume transaction businesses.
- Some competitors offer lower per-transaction rates.
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Featured credit card processing offers
Stax
Monthly fee
$99
Swiped transaction fee
7¢ to 10¢ + interchange rate
Merchant One
Monthly fee
$13.95
Swiped transaction fee
0.29% to 1.55% per transaction
Payment Depot
Free Trial
No
Offers
$0 Setup & No Cancellation Fees
Pricing
Customized Interchange+ Pricing – Rates as low as 0.2% – 1.95%
Clover
Monthly fee
$14.95
Swiped transaction fee
2.6% + 10¢
Square overview
Square, Inc. was founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Tristan O’Tierney to allow business owners to accept and manage mobile payments and merchant services with a single, intuitive service. Square supports businesses in all 50 U.S. states and across the globe from Ireland to Japan.
As Square grew, the company expanded its products beyond merchant services to include CashApp, a mobile application that lets people send money, stocks or bitcoin to other users; and TIDAL, a hi-fi music streaming service. To reflect its expanded offerings, Square Inc. changed its name to Block, Inc., encompassing its block-chain initiative. However, merchant services still operate under Square.
Square is best known for its commerce services and intuitive payment hardware, especially for restaurants and small brick-and-mortar businesses. However, Square offers other merchant services, including:
- Business bank accounts.
- Business funding solutions.
- Payroll services.
- Invoicing solutions.
- Employee benefits solutions.
- Customer relationship management (CRM) software.
- Marketing solutions.
- Team management solutions.
- Customer loyalty programs.
On Trustpilot, Square earns 4.4 out of five stars, with 86% of reviewers giving it five stars. Users mention how new business owners find Square intuitive to use out of the box. Other common review themes include Square’s supportive customer service representatives and its comprehensive offering of merchant services, including marketing and banking services and tools, all in one place.
However, Square receives a notably lower user score on the Better Business Bureau (BBB). It holds an average of 1.06 out of five stars on the BBB after 532 customer reviews. Reviews mention transaction processing issues and the company holding money for verification purposes from merchants. Square has received a large number of complaints with the BBB in the last 12 months, totaling more than 1,100 complaints, and 4,674 in the last three years.
How much does Square cost?
| SQUARE PRICING | |
|---|---|
Pricing structure
| Flat rate or interchange-plus
|
Monthly fee
| Starts at $0
|
Online transaction fee
| 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction
|
Swiped or in-person transaction fee
| 2.6% + 10¢ per transaction
|
Keyed transaction fee
| 3.5% + 15¢ per transaction
|
Chargeback fee
| $0
|
Free equipment
| Mobile card reader
|
High-risk merchant company
| No
|
Square credit card processing
Square has four point-of-sale (POS) plan types for businesses to process credit cards. Each uses a different payment structure. Some are industry specific, such as Square for Restaurants or Square for Appointments, and some are more general, such as the Square POS pricing structure. Here is how Square’s pricing breaks down based on your chosen offering and your industry.
Square POS
Square POS works for all businesses that take credit card payments and allows employees to accept payments at any location. It accepts all major credit cards, including those with Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, JCB or UnionPay logos. In addition, it accepts payment via Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. There are no setup or chargeback fees and Square’s handheld card reader is provided free of charge.
Under the Free plan, businesses pay no monthly fees. Instead, merchants pay per transaction at a rate of 2.6% plus 10¢ for in-person swipes, 2.9% plus 30¢ for online transactions and 3.5% plus 15¢ for manually-entered transactions.
The Plus plan is $29 per month, in addition to the same per-transaction processing fees as the Free plan. It adds advanced features specific to running a restaurant, retailer or appointment-based business as well as live phone support, account takeover protection and dispute management tools. Custom pricing and features are available through the Premium plan for businesses with more than $250,000 in annual sales. Finally, custom packages are offered for retail, restaurant and appointment-based businesses. We discuss these plans in more depth below.
Add-ons and optional features
With all plans, you get end-to-end encrypted payments, a free Square Point of Sale app, a free card reader for in-person transactions, fraud protection, dispute management (with no chargeback fees) and account takeover protection.
To customize your service, you can choose from the following add-on features and services as you deem necessary:
- Payroll processing: This tracks employees’ hours, streamlines employee payment processes and automates tax filings. It costs $35 per month, plus $5 for each employee you pay with the system.
- Online store: You can sell your services or products online via your website, Instagram or Facebook. You can also allow website visitors to book appointments. The online store is free.
- Invoices: Invoices allows you to send digital invoices, send payment reminders and track invoice statuses. This is a free optional feature.
- Email marketing: Square’s email marketing solution is automated and integrates with the Square POS. It starts at $15 per month.
- Text message marketing: You can send texts to customers to keep your brand fresh in their minds and to entice them to come back. For example, you can send text-based sale announcements or coupons. This service starts at $10 per month, plus messaging rates.
- Virtual terminal: This feature allows you to convert your computer into your credit card terminal to take card payments by phone. Square’s virtual terminal is free.
- Online checkout: This feature allows you to take payments through your website and prompt customers to pay using “buy” buttons and QR codes that can be shared via email, mail, text or your website. The online checkout feature is free.
- Loyalty programs and gift cards: Keep customers loyal and attract new customers by offering custom digital or physical gift cards and a customer rewards program. Offering gift cards is free while Square’s loyalty program starts at $45 per month.
- Team management: Square’s team management solution allows you to track employees’ time, schedule their work hours and provide a way for them to clock in and clock out of work from your Square POS. This is a free feature.
- Customer directory: Create a profile for each customer by capturing their name and contact information when they pay for a product or service. This feature is free.
- Afterpay: Allow customers to pay in installment agreements while you receive full payment immediately through Square’s Afterpay. This feature costs 6% plus 30¢ per transaction.
- Business banking services and products: Square offers free business checking and savings accounts and the ability to apply for interest-free business loans of up to $250,000. These services and features are free.
In addition, Square offers integrations to other business software through the Square App Marketplace. Integrations make it possible to connect your Square account to other apps that you use, such as WordPress, Trustpilot and QuickBooks. Data from integrated tools are shown on your Square dashboard, which gives business owners a single location to manage all aspects of their businesses.
Square for restaurants
Square for Restaurants offers functionality to manage front-of-house and back-of-house operating processes, including pickup and delivery. Restaurant owners select between the Free plan, the Plus plan ($60 per month) and the Premium plan (custom pricing). All plans provide the ability to use unlimited countertop POS devices at unlimited locations. Customer support is available from Monday to Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific Time with these plans.
While businesses on the Free plan must purchase countertop devices, the Plus plan includes one per location, with additional devices available at $40 per month. Locations using Mobile POS pay an additional $50 per month per location. The Plus plan also includes upgraded customer support, increasing availability from the Free plan’s regular-business-hour support to 24/7 support.
The Premium plan includes discounts on optional add-ons such as Square Payroll, Square Loyalty and Square Marketing. This plan is only for restaurants that process more than $250,000 in yearly sales. You must contact Square’s sales team to discuss custom pricing for this plan.
Read more: Discover the best restaurant POS systems.
Square for retailers
Similar to Square for Restaurants, Square for Retailers offers a Free plan, Plus plan ($60 per month per location) and Premium plan (custom pricing). Square allows retailers to take payments online or anywhere they sell products or services, including at a store or in the field. Transaction fees are the same as the standard Square POS.
Square for Retailers differs in its additional features specific to retailers, such as advanced inventory management, retail reports and team management features and tools. For example, its inventory management feature includes inventory history tracking, barcode printing capabilities, an inventory counting tool and a low stock alert. And its team management tools include time tracking and sales-versus-labor reporting.
Square for appointments
Square for Appointments enables appointment-based businesses to manage scheduling and payments in a single location. Business owners can create a customizable online booking site and receive automated appointment reminders. Square for Appointments also includes access to Square Team Management, which allows you to schedule, manage and pay your employees from the Square POS.
Square for Appointments offers three plans. Its Free plan is for one location and comes with scheduling, online booking, staff management, client management and operation management tools. For example, scheduling tools let you manage recurring payments and appointment scheduling in multiple locations and time zones.
Its Plus plan is $29 per month and offers more advanced tools than the Free plan. Instead of just managing recurring payments and scheduling appointments in different time zones and multiple locations, you get additional scheduling tools, such as automated text and email reminders, the ability to sync Square with your Google Calendar, the ability to manage daily appointment limits and no-show protection.
Its Premium appointment-based business plan is $69 per month and adds appointment booking and staff management tools. You gain access to tools and features not offered in the free and Plus plans, such as resource management tools and team sales-versus-labor reporting.
Square customer support and experience
Square customers can choose from multiple options to get help, including phone support available Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific Time. To avoid long wait times, Square offers a callback option.
Support is also available through:
- Email.
- Live chat (bot and human).
- Social media.
- A detailed online knowledge base of common questions and useful tips.
- A seller community forum.
When we tested the bot, it was easy to use and provided accurate and easy-to-follow steps on how to set up a Square account. The bot asked how it could help and then offered suggestions throughout the process for each step. Throughout the chat, we had the option to connect to a live agent at any time.
Square vs. Stripe
| MONTHLY FEES | PROCESSING FEES | FREE MOBILE CARD READER | SUPPORT | BEST FOR | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Square | Free or $29 to $60, depending on plan and industry | 2.6% plus 10¢ for in-person transactions, 2.9%, plus 30¢ per online transactions | Yes | Live chat, weekday phone support, knowledge base; 24/7 customer support in Premium plan | New businesses, small brick-and-mortar businesses | |||||||
| ||||||||||||
 Stripe | No monthly plan fees | 2.9% + 30¢ per online card charge, 2.7% + 30¢ per in-person card charge | Yes | 24/7 email support; live chat; the option to request a call back (no inbound phone support) | Global online stores | |||||||
|
Overall, the pricing between Stripe and Square are comparable. Both offer a free POS plan with similar transaction fees. However, Square’s fees are slightly lower than Stripe’s for in-person transactions (Square’s 2.6% + 10¢ versus Stripe’s 2.7% + 30¢).
Many businesses that focus on in-person payments prefer Square due to its lower in-person transaction fees and wider range of hardware options. Its free card reader and free plan make it a great fit for brick-and-mortar or home-service merchants needing to set up and begin in-person credit card processing with no upfront costs.
And Square offers industry-specific hardware, such as a POS system for businesses that need appointment-booking functionality, like hair salons. It also provides additional industry-specific features such as front-of-house to back-of-house management tools for restaurants and inventory management for retailers.
Global online businesses may find Stripe a better fit. Its ample integration options and APIs allow companies to accept a wide range of credit cards and currencies from around the globe. Automation integrations also help merchant businesses scale as they grow their consumer bases. For example, teams can manage large customer bases without missing collection and sales opportunities via automated overdue-invoice alerts and quote-expiration warnings. Finally, 24/7 online support offers access to support no matter the time zone in which the merchant operates.
Read our full Stripe credit card processing review for more information.
Square vs. Clover
| MONTHLY FEES | PROCESSING FEES | FREE MOBILE CARD READER | SUPPORT | BEST FOR | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Square | Free or $29 to $60, depending on plan and industry | 2.6% plus 10¢ for in-person transactions, 2.9%, plus 30¢ per online transactions | Yes | Live chat, weekday phone support, knowledge base; 24/7 customer support in Premium plan | New businesses, small brick-and-mortar businesses | |||||||
| ||||||||||||
 Clover | Monthly plans ranging from free to $115, depending on industry and tier | 2.3% to 2.6% plus 10¢ per in-person transaction, 3.5% plus 10¢ per card-not present transaction | No | 24/7 live chat, email and phone support | Larger volume transaction businesses, online businesses | |||||||
|
Clover only offers free plans to certain types of businesses. For example, its plans for field and home service businesses start at $0 (plus transaction fees), while its plans for full-service dining companies start at $84.95 per month (plus transaction fees). You must also pay for hardware. Despite this, its lower transaction percentages make Clover a more affordable option for businesses with higher transaction volumes and that are within the industries in which Clover specializes.
Square, however, offers a free monthly plan to all businesses and a free card reader, regardless of business type (plus transaction fees). As such, Square’s zero startup costs make the provider a better fit for startups with low transaction volumes that wish to pay only per-transaction fees.
Square and Clover both offer industry-specific packages. It’s important to determine which offers the best plan for your business type and industry based on features and pricing before signing up for either.
Is Square right for your business?
Square provides an intuitive payment processing service that works for almost any type of business. Its additional add-ons and integrations make it possible to use Square as an all-in-one solution for many business processes, including team management, customer relationship management and marketing.
With no setup fee or monthly fees and a free card reader upon sign up, Square is a great choice for startups. Setting up the POS system is quick and intuitive, making it a great option for brick-and-mortar stores with little on-staff tech knowledge. And its add-on features streamline operations, aiding business owners with team management, customer directory, payroll processing and banking tools and services.
Square is not the best fit for businesses with a high volume of monthly transactions. Its transaction fees are the same across all of its credit card processing plans, whereas Square competitors such as Clover offer higher-priced paid plans with lower per-transaction fees, allowing for savings for high-transaction-volume companies.
Methodology
We extensively research the key competitors within an industry to determine the best products and services for your business. Our experts identify the factors that matter most to business owners, including pricing, features and customer support, to ensure that our recommendations offer well-rounded products that will meet the needs of various small businesses.
We collect extensive data to narrow our best list to reputable, easy-to-use products with stand-out features at a reasonable price point. And we look at user reviews to ensure that business owners like you are satisfied with our top picks’ services. We use the same rubric to assess companies within a particular space so you can confidently follow our blueprint to the Best credit card processing.
Featured credit card processing offers
Stax
Monthly fee
$99
Swiped transaction fee
7¢ to 10¢ + interchange rate
Merchant One
Monthly fee
$13.95
Swiped transaction fee
0.29% to 1.55% per transaction
Payment Depot
Free Trial
No
Offers
$0 Setup & No Cancellation Fees
Pricing
Customized Interchange+ Pricing – Rates as low as 0.2% – 1.95%
Clover
Monthly fee
$14.95
Swiped transaction fee
2.6% + 10¢
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
With these steps, you can access and set up Square through its app or on the Square website.
- Click “Get Started” on the Square website or download the app from your device’s app store.
- Enter your contact and business information.
- Select how you want to accept payments.
- Verify your mobile phone number using two-factor authentication.
- Enter your personal information, including your birthdate and the last four digits of your social security number.
- Decide which hardware to use (mobile card reader or Square stand, for example) and pay for extra hardware.
- If you set up online, download the Square app.
- Set up your store and customize Square’s POS to meet your needs.
Square offers a free plan and a 30-day free trial of its Plus plan. After the 30-day free trial, you can either begin paying the monthly fee for the Plus plan or revert to the Free plan. The Plus plan is $29 a month for appointment-based businesses and $60 a month for restaurants and retailers.
No, Square customers do not enter into a contract when they sign up for the service. Because Square advertises its services as no commitment, you can close your account at any time without penalty.
All plans run month to month and can be easily canceled. However, if you decide to deactivate your account, you should first check your payment history to verify that all pending transactions have cleared.
Square offers a wide range of hardware options that allow you to accept credit card payments, from standalone hardware to complete POS systems. You can purchase a register, terminal, stand, stand mount, card reader (for contactless or chip payments) and a magstripe reader.
Square’s most affordable POS system involves using its card reader with your mobile device. It’s most expensive hardware come in kits. Hardware kits for POS systems include Restaurant Mobile POS, Stand, Register, Stand Restaurant Station (with and without a terminal), Countertop POS System, and Mobile POS.
Square takes numerous security precautions to keep you and your customers’ data safe, as well as the devices your business uses for transactions. Square complies with all PCI standards, which means businesses do not need to manage assessors, SAQ requirements and audits. In addition, Square servers are monitored 24/7 by a security team.
Square encrypts all data during transmission regardless of the type of connection or data service. At no time during a Square-supported transaction will your device process unencrypted data. Square manufactures its own hardware and builds encryption into all of its hardware and POS systems.
Square also states in its terms, security policy and privacy policy that it does not sell customer data.
Yes. Square customers can use a mobile app to accept payments as well as manage all aspects of their Square services. Both iOS and Android devices are supported. However, Square does not support Windows, Blackberry and Amazon Fire devices.
Through extensive integration offerings, Square allows customers to use payment and merchant services data in other applications and platforms. Square-supported integrations include a wide range of apps for website design, accounting, operations and ecommerce management. While some apps are free, you must pay for others, but many paid apps come with a free trial.
Popular Square-supported apps include GoDaddy Websites + Marketing, Quickbooks Online, Xero and WooCommerce.
To use an integration, purchase the app from the Square App Marketplace and then connect that app to your Square account. Your data and transactions automatically sync between the added app and your Square account.
In addition to payment processing, Square offers add-on services that help businesses customize their POS system. By using the add-ons instead of integrated tools, Square users can access tools in one data-sharing dashboard, helping to simplify many business processes.
To purchase an add-on, go to the add-on library in the Square app and select the tools you want to purchase. You can select from various functionality types, including invoicing, gift cards, cash management, team management, subscriptions and text message marketing. Once installed, you can access the add-on from the Square app toolbar.
Blueprint is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. The information provided is for educational purposes only and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific financial decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Blueprint has an advertiser disclosure policy. The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. Blueprint adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information.
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