Square vs Lightspeed
Last updated: September 7, 2026
Square
A
Square offers simple, transparent payment processing ideal for small businesses. Flat-rate pricing, no monthly fees, and excellent software make it a top choice — but account holds and limited support are key concerns.
Lightspeed
B+
Lightspeed Commerce is a global cloud-based POS and commerce platform that provides retail, restaurant, and ecommerce businesses with integrated payments, inventory management, analytics, and omnichannel selling tools.
VS
Overview
Square publishes every price it charges and asks for no commitment; Lightspeed publishes its software plans but quotes card-not-present rates and hardware privately, and its service agreement bills out the rest of your term if you leave early. Lightspeed buys you materially deeper inventory and purchasing tools, and 24/7 support on every plan. For most single-site and small multi-site merchants Square is the safer, cheaper choice; the case for Lightspeed is a stock-heavy retail operation that needs purchase orders, landed costs and supplier catalogues.
Key Takeaways
- ✓Square is far cheaper to start: $0/month software against Lightspeed's $89/month retail Basic and $69/month restaurant Starter.
- ✓Lightspeed's card-present rate is 5c cheaper per sale — 2.6% + 10c against Square's 2.6% + 15c on the free plan.
- ✓Square has no contract and charges nothing to leave; Lightspeed's agreement charges the remaining fees for your current term as an early termination fee.
- ✓Square pays out next business day and charges $0 for chargebacks; Lightspeed takes up to 2 business days and charges $15.
- ✓Lightspeed wins on inventory — purchase orders, landed costs and wholesale catalogues Square does not match — and gives 24/7 phone support on every plan.
Square
Square suits merchants who want published prices, no commitment and next-day money: cafes, salons, service businesses, single-site restaurants and small retailers.
Lightspeed
Lightspeed suits established retailers and multi-location operators whose buying, stock control and supplier workflow justify a per-register software fee and a term contract.
Overall Winner
🏆 Winner
Square
Aexpert grade
Runner-up
Lightspeed
Why?
Square wins on the things a merchant can check before signing: every price is published, there is no term, no early termination fee and no chargeback fee, and the money lands the next business day. Lightspeed beats it in three specific places — a 5c cheaper card-present item fee, 24/7 support on every plan, and inventory tooling Square does not try to match — but it asks you to accept an unpublished card-not-present rate, unpublished hardware prices and a contract whose exit cost is the remainder of a term you cannot see on the website. That trade is worth making for a stock-heavy retailer and hard to justify for anyone else.
Feature by feature
Detailed Comparison
Filter Options
Pricing and rates
| Feature | Square | Lightspeed |
|---|---|---|
| Entry software cost | $0/month (Square Free), per location Winner | $89/month retail Basic; $69/month restaurant Starter, per register |
| Square prices per location and includes its point-of-sale app free. Lightspeed's entry plans include one register; extra registers and extra locations are quoted by sales. | ||
| Top published plan | $149/month per location (Square Premium) Winner | $289/month retail Plus; $399/month restaurant Premium |
| Price, not parity: Lightspeed's top tiers add capabilities its cheaper plans withhold — workflows, custom user roles, single sign-on, forecasting — while Square's paid tiers mainly buy a lower card-present rate and, on Premium, 24/7 support. Compare what each tier unlocks, not just the monthly figure. | ||
| Card-present rate (entry plan) | 2.6% + 15c | 2.6% + 10c Winner |
| Identical percentages; Lightspeed's per-item fee is 5c lower, worth about $5 for every 100 sales. Square's rate falls to 2.5% + 15c on Plus and 2.4% + 15c on Premium, at which point Square is cheaper on the percentage. | ||
| Card-not-present rate | 3.3% + 30c on Square Free; 2.9% + 30c on Plus and Premium | Not published — quoted by sales |
| Lightspeed publishes only its card-present rate. A merchant with meaningful online or over-the-phone volume cannot cost Lightspeed out without a quote. | ||
| Keyed or card-on-file rate | 3.5% + 15c on every plan | Not published |
| Chargeback fee | $0 Winner | $15 |
| Square lists chargeback and dispute management among the things it charges nothing for; Lightspeed states a flat $15 per chargeback. | ||
Entry software cost
Square
$0/month (Square Free), per location
Winner
Lightspeed
$89/month retail Basic; $69/month restaurant Starter, per register
Square prices per location and includes its point-of-sale app free. Lightspeed's entry plans include one register; extra registers and extra locations are quoted by sales.
Top published plan
Square
$149/month per location (Square Premium)
Winner
Lightspeed
$289/month retail Plus; $399/month restaurant Premium
Price, not parity: Lightspeed's top tiers add capabilities its cheaper plans withhold — workflows, custom user roles, single sign-on, forecasting — while Square's paid tiers mainly buy a lower card-present rate and, on Premium, 24/7 support. Compare what each tier unlocks, not just the monthly figure.
Card-present rate (entry plan)
Square
2.6% + 15c
Lightspeed
2.6% + 10c
Winner
Identical percentages; Lightspeed's per-item fee is 5c lower, worth about $5 for every 100 sales. Square's rate falls to 2.5% + 15c on Plus and 2.4% + 15c on Premium, at which point Square is cheaper on the percentage.
Card-not-present rate
Square
3.3% + 30c on Square Free; 2.9% + 30c on Plus and Premium
Lightspeed
Not published — quoted by sales
Lightspeed publishes only its card-present rate. A merchant with meaningful online or over-the-phone volume cannot cost Lightspeed out without a quote.
Keyed or card-on-file rate
Square
3.5% + 15c on every plan
Lightspeed
Not published
Chargeback fee
Square
$0
Winner
Lightspeed
$15
Square lists chargeback and dispute management among the things it charges nothing for; Lightspeed states a flat $15 per chargeback.
Best For Your Business
Recommendations based on your business type
Single-location cafe, salon or service business starting out
Recommended
Square
Square costs $0/month, publishes every rate, and needs no commitment — the cheapest way to find out what your volume actually is before paying for software.
Multi-store apparel, bike or specialty retailer with deep stock
Recommended
Lightspeed
Purchase-order sync, landed costs and supplier catalogues are the reason to pay $149-$289/month per register, and Square has no equivalent.
Restaurant that wants a cost it can model before signing
Recommended
Square
Square publishes card-present, online, keyed and hardware prices; Lightspeed publishes its restaurant plan fees but quotes card-not-present rates and hardware privately.
Operator who needs phone support at 2am on a low-cost plan
Recommended
Lightspeed
Lightspeed lists 24/7 chat and phone on every retail plan. Square's phone and chat run 6am to 6pm PT on weekdays unless you pay $149/month for Premium.
Business unwilling to sign a term contract
Recommended
Square
Square is month-to-month with a $0 early termination fee; Lightspeed's agreement bills the rest of the current term when a customer leaves early.
Square: Best for 3 use cases
Lightspeed: Best for 2 use cases
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this comparison
For most small merchants, Square. Its software is free where Lightspeed's retail entry plan is $89/month and its restaurant entry plan $69/month, and Square prices per location while Lightspeed prices per register. Lightspeed claws some of that back on rates: its card-present rate is 2.6% + 10c against Square's 2.6% + 15c on the free plan. On a store taking 3,000 card payments a month, Lightspeed's rate saves about $150 and its software costs $89 more, so the two are close — but Square's paid plans cut the percentage to 2.5% or 2.4%, and Lightspeed does not publish its card-not-present rate at all.
Yes. Section 13.5 of the Lightspeed Service Agreement says a customer who terminates before the end of the current term is charged the sum of any unpaid one-off fees, every recurring fee that would have become due for the rest of that term, and the difference between list price and any discount received on software or hardware. Lightspeed does not publish the term length itself — it is set in your order form — so the size of the fee is not knowable from the website. The agreement also auto-renews for a period equal to the initial term unless you give written notice, 90 days ahead where the term is longer than 90 days.
Square transfers next business day as standard for payments taken before 5pm PT, and offers instant transfers 24/7 for 1.95% per transfer. Lightspeed says money typically lands within 2 business days, with instant and same-day payouts available that usually arrive within 30 minutes, including weekends; it does not publish what those cost.
Lightspeed, clearly, if your stock is complex. Its retail plans include purchase-order sync, Lightspeed Wholesale and NuORDER supplier catalogues, landed costs, and forecasting and order recommendations on higher tiers. Square handles items, categories, modifiers and stock counts well but does not do landed costs or supplier catalogues, which is the usual reason a growing retailer migrates.
No. Square lists chargebacks and dispute management among the things it charges nothing for, alongside activation, PCI compliance support, account inactivity and early termination. Lightspeed charges a flat $15 per chargeback.
Lightspeed Commerce USA is not BBB-accredited, and the BBB gives it an F citing a failure to respond to four complaints and five complaints left unresolved. The letter grade measures how a company handles complaints filed through the BBB, not the quality of its product, and it does not incorporate customer star ratings. Square, by contrast, is BBB-accredited with an A+ — while carrying a 1.05/5 customer review average from 414 reviewers, mostly about account holds. Both signals are worth reading; neither alone should decide the purchase.
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