Square vs Stripe

Fees, tax handling, payouts and coverage side by side, plus how many verified RevMRR startups use each.

The short version

Neither is a merchant of record, so with either one you register for and remit sales tax and VAT yourself.
Pick Square for: small and new businesses, mobile and seasonal sellers, and anyone who wants to take cards today without negotiating a merchant account — retail, food trucks, salons, and pop-ups especially..
Pick Stripe for: online-first businesses — SaaS, ecommerce, subscriptions, marketplaces — with access to developer talent, and any company selling internationally that needs multi-currency support and rich analytics..

	Square

RevMRR Score	C64	B74
Type	POS & Retail	Payment Processor
Standard fee	3.3% + $0.30	2.9% + $0.30
Monthly fee	None	None
Merchant of record	No	No
Sales tax / VAT	You handle it	Paid add-on
Subscriptions	Not supported	Supported
Payouts	Next business day	First payout 7-14 days; then a rolling schedule…
Who can sign up	Founded in 2009, based in San Francisco, California, USA	Founded in 2010, based in San Francisco, CA
Payment methods	Cards (Tap & Chip), Apple Pay, Google Pay, Contactless	Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Local Payment Methods
Best for	Small and new businesses, mobile and seasonal sellers, and anyone who wants to take cards today without negotiating a merchant account — retail, food trucks, salons, and pop-ups especially.	Online-first businesses — SaaS, ecommerce, subscriptions, marketplaces — with access to developer talent, and any company selling internationally that needs multi-currency support and rich analytics.
Used on RevMRR	Not connectable yet	0 verified startups

Square

Square remains the easiest on-ramp to card payments for a small business: flat, transparent pricing, no monthly fee or contract, free software that punches above its price, and next-business-day payouts. The A grade comes with two genuine cautions — account holds are common enough to be the top complaint about the company, and support is weak precisely when a hold happens. Stable, low-risk businesses rarely hit either problem.

+ Transparent flat-rate pricing with no monthly fee, contract, or early-termination fee
+ Free, genuinely good POS software with inventory, reporting, and customer management built in
+ Wide hardware selection, from a free magstripe reader to full register setups
+ Next-business-day payouts standard, with instant transfers available for 1.95%
+ Strong fraud and security features handled for you, with chargeback dispute management included
– Account holds and frozen funds are the dominant complaint theme — instant approval means underwriting happens after you start processing
– Customer support is hard to reach and slow to resolve exactly the problems (holds) that matter most
– Flat rates get expensive at volume, and keyed-in transactions cost a steep 3.5% + $0.15
– Many capabilities are paid add-ons, and offline functionality is limited

Square pricing ↗

Stripe

Stripe earns its A grade: transparent flat-rate pricing with no fixed fees, an unmatched developer platform, and product breadth that covers everything from subscriptions to marketplace payouts. The honest caveats are the 7-14 day first payout, the possibility of holds while underwriting catches up with instant onboarding, and pricing that stops being a bargain at serious volume until you negotiate custom rates.

+ Best-in-class developer experience: clean APIs, SDKs, and documentation that set the industry standard
+ Transparent flat-rate pricing with no monthly, setup, PCI, or statement fees
+ Global reach with broad payment-method and multi-currency support
+ Deep feature set — subscriptions, invoicing, marketplace tools, virtual terminal — on one platform
+ No contract or early-termination fee on standard pay-as-you-go service
– First payout takes 7-14 days, and new or unusual accounts can face holds and verification friction
– Flat-rate 2.9% + $0.30 gets expensive at volume compared with negotiated interchange-plus pricing
– Complex for non-technical users — much of the value assumes you will build on the API
– Prohibits many high-risk categories and is not available in every country

Stripe pricing ↗