Square vs Elavon, and the third option neither mentions.

The short answer

For a small business, Square. For a business past flat-rate volume, neither — the answer is interchange-plus quoted in writing, and Elavon is one of several places that can come from.

Square publishes 2.6% + 15¢ in person, 3.5% + 15¢ keyed and 3.3% + 30¢ online, with a free plan, no monthly fee and no contract. You can know what Square costs in two minutes.

Elavon publishes no rates, no fees and no contract terms. It does publish a funding claim, and it is a specific one: funding available in as little as 1-2 business days, with a note that as of May 2025, 91% of merchants were funded within two business days. That is more disclosure than most of its peers manage, and it is the only number on the page.

Elavon is a large, bank-owned acquirer with proper underwriting and a real merchant account behind it. That is a genuine advantage over an aggregator. It is also an advantage available from any conventional merchant account provider, including much smaller ones that will quote interchange-plus in writing without a procurement exercise.

Publish a rateSquare, Stripe, PayPal, Shopify, SumUp, Helcim, Stax, Dharma, SpotOn, Chase48%

Publish partlyClover, direct purchase only5%

Publish nothingToast, Lightspeed, NRS, CardConnect, Payarc, Maverick, Elavon, Worldpay, Global Payments, Heartland48%

Published pricing, side by side

Square: squareup.com — read 2026-10-08. Elavon: www.elavon.com — read 2026-10-08.

Published prices change. These were read on the dates above and are list prices for a business buying direct — a quote you are given may differ, and should be compared as a quote rather than against a price list.

Square, also published:

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

Elavon, also published:

• No rates, fees or terms published. Pricing comes through an application or a sales conversation.

Where they actually differ

What you can know in advance. Square: everything. Elavon: the funding claim, and nothing else until you are quoted.

The account. Square is an aggregator and you are a sub-merchant under its master account. An Elavon account is an underwritten merchant account with a bank-owned acquirer. The underwriting happens before you trade rather than after, which is the substance of the difference. Merchant account versus aggregator.

Pricing model. Square is flat rate, so you cannot see interchange and cannot tell whether a transaction downgraded. An Elavon account quoted as interchange-plus itemises interchange; quoted as tiered, it does not, and tiered is where the gap between the quoted rate and the paid rate comes from. Ask which you are being offered. Non-qualified surcharges.

The contract. Square states no contract and no termination fee. Elavon publishes no term. Large processors commonly use multi-year agreements, sometimes with liquidated damages rather than a flat termination fee, which is the most expensive kind of exit cost. Early termination fees.

Funding. Both publish something. Square says next business day free; Elavon says 1-2 business days with the 91% figure. Square’s is the faster published claim for a business with no bank relationship to leverage. Funding times.

Software. Square’s platform — till, inventory, staff, reporting, invoicing, appointments, payroll — has no equivalent in a conventional processing relationship, and that is a reason to choose Square independent of rate.

Who each one suits

Square suits a new or small business that wants to start today at a known price with no negotiation and no contract.

Elavon suits an established business that wants a bank-owned acquirer with proper underwriting, and that will run the quote properly — getting the markup over interchange as a number, every monthly fee named, the term, the exit cost and the hardware arrangement in writing.

The third option is the one to actually weigh. A business past roughly $25,000 to $40,000 a month in card volume should be on interchange-plus through its own underwritten merchant account, with hardware bought outright and no term. Several providers publish exactly that — Helcim and Dharma among them — and any competent ISO will quote it. You do not need to choose between a flat rate and an unpublished one.

What the comparison does not show

Not publishing rates is normal, not sinister. Almost every traditional processor quotes rather than publishes, because the price depends on your volume, card mix, category and risk profile. What to insist on is that the quote is complete and in writing.

Ask which pricing model you are being quoted. Interchange-plus, flat, or tiered. Tiered is the one where a quoted 1.79% becomes a paid 3.48%, and it is still sold. Why the bill went up.

Watch the hardware clause. A good rate attached to a four-year non-cancellable lease is usually a worse deal than a mediocre rate with hardware bought outright. Equipment lease fees.

Square’s rate is an average across your card mix, which means it is generous to some businesses and expensive to others, and it will never show you which you are. What an effective rate is.

How to settle it with your own numbers

Half of this comparison cannot be done from a web page, because Elavon publishes no rate. So the comparison has to happen on your own numbers instead, and the figure that makes it possible is your effective rate: total fees for a month divided by total card volume for that month.

Get the Elavon quote in writing, with the markup as a number, the per-item, and every monthly fee named individually. Apply all of it to your own volume, your own average ticket and your own card mix, add the monthly fees, and divide by volume. That single number is the only thing comparable to Square’s published figures — or to anybody else’s. A quote that cannot be reduced to it is not a quote.

Comparing two quotes is the full method for an unpublished rate, and the calculator does the arithmetic once you have the figures.

What we charge

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

If you are holding a quote from Elavon, send it to us with one page of a statement. We will reduce the quote to an effective rate at your own volume and put it next to Square’s published figures and ours, so you are comparing three numbers of the same kind instead of a price list against a sales conversation.

While we are on the subject

What does Elavon charge?

It publishes no rates or fees. Pricing comes through an application or a sales conversation and depends on your volume, category and risk profile.

Is Elavon better than Square?

It gives you an underwritten merchant account with a bank-owned acquirer, which is sturdier than an aggregator arrangement. Whether it is cheaper depends entirely on the quote.

What does Elavon publish about funding?

That funding is available in as little as 1-2 business days, and that as of May 2025, 91% of merchants were funded within two business days.

What should I ask for in a quote?

The markup over interchange as a number, the per-item, every monthly fee named individually, the PCI arrangement, the term, the exit cost, whether hardware is bought or leased, and the funding timetable.