stripe vs square

Stripe vs. Square: A Comparison of Payment Platforms

Abhinav Girdhar
By Abhinav Girdhar | Last Updated on April 15th, 2024 11:04 am

A proper payment method is critical to the functioning of any business in the world. Finding the right payment method can be a challenge as there are many factors to consider when making the choice. The biggest factor to consider is transaction fees, as it can vary significantly on platforms depending on factors like the amount of your average transaction and whether you charge customers in person or online.

Table of Content

Introduction

Stripe and Square are two of the most popular and well-known payment platforms on the market. Both software provide small business owners an easy way to process payments and the ability to accept credit card payments without a minimum monthly revenue or an application process. The platforms enable owners to charge customers’ credit cards even when they’re just starting a business.

However, no two businesses are equal and many require special integrations with these software to fulfil requirements. Appy Pie Connect is a popular workflow automation software that offers easy integrations for both Stripe and Square.

How Square Works?

Square was co-founded by Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, in 2009 as a mobile payment processor for small businesses that operate on the go. Square became popular thanks to its free and convenient adapters that operate through a phone’s headphone jack, a flat rate of 2.6%, plus a $0.10 processing fee per transaction, and no monthly recurring service fee.

Square also released a physical Square Stand in May 2013 that transforms iPads into traditional cash registers. The company has also built out its software suite to better handle diverse product sales from a predefined menu or inventory with features like inventory management, analytics, invoicing, appointment management, online ordering, gift cards, and capital management tools.

How Stripe Works?

Stripe was founded in 2010 by two Irish brothers, Patrick Collison and John Collison. Stripe, which was designed with online developers in mind, makes it easy to integrate a variety of online payment processing tools and plugins through its API.

The platform charges 2.9%, plus $0.30 per transaction with discounts available for high volume clients. Stripe doesn’t have any monthly service fees and only charges business owners when a payment is processed. Businesses can use Stripe for invoice payments, ticket sales, and physical goods sales, among other applications.

In 2021, Stripe raised $600 million putting the company's valuation to $95 billion. In contrast to Square, Stripe is still a private company.

Square vs. Stripe – A comparison

Now that you’ve a basic knowledge of the two apps, it’s time to find out the main differences between Square and Stripe:

  1. Transaction Fees

    2. Square charges 2.6% plus 10 cents per transaction, while Stripe charges 2.9% plus 30 cents per successful card charge. Square doesn’t take any chargeback fees, while Stripe charges $15 chargeback fees.

  2. Customer Payment Options

    3. With Square, merchants can accept all major credit cards, Cash App and prepayment options for appointments. Stripe allows businesses to accept all major credit cards, buy now pay later options, international cards and payments in over 135 different currencies and more.

  3. Return Fees

    4. Square doesn’t charge any return fees. When a merchant issues a refund, the customer receives their full payment and the merchant receives the transaction fee in return. Stripe doesn’t refund the original transaction fees to the merchant.

  4. International Transactions

    5. Square doesn’t charge any additional fees for international credit cards. While, Stripe charges 1% for international cards, and additional 1% if currency conversion is required.

  5. Security

    6. Both Square and Stripe take security very seriously with end-to-end data encryption. Square software maintains Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) and handles all PCI compliance instead of merchants. On the other hand Stripe members must go through an annual PCI compliance validation.

  6. Ease of Use

    7. Stripe is relatively easy to use, though its reliance on third-party tools makes getting started more of a challenge. It offers a branded and custom UI toolkit, which is ideal for business owners who know how to code or have in-house developers.

    Square’s biggest benefit is how easy the software is to use. You can get it up and running fairly quickly, whether you need to build a website from scratch or integrate payment processing into your retail storefront.

Overall, Stripe is a leading payment processing platform for e-commerce and online stores. The payment processing platform is specifically suited for developers. Stripe also focuses on subscription payments for software-as-a-service (SaaS) businesses. Square, on the other hand, offers more hardware options and is best suited for in-person transactions.

Benefits of Using Square

  • Additional tools: Square includes management and productivity tools in addition to payment processing.
  • Ease of use: Square is easy to get up and running.
  • Versatility: Square is designed for brick-and-mortar payment processing, but it offers online payment options as well.

Benefits of Using Stripe

  • Integration: Appy Pie Connect offers excellent integrations for Stripe with hundreds of third-party apps.
  • Design: It’s designed to be an online payment system.
  • Payment methods: Stripe accepts all kinds of payment methods as well as multiple currencies.
  • Convenience for developers: Stripe is great for businesses with in-house web developers.

How you can benefit the most from Square and Stripe Integrations?

  • Streamline payment processing: Square and Stripe make it easy for businesses to process payments from multiple channels, including online and in-person. By integrating with these platforms, businesses can streamline their payment processing and avoid manual data entry.
  • Improve cash flow: Both Square and Stripe offer fast deposits, which can help improve cash flow for businesses. With Square, funds are typically deposited within one to two business days, while Stripe offers same-day deposits for a fee.
  • Automate bookkeeping: Square and Stripe integrations can help businesses automate bookkeeping tasks, such as recording transactions and reconciling accounts. This can save time and reduce the risk of errors.
  • Accept international payments: Stripe is particularly useful for businesses that need to accept payments from international customers. Stripe supports over 135 currencies and allows businesses to accept payments in their customers' preferred currency.
  • Manage subscriptions: Both Square and Stripe offer subscription management tools, which can be useful for businesses that offer recurring services or products. These tools can help automate billing and manage customer accounts.

Top Square integrations

  • Use Appy Pie Connect to integrate Square with Slack, so when a new order or paid invoice is created in Square, a message will be sent in Slack channels.
  • Connect Square with Facebook Lead Ads so when there is a new lead in your Facebook Lead Ads account, a new customer is created in Square.
  • Build a workflow automation between Square and EngageBay, so when a new contact is created in EngageBay, a new customer will be created in Square.
  • Integrate Square with PagerDuty, so when a new order or invoice is created in Square, an acknowledge event is created in PagerDuty to help you keep track of customer activity.
  • Connect Square with OneDrive, so that whenever a new invoice is created in Square, the file is directly uploaded into OneDrive.
  • Build workflow automations between Square and Microsoft Outlook, so whenever a new transaction is processed or an invoice is paid in Square, an event is created directly on your designated calendar in Microsoft Outlook.
  • Integrate Square with Databox, so you can push any custom data to Databox for any event in your Square application.
  • Connect Square with Amazon SNS, so whenever a new event occurs in Square, a new message or topic is created in Amazon SNS.

Top Stripe integrations

  • Integrate Stripe with Coinbase Commerce, so whenever a new customer is created in Stripe, a new checkout is created in Coinbase Commerce.
  • Connect Stripe with Aircall, so whenever a call is created in Aircall, a customer will be created in Stripe.
  • Build workflow automations between Stripe and Zoho Books, so when a new item is created in Zoho Books, a new customer is created in Stripe.
  • Integrate Stripe with Strava, so whenever there is new activity in Strava, a new customer is created in Stripe.
  • Connect Stripe with Nutshell, so that when there is a new person in Nutshell, a new customer is created in Stripe.
  • Build workflow automations between Stripe and Office 365, so whenever a new contact is created in Office 365, a customer will be create in Stripe.
  • Integrate Stripe with Zendesk, so when a new user is created in Zendesk, a new customer will be created in Stripe.

Top Square and Stripe Integrations

  • Connect Square with Stripe, so whenever a new customer is created in Stripe, a new customer will be created in Square.
  • Integrate Stripe with Square, so when a new customer is created in Square, a new sale will be created in Stripe.
  • Build workflow automations between Stripe and Square, so whenever, a new transaction happens in Square, a new sale will be created in Stripe.
  • Connect Square with Stripe, so when a new customer is created in Stripe, a new order will be created in Square.

Conclusion

At this point, you know about two of the most popular payment processing platforms in Square and Stripe. There are a plethora of differences between the two apps as mentioned above. All of this information can help you use these tools more efficiently.

However, using these software as is might not meet all your requirements. Appy Pie Connect is a popular no-code API integration platform that can help you integrate both Stripe and Square with hundreds of apps.

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Abhinav Girdhar

Founder and CEO of Appy Pie

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