Stripe vs Square: the total-cost comparison

Stripe and Square are the two flat-rate processors most small businesses cross-shop. Both publish their pricing — so this comparison uses only their published U.S. rates, checked October 2026, and does the arithmetic most comparison pages skip: what the rates actually total on real ticket sizes, in person and online. Rates change; the method doesn't.

The published rates

• Online checkout: Stripe 2.9% + 30¢. Square 3.3% + 30¢ on its free plan, 2.9% + 30¢ on its paid plans — which add a monthly software subscription per location.
• In person: Square 2.6% + 15¢ (free plan; 2.5% and 2.4% + 15¢ on paid plans). Stripe Terminal 2.7% + 5¢.
• Keyed / card-on-file: Square 3.5% + 15¢. Stripe adds 0.5% for manually entered cards on top of the standard rate.
• International cards: Stripe adds 1.5%. Both charge extra for currency conversion.
• Invoices: Stripe adds 0.4% per paid invoice (capped at $2). Square invoices price at its online rates.
• Refunds: under Stripe's published policy, the original processing fee is generally not returned when you refund a customer.

The same sale, both processors

• $30 online order: Stripe $1.17 (3.90% effective). Square free plan $1.29 (4.30%). Square paid plan $1.17 — before its monthly subscription.
• $120 online order: Stripe $3.78 (3.15%). Square free plan $4.26 (3.55%). Square paid plan $3.78, plus subscription.
• $15 in-person sale: Square $0.54 (3.60%). Stripe Terminal $0.46 (3.03%) — the 5¢ fixed piece beats 15¢ on small tickets.
• $200 in-person sale: Square $5.35 (2.68%). Stripe Terminal $5.45 (2.73%) — at larger tickets the percentage dominates and the order flips.

Read the pattern, because it is the whole lesson: there is a crossover, and where it sits depends on your average ticket and your in-person/online mix. Any page that declares one of these "cheaper" without asking your ticket size is selling, not comparing.

What the rate table leaves out

• Ecosystem gravity. Stripe is built for online-first and developer-led businesses; Square bundles a full point-of-sale ecosystem. Switching costs are real on both sides — count hardware, software subscriptions, and integrations, not just the rate.
• Add-on stacking. Fraud tooling, billing, invoicing, and instant payouts are priced separately on both platforms. Your true cost is the all-in monthly total — the effective rate — not any single line.
• The option neither advertises. Both are flat-rate: every sale prices the same regardless of the card's actual interchange cost. On interchange-plus pricing, low-cost transactions (in-person debit especially) carry network costs well below any flat rate — which is why steady-volume businesses so often find the honest answer is "neither headline." Whether it is true for your mix is an arithmetic question, not a slogan.