Consider Stripe when…
Shortlist Stripe when most sales happen online, developers will build the checkout, and you need subscriptions, marketplaces, or a merchant of record option.
Explore Stripe alternativesFIND YOUR FIT
Stripe vs Square
Stripe vs Square: compare a developer-first payments platform with a point-of-sale system that also sells online, by fee model and plans.
The decision in brief
Both take card payments online and in person, but they start from different places. Stripe is built around APIs and prebuilt checkout for online businesses, with pay-as-you-go pricing and no monthly fee. Square is built around point of sale and card readers, with a free plan and paid per-location plans that lower processing fees.
A focused editorial selection based on the linked official documentation. Fit notes are our judgment, rather than firsthand benchmark results or a universal ranking. How we select and verify information.
Compare the working details
| Decision factor | Stripe | Square |
|---|---|---|
| Main focus | Online payments that developers integrate through APIs or prebuilt checkout pages, with subscriptions, invoicing, and in-person payments as further products. | Businesses that sell in person and online and want one system for both, from a single location to several. |
| Working setup | Create an account, start with a no-code Payment Link or the prebuilt Checkout page, or build a custom flow with Elements, then add Billing for subscriptions. | Sign up for the free plan, take payments with a reader or a payment link, then use the Web Payments SDK or Checkout API if you need a custom online flow. |
| Pricing model | Standard pricing is pay-as-you-go per successful transaction, with rates that vary by card type and country and no setup or monthly fees. Billing, Tax, and Managed Payments are priced separately; Managed Payments adds a per-transaction charge on top of payment fees. Large-volume businesses can ask for custom pricing. | Square Free has no monthly fee; Square Plus and Square Premium add a monthly fee for each location and lower processing fees. Processing fees apply to each transaction and vary by payment method; businesses processing large volumes can ask about custom pricing. |
| What to verify | On standard Stripe you remain the seller, so you handle sales tax and VAT registration and filing yourself unless you use Managed Payments; check whether your products and integration are eligible for it. | The pricing page shown here is for the US; check Square's availability, plans, and processing fees in your own country, and which features need Plus or Premium. |
Which belongs on your shortlist?
Consider Square when…
Shortlist Square when you sell at a counter or on the move as well as online, and want point of sale, hardware, and payment links in one account.
Run the same evaluation in both
- Build the same checkout in each sandbox: one product, one subscription, and one payment link.
- Run a test payment, a refund, and a failed card, and note what each dashboard and webhook shows.
- Price a typical month for your mix of in-person and online sales under each provider's current fees and plans.
Try the same task before you choose
Take one subscription payment end to end
Use test or sandbox mode only, and only the test card numbers each provider publishes in its own documentation; never a real card or bank account. A fictional SaaS, Tallyboard, sells a monthly plan and a discounted annual plan. Test customers are a consumer in Germany, a VAT-registered business in France, and a business in the United States. One renewal should fail and one customer should ask for a refund.
Every check starts as Not run. Record your own observations; these are evaluation criteria, rather than completed product tests. Your worksheet stays in this page and can be downloaded.
| Task and expected observation | Stripe | Square |
|---|---|---|
| Create the monthly and annual plans Both prices exist in the sandbox and appear correctly on a hosted or embedded checkout. | ||
| Check out as each of the three test customers Record how tax is shown for each, whether the French business can enter a VAT number, and who the receipt names as the seller. | ||
| Receive the payment event A test webhook or event log shows the completed payment, and you can match it to the right customer and plan. | ||
| Simulate a failed renewal Record the retry schedule, the email the customer receives, and when the subscription is marked unpaid or cancelled. | ||
| Refund the annual plan in full The refund appears in the dashboard and event log, and you can see whether any fee is returned. | ||
| Export customers and subscriptions Record what can be exported and whether saved payment details can move to another provider. | ||
| Estimate fees for a typical month Using the current pricing page, estimate fees for a clearly labelled fictional volume, including international cards and one dispute. |
0 of 14 checks have an observation. An observation does not imply a passed test.
Sources and check dates
Provider documentation supports the product and billing descriptions. Confirm current limits and terms before choosing a plan.
ShowMeYourSaaS also offers commercial product coverage. These guides follow our editorial selection criteria; placement is not a purchased ranking. Send a correction with the page and a supporting source.