Our Expert Opinion
I played around with Square to see what it’s like setting up products and inventory for sale. On the whole, I found the process easy enough. While I couldn’t test in-person sales or online transactions, I felt confident that things would go smoothly if I were to go live with my store.
Featured Partners
1
Stax
No
First Month Free
$99 per month, 7 cents to 15 cents per transaction plus interchange rate
2
Finix
No
Save up to 40% on credit card processing
Transparent subscription-based pricing with 0% markup on interchange fees
3
Payment Depot
No
First Month Free
$59 per month, $0.07 - $0.15 per transaction + interchange rate
Easy to Add Items and Track Inventory
There are a ton of customization options when creating an item, such as variations, weight, price, modifiers and more.
Adding an item to your Square inventory is simple. You can separate items into categories, list how much you have in stock and set the price for each variation. I also think the “modifier” option is interesting. It lets you set predefined variables customers can choose from. For my sample flower store, I created the modifier of wrapping a flower bundle in different color ribbons. I was then able to set a price for each specific ribbon add-on.
Intuitive Discounts, Gift Cards and Subscriptions
When configuring gift cards, you can choose the exact amounts you want to offer as well as create specific policies for when they expire.
Once you have all of your items inputted, you can also set up discounts, gift cards and subscriptions. After setting up your gift card options, you can see how many people have activated and redeemed them in your dashboard. I also liked the subscription feature, which lets you configure automated monthly orders for your products with a set discount.
The discount feature was a little more confusing to set up, but that’s because it’s so powerful. You can create discounts that are only good on certain days or certain times of day, as well as specials like buy one product, get one free.
Setting Up Your Online Store Is Pricey
I was shocked to see that actually creating a website using Square costs quite a bit of money. There is a free plan, but you won’t get to use a custom domain with it, which isn’t great for branding. Otherwise, you’ll pay $29 a month with an annual subscription—or $79 a month if you want to lower your online payment processing fee to 2.6% instead of 2.9%.
You can connect directly to a number of online sales channels right from your Square dashboard.
If you prefer to build an online store elsewhere, Square has integrations with Wix, WooCommerce and more. You can also sync with other online sales channels like DoorDash, Instagram and Facebook if you don’t want a dedicated online store.
What Sets Square Apart?
I personally love Square’s customer loyalty programs, including the ability to send birthday gifts to customers. I recently just got an email for $5 off from my favorite nail polish brand, which I put to good use. Other POS systems offer this too, but I like that Square engages with customers automatically so you don’t have to.
Here’s the automated Square email I got a week before my birthday offering me a $5 off coupon.
Square is also easier to use than a lot of other POS systems. You simply choose a plan, update your inventory, get your hardware and you’re ready to go. Other processors, like Clover, are more difficult to set up and require a little more learning before you’ll be comfortable in the system.
Square Key Features
Square really does have everything you need to start accepting payments for your business. Whether you want to use it in person at your local shop or for your online store, you’ll find it has a number of features that allow for cross-location compatibility.
Hardware and Software
To use Square, you’ll have to purchase one of its many different types of hardware. These include:
- Square Register: $799
- Square Handheld: $399
- Square Terminal: $299
- Square Stand: $149
- Square Kiosk: $149
- Square Reader for contactless and chip: $59
- Square Reader for magstripe: First one free, then $10
No matter which you pick, you can sell in-person, online and through third-party apps without breaking a sweat. All of your sales will be available in your Square dashboard for further analytics and reporting.
Payment Types
Square accepts nearly every modern form of payment, including:
- Major credit cards
- Contactless payments
- Keyed-in payments
- Cash
- Square gift cards
Here’s an example of what the payment page looks like if you’re recording a manual credit card or cash sale.
You can even accept payments if you lose internet connection—great for stores in storm-prone areas or if you sell at farmers markets off the beaten path. Payments and receipts are stored for 24 hours until you can sync back up. I found it easy to set up a fake cash payment in the dashboard, and the transaction was immediately added to my sales metrics and deducted from the available inventory.
Security
All Square payments are compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, meaning that’s one less thing you have to worry about. Square also comes with data security and dispute management tools.
If you set up Risk Manager, you’ll see something like this screen every time you accept a payment.
Square also has a tool called Risk Manager that uses machine learning to help reduce fraud by monitoring all of your transactions. Some might say that’s an invasion of privacy and a questionable use of AI, but I think that if it can help reduce fraudulent transactions, then it’s a good thing. In addition, Risk Manager can verify customers’ addresses and require additional customer verification steps if something seems fishy.
Square Pricing and Value
| Free for Restaurants | Free for Retail | Free for Appointments | Plus for Restaurants | Plus for Retail | Plus for Appointments | Premium for Restaurants | Premium for Retail | Premium for Appointments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Cost | $0/month | $0/month | $0/month | $69/month | $89/month | $29/month | $165/month | Custom quote | $69/month |
| In-Person Processing Fee | 2.6% + 15 cents | 2.6% + 15 cents | 2.6% + 15 cents | 2.6% + 10 cents | 2.5% + 10 cents | 2.5% + 10 cents | 2.6% + 10 cents | Custom rates | 2.5% + 10 cents |
| Online Processing Fee | 2.9% + 30 cents | 2.9% + 30 cents | 2.9% + 30 cents | 2.9% + 30 cents | 2.9% + 30 cents | 2.9% + 30 cents | 2.9% + 30 cents | Custom rates | 2.9% + 30 cents |
| Inventory Counting and Reporting | - | - | - | - | ✓ | - | - | ✓ | - |
| Check and Menu Management | ✓ | - | - | ✓ | - | - | ✓ | - | - |
| Team Scheduling | - | Up to five employees | - | - | Unlimited employees up to 10 days in advance | Unlimited employees | Unlimited employees | ||
| Advanced Reporting | - | - | - | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Customer Profiles | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
There are a lot of plans to choose from with Square, and that can be confusing, especially if you’re a business that sits on the border of two of the categories (like a café that also has a small retail store). That said, it can be cheaper than competitors, especially if you go with its free POS plan. Competitors like Clover don’t have a free plan at all—its cheapest offering for restaurants starts at $89.95 a month.
I can’t see many small businesses needing to splurge for the Premium tiers. For the most part, they’re identical to the Plus tier with just one or two additional features. If you’re a smaller business that doesn’t have much sales volume yet, you’re probably fine with a Free plan unless you need a particular feature—then you can upgrade to Plus.
Is Square Right for Your Business?
I think that Square is one of the best POS systems for retail stores, restaurants or service-based businesses if you don’t dabble in between these categories. Problems arise if you want to schedule appointments at your retail store or sell souvenirs at your restaurant. Square’s plans don’t really allow for mixing between service types.
The Square POS solution is so flexible, easy to customize and easy to use, any type of small business can be up and running quickly with a robust platform that not only rings up sales and accepts payments, but offers the critical functions that merchants need to run their business.
—Don Apgar, director of merchant payments at Javelin Strategy & Research
We recommend Square for:
- Retail stores, restaurants and service-based businesses without much crossover.
- Business owners who want to take advantage of Square’s customer loyalty features.
- Business owners who need a variety of terminals and hardware for accepting payments in person.
We do not recommend Square for:
- Businesses that want built-in payroll and scheduling—Toast is a better option for restaurants that want this.
- Businesses with a global presence, as Square has limited support for international currencies. A better choice is Stripe, which accepts over 135 currencies.
- Businesses that need longer to pay off their hardware. Square gives you a max of 24 months to pay off your terminal, while Clover provides up to 36 months.
Featured Partners
1
Stax
No
First Month Free
$99 per month, 7 cents to 15 cents per transaction plus interchange rate
2
Finix
No
Save up to 40% on credit card processing
Transparent subscription-based pricing with 0% markup on interchange fees
3
Payment Depot
No
First Month Free
$59 per month, $0.07 - $0.15 per transaction + interchange rate
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the downside of using Square?
One downside many business owners mention about Square is its rolling reserves policy. Under this policy, whenever you receive a credit card payment from a customer, Square sets aside a certain percentage of the sale and releases the money to you on a rolling basis. This is meant to protect Square from chargebacks, but it can be hard to deal with, especially if you need to reinvest your profits.
Is it worth it to use Square?
For many restaurants, retail stores and service providers, Square is worth it. It offers robust POS tools as well as plenty of customer marketing and loyalty programs.
Is there a monthly fee to use Square?
Square does have three free plans. However, it also has six paid plans that range in cost. You can also subscribe to other Square services on a monthly basis, such as payroll, email marketing, invoices and more.
