Square vs Stripe Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
| Square pricing | Stripe pricing | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | $49/mo | Custom |
| Number of plans | 3 | 2 |
| Free plan | — | |
| Free trial | — | |
| Pricing model | flat-rate | usage-based |
Price is one row. To weigh the features too, use our feature comparison template →
Square Free
- POS app for any payment
- Online site
- Item library
- Invoicing
- Booking
- Checking and savings accounts
Square Plus
Popular- Advanced POS features for every industry
- Lower processing fees
- Loyalty rewards program
- Email and text message marketing
- Staff management
Square Premium
- 24/7 priority support
- Advanced reporting
- Lowest processing fees
- More text message marketing
- No gift card load fees
Standard
Custom
Popular- IC+ pricing
- Volume discounts
- Multi-product discounts
- Country-specific rates
Square vs Stripe FAQ
- Which one is cheaper?
- One or both use custom pricing, so it depends on your specific needs.
- Can I use either one for free?
- Square has a free plan. Stripe doesn't — you'll need to pay from day one.
- How do they charge?
- Different approach here. Square uses flat-rate pricing, while Stripe goes with usage-based. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
- Which one is a better deal?
- Depends on what you need. Square: Square sits in the middle of the POS pack — pricier than bare-bones processors like Stripe for pure payments, but cheaper and more self-serve than enterprise retail systems like Lightspeed or Shopify POS Plus. They're chasing brick-and-mortar and hybrid retailers who want hardware, software, and payments bundled without a sales call. Stripe: Stripe sits at the premium end of payment processors on a per-transaction basis, but wins on developer experience and breadth of tooling rather than being the cheapest swipe fee around. They're chasing technical teams and scaling startups who'll pay a bit more for reliable APIs and fewer integration headaches than legacy processors like Braintree or Authorize.net.
Still deciding? See the best Square alternatives or the best Stripe alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.
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