Square vs Shopify Payments
Last updated: September 3, 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.
Shopify Payments
A-
Shopify Payments is Shopify’s own branded payments service — processed by Stripe, per Shopify’s published processor list — giving merchants one-click access to accepting cards and wallets inside Shopify, simplifying setup and eliminating third-party gateway fees for supported merchants.
VS
Overview
Square and Shopify Payments come at the same merchant from opposite ends. Square is a processor that grew a store around itself: nothing to pay until you take a payment, money in your account the next business day, no dispute fee, and no contract. Shopify is a storefront that grew a processor inside it: you pay a monthly plan before you sell anything, but the online rate at the entry tier is lower, it falls further as you move up, and you can bolt on a different gateway if you need one. The decision is mostly about where your sales actually happen.
Key Takeaways
- ✓Square is cheaper to start: $0/month against Shopify's $39/month Basic plan.
- ✓Shopify is cheaper online at the entry tier: 2.9% + 30c against Square's 3.3% + 30c.
- ✓Square pays out next business day; Shopify's US minimum settlement time is 3 business days.
- ✓Square charges no dispute fee; Shopify charges $15, refunded only if you win.
- ✓Shopify lets you use another gateway for a 0.2%-2% surcharge; Square allows no third-party processor at all.
Square
Square suits businesses whose revenue is mostly in-person or small enough that a monthly plan fee stings - cafes, salons, market stalls, service businesses and anyone testing an idea without a budget.
Shopify Payments
Shopify Payments suits online-first brands with enough volume that the plan fee disappears into the rate saving, and any merchant who needs a real storefront, an app ecosystem or the option of a different processor.
The Verdict
It Depends on Your Needs
Why?
Square wins the rows that decide it for a small or in-person business: nothing to pay before your first sale, money the next business day, no dispute fee and no contract to leave. Shopify wins the rows that decide it for an online-first brand: a lower online rate at the entry tier that keeps falling as you scale, no minimum payout, and the freedom to run a different processor for a surcharge rather than not at all. The break-even is roughly where the rate saving on your online volume covers the plan fee - below it Square is cheaper, above it Shopify is, and neither is a wrong answer at the wrong end of that line.
Feature by feature
Detailed Comparison
Filter Options
Pricing
| Feature | Square | Shopify Payments |
|---|---|---|
| Entry software cost | $0/month (Free plan) Winner | $39/month (Basic, billed monthly) |
| Square's pricing page lists Free at $0, Plus at $49 and Premium at $149, each per location, plus a custom-priced Square Pro tier for merchants processing over $250,000 a year. Shopify's plans fall to $29, $79 and $299 a month on annual billing; Grow is $105 and Advanced $399 billed monthly, and Plus starts at $2,300 a month on a three-year term. | ||
| Online card rate, entry tier | 3.3% + $0.30 | 2.9% + $0.30 Winner |
| Both fall with the plan. Square's online rate drops to 2.9% + $0.30 on Plus and Premium; Shopify's drops to 2.7% + $0.30 on Grow and 2.5% + $0.30 on Advanced. Square's Payments API is 2.9% + $0.30 on every tier. | ||
| In-person card rate, entry tier | 2.6% + $0.15 | 2.6% + $0.10 Winner |
| The five-cent gap is only part of the picture: Shopify's full retail POS features need the POS Pro add-on at $89/month for each POS Pro location, on top of the plan. Square's in-person rate falls to 2.5% + $0.15 on Plus and 2.4% + $0.15 on Premium. | ||
| Manually keyed / card on file | 3.5% + $0.15 | Not published |
| Square publishes the keyed rate on its fee page for every tier. Shopify's pricing page lists online and in-person rates only. | ||
Entry software cost
Square
$0/month (Free plan)
Winner
Shopify Payments
$39/month (Basic, billed monthly)
Square's pricing page lists Free at $0, Plus at $49 and Premium at $149, each per location, plus a custom-priced Square Pro tier for merchants processing over $250,000 a year. Shopify's plans fall to $29, $79 and $299 a month on annual billing; Grow is $105 and Advanced $399 billed monthly, and Plus starts at $2,300 a month on a three-year term.
Online card rate, entry tier
Square
3.3% + $0.30
Shopify Payments
2.9% + $0.30
Winner
Both fall with the plan. Square's online rate drops to 2.9% + $0.30 on Plus and Premium; Shopify's drops to 2.7% + $0.30 on Grow and 2.5% + $0.30 on Advanced. Square's Payments API is 2.9% + $0.30 on every tier.
In-person card rate, entry tier
Square
2.6% + $0.15
Shopify Payments
2.6% + $0.10
Winner
The five-cent gap is only part of the picture: Shopify's full retail POS features need the POS Pro add-on at $89/month for each POS Pro location, on top of the plan. Square's in-person rate falls to 2.5% + $0.15 on Plus and 2.4% + $0.15 on Premium.
Manually keyed / card on file
Square
3.5% + $0.15
Shopify Payments
Not published
Square publishes the keyed rate on its fee page for every tier. Shopify's pricing page lists online and in-person rates only.
Best For Your Business
Recommendations based on your business type
Cafe, salon, food truck or market stall
Recommended
Square
Almost all revenue is in person, the free plan costs nothing to run, hardware is priced openly, and next-business-day payouts matter more than ten basis points when margins are thin.
Online-first DTC brand doing meaningful volume
Recommended
Shopify Payments
At $39 a month the Basic plan already buys a 0.4-point lower online rate than Square's free tier, and Grow and Advanced take it to 2.7% and 2.5%. Past a few thousand dollars of monthly online sales the plan fee pays for itself.
Business that must keep a specific processor or gateway
Recommended
Shopify Payments
Square Online supports no third-party processor at all. Shopify charges 2% down to 0.2% for using an outside gateway, which is expensive but is at least possible.
New business testing an idea with no budget
Recommended
Square
Square costs nothing until a payment is taken and can be cancelled from the dashboard, so a failed experiment leaves no subscription behind.
Merchant with a high dispute rate
Recommended
Square
Square charges no dispute fee. Shopify's $15 per chargeback is refunded only when the merchant wins, so a store with a steady dispute rate pays for every loss twice.
Square: Best for 3 use cases
Shopify Payments: Best for 2 use cases
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this comparison
It depends where you sell. Square is cheaper to start - $0 a month against $39 - and cheaper in person once you account for the fact that Shopify's full retail POS needs an $89 monthly add-on. Shopify is cheaper online: 2.9% + 30c on Basic against Square's 3.3% + 30c on the free plan, falling to 2.5% + 30c on Advanced. Work out your online volume and see whether the rate saving covers the plan fee.
No. Square Online does not support third-party payment processors; the platform is designed as an all-in-one where Square provides both the software and the processing. Shopify is the opposite - it supports Shopify Payments plus more than 100 outside gateways, though it charges a surcharge of 2% on Basic down to 0.2% on Plus for using one.
Square deposits next business day for payments taken before 5pm PT, with an instant transfer option at 1.95%. Shopify's US minimum settlement time is three business days and payouts typically arrive within three to five; new stores start on longer settlement periods that shorten as they build a fulfilment record.
Shopify charges $15 per dispute, deducted from your next payout with the disputed amount, and refunds it only if you win. Square charges nothing for disputes - it is unusual among major processors in that respect, though its headline rates run slightly higher than average.
Not on standard plans. Square states there are no locked-in contracts and lets you cancel from the dashboard; Shopify's Basic, Grow and Advanced plans are month-to-month. The exception is Shopify Plus, quoted from $2,300 a month on a three-year term, and enterprise agreements negotiated on custom terms.
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