Square fees are not one number: Square's Free, Plus and Premium plans charge a different processing rate for the exact same card swipe, and the merchant pays the difference on every sale. Below is what Square keeps from a $10 sale, a $100 sale, a $1,000 sale and a $10,000 sale on all three plans, four ways a card can be taken: in person, online or by invoice, keyed in by hand, and on Afterpay. ACH bank transfers paid through a Square invoice are priced separately: 1% of the payment with a $1 minimum, capped at $10 on Plus and Premium.
What Square keeps, by sale size, plan and payment type
What Square keeps, by sale size, plan and payment type
Why your plan changes the rate, not just the features
Square publishes three different tap, dip, or swipe rates — one per plan (2.6%, 2.5% and 2.4%, each plus a 15-cent fixed fee) — and two different online-or-invoiced rates, where Plus and Premium share the same lower 2.9% against Free's 3.3% (both plus a 30-cent fixed fee). The percentage gap between plans is real money on every in-person sale, and it only closes once enough sales have covered Plus's $49 monthly fee or Premium's $149 monthly fee. Online, the gap between plans is smaller in percentage terms, because the fixed 30-cent fee is identical across all three plans either way.
That same plan split carries through to a card issued outside the United States: Square adds a 1.5% surcharge on top of whichever domestic online rate applies, so Free's international rate and Plus/Premium's international rate are exactly as far apart as their domestic rates are.
Afterpay and ACH invoices don't follow the plan discount
Afterpay and ACH-via-invoice break the pattern above: neither gets cheaper on a higher-tier plan. Afterpay charges the same 6% plus a 30-cent fixed fee on Free, Plus and Premium alike — roughly double Square's cheapest online percentage, regardless of which plan is running it. Manually entered cards and cards on file are the same story: 3.5% plus a 15-cent fixed fee no matter the plan, a rate that sits between the in-person and Afterpay rates on every tier.
ACH bank transfer via invoice is priced differently again: 1% of the payment with a $1 minimum on every plan, and on Plus and Premium that fee is capped at $10 no matter how large the invoice — Square Free has no published cap. On a small invoice the cap makes no difference; it only starts protecting the merchant once 1% of the invoice would otherwise run past $10.
What you need to decide
Which channel you'll use most. In person (tap, dip, or swipe), online or by invoice, or keyed in by hand each carry their own rate, and the gap between channels is often bigger than the gap between plans.
Which plan you're on, or would move to. Free costs $0 a month, Plus costs $49 a month per location, and Premium costs $149 a month per location — the two paid plans buy a lower percentage rate on tap-dip-swipe and online payments, not on Afterpay, ACH, or keyed-in cards. Plus's 2.5% in-person rate and Premium's 2.4% rate both beat Free's 2.6% by only a fraction of a percentage point, so it takes real sales volume before that saving covers the $49 or $149 monthly fee — see the FAQ below for how many sales that takes on each plan.
Your volume and average ticket. Square's fixed fee — 15 cents in person, 30 cents online or on Afterpay — is the biggest share of what Square keeps on your smallest sales and fades to almost nothing on your largest ones.
Square's per-sale rate is not the only cost of running a business on Square. A merchant who buys Square's own card-present hardware pays for it separately from any card fee: the Square Reader for contactless and chip costs $59, the Square Terminal costs $299, and the Square Register (2nd generation) costs $899 — flat prices that don't change with the size of a sale, unlike the per-transaction card fee.
Square also draws a line past its own published plans: a business processing more than $250,000 a year can ask Square's team for custom pricing instead of the Free, Plus or Premium rates above.
FAQ
How much does Square Free keep from a $100 sale taken in person?
On a $100 sale taken in person (tap, dip, or swipe), Square Free keeps $2.75 — its 2.6% rate plus the 15-cent per-transaction fee.
Does Square Premium save money on in-person payments?
On a $10,000 sale taken in person, Square Free keeps $260.15 and Square Premium keeps $240.15. On a $100 sale, Plus's 2.5% rate saves $0.10 over Free's 2.6% and Premium's 2.4% rate saves $0.20, so it takes about 490 sales a month on Plus to cover its $49 monthly fee, or about 745 sales a month on Premium to cover its $149 monthly fee.
How much more does a card issued outside the United States cost on Square?
On a $100 sale paid online on Square Plus or Premium, a domestic card costs $3.20 and a card issued outside the United States costs $4.70, Square's 1.5% international card fee applied to the sale.
Is Afterpay more expensive than a regular online card sale on Square?
On a $100 sale, Afterpay keeps $6.30 versus $3.20 for a regular online card sale on Square Plus or Premium, and that gap does not shrink on a higher-tier plan, since Afterpay's rate is the same 6% + 30 cents on Free, Plus and Premium alike.
Sources
Gathered with AI assistance; every figure was checked against the linked provider page and signed off by Seonrye Kim.
Square's Free plan charges 2.6% + 15 cents per in-person card payment when a customer taps, dips, or swipes. — https://squareup.com/us/en/payments/our-fees (verified on: 2026-09-02)
Square's Plus plan charges 2.5% + 15 cents per in-person card payment when a customer taps, dips, or swipes. — https://squareup.com/us/en/payments/our-fees (verified on: 2026-09-02)
Square's Premium plan charges 2.4% + 15 cents per in-person card payment when a customer taps, dips, or swipes. — https://squareup.com/us/en/payments/our-fees (verified on: 2026-09-02)
Square charges a 15-cent fixed fee per in-person tap, dip, or swipe payment, the same fee on its Free, Plus and Premium plans. — https://squareup.com/us/en/payments/our-fees (verified on: 2026-09-02)
Square charges a 30-cent fixed fee per online or invoiced card payment, on the Free plan as well as Plus and Premium. — https://squareup.com/us/en/payments/our-fees (verified on: 2026-09-02)
Square charges 3.5% when a card number is manually keyed in or a card on file is charged, the same rate on its Free, Plus and Premium plans. — https://squareup.com/us/en/payments/our-fees (verified on: 2026-09-02)
Square charges a 15-cent fixed fee when a card number is manually keyed in or a card on file is charged, the same fee on its Free, Plus and Premium plans. — https://squareup.com/us/en/payments/our-fees (verified on: 2026-09-02)
Square charges 6% + 30 cents on an Afterpay sale, where the merchant is paid immediately and the customer pays in four installments, the same rate on its Free, Plus and Premium plans. — https://squareup.com/us/en/payments/our-fees (verified on: 2026-09-02)
Square charges a 30-cent fixed fee on an Afterpay sale, the same fee on its Free, Plus and Premium plans. — https://squareup.com/us/en/payments/our-fees (verified on: 2026-09-02)
On Square's Free plan, an ACH bank transfer paid through an invoice costs 1% of the payment with a $1 minimum. — https://squareup.com/us/en/payments/our-fees (verified on: 2026-09-02)
On Square's Plus and Premium plans, an ACH bank transfer paid through an invoice costs 1% of the payment with a $1 minimum, capped at $10. — https://squareup.com/us/en/payments/our-fees (verified on: 2026-09-02)
Square adds a 1.5% international card fee to payments made on credit or debit cards issued outside the United States, on the Free, Plus and Premium plans alike. — https://squareup.com/us/en/pricing (verified on: 2026-09-02)
Square tells merchants who process more than $250,000 a year to talk to its team about custom pricing instead of its published Free, Plus and Premium rates. — https://squareup.com/us/en/payments/our-fees (verified on: 2026-09-03)
