Square review: products, technology and pricing (2026)

Square is a payments and point-of-sale platform that sells card readers, register software, online checkout and developer APIs to sellers, and it is part of Block, Inc. It publishes flat per-transaction rates rather than quote-only pricing, and its developer site lists more than 20 APIs.

Card acceptance through the Square app is available in eight countries: the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Spain, according to Square's support pages. Rates differ by country, plan and channel, as the tables below show.

At a glance

How the platform works

Square sells hardware, point-of-sale software and payment processing together, and charges its own published processing rates, so a seller deals with one company for all three. The pages we opened do not describe Square's acquiring arrangements. For the terminology, see gateway, PSP and acquirer explained.

Online, the flow follows the common tokenisation pattern. Per Square's documentation, the Web Payments SDK in the browser turns card details into a one-time encrypted token. In regions that need strong customer authentication, the code then calls a buyer verification step. The merchant's server then posts the token as the source of a payment to the Payments API with an idempotency key. The network tokenisation guide and 3-D Secure explainer cover the concepts.

Hardware availability is tied to country. The support page says Square hardware is approved only for the country it was intended for, and that an account's country sets its currency, so charging in other currencies is not available.

Products

Point of sale and hardware

The developer site references the Square Terminal for in-person selling, and a Terminal API that lets software drive it. Square also runs a Mobile Payments SDK, described as generally available. Contactless acceptance on phones is covered in our tap to pay explainer.

Online and invoicing

Hosted options include the Checkout API, which generates a link to a Square-branded payment page, Payment Links for shareable quick-pay pages, the Invoices API and the Subscriptions API for recurring billing. Customisable options include the Web Payments SDK for browsers and the In-App Payments SDK for Android and iOS, with Flutter and React Native plugins.

Managerbot and AI

On 28 April 2026 Square opened Managerbot, an agent inside Square Dashboard, to a wider group of sellers in open beta. Square says it monitors sales and labour by location, flags likely stock shortages, drafts staff schedules and suggests marketing campaigns, and that every action needs seller approval. It was available at no extra cost to most non-franchise food and beverage, retail, and health and beauty sellers in the US.

Developer experience and integrations

The developer home page lists more than 20 APIs and over 100 endpoints. Groupings include customers, bookings, loyalty and gift cards; orders, catalogue, inventory and locations; money movement through the Payments API, a Payouts SDK and a Bank Accounts API; and a Reporting API in beta. Backend SDKs cover Python, Node.js, Ruby, PHP, Java and .NET. Tools include an API Explorer, a GraphQL Explorer, a Postman collection, API logs and webhooks, and an App Marketplace for partner apps.

Square's sandbox does not take real cards; it uses published test values. Documented examples include a success token for cards, separate failure tokens for declines and rejected security codes, a test number that returns a decline, and test cards for strong customer authentication challenges. The page states card-present testing is not supported in the sandbox. Test amounts can also trigger moderate or high risk levels on the payment response.

Payment methods, currencies and coverage

The US fees page also lists in-person Bitcoin payments through a QR code and EBT for eligible items. Square notes that most cards issued abroad can be processed, though the cardholder's bank may add conversion fees. For background see alternative payment methods explained.

Pricing model

Both fees pages are undated; the US page carries a 2026 Block copyright line. Verify current rates before relying on them.

United States

The US page shows three plan columns whose labels were not readable in our extraction. Based on the page's own FAQ, which says the highest plan carries the lowest fees, the ranges below run from the first column to the last:

The page says the entry plan has no monthly subscription, the paid plans have a 30-day trial, and businesses processing over USD 250,000 a year can ask sales about custom pricing.

United Kingdom

Recent launches

Dated items from Square's own press archive and releases:

• 28 April 2026: Managerbot open beta, as above.
• 24 September 2026: archive title: Square integrates Apple Business to help local businesses appear on Apple Maps. We saw the title only.
• 14 October 2026: archive title: introducing the new Square Kiosk for self-service. We saw the title only.
• 23 October 2026: archive title: Square welcomes the Zenlytic team.

Regulation in brief

The Square pages we opened do not list authorisations or registrations. The support page says card processing is limited to the eight countries above, and that the account country cannot be changed. For the regulated entity serving your account, check Square's legal pages for your country; our licence-checking guide explains how.

Who it tends to suit

Square is commonly used by small and mid-sized sellers, such as cafes, shops and service businesses, who want hardware, software and payments from one supplier at published flat rates. Developers building custom checkout may also compare Stripe and PayPal; see our Stripe vs Square comparison and Square alternatives. Larger merchants with international volume sometimes look at Adyen. More profiles are in the acquiring hub.