Stripe vs Square comes down to where you sell: Stripe is built for online and developer-led payments, while Square is built around an in-person point of sale with online selling attached. As of October 2026, Stripe charges 2.9% + 30¢ per successful domestic online card payment, and Square charges 2.6% + 15¢ for in-person card payments on its free plan.
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Both companies are US payment processors that let a business accept cards without opening a separate merchant account. The differences show up in four places: the rate you pay per transaction, how quickly the money reaches your bank, what software comes bundled, and how much engineering work it takes to get running. This page compares the published US pricing for each, then maps the trade-offs to common business types. All figures below come from each company's public pricing pages, fetched on October 5, 2026.
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Stripe is a payments platform designed to be integrated into websites and apps through APIs, with in-person hardware as an add-on. Square is a point-of-sale system with card readers, registers and restaurant or retail software, plus online checkout. Stripe suits businesses with developers; Square suits businesses that want a ready-made counter setup.
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Stripe's product list runs from Payments and Checkout to Billing, Connect for marketplaces, Tax, Radar fraud tools and Terminal for card readers, each priced separately on the Stripe pricing page. Square sells a tiered software subscription (Square Free, Plus and Premium) that bundles the POS app, online store, staff tools and marketing, as listed on the Square pricing page.
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Ownership also differs. Stripe is a privately held company, covered in who owns Stripe. Square is part of Block, the publicly traded company that also runs Cash App, covered in who owns Cash App and Square.
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Stripe uses one flat online card rate with add-ons for international cards and currency conversion, and no monthly fee on standard pricing. Square ties its card rates to the software plan you pick, so paying a monthly subscription lowers the in-person rate. Online card rates are close; in-person rates favor Square on small tickets.
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The table below lists the published US rates. Each figure links to the page it came from.
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Two details are easy to miss. Square's online rate drops from 3.3% + 30¢ to 2.9% + 30¢ only on paid plans, per the Square pricing page, so an online-only seller on Square Free pays more per sale than on Stripe. Stripe's in-person rate carries a 5¢ fixed fee against Square's 15¢, according to Stripe, but Stripe also bills $10 per reader per month for cellular readers on the same page.
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Square also lists custom pricing for businesses processing more than $250,000 a year on its pricing page. Stripe offers interchange-plus and volume discounts through sales for large accounts, per Stripe.
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Square sends funds to a linked bank the next business day by default and charges a percentage for instant or same-day transfers. Stripe pays out on a rolling schedule after an initial waiting period for new accounts, with an instant payout option for a percentage fee. Square is generally faster for a new business.
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Square's support center says payments taken before 5 PM PT arrive the next business day, and that instant and same-day transfers cost 1.95% per transfer, per Square Support. New Square sellers start with one instant transfer per day of up to $2,000, according to the same Square Support article.
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Stripe typically schedules a new account's first payout 7 to 14 days after the first live payment, depending on industry, country and risk, per Stripe Docs. After that, standard payouts are free. Instant Payouts cost 1.5% of the payout volume with a 50¢ minimum, according to the Stripe pricing page.
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The better choice depends on the sales channel. A shop, café or salon that takes most payments at a counter usually gets more from Square's bundled POS. A software company, subscription business or marketplace usually gets more from Stripe's APIs and billing tools. Many businesses use both, one per channel.
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The decision map below pairs common business types with the processor whose published pricing and product set line up with that model. It is a starting point, not a verdict on either company.
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A quick way to decide:

Both companies have added digital-asset payment options. Stripe lists a stablecoin payment method that settles to fiat for the merchant. Square lists bitcoin payments at the point of sale and an option to convert a share of card sales into bitcoin. Neither replaces card processing as the default.
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Stripe prices stablecoin payments at 1.5% of the transaction amount in USD, including conversion to fiat and wallet screening, per the Stripe pricing page. Square lists in-person bitcoin QR payments at 0% until 2027 and bitcoin conversions at 1.0% on Free and Plus, per the Square pricing page. For businesses that hold or move stablecoins across several blockchains after a payment settles, orchestration layers such as Eco handle the cross-chain movement; the processor only handles acceptance.
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Each processor has real gaps. Stripe asks for more setup work and holds a new account's first payout for longer. Square's best rates sit behind a monthly subscription, and its online rate on the free plan is higher than Stripe's. Neither publishes interchange-plus pricing for small accounts.

For online card payments, Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ (Stripe) is lower than Square Free's 3.3% + 30¢ and equal to Square's paid plans (Square). For in-person payments, Square's rates start lower on the percentage side.
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Yes. Nothing in either company's standard pricing requires exclusivity, and many businesses run Square at the counter and Stripe for online subscriptions or invoices.
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Not for standard payments. Stripe states it charges no setup, monthly or closure fees on standard pricing, per the Stripe pricing page. Add-on products such as Billing subscriptions, Sigma and Terminal readers carry their own charges.
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Square charges 1.95% per instant or same-day transfer, with a $25 minimum balance for instant transfers, according to Square Support.
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Stripe is privately held; see who owns Stripe. Square is a Block business; see who owns Cash App and Square.
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All rates are US list prices for standard (non-negotiated) accounts, read directly from each company's pages on October 5, 2026. Processors change pricing often, so confirm current rates before signing up.