Stripe vs Square pricing
Both are in payments apis. Stripe is billed per transaction (2.9% + $0.30); Square is billed per transaction (2.6% + $0.15 in-person). Numbers below are copied from each vendor's pricing page.
StripeFree tier or trial
- Free tier
- Unlimited test-mode sandbox (no CC); pay-per-transaction live
- Billed
- Per transaction (2.9% + $0.30)
- Best for
- Developer-first payments platform
- Verified
- Jun 27, 2026
SquareFree tier or trial
- Free tier
- Free APIs/SDKs + sandbox; sellers pay per transaction
- Billed
- Per transaction (2.6% + $0.15 in-person)
- Best for
- Omnichannel (online + in-person) payments
- Verified
- Jun 27, 2026
Stripe plans
| Plan | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (pay-as-you-go, US online) | 2.9% + 30¢ | Per successful online card charge; no setup or monthly fees. |
| In-person (Terminal, US) | 2.7% + 5¢ | Per successful in-person card payment. |
| Manually-keyed cards (US) | 3.4% + 30¢ | Per successful keyed-in card transaction. |
| ACH direct debit (US) | 0.8% (capped at $5) | Per ACH payment; disputes billed at $15 each. |
| Billing (subscriptions) | 0.7% of billing volume | Pay-as-you-go add-on; Tax add-on is 0.5% per transaction. |
| Custom / Enterprise | Contact sales | Interchange-plus (IC+) pricing, volume discounts, and multi-product discounts for large businesses. |
- Flat 2.9% + 30¢ rate is expensive for low-ticket and high-volume merchants vs. negotiated interchange-plus
- Costs stack quickly: +1.5% international cards, +1% currency conversion, $15 disputes, plus add-on product fees (Billing 0.7%, Tax 0.5%)
- Support is slow and generic for businesses without a dedicated account team, especially on chargebacks
Source: https://stripe.com/pricing
Square plans
| Plan | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Square Free | $0/mo | 2.6% + 15¢ in-person, 3.3% + 30¢ online/invoices, 3.5% + 15¢ keyed/card-on-file; no monthly fee |
| Square Plus | $49/mo | Lower in-person rate 2.5% + 15¢ and online 2.9% + 30¢, plus advanced POS features |
| Square Premium | $149/mo | Lowest in-person rate 2.4% + 15¢, online 2.9% + 30¢, advanced features |
| Online API | 2.9% + 30¢ | Flat rate for web/mobile app payments via the Payments API, all tiers |
| ACH via API | 1%, $1 min, $5 cap | Bank transfer payments processed through the API |
| Custom / Enterprise | Custom | Negotiated rates for businesses processing over $250,000 annually |
- Flat-rate pricing becomes expensive at high volume versus interchange-plus processors
- Online free-tier rate rose to 3.3% + 30¢ in October 2025
- Keyed/card-on-file transactions are costly at 3.5% + 15¢