Square Up vs Stripe: What Each Pricing Page Says
One company built its sheet around the counter, the other around the website. Here is what each says it charges and includes, with no winner picked.
Two names come up in almost every small-business chat about card payments. A shop owner types "square up vs stripe" into a search box and gets a pile of opinions. What helps more is a plain look at what each company says about itself. Both publish pricing pages. Those pages say what each charges for, what each includes, and what kind of selling each was built for. Neither page picks a winner, and neither will this one. Your sales mix does the picking for you, once you can read both sheets side by side. Also weighing PayPal? Our look at a forty dollar sale at the counter shows how one tap prices out across more companies.
What Stripe and Square each are, in their own words
Stripe's pricing page describes an online payments platform engineered for growth. The company presents itself as a system you build into a website or an app. Its page lists pre-built UIs and libraries in every language from Ruby to Go.
Square's pricing page leads with its POS app, which it says can accept any payment. Square presents itself around the counter.
How each one charges for a card payment
Stripe's pricing page says Stripe charges a per-transaction fee depending on the payment method the end customer uses. That one line matters more than it looks. A card payment, a bank transfer, and an installment plan do not cost the same. The method your customer picks sets the fee you pay.
Square's pricing page says you can accept every major card, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover, all for the same processing fees. That is a different shape. One rate covers the big four cards, so a shop that takes a mix of them does not need to track which card cost what. Square's page also says an extra fee applies to credit or debit cards issued outside the United States.
Neither page can tell you which costs less for your sales, because your customers' payment methods decide that. A shop full of Amex tappers and a web store full of bank transfers get different answers from the same two sheets.
What each one says about refunds and extra fees
Refunds are where the two sheets differ in a way many owners miss.
Stripe's pricing page says businesses on standard pricing may face fees for refunds when bank transfers are used. For all other payment methods, the page says there are no fees for issuing refunds. Businesses on custom pricing may face refund fees depending on their fee schedule with Stripe.
Square's page does list two other edges. One is the extra fee on cards issued outside the United States. The other is a separate rate for online API payments. That rate applies to card payments made inside a web or mobile app using their payments APIs.
Square's site also lists plans and per-location pricing. Read the full page before you assume anything is free.
Getting paid: how each handles your money after a sale
This is the part that hits your bank account, and it is the part that varies most between platforms.
Square's pricing page says funds from Square's payment processing are generally available in the Square Checking account balance immediately after a payment is processed. Read that closely. The page names a Square Checking balance, not an outside bank account.
Stripe's pricing page states no deposit timeline. Authorize.net's page says the real difference between payment platforms is how fast money lands in your bank account. It also says your exact deposit timeline may vary depending on who the Merchant Service Provider is. So ask each company about deposit speed. Do not assume a number from a pricing page. If paying to skip the wait is on your mind, our piece on paying to be paid tonight covers what fast payouts cost elsewhere.
Taking payments in person: terminals, phones, and hardware
You do not need to purchase hardware to take payments with Square. Tap to Pay on iPhone and Tap to Pay on Android take payments with just your phone. If you do want a reader, the page says tap, dip, or swipe works. It accepts cards and digital wallets.
Square's page also lists payment types a counter rarely thinks about until a customer asks. Cash App Pay lets customers pay by scanning a QR code. EBT covers in-person payments made with an EBT card for SNAP-eligible items. That matters if you sell groceries. You can also take cash, checks, and Square Gift Cards.
Taking payments online: checkout, APIs, and no-code options
Stripe's pricing page says you can embed a prebuilt payments form into your website or direct customers to a Stripe-hosted page. If you do not want to touch code at all, the page says you can accept payments in minutes by generating no-code links. For developers, its libraries run in every language from Ruby to Go. You can also use UI building blocks to build a secure checkout that matches your site.
The page also lists what you can accept online. That includes credit and debit cards, prepaid cards, and digital wallets. It also includes bank debits, bank transfers, and other local payment methods. It says over 100 payment methods can bring in more customers. Charges and prices can be handled in 135+ currencies. Cardholder support covers 195+ countries.
Square's page covers online selling too, through its Online API rate mentioned above. Stripe's page lists Link, its accelerated checkout, and selective retries powered by machine learning that it says increase revenue.
Both companies offer buy-now-pay-later, in their own forms. Stripe's page says you can let customers buy something and pay for it in installments over time. Square's page says Afterpay lets customers pay in four interest-free installments over six weeks. You get paid right away.
Which setup fits which kind of small business
Match the sheet to how you actually sell.
A retail shop, a food stand, a market booth, or a salon sells in person. Square's page lists these for in-person selling. You need no hardware. Your phone can be the reader. Every major card costs the same fee. Cash, checks, and gift cards sit in the same app.
A web store, a subscription service, or a software product sells online. Stripe's page lists these for online selling. With no developer, you get prebuilt forms or no-code links. With a developer, you get full APIs and libraries. A long list of payment methods and currencies serves customers anywhere.
A business that does both, like a shop with an online store, will find both sheets useful and neither complete. That owner reads both pages, lists what each charges for the sales they actually make, and compares the totals on their own numbers.
What to verify on each company's pricing page before signing up
Published prices change, and both companies update their pages. Before committing to either company, pull up both pricing pages and look at four items.
First, the per-transaction fee for the payment methods your customers actually use, not the headline rate. Second, any refund fee, which Stripe's page says can apply to bank transfers on standard pricing. Third, the full fee schedule for anything you sell outside the United States. Square's page says an extra fee applies to foreign-issued cards. Stripe's page prices by method and currency. Fourth, the deposit timeline to your bank, which neither sheet states plainly and which you should ask each company directly.
Print or save both pages on the day you sign. What you read there, not what any article says, is the deal you are agreeing to.