Stripe's online rate matches Square's Plus and Premium plans exactly, and both processors add the same surcharge for a card issued outside the United States. Square's Free plan is the outlier on those two rows, costing more than Stripe on both. Everywhere else, Square does no worse than Stripe: keyed in by hand, all three Square plans beat Stripe outright; taken in person, Free ties Stripe while Plus and Premium beat it.
Stripe vs Square: what you pay per sale, by how the card is taken
Stripe vs Square: what you pay per sale, by how the card is taken
In person, Square's three plans charge three different rates — Stripe charges one
A mobile coffee cart that taps or swipes almost every sale sees Stripe charge 2.7% plus a 5-cent fee per sale. Square's in-person rate is the one row in this comparison where its three plans genuinely diverge, charging 2.6% + 15¢ on Free, 2.5% + 15¢ on Plus, and 2.4% + 15¢ on Premium — so which Square plan the cart is on decides whether Square undercuts Stripe's rate or merely matches it.
Square's Free plan is the only reason these two aren't priced the same online
Match a Stripe account against Square's Plus or Premium plan and the online rate is identical down to the cent — both charge 2.9% plus a 30-cent fixed fee, and both add the same 1.5% wherever the card was issued outside the United States. The gap only opens on Square's Free plan, which charges 3.3% instead of 2.9% for that same online card, a rate that costs more on every sale, large or small, until the business upgrades.
That makes the plan choice, not the processor choice, the first thing worth checking for a merchant weighing Square against Stripe: staying on Square Free because volume hasn't yet justified Plus or Premium's monthly fee means paying more than Stripe's rate on every online sale, not less.
A card keyed in by hand flips who's cheaper
Manually entered cards break the pattern above. Stripe adds 0.5% on top of its usual 2.9% online rate for a card keyed in by hand, while Square replaces its usual rate entirely with a single 3.5% rate plus a 15-cent fixed fee — and that combined rate is the same across Square's Free, Plus and Premium plans, since keyed-in pricing doesn't change with the plan the way online pricing does. Run both rate structures against the same $100 sale and Square's combined rate comes out cheaper than Stripe's stacked one — the one place in this comparison where Square beats Stripe outright, on any of its three plans, rather than matching or trailing it.
That gap is not a reason by itself to switch processors, but a merchant who takes most of their payments over the phone or by mail order, where keying in the card is the rule rather than the exception, is the merchant for whom it adds up fastest.
The international surcharge is identical, so it doesn't change who's cheaper
A card issued outside the United States costs more everywhere, and that surcharge is the one number Stripe and Square agree on exactly: both add 1.5% on top of whichever domestic rate already applies, and both use the same trigger term — a card issued outside the United States. Because the surcharge itself is identical, it carries forward whatever gap already existed on the domestic rate rather than closing it or widening it: Square's Free plan is still the priciest column once the surcharge is added, the same way it was before the surcharge.
On a $100 sale, that 1.5% surcharge adds the same extra amount regardless of which processor is running the sale, so a merchant who mostly serves customers with foreign-issued cards should budget the surcharge as a fixed addition to whichever domestic rate they'd otherwise be comparing, not as a separate reason to prefer one processor over the other.
What tips the choice between Stripe and Square
Which channel you'll take the card on. Typed in online, issued outside the United States, keyed in by hand, or tapped, dipped or swiped in person — each changes the rate on both processors, and all four are compared above.
Which Square plan you're on, or would move to. Square's Free plan only costs more than Stripe on online and international sales — its Plus and Premium plans match Stripe's rate on those same rows. In person, Plus's rate saves enough per sale that real monthly volume earns back its $49 monthly fee — see the FAQ below for exactly how many sales that takes. See also: the Square fees page for Premium's own break-even.
Your volume and average ticket. Every rate compared here carries a fixed-fee component — 30 cents on Stripe's and Square's online rate, 15¢ on Square's keyed-in rate — and that fixed fee covers a bigger share of a small sale than a large one; see how that share shrinks as the sale grows on what Stripe, PayPal and Square charge across a range of sale sizes.
Costs that sit outside the fee comparison. Stripe's dispute and instant-payout fees are separate from its per-sale rate — see Stripe's other fees for those. Square's own card-reader and terminal hardware, and its custom pricing for high-volume merchants, are covered on the Square fees page as well.
FAQ
Does "a card issued outside the United States" mean the buyer is traveling, or that the card itself is foreign?
Both processors trigger it the same way: a card issued outside the United States. Stripe's own wording is "+ 1.5% for international cards," and Square's is an additional fee on "credit or debit cards issued outside of the United States" — different phrasing, the same 1.5% surcharge, the same trigger term.
How many in-person sales does it take for Square's Plus plan to earn back its monthly fee?
Square's Plus plan charges 2.5% + 15¢ in person, compared to the Free plan's 2.6% + 15¢ — a $0.10 saving on a $100 sale. At that ticket size, it takes roughly 490 monthly in-person sales for the saving to cover Plus's $49 monthly fee; a smaller average ticket needs more sales to clear the fee, a larger one fewer. At fewer than 490 monthly $100 sales, Free is still the cheaper of the two.
Sources
Gathered with AI assistance; every figure was checked against the linked provider page and signed off by Seonrye Kim.
Stripe's Standard plan charges 2.9% + 30 cents per successful online transaction for domestic (US) cards. — https://stripe.com/pricing (verified on: 2026-09-02)
Stripe's Standard plan charges a 30-cent fixed fee per successful online transaction for domestic (US) cards, in addition to its percentage rate. — https://stripe.com/pricing (verified on: 2026-09-02)
Stripe adds 0.5% to its standard rate for domestic cards that are keyed in manually instead of entered by the customer online. — https://stripe.com/pricing (verified on: 2026-09-02)
Stripe adds 1.5% to its standard rate for cards issued outside the United States. — https://stripe.com/pricing (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 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 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)
Stripe's Terminal in-person rate is 2.7% plus a 5-cent fixed fee per successful domestic card transaction. — https://stripe.com/pricing (verified on: 2026-09-03)
Stripe's Terminal in-person fixed fee is 5 cents per successful domestic card transaction. — https://stripe.com/pricing (verified on: 2026-09-03)
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)
