Square For Restaurants: Pricing, Features, And When It Stops Fitting
Square Selling AcademyShopify Square Integration
Quick Take
What You’ll Pay for Square
- TL;DR: Square Free costs $0 per month, Plus is $49 per active location per month, and Premium is $149 per active location per month. Your actual Square pricing cost also depends on the number of locations, customers' payment methods, and additional Square services.
Square’s headline pricing looks simple, but the monthly plan is only one part of what a seller may pay.
Free has no monthly subscription cost. Plus and Premium add more business tools and lower some payment-processing rates, but their monthly fees apply to each active location.
So the useful question is not just “How much is Square?” It is which plan gives your business enough value for what it costs.
Pricing
How Much Does Square Cost In 2026?
Square currently offers three standard US plans:
- Square Free: $0 per month
- Square Plus: $49 per month per active location
- Square Premium: $149 per month per active location
Square launched this unified structure in October 2025, replacing 18 separate à la carte subscriptions with three broader plans.
Free covers Square’s core business tools. Plus adds advanced POS features, loyalty, marketing, and staff-management tools. Premium adds Square’s more advanced reporting and support features while also offering its lowest standard in-person processing rate.
The monthly plan price does not include every possible cost. Payment processing still applies when you take electronic payments, and some businesses may also pay for hardware or optional Square services.
Compare
Square Free Vs Plus Vs Premium At A Glance
| Square Free | Square Plus | Square Premium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $0 | $49/location | $149/location |
| In-person card rate | 2.6% + 15¢ | 2.5% + 15¢ | 2.4% + 15¢ |
| Online or invoice card rate | 3.3% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ |
| Advanced industry POS features | - | Included | Included |
| Loyalty program | - | Included | Included |
| Email marketing | - | Included | Included |
| Text marketing | - | 500 texts included | 2,500 texts included |
| Staff management | - | Included | Included |
| Advanced reporting | - | - | Included |
| 24/7 priority phone support | - | - | Included |
| Gift card load fee | 2.5% | 2.5% | 0% |
The largest feature jump is from Free to Plus. Premium builds on Plus with higher-level reporting and support, more included text marketing, no gift card load fee, and a lower standard in-person card rate.
Your Square cost = plan + processing + extras.
Your actual cost depends on your plan, number of active locations, payment volume and methods, plus any optional Square services or hardware you use.
Free
Square Free
Square Free has no monthly subscription fee.
It includes Square’s core POS app, an online site, an item library, invoicing, booking, and access to Square Checking and Savings tools. You can use it to take payments, manage products or services, track basic inventory and sales, send invoices, schedule appointments, and sell online without paying for a Square software subscription.
You still pay processing fees when customers pay electronically. Standard in-person card payments cost 2.6% + 15¢, while standard online or invoice card payments cost 3.3% + 30¢.
That makes Free useful when the included tools already cover the way you run your business, and you do not yet need the features bundled into Plus.
Who is Square Free best for?
Square Free is best suited to new, small, or micro sellers that need Square’s core payment and business tools but want to avoid a fixed monthly software cost.
Plus
Square Plus
Square Plus costs $49 per month per active location.
It adds advanced POS features for food and beverage, retail, appointments, and invoicing. Plus also includes a loyalty rewards program, unlimited email marketing campaigns, text marketing, and staff-management tools such as shift scheduling and attendance tracking.
Plus also includes 500 text messages per account each month. Additional texts currently cost 3¢ each. The plan also lowers standard processing rates. In-person card payments drop to 2.5% + 15¢, while standard online and invoice card payments drop to 2.9% + 30¢.
The processing discount alone does not tell you whether Plus is worth paying for. Its value also depends on whether you will actually use features such as loyalty, marketing, staff management, or the more advanced POS tools.
Who is Square Plus best for?
Square Plus is best suited to growing sellers whose operations are becoming more structured and who can use the added POS, loyalty, marketing, or staff features regularly.
Premium
Square Premium
Square Premium costs $149 per month per active location.
It includes everything in Plus. Premium includes advanced reporting, 24/7 priority phone support, a larger text-marketing allowance, no gift card load fee, and Square’s lowest standard in-person card-processing rate.
Premium includes 2,500 text messages per account each month, with additional messages currently costing 1.5¢ each. Its standard in-person card rate is 2.4% + 15¢.
One detail matters for online sellers: Premium does not reduce the standard online or invoice rate below Plus. Both plans currently charge 2.9% + 30¢ for those payments.
So paying another $100 per location for Premium makes more sense when the business will benefit from its wider feature package, support, reporting, or lower in-person rate.
Who is Square Premium best for?
Square Premium is best suited to more established sellers that need Square’s most advanced standard plan and can get enough value from its added features or lower in-person processing rate to justify the higher monthly cost.
Real Square Cost
What Will Square Actually Cost Per Month?
Your plan price becomes more important once you operate more than one location.
| Active Locations | Square Free | Square Plus | Square Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $0 | $49 | $149 |
| 2 | $0 | $98 | $298 |
| 3 | $0 | $147 | $447 |
| 5 | $0 | $245 | $745 |
A one-location business on Plus starts with a $49 monthly subscription. The same plan across five active locations starts at $245.
Your actual Square cost can then include:
plan subscription + payment processing + any optional paid services you use
Hardware can add another upfront cost if your setup requires it.
This is why comparing only $0, $49, and $149 can be misleading for a seller trying to set a real monthly budget.
Are Square Hardware Costs Included In The Monthly Price?
No. Square hardware is separate from the Free, Plus, and Premium subscription prices.
Square hardware is sold separately, and prices vary by device. Square also supports options such as Tap to Pay on compatible phones, invoices, Payment Links, and Virtual Terminal.
If you need to budget for readers, terminals, registers, stands, or a complete checkout setup, see our Square POS system cost guide for the hardware side of the calculation.
Keep your Shopify and Square setup in sync
Your Square plan covers Square. DPL handles the supported data flows between Square and Shopify.
Processing Fee
How Do Processing Rates Change Between Square Plans?
Some Square processing rates become lower when you move to a paid plan.
| Payment Type | Free | Plus | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tap, dip, or swipe | 2.6% + 15¢ | 2.5% + 15¢ | 2.4% + 15¢ |
| Online or invoice card | 3.3% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ |
| Online API | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ |
| Manual entry or card on file | 3.5% + 15¢ | 3.5% + 15¢ | 3.5% + 15¢ |
Upgrading does not reduce every Square processing rate.
Manual or card-on-file payments remain 3.5% + 15¢ across all three plans. Online API payments also remain 2.9% + 30¢.
The most relevant differences for plan selection are standard in-person payments and the drop in standard online or invoice pricing when moving from Free to Plus.
Square also charges different rates for payment methods such as ACH and Afterpay. If those are part of how you accept payments, include them when estimating your total Square costs.
Make the most of both sales channels
Connect your Shopify store and Square setup without managing product, inventory, and order data separately.
Square Online Cost
What Does Square Online Cost In 2026?
Square’s current Online Store pricing uses the same Free, Plus, and Premium structure rather than a separate standard pricing ladder for new US sellers.
Square Free includes the ability to build a basic website, online store, online ordering profile, or online booking site.
The standard online card-processing rates are:
- Free: 3.3% + 30¢
- Plus and Premium: 2.9% + 30¢
Moving from Free to Plus therefore changes both the wider feature package and the standard online processing rate.
Moving from Plus to Premium does not produce another standard online-rate reduction, so an online-heavy seller should look closely at Premium’s other benefits before upgrading for price reasons alone. If you’re also deciding whether to use Square’s online store or Shopify, see our Square Online vs Shopify comparison.
Break-Even
When Does Upgrading To Plus Or Premium Pay Off?
A lower processing rate can offset some or all of a paid plan’s monthly fee. But the calculation changes depending on how your customers pay.
The examples below look only at the difference in processing rates. They do not assign a dollar value to features such as loyalty, marketing, staff tools, reporting, or support.
Free Vs Plus: In-Person Sales
Free charges
- 2.6% + 15¢ per standard in-person card payment
- No monthly Plus subscription
- Standard in-person rate is 0.1% higher than Plus
Plus charges
- 2.5% + 15¢ per standard in-person card payment
- $49 per active location per month
- 0.1% lower in-person processing rate
Break-even at one location
$49 ÷ 0.001 = $49,000
Approximately $49,000 in eligible monthly in-person card volume would produce $49 in percentage-based processing savings.
This does not mean every business should wait until $49,000 before upgrading. Additional Plus features may make the plan worthwhile at a lower sales volume.
Free vs Plus: Online Sales
Free charges
- 3.3% + 30¢ per standard online or invoice card payment
- $49 monthly plan difference vs Plus
- Standard online rate is 0.4% higher than Plus
Plus charges
- 2.9% + 30¢ per standard online or invoice card payment
- $49 per active location per month
- 0.4% lower online processing rate
Break-even at one location
$49 ÷ 0.004 = $12,250
Approximately $12,250 in eligible monthly online or invoice card volume would produce $49 in percentage-based savings.
The fixed 30¢ fee is identical between the two plans, so it does not affect this calculation.
Plus vs Premium: In-Person Sales
Plus charges
- 2.5% + 15¢ per standard in-person card payment
- $49 per active location per month
- 0.1% higher in-person rate than Premium
Premium charges
- 2.4% + 15¢ per standard in-person card payment
- $149 per active location per month
- $100 more per location than Plus
Break-even at one location
$100 ÷ 0.001 = $100,000
Approximately $100,000 in eligible monthly in-person card volume would produce $100 in percentage-based processing savings.
There is no equivalent online break-even because Plus and Premium both charge 2.9% + 30¢ for online or invoice card payments. Premium’s extra cost therefore also depends on the additional features the business uses.
Extra Square Costs
What Other Costs Can Affect Your Square Bill?
Some Square users will only need to budget for their plan and payment processing. Others may use extra paid services.
For example, Square currently lists:
- Square KDS: $30 per device per month on Plus or $20 per device per month on Premium
- Square Kiosk app: $50 per device per month for Plus or $30 per device per month for Premium
- Text-message overages: 3¢ per text on Plus after 500 included texts per account each month, or 1.5¢ per text on Premium after 2,500 included texts per account each month
- Gift card load fee: 2.5% on Free and Plus, 0% on Premium
- International card fee: 1.5% extra for non-US cards
- Square Payroll (full-service): $35 per month plus $6 per person paid
These are not costs every seller will face.
A retail store that does not use KDS, kiosk software, payroll, or additional text marketing should not add those services to its budget just because Square offers them.
The useful approach is to start with the plan, then add only the services your business will actually use.
Choosing Square Plan
Which Square Pricing Plan Should You Choose?
Start with the cheapest plan that covers the way your business actually operates.
Choose Square Free
- If Square’s core POS, online, invoicing, booking, and item-management tools are enough and you want to keep fixed software costs at $0.
Consider Square Plus
- When advanced POS features, loyalty, marketing, or staff management have become useful enough to justify $49 per active location. Lower standard online and in-person processing rates can add to the value.
Consider Square Premium
- If features such as advanced reporting, 24/7 priority phone support, a larger text-message allowance, no gift card load fee, and lower standard in-person processing rate create enough value to cover $149 per active location.
Location count matters here. A plan that looks reasonable for one shop may feel very different when the same subscription is charged across several locations.
For businesses processing more than $250,000 per year, Square also invites sellers to contact its team to see if they qualify for custom pricing instead of relying only on its standard processing rates.
Shopify + Square
Using Square With Shopify: What The Square Plan Doesn’t Include
Choosing Free, Plus, or Premium determines what you get from Square. It does not automatically connect Square with a separate Shopify store. That becomes important for sellers using Square for in-person payments and Shopify for ecommerce.
DPL Shopify Square Integration can connect supported workflows across the two systems, including product import and export, two-way inventory syncing across connected locations, syncing eligible Square orders into Shopify, syncing new customer records, and Square gift-card workflows.
Sellers can also choose which platform controls product fields such as titles, descriptions, prices, and images.
The two costs therefore solve different problems. Your Square plan determines your Square tools and processing rates. The integration handles supported data flows between Shopify and Square.
If you use both platforms, include that wider software setup when calculating what your sales stack costs each month.
Keep Shopify and Square working together
Sync the data that matters across your store and POS, with control over what moves between them.
Your Questions - Answered.
FAQs About Square Pricing
Does Square have a monthly fee?
Square Free does not have a monthly subscription fee. Square Plus costs $49 per active location each month, while Premium costs $149 per active location. Processing fees and any optional paid services are separate.
Is Square POS really free?
Yes. Square Free includes the Square POS app and core business tools without a monthly software subscription. You still pay the applicable processing fee when you accept an electronic payment.
Does Square charge per location?
Square Plus and Premium do. Plus costs $49 per active location per month, while Premium costs $149 per active location per month. Free has no monthly subscription cost.
Can you change your Square plan later?
Yes. Square says Plus and Premium customers can cancel or switch plans.
Existing businesses moving from older Square subscriptions should check the migration terms that apply to their account before changing plans.
Does Square offer a free trial?
Yes. Square currently offers a 30-day free trial for Square Plus and Square Premium. Square Free does not require a paid-plan trial because it has no monthly subscription cost.
Does Square offer custom pricing for high-volume businesses?
Yes. Square says businesses processing more than $250,000 per year can contact its team to see whether they qualify for custom processing pricing through Square Pro.
Square says eligible businesses can also ask about hardware discounts, onboarding and implementation support, technical specialists, and account management.
Conclusion
Final Thoughts
Square pricing in 2026 starts at $0, but the right plan depends on more than the headline subscription price.
Look at the number of locations you run, how customers normally pay, and which Square features you will actually use. That gives you a much better picture of whether Free, Plus, or Premium makes financial sense for your business.
Ready to connect Square with Shopify?
Keep products, inventory, orders, customers, and gift cards moving between Shopify and Square.
