Square vs Stripe, which is barely a price question.
Stripe's published in-person rate is lower than Square's and its online rate is identical. Almost nobody should choose between them on that basis, because the two are built for different jobs and the cost of picking the wrong one dwarfs the gap.
What this page settles.
Three questions, in the order most people ask them.
The short answer
On published price they are close enough to ignore. In person, Square is 2.6% + 15¢ and Stripe is 2.7% + 5¢ — on a $40 ticket that is $1.19 against $1.13. Online, both standard tiers are 2.9% + 30¢. Neither has a monthly fee at the entry level.
On fit they are not close at all. Square is a business in a box: a till app, hardware, invoicing, reporting, payroll, a dashboard your staff can use on their first shift. Stripe is payments infrastructure: an API, a checkout you integrate, a billing engine, and a dashboard built for whoever writes your code.
So the question is not which is cheaper. It is whether your payments need a counter or a codebase. If you have no developer and no plan to hire one, Square. If your payments live inside software you are building, Stripe. Businesses that pick against that grain spend the difference ten times over in workarounds.
Published pricing, side by side
| Square | Stripe | |
|---|---|---|
| In person | 2.6% + 15¢ tapped, dipped or swiped on the free plan; 2.5% + 15¢ on Plus, 2.4% + 15¢ on Premium |
2.7% + 5¢ Terminal, domestic cards; Tap to Pay adds $0.10 per authorization |
| Keyed | 3.5% + 15¢ | +0.5% on top of the base rate |
| Online | 3.3% + 30¢ 2.9% + 30¢ on Plus and Premium |
2.9% + 30¢ domestic cards; +1.5% international, +1% currency conversion |
| Pricing model | Flat rate | Flat rate |
| Monthly | $0 on the free plan; $49/mo per location (Plus); $149/mo per location (Premium) | $0 on standard pricing |
| Contract | No contract. The page says “no hidden fees or locked-in contracts. Cancel or switch anytime.” | No contract stated. The page says no setup fees and no monthly fees on standard pricing. |
| Monthly minimum | Not stated | Not stated |
| Funding | Next business day free; instant transfer for a fee | Rolling, weekly or monthly payouts, free on the standard schedule; instant payouts 1.5% with a 50¢ minimum |
| Chargeback fee | Not published on the pricing page | $15 per dispute received, plus $15 per dispute responded to manually (refunded on a win) |
| Hardware | Sold outright; prices on a separate page | Sold outright; Terminal cellular $10 per reader per month |
| Account type | Aggregator (sub-merchant under Square) | Own merchant account through Stripe, underwritten |
Square: squareup.com — read 2026-10-08. Stripe: stripe.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
Stripe, also published:
- ACH Direct Debit 0.8%, capped at $5.00
- Point-to-point encryption 5¢ per authorization, optional
- Custom domain on Payment Links and Checkout $10/mo
Where they actually differ
What you have to build. Square works out of the box. Stripe’s hosted products (Checkout, Payment Links, Invoicing) also work without code, but Stripe’s value is in what you can build on it, and realising that value takes someone who builds things. A business with no technical resource on Stripe is paying for an engine it cannot open.
Subscriptions and billing. This is Stripe’s strongest card. Stripe Billing handles proration, trials, dunning, usage-based pricing and plan changes properly. Square’s recurring invoicing is fine for a monthly retainer and is not a billing system. If you charge customers repeatedly on anything other than a flat monthly amount, Stripe. Subscription pricing.
Hardware and the counter. Square’s hardware range, staff permissions, offline behaviour and till workflow are built for a shop floor. Stripe Terminal exists and is good, and is designed for integrating payments into software you already run rather than for being your till.
Disputes. Stripe publishes $15 per dispute received plus $15 per dispute you respond to manually, refunded only if you win. Square does not publish a chargeback fee on its pricing page. Stripe’s disclosure is better; whether its cost is better depends on your dispute rate. Chargeback fees.
The account underneath. Square is an aggregator — you are a sub-merchant. Stripe underwrites you as a merchant in your own right. In practice both can hold funds and both have automated risk review, but the underwriting difference is real and favours Stripe. Merchant account versus aggregator.
International. Stripe publishes +1.5% on international cards and +1% for currency conversion, and operates in far more countries. If you sell across borders this stops being a detail. Cross-border fees.
Who each one suits
Square suits a shop, restaurant, salon, market stall or mobile trade that needs to take money today, with no developer, no integration and no appetite for configuration. It also suits a small online store that wants a storefront without building one.
Stripe suits a software product, a marketplace, a subscription business, anything selling internationally, and any company where payments are a feature of a product rather than a transaction at a counter.
Both are flat-rate, and that is the shared limitation. Above roughly $25,000 to $40,000 a month in card volume — the crossover moves with your card mix and average ticket — interchange-plus usually costs less than either, and the gap widens as you grow. If you are at that volume on either of these, the useful comparison is not Square against Stripe. Flat rate versus interchange-plus.
What the comparison does not show
The published rates are averages. Both are flat rates, so both charge you the same whether your customer paid with a basic debit card or a premium travel-rewards card. Your card mix decides whether that average is generous or expensive to you, and a flat rate cannot tell you which. What rewards cards cost.
Stripe’s keyed cost is a surcharge, not a rate. Stripe publishes +0.5% for manually entered cards on top of the base rate rather than a separate keyed rate. Square publishes 3.5% + 15¢. Compare the two at your own keyed mix rather than reading one number as the other.
Neither publishes a funding timetable you can plan on. Square says next business day free. Stripe says rolling, weekly or monthly, without a number. Both offer instant payouts for a fee. If cash flow timing matters to you, get it confirmed. Funding times.
Both will freeze funds under review. Being underwritten helps and does not immunise you. If a two-week hold would be an emergency for your business, that is an argument for a conventional merchant account rather than for either of these. When an aggregator freezes you.
How to settle it with your own numbers
Both of these are flat rates, which means both charge you the same whether your customer handed over a plain debit card or a premium rewards card. The published difference between Square and Stripe is therefore real but narrow, and neither figure is your cost.
Your cost is your effective rate: total fees for a month divided by total card volume. Work it out, then price Square and Stripe against it at your own average ticket — the per-item is often what separates them — and remember that neither can show you the card mix underneath, which is what decides whether a flat rate is treating you generously or not.
The calculator works it out from two figures on a statement, and what an effective rate is explains why it so often differs from the rate on the quote.
What we charge
Interchange + 0.50% + 10¢ in person, interchange + 0.75% + 25¢ keyed, with no contract, no monthly fee and no monthly minimum.
Both Square and Stripe are flat rates, and so is the limitation they share: above roughly $25,000 to $40,000 a month in card volume, interchange passed through at cost generally costs less than either. Send us a statement and we will tell you which side of that line you are on — including when the answer is that you should stay where you are.
While we are on the subject
Is Stripe cheaper than Square?
In person, slightly — Stripe’s 5¢ per-item against Square’s 15¢ more than offsets its 0.1% higher percentage at most ticket sizes. Online the headline rates are the same.
Can I use Stripe without a developer?
For hosted Checkout, Payment Links and Invoicing, yes. For the things that make Stripe worth choosing, you need someone technical.
Which is better for a subscription business?
Stripe, clearly. Its billing engine handles proration, trials, dunning and usage-based pricing; Square’s recurring invoicing does not.
Can I use both?
Plenty of businesses do — Square at the counter, Stripe behind the website. Two statements to reconcile, and two effective rates to work out.