Payment processors, not business software. You need both payments AND operations.
$0/mo
Businesses who want simple POS hardware + payments
pricing on request
Businesses who want developer-friendly payment APIs
Square ($0/mo) and Stripe (pricing on request) are both established tools with real user bases, and for most people the honest answer is that either will do the job — the difference shows up in fit, not quality. At least one of these does not publish a price, so we cannot put a three-year total against it without inventing one — and we will not. Read the section below on which one suits your work; the cost table further down shows where the bill actually differs.
| Feature | Square | Stripe |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $0–$149/mo (typically $0) | 2.9% + $0.30 online, 2.7% + $0.05 in person (no monthly fee) |
| Hardware | Readers, terminals, registers | Limited hardware options |
| Operations | Square Appointments, Invoices (extra cost) | None — payments only |
If you are choosing between these two, this is the part that matters. Both are established products and neither is a mistake — the question is which fits how you actually work. We have left ourselves out of this section entirely.
Headline prices rarely survive contact with a real invoice. These are the parts of the bill that move: where the ladder starts and ends, what an extra seat adds, and what comes off the top of money you take through the tool. A dash means we do not have that figure recorded — not that the fee is zero.
| Square | Stripe | |
|---|---|---|
| How it is priced | Monthly subscription | Per transaction — no monthly fee |
| Entry price | $0/mo | — |
| Top published tier | $149/mo | — |
| Plan people typically land on | $0/mo | — |
| Per extra user | $0: no per-user fee; plans are priced per location (Plus $49, Premium $149 per location) | — |
| Payment processing | Free: 2.6% + 15¢ in person, 3.3% + 30¢ online/invoices, 3.5% + 15¢ keyed/card on file. Plus: 2.5% + 15¢ in person, 2.9% + 30¢ online/invoices. Premium: 2.4% + 15¢ in person, 2.9% + 30¢ online/invoices. International cards +1.5% | 2.9% + $0.30 online, 2.7% + $0.05 in person |
| Free tier | Yes, but reduced over time | Yes |
| Three-year total | $0 | — |
| Five-year total, with increases | $0 | — |
Square Free ($0) — includes invoicing, online booking with unlimited staff calendars, deposits and automated reminders, which covers a solo or small service business; Plus ($49) adds cancellation/no-show fees, confirmations, Google Calendar sync and lower card rates
NOT A SUBSCRIPTION: no monthly or setup fee on standard pricing — you pay per transaction. Extras add up though: manual card entry +0.5%, international cards +1.5%, currency conversion +1%. Stripe Billing starts at $620/mo on an annual contract or 0.7% pay-as-you-go, and Invoicing is 0.4% per paid invoice.
Pricing checked . Vendors change prices without notice — check the vendor before deciding.
Both of these are real products that a lot of businesses run on happily. If a comparison page only tells you what is wrong with the tools it is comparing, it is selling you something. Here is the honest case for each.
Only one of these publishes a price, so people comparing them are usually trying to work out what the quoted one will actually cost before committing to a sales process. Recurring pricing compounds, so the multi-year figure is the one that decides it.
Whether Square or Stripe is right for you comes down to the work you actually do rather than the sticker price. The sections above set out where each one is strong, what each really costs, and what operators report about both.
Pricing verified March 2026.