Square's fees in full, and when they stop being a bargain.

What it actually is

Square is a payments company that became a business platform. It started as a card reader that plugged into a phone and is now a till app, inventory, invoicing, appointments, staff management, reporting, payroll, banking and lending, with payments underneath all of it.

The thing that matters structurally is that Square is an aggregator. You are not an underwritten merchant with your own merchant account; you are a sub-merchant under Square’s master account. That is what lets you sign up and take a payment the same afternoon with no application, and it is also why the risk assessment happens after you start trading rather than before. Merchant account versus aggregator.

The second structural thing is that Square’s pricing is flat rate: one number for every card, whatever that card actually cost. Simple to understand, and an average — which means it is generous to some businesses and expensive to others, and neither can tell which from the statement. Flat rate versus interchange-plus.

$10,000 a month$293.35

$30,000 a month$880.05

$80,000 a month$2346.80

Every published price

Square publishes these at squareup.com. Read 2026-10-08.

Also published:

• ACH via invoice 1%, $1 minimum
• Afterpay 6% + 30¢
• EBT 1.8% + 5¢
• Custom pricing available above $250,000 a year

Published prices change. These are list prices for a business buying direct, read on the date above, and a quote you are given may differ.

What it costs in practice

Take the free plan at 2.6% + 15¢ in person, and a business with a $45 average ticket.

At $10,000 a month (222 transactions): $260 in percentage, $33.30 in per-item. $293.30, an effective rate of 2.93%.

At $30,000 a month (667 transactions): $780 plus $100.05. $880.05, still 2.93%.

At $80,000 a month (1,778 transactions): $2,080 plus $266.70. $2,346.70, still 2.93%.

That flatness is the point and the problem. The effective rate does not improve with volume, because nothing about a flat rate is volume-sensitive. A business at $80,000 a month is paying the same percentage as one at $8,000, and card-present interchange for a mixed consumer card base generally runs a long way below 2.6%.

The paid tiers help a little. Plus at $49 a month per location drops the in-person rate to 2.5%; Premium at $149 drops it to 2.4%. On $80,000 a month, Plus saves $80 in percentage against a $49 fee — worth it. Premium saves $160 against $149 — marginal. Square also mentions custom pricing above $250,000 a year, which is worth asking about if you are there.

Work out your own effective rate rather than trusting ours. Total fees for a month divided by total card volume. The calculator does it from two figures.

What it is good at

It publishes everything. Rates, plan fees, ACH, EBT, Afterpay, funding timing, and plainly. In an industry where half the providers publish nothing, that deserves saying first. Who publishes and who does not.

There is genuinely nothing to sign. No contract, no term, no early termination fee, no monthly minimum, no PCI fee, no equipment lease. The entire category of problem this site exists to explain does not apply to Square, and that is worth real money to a merchant who would otherwise sign a four-year lease.

The free tier is genuinely free and genuinely capable. A till app, inventory, customer records, reporting and invoicing at $0 a month is a serious offer for a small business.

The software is the best in its class at this price. Appointments, payroll, loans, banking, marketing — either useful to you or irrelevant, and when they are useful they are a real reason to stay.

Hardware is bought outright, not leased, and the range runs from a pocket reader to a full countertop system.

Where it costs you

The flat rate, above a certain volume. This is the main one. Card-present interchange for a mixed consumer card base typically runs well below 2.6%, and Square keeps the difference. Somewhere between $12,000 and $40,000 a month — the crossover moves with your card mix and average ticket — interchange-plus starts costing less and keeps pulling away. Square against Helcim and against Stax are the two cleanest versions of that arithmetic.

Debit-heavy businesses are the worst served. Regulated debit interchange is capped by law and low. A flat 2.6% on a regulated debit card is a very large margin, and you will never see it. Debit versus credit cost.

Hold risk. Square underwrote nobody before you started, so the review happens when something changes — a volume spike, an unusual ticket, a category question, a dispute cluster. Funds can be held by a model rather than a conversation. It is not common and it is not rare, and if a two-week hold would stop you trading it is the argument against an aggregator. When an aggregator freezes you.

The hardware does not move. Square readers only work with Square, so leaving means buying new hardware. Budget for it; at the volumes where leaving makes sense it is recovered in a couple of months. Leaving Square.

Keyed and online rates are high. 3.5% + 15¢ keyed and 3.3% + 30¢ online on the free plan are at the expensive end. If a meaningful share of your volume is either, the comparison changes against Square. Selling online.

Who it suits, and who it does not

Square suits a new business, a small business, a business with no technical resource, a mobile trade, a market stall, a pop-up, and any business that values not having to think about payments more than it values the last half percent. It also suits any business that would otherwise be sold a four-year lease by someone less scrupulous.

Square does not suit a business doing serious volume, a debit-heavy business, a business where a funding hold would be an emergency, or one whose keyed and online share is large.

The honest test: work out your effective rate, and compare it to interchange plus a published margin — Helcim’s 0.40% + 8¢ is the easiest benchmark because it is public. If the gap is more than about $150 a month, the move is worth the hardware cost and the afternoon of admin. If it is less, stay where you are; Square is a good product and switching for $40 a month is not worth your attention.

What we charge

Interchange + 0.50% + 10¢ in person, interchange + 0.75% + 25¢ keyed, with no contract, no monthly fee and no monthly minimum.

Square publishes its rate, which makes this easy to settle: work out your effective rate from a statement and compare it to interchange plus our published margin at your own card mix. Below roughly $12,000 a month in card volume we will usually tell you to stay where you are.

While we are on the subject

Does Square have hidden fees?

No, and that is one of its genuine strengths — the published rates and plan fees are what you pay, with no contract, monthly minimum, PCI fee or termination fee.

When does Square become expensive?

Somewhere between $12,000 and $40,000 a month in card volume, depending on your card mix and average ticket. Above that, interchange-plus generally costs less and the gap widens.

Can Square hold my money?

Yes. It is an aggregator, so the risk review happens after you start trading. A volume spike or a dispute cluster can trigger a hold.

Can I keep my Square hardware if I leave?

No. Square readers only work with Square, so moving to another processor means buying new hardware.