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Home › Software Index › Square
Square logo
POS Systems

Square pricing

Square pricing: Square Free $0/mo (2.6% + 15¢ in person); Plus $49/location/mo. Free plan: yes — Square Free, $0/mo; you pay processing fees. Each figure links to the comparison it was verified in.

Last verified September 19, 2026 Official site ↗Vendor pricing ↗ Methodology Get this as JSON
Compare Square vs Clover →
Entry price
Square Free $0/mo (2.6% + 15¢ in person); Plus $49/location/moPer location per month (Square Plus, $49); Square Free is $0 per locationVerified in square-vs-clover
Free plan
Free planYes — Square Free, $0/mo; you pay processing fees
On HelpCompare
4 comparisons ↓8 migration guides ↓
Bill Belcamino
Bottom line up frontby Bill Belcamino, founder of HelpCompare
Editorial assessment

Bottom line up front: Is Square's free plan enough to run a small shop?

Often, yes: Square Free is $0/mo with no locked-in contracts, you pay 2.6% + 15¢ per in-person sale, and a Reader costs $59.

Plus at $49/location/mo lowers in-person to 2.5% + 15¢ and online from 3.3% + 30¢ to 2.9% + 30¢, but the difference I'd weigh first is support. On Free, phone support covers only the first 90 days, Plus gets 6am to 6pm PT on weekdays, and only Premium includes 24/7 phone support. Hardware and connections have a way of failing on a busy Saturday, outside those hours. So build your own fallback: leave offline payments on and get them uploaded within 24 hours (they expire after 72), keep a spare reader charged, and know how you'll take cash if a device dies. That plan is worth more than the rate difference until your volume says otherwise.

My read of the verified data on this page, checked against vendor sources on September 19, 2026. Disagree or spot an error? Tell Bill

Square pricing

Everything we have verified about Square

Every row was recorded on a HelpCompare comparison page. The Source column links to the page it was verified on and the date it was last checked.

AttributeValueSource & date
Entry price Square Free $0/mo (2.6% + 15¢ in person); Plus $49/location/mo square-vs-clover
Free plan Yes — Square Free, $0/mo; you pay processing fees square-vs-clover
In-person rate 2.6% + 15¢ (Free), 2.5% + 15¢ (Plus), 2.4% + 15¢ (Premium) square-vs-clover
Online / keyed-in Online 3.3% + 30¢ (Free), 2.9% + 30¢ (Plus, Premium); keyed 3.5% + 15¢ square-vs-clover
Hardware Reader $59; Stand $149; Terminal $299; Handheld $399; Register $899 square-vs-clover
Contract No locked-in contracts square-vs-clover
Verified data

Square security, offline access & remote work

Compliance reports, sign-in controls, offline access and the setup details that matter for remote, hybrid and in-office teams. Each value links to the vendor page it came from. Square’s own security documentation: squareup.com. Scope: Square Point of Sale (US) and Square hardware.

Security & compliance

SOC 2 report
Not published
ISO/IEC 27001
Certifiedsource
Other certifications
PCI DSS Level 1source
HIPAA (BAA)
Not published
GDPR data processing agreement
Not published
Single sign-on (SAML/OIDC)
Not published
SCIM user provisioning
Not published
Two-factor authentication
Yessource
Admin audit log
Not published
Data residency choices
Not published
Encryption
Card-present payments encrypted end to end; no unencrypted payment data touches the devicesource
Self-hosting option
Not published

Offline access

Offline mode
PartialSquare POS apps on supported Square hardware can take cash and card payments offline; payments are stored in the app and process automatically on reconnection (ideally within 24 hours, expiring after 72 hours), while online orders, gift cards, Tap to Pay and manual card entry are unavailable offline.source
Desktop apps
Not published
Mobile apps
iOS, Androidsource
Offline limits
Upload within 24 hours, no later than 72 hours; not supported on Square Reader 1st gen v1/v2, Kiosk, Tap to Pay, manually entered cards, gift cards, Afterpay, Cash App Pay, Invoices app or services mode.source

Remote, hybrid & in-office

IP allowlisting
Not published
Device & session controls
YesRemote device management: device profiles and codes, printer profiles, monitoring from off-site.source
Office & room hardware
Square sells its own POS hardware: Reader for contactless and chip ($59), Terminal ($299), Handheld ($399), Stand ($149), Kiosk ($149) and Register ($899).source

Square: worth knowing

  • OfflineOffline payments not uploaded within 72 hours expire; Square recommends reconnecting within 24 hours. source
  • OfficeOffline payments will be enabled on all devices automatically unless the seller opts out (change rolled out March–April 2026). source
  • RemotePhone support is 6am–6pm PT on weekdays for Square Plus (first 90 days only on Square Free); only Square Premium includes 24/7 phone support. source
  • SecuritySquare is the merchant of record and maintains PCI certification, so sellers do not validate PCI compliance individually. source
Square vs Clover: security & offlineSquare vs Shopify POS: security & offlineSquare vs Stripe: security & offlineSquare vs PayPal: security & offlineSecurity databaseOffline databaseRemote vs office guide

Checked September 19, 2026 against each vendor’s own trust center, help docs and app pages. Hover or tap “source” to see the exact wording we relied on. “Not published” means we could not find the vendor saying it on its own site; it doesn’t mean the feature is missing. Plan names are the lowest plan the vendor says includes the feature. Security · Offline · Remote vs office · Download the data

Square in context

How Square connects to the rest of the software we track — head-to-head research, switching paths, and the closest alternatives in its category.

Switching away from Square

What transfers, what you rebuild by hand, and what to budget.

Switching to Square

Moving in from another platform.

Alternatives in POS Systems

Other tools we track in the same category, with their entry price.

Where this data comes from

HelpCompare records pricing and feature data from vendor pricing pages and documentation at the time each comparison is researched, then re-checks it on a published schedule. This entity page is generated from those records — it does not introduce any figure that has not already been verified on a comparison page.

  • Vendor pricing and documentation — squareup.com, checked September 19, 2026.
  • HelpCompare research — 4 comparison pages listed above, each with its own verification date.
  • G2 — aggregate rating and review count (none recorded for this tool). Review counts change daily; treat them as a snapshot.
  • Machine-readable copy — /data/tools.json, /data/tools.csv, and the open data hub.
Prices change often and vendors do not always announce it. Every figure here carries the date it was last checked — confirm current pricing with the vendor before you buy. If you find something out of date, the comparison page it came from is linked in the table above.
Start with the job

Guides for the jobs this software does

Plain-language guides: the steps, what to check before you buy, common mistakes, and every tool it takes with verified prices.

Take card paymentsAccept payments onlineSell onlineSell in person with a POSSend invoices and get paidPay bills and vendors on timeLet clients book appointments onlineTrack inventoryAll 50 job guides
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01 · CompareWhich tool fits your team, side by side.133 comparisons 02 · Price & approveSourced, dated pricing and a one-page brief for sign-off.Decision brief 03 · SwitchWhat moves, what you rebuild, what it costs.264 guides 04 · ShareDownload and cite the data. CC BY 4.0.Open data
Bill Belcamino, founder of HelpCompare
About the author

Bill Belcamino

Founder and author, HelpCompare

Engineer by training, operator by experience, marketer by choice. Bill spent eight and a half years as an engineer at HP, was COO of Auctiva (the number one third-party selling platform on eBay, past 200,000 users) and ran Google’s $70M/year search syndication partnership at Alot.com. Then he spent 13 years building his own web properties with his own money at stake. He has bought, trialled, integrated and cancelled more SaaS tools than he can count, and started HelpCompare because the real cost of switching tools is the part nobody covers.

“I’ve sat on both sides of the table: the agency recommending the tool and the client paying for it.”

Researched and fact-checked by the HelpCompare team. No paid sponsorships, no affiliate commissions.

Read Bill’s story How we verify pricingSpot an error? Tell Bill