Stripe vs Square Fees

Side-by-side: Stripe and Square both at 2.9% + 30¢ for online US payments. The differences are everywhere except the headline rate.

At a glance

Stripe online US
2.9% + 30¢
Square online US
2.9% + 30¢
Stripe Terminal in-person
2.7% + 5¢
Square in-person
2.6% + 10¢

Stripe and Square charge identical 2.9% + 30¢ for online card transactions in the US. The two are competitive on online fees; the differences live elsewhere. Square dominates in-person retail (better hardware, in-person rate is 2.6% + 10¢ vs Stripe Terminal’s 2.7% + 5¢). Stripe dominates online — better APIs, mature subscription platform, real marketplace product (Connect).

Frequently asked questions

I do mixed online and in-person — which should I pick?
If in-person is dominant (>60% of revenue), Square. If online is dominant, Stripe. If you need both, you can run them in parallel — Square for the POS terminal, Stripe for the web checkout. Reconciliation is the main pain point if you go split.
Does Square have a Connect equivalent?
Not really. Square Online integrates with the rest of Square but doesn’t support split payments to multiple sellers in the way Stripe Connect does. For two-sided marketplaces, Stripe is the better choice.

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