What Square Charges for Invoice Payments
Square's own pricing page spells out the card rate for invoice payments, the ACH bank transfer rate, and the free cash and check option. Here is what it says.
A customer gets an invoice by email, clicks a link, and pays with a card. Square's pricing page sets the cost of that payment, and it sets it by method. The same invoice can be paid by card, by bank transfer, or by cash or check, and each path has its own price. Here is what Square's page says about each one, plus what it says comes with invoicing itself.
What Square's page says an invoice payment costs
Square's pricing page says online fees apply to card payments made online or through an invoice. For those payments, its page says online and invoice card payments run from 3.3% + 30¢ to 2.9% + 30¢, depending on the plan.
For bank payments, Square's pricing page says ACH bank transfer via invoice applies to payments made on invoices with an ACH bank transfer. Its page says ACH bank transfers on invoices cost 1% with a $1 minimum. On a large invoice, that flat minimum is small change. On a small one, it can matter more than the percentage.
Cash and check are the third path. Square's pricing page says cash or check payments are free. If a client hands you a check and you mark the invoice paid, Square takes nothing on that payment.
How the plan changes the invoice card rate
That card rate is a range, not one number. Square's pricing page says processing fees vary based on the Square plan you choose. The monthly fee per location is $0, $49 or $149, and Square Plus and Square Premium charge it per location. With Square Free, its page says there are no monthly subscription costs. You only pay processing fees when you take a payment.
Which plan gets which end of that range is laid out on Square's own pricing page. Which wins depends on how many invoices you send and how big they are. Prices move, so read Square's page before you commit to a plan.
What Square's page says is included with invoicing
There is no fee just to send an invoice. Square's pricing page says you can send unlimited invoices with flexible payment options. Its page also says invoicing sends estimates, contracts, and invoices.
The features run long. Square's pricing page says you can request a deposit upfront and set a separate due date for the remaining balance. You can set up invoices that repeat daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly. You can set up automatic reminders. They go out before, on, or after the payment due date. You can send one invoice to many customers at once. You can also tie a single invoice to milestones, with a payment due at each step.
Estimates get their own treatment. Square's pricing page says you can provide clients detailed estimates and send them by email or text or share a link. One estimate can offer many options. When a client accepts one, it can turn into an invoice right away. You can require unsigned contracts to be signed before an invoice payment can be made.
On layout, Square's pricing page says you can tailor invoices with custom fields including terms, policies, and messages. You can create invoices from layout options and save multiple templates for future use. All your project files sit in one place. That includes invoices, estimates, contracts, and notes.
The extra fee for cards issued outside the United States
Square's pricing page says an additional fee applies to payments made on credit or debit cards issued outside of the United States. If your clients are spread across countries, check Square's page for how that fee applies.
Where invoice fees sit next to Square's other rates
For context, Square's pricing page says in-person card payments run from 2.6% + 15¢ to 2.4% + 15¢, depending on the plan. Its page says manual entry or card on file payments cost 3.5% + 15¢. Card payments through its payments APIs cost 2.9% + 30¢. So the invoice card rate sits between the in-person rate and the manual entry rate on Square's sheet.
We cover those rates in full on other pages. See Square's rates and fees for the whole sheet, Square POS fees for in-person sales, and Square's online store fees for web checkout. Refunds have their own page at Square refund fees. So do gift cards at Square gift card fees and Tap to Pay at Square Tap to Pay fees.
How other processors' pages price invoicing
Other companies post their own invoice pricing. Each page words it in its own way.
Stripe's pricing page says its Starter invoicing plan charges 0.4% per paid invoice. Stripe's page says its standard online rate is 2.9% + 30¢ per successful transaction for domestic cards. For bank payments, Stripe's page says ACH Direct Debit costs 0.8% with a $5.00 cap.
PayPal's fee page says an invoicing transaction happens when you send an invoice as a payment request. The customer then pays through that invoice. Its page says the standard rate for domestic invoicing transactions through PayPal Pay Later options is 4.99% plus a fixed fee. That fixed fee depends on the currency you receive. For international invoicing transactions, PayPal's page says the fee is the domestic fee plus an extra percentage fee. That extra fee is 1.50% for all payment types. PayPal's page also lists an Invoice Subscription Service at 14.99 USD per month. It says Pay by Bank through an invoicing transaction is charged 1% capped at $10.00 per transaction.
Authorize.net's pricing page says its Digital Invoicing sends professional invoices and collects payments without additional integration. Its monthly gateway fee is $25. Its page says that fee covers fraud protection, recurring billing, digital invoicing, customer data management, 24/7 support, and AI-powered reporting.
Each company prices invoicing its own way. Square charges per payment by method. Stripe's page lists a charge per paid invoice and, separately, its transaction rate. PayPal charges per invoicing transaction, plus a fixed fee that changes by currency. Authorize.net folds invoicing into a monthly fee. Read each page against your own invoice volume and ticket size.
What to weigh when choosing how to take invoice payments
Card, ACH, or check on an invoice each fit a different job. Cards carry the percentage-plus-fixed rate, ACH carries the 1% rate with a $1 minimum, and cash or check is free. Square's pricing page says ACH bank transfers let customers pay directly from their bank account with a secure invoice. Cash or check is free but waits on the mail and on someone writing it.
Plan choice matters too. Square's pricing page says processing fees vary based on the Square plan you choose, so compare each plan's rate against your own invoice volume. Run the numbers on your real invoices, not on a sample one.
There is also a scale threshold. Square's pricing page says businesses that process over $250,000 per year can talk to its team about custom pricing and processing fees. If you are past that line, the published rates may not be your rates.
For a side-by-side, see Square vs Stripe for small business. Stripe's card rates are covered at Stripe payment fees, and PayPal's at PayPal business account fees. To skip monthly fees, see credit card processing with no monthly fees.