Marketing Strategy
Square vs Stripe Fees for Small Business (2026)
For in-person card sales, Square's Free plan charges 2.6% + 15¢ and Stripe Terminal charges 2.7% + 5¢. Online, Stripe charges 2.9% + 30¢ and Square charges 3.3% + 30¢ on Free or 2.9% + 30¢ on its paid plans. Both pages were opened on 2026-10-24. The bigger difference is not the rate. Square is a ready-made shop system, while Stripe is a payments platform that needs a checkout or POS built on top.
This guide is for owners of cafés, salons, shops and studios choosing how to take card payments. Figures are US prices from each company's own pricing page. Custom rates exist for higher volumes on both sides, so treat these as list prices.
2.6% + 15¢→
Square Free, in person
Square pricing page, checked 2026-10-24
2.7% + 5¢→
Stripe Terminal, in person
Stripe pricing page, checked 2026-10-24
3.3% + 30¢→
Square Free, online
Square pricing page, checked 2026-10-24
2.9% + 30¢→
Stripe, online cards
Stripe pricing page, checked 2026-10-24
Estimates for illustration; actual numbers vary.
How Do Square and Stripe Fees Compare?
| Square Free | Square Plus | Square Premium | Stripe | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | $0 | $49 per location | $149 per location | No monthly fees listed |
| In person (card present) | 2.6% + 15¢ | 2.5% + 15¢ | 2.4% + 15¢ | 2.7% + 5¢ (Terminal) |
| Online | 3.3% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ |
| Card entered by hand | 3.5% + 15¢ | 3.5% + 15¢ | 3.5% + 15¢ | Online rate + 0.5% |
| International cards | Not listed in the table | Not listed | Not listed | +1.5% |
| ACH bank transfer | 1%, $1 min | 1%, $1 min, $10 cap | same as Plus | 0.8%, $5 cap |
| Dispute fee | Not on the pricing page | Not on the page | Not on the page | $15 per dispute |
| Contract | No locked-in contracts | Same | Same | No setup, monthly or hidden fees |
Stripe's page adds 1% when currency conversion is required and lists Tap to Pay at an extra $0.10 per authorization. Square's page adds Afterpay at 6% + 30¢ and says cash and check payments are free.
What Does the Hardware Cost?
Square says its hardware starts at $59 and that you can take payments with no hardware at all, through invoices, payment links, a virtual terminal or Tap to Pay on iPhone.
Stripe lists these readers: the M2 at $59, the S700 and S710 at $299 each and the T600 at $329. A cellular plan for enabled readers costs $10 per reader per month.
A reader is the easy part. The harder question is what runs on it. Square includes a POS app. Stripe's Terminal page describes tools to "build a custom checkout or integrate with hundreds of third-party POS systems". If nobody on your team writes code, you need a third-party POS on top of Stripe, and that product has its own price.
Does the In-Person Rate Difference Matter?
Square Free is 0.1 point cheaper by percentage and 10¢ dearer per transaction than Stripe Terminal. The two are equal at an average ticket of $100. Below that, Stripe is cheaper per sale. Above it, Square Free wins.
Here is the assumption based comparison. All sales are in-person card payments of $20,000 a month, and fees use the list rates above. Monthly subscriptions and hardware are not counted.
| Average ticket | Transactions | Square Free | Stripe Terminal |
|---|---|---|---|
| $10 | 2,000 | $820 | $640 |
| $25 | 800 | $640 | $580 |
| $100 | 200 | $550 | $550 |
| $200 | 100 | $535 | $545 |
For a coffee shop with small tickets, the 10¢ gap adds up. For a salon with a $100 or more average ticket, the rates are equal or slightly in Square's favour. With Square Plus at 2.5% + 15¢, the crossover drops to a $50 ticket, but you pay $49 a month for it.
Which Extra Fees Can Change the Total?
Both companies list charges outside the headline rate. On Square, a hand-keyed card or a card on file costs 3.5% + 15¢, gift card loads cost 2.5%, and EBT payments cost 1.8% + 5¢. On Stripe, a hand-keyed card adds 0.5%, an international card adds 1.5% and a dispute costs $15.
If you take many phone orders or store cards for repeat customers, the hand-keyed rate matters more than the in-person rate. Look at your last statement and count how many payments were keyed rather than tapped or inserted.
What Should a Small Shop Check Before Switching?
Moving processors is a project, so list what depends on your current one. Check which POS, booking or online shop is connected, whether saved customer cards can move over, and whether any gift cards or loyalty points live inside the old system.
Then run your last three monthly statements through both rate cards. Use your real mix of tapped, keyed and online payments, not the average. If the saving is a few dollars a month, the time cost of switching may outweigh it. If it is a few hundred, a trial on one reader is a cheap way to test.
Which Should You Pick?
- Want something working today, with no developer? Square. It includes a POS, hardware options and a plan that costs $0.
- Small tickets and a developer or an existing POS that supports Stripe? Compare Stripe Terminal's 5¢ transaction fee with Square's 15¢ on your own data.
- Mostly online sales? Stripe's online rate of 2.9% + 30¢ matches Square's paid-plan rate and beats Square Free by 0.4 points.
- Both online and in person? A single provider for both keeps reports in one place. Check that the numbers above hold on your real mix.
- Retail and ecommerce? See our Shopify vs Square Online comparison.
Payment data also feeds marketing. Card-level sales help you measure what an ad or a campaign paid back. See our local marketing budget guide for how to size spend against sales, and our email marketing for restaurants piece for using receipts data.
FAQ
Is Stripe cheaper than Square?
For in-person tickets under $100 on list rates, Stripe Terminal costs less per sale. For tickets above $100, Square Free is slightly cheaper. Online, Stripe equals Square's paid plans and is cheaper than Square Free.
Does Stripe have monthly fees?
Its pricing page says no setup fees, monthly fees or hidden fees for payments. Optional products such as cellular data for readers are extra.
Does Square charge for chargebacks?
Square's pricing page did not list a dispute fee in the section we read. Stripe lists $15 for each dispute received.
Can I use Stripe as a point of sale?
Stripe Terminal provides readers and tools to build a checkout or connect to a third-party POS. It is not a ready-made POS app like Square's.
Do I need a contract?
Square says no locked-in contracts. Stripe's page says pay-as-you-go pricing with no setup or monthly fees.
Sources
- Square: Pricing (opened 2026-10-24)
- Stripe: Pricing (opened 2026-10-24)
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Nataliia
Local marketing strategist with 10+ years at global agencies — OMD, Dentsu, GroupM, and BBDO. Now helping small businesses get the same data-driven edge. Based in Europe, working with clients in the US, UK, Australia, and beyond.
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