Shopify VS Square: Which Is Best For Your Growing Business In 2023?

It’s Shopify vs. Square, the battle of the merchant services providers. These two providers both support online and in-person sales with payment processing, POS systems, online store builders, and more, so we’ve pitted them against each other in this detailed comparison.

While Square and Shopify have much in common, they differ in terms of their respective features, pricing, ease of use, customer support, integrations, and more. These differences mean that Square will be a better fit for some merchants, while Shopify will better suit others.

Read on to see which provider better suits your business, then check out our Square review and our Shopify review for even more detailed examinations of these two payment processors.

Shopify VS Square Comparison

Looking at Square vs. Shopify, both offer similar feature sets for online and in-person sales. However, the differences are easy to spot when you consider pricing. Square charges no subscription fees and offers a universal flat rate for all transactions. Shopify charges monthly fees, and its processing fees go down if you get a higher tier subscription.

Shopify VS Square At A Glance

Shopify and Square both provide easy-to-use tools for merchants looking to sell online, in-person, or both. They offer many features in common, but they are not identical. Shopify is generally better at eCommerce, while Square is stronger for many brick-and-mortar businesses.

Benefits Of Square

Square is great for new merchants just getting started, and its POS offerings appeal to a wide range of businesses. Larger eCommerce businesses may feel confined by Square, however.

Benefits Of Shopify

Shopify offers an ideal platform for global sellers, with loads of international selling features and compatible currencies. It also provides savings over Shopify for brick-and-mortar merchants with average tickets on the smaller side. However, you can’t escape those monthly fees.

What’s The Difference Between Shopify & Square?

Both providers offer the tools needed for a brick-and-mortar shop and/or online store in this Square vs. Shopify showdown. The difference between the two can be boiled down to this: Shopify is generally stronger in eCommerce, while Square is typically better with in-person selling.

Further differences arise when you consider pricing, international sales, customer service, and industry-specific needs.

Get Started With Square or Get Started With Shopify

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Country Availability For Shopify & Square

Shopify touts its ability to serve merchants in 175 countries and its support for accepting payments in 133 currencies. However, Shopify Payments is available for payment processing in only 22 countries. Merchants in many countries will have to use a different processor if they want to use Shopify for eCommerce and/or in-person selling.

By contrast, Square can only be used in eight countries: the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, France, Spain, and Japan. Shopify has a clear international edge here.

Do Square & Shopify Restrict What You Can Sell?

Both Shopify & Square have policies in place restricting what merchants can sell through their online stores. The important thing to know is that Shopify and Shopify Payments have different restrictions; Shopify as a whole is a bit more lenient than Shopify Payments, and Shopify Payments and Square have the most similar policies. If you want to use Shopify but don’t intend to use Shopify Payments, you have a bit more freedom in what you can sell.

Otherwise, both Shopify & Square have restrictions on what are generally considered “high risk products,” which is a blanket term that can describe everything from weapons and hateful and obscene products to pornography and even betting advice and other “informational products.” The best advice is to read Square and Shopify Payments terms of service, specifically their Prohibited Products listings, and get to know the high-risk payments industry a bit better.

If your business does fall into the high-risk category, check out our list of the best high-risk payment processors as an alternative.

Shopify VS Square: FAQ

Shopify VS Square Pricing

While Shopify and Square have similar transaction fees at the basic subscription level, Shopify doesn’t offer a plan without a monthly fee like Square does. Other pricing differences arise when you look at the higher-tier subscriptions and POS equipment these companies provide.

Shopify Payments VS Square Processing Costs

In comparing pricing, there are three concerns: monthly subscription fees, rates for in-person transactions, and rates for online transactions. Both companies offer discounted processing rates with higher-tier subscriptions (particularly Shopify — high-volume merchants, take note), but the primary difference is in the monthly fees.

Monthly Pricing

With a free Square subscription, you can sell online for $0/month, and you’ll get a full (albeit feature-limited and tied to a Square domain) online store. By contrast, the cheapest Shopify plan, Shopify Starter, costs $5/month, and that plan doesn’t even include a full online store. Shopify Starter offers embeddable buy buttons and links, but you’ll need at least a Basic Shopify subscription to launch your own eCommerce website, which costs $29/month. Cost advantage: Square.

In-Person Payments

However, with in-person transactions, the story is more complex. With Square’s free POS and the free, single-location versions of Square’s Restaurant, Retail, and Appointments POS packages, there’s no monthly fee. However, Shopify’s in-person transaction fees (2.4%-2.7%) are purely percentage-based, whereas Square’s in-person rates (2.6% + $0.10) include a $0.10 fixed fee. For merchants with lower average tickets, that $0.10 per transaction fee can more than cancel out what a Square merchant might save over a Shopify merchant in monthly fees.

Online Payments

For online rates, Square and Shopify are evenly matched at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction at the base level. However, Square does not charge a fee for chargebacks, nor will Square keep the transaction fee on a refund. So Square has a slight advantage on pesky incidental fees. No one likes having to issue a refund, but having to eat the processing fees on top of that can be particularly frustrating.

One note regarding Shopify: Unlike Square, Shopify lets you choose between its in-house payment processor (Shopify Payments) and a different processor to power your Shopify sales. In itself, that’s a point in Shopify’s column, but there’s a catch: Shopify will take an extra 0.5% to 2% of each sale you make when you use an outside payment processor.

Which is Cheaper, Square or Shopify?

Strictly looking at pricing, Square has the edge over Shopify under most scenarios. Shopify’s monthly fees can add up over time, especially with add-ons. If Shopify’s tools help you run/expand your business, it may still be worth it. However, Square packs a lot of value in its free tools, especially for the budget minded.

Finally, large businesses take note: With both Shopify and Square, you may qualify for custom enterprise-level feature packages, pricing for which must be negotiated.

Read our Shopify pricing and Square pricing articles for all the myriad pricing details that wouldn’t fit in this article.

Shopify VS Square: Notable Feature Differences Discussed

Square and Shopify have a lot in common, but the differences become apparent upon closer examination. On the whole, Shopify offers the stronger (albeit pricier) all-in-one eCommerce package, while Square has a more versatile POS ecosystem with packages tailored to eateries and retailers.

Shopify VS Square Feature Drill-Down

Feature-wise, we’ll get deeper into the weeds below. However, there are some key takeaways here. Regarding in-person sales, Square excels, especially for restaurants, small- to mid-sized retailers, and businesses with appointment-setting needs. Square also offers a compelling eCommerce package for those who don’t want to pay a monthly fee and a decent package for those willing to pay a monthly fee.

On the other hand, Shopify isn’t quite as flexible when it comes to in-person sales, but for eCommerce businesses — particularly larger ones — Shopify’s features are stronger and more scalable than those of Square. International sellers, in particular, will find eCommerce to be much easier with Shopify than with Square.

User Reviews, Complaints & Criticisms

Both Square and Shopify are very widely-used services, so it’s no surprise that both see a high volume of complaints. When you review complaints about these services on sites such as the BBB, one dominant theme emerges: complaints about held funds and account holds/terminations.

Shopify Complaints & Common Problems

Shopify Payments, like Square, is a payment service provider. Unlike traditional merchant account providers, PSPs don’t heavily scrutinize you and your business before you sign up. That’s one of their central appeals — a quick and easy signup process. However, that means that PSPs heavily scrutinize your transactions after you sign up with automated systems that raise red flags at the slightest hint of illegality or contravention of the terms of service.

Given that easy user access is key to the business model of PSPs, there isn’t much they can do about funding holds and account terminations that turn out to be unjust or overkill. That’s why Shopify and Square get mountains of nearly identical complaints along these lines. Just know that there are things you can do to minimize your chances of experiencing funding holds and account terminations.

Shopify also gets a fair number of complaints regarding customer service problems and billing issues. To its credit, though, Shopify makes an effort to respond to user complaints posted to popular review sites.

Square Complaints & Common Problems

Square’s user complaints tell a virtually identical story to the complaints posted about Shopify. Funding holds and account terminations abound. And as with Shopify, you’ll also see plenty of issues with billing and customer service availability and quality. However, like Shopify, Square responds to most of its users who post complaints. Honestly, the complaints (and company responses) read so similarly that it’s impossible to declare a winner in this section.

Despite the high complaint volume, Square and Shopify have millions upon millions of users who do not encounter these issues, so don’t let these complaints scare you off these services entirely. Of course, you shouldn’t discount them entirely, either, which is why you might consider switching from a PSP to a dedicated merchant account provider once your business gets big enough.

Which Is Best For My Business Needs: Square Or Shopify?

Which merchant services giant should you use to take your small business to new heights? It depends on your business and what your priorities are.

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Choose Shopify If You Need…

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Square VS Shopify: Next Steps To Create Your Business

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It’s hard to declare a definitive winner in the Square vs. Shopify battle. We recommend them both to merchants, as they have a lot of great features with generally fair pricing.

That said, Shopify does have a few more advantages than Square — cheaper POS processing, more extensive eCommerce features, and round-the-clock customer service, for starters. But that doesn’t mean Square isn’t a good choice for some merchants. Newer, smaller-scale, and cost-conscious merchants will find a lot to like about Square, as will restaurant owners and businesses with intensive appointment-setting needs.

In the end, you need to know what your budget is and what features are most important for you to have. Shopify and Square look pretty similar at first glance, but when you scratch beneath the surface, you’ll find they both have so much to offer. You do need to consider costs when making a decision, but keep in mind your long-term goals and the features that will help you reach those goals.

Thankfully, you can try either service on a trial basis to freely test the features. Even if you sign up for a paid plan, you can easily cancel at any time, as their plans are month-to-month with no long-term commitments. (For example, deactivating your Square account is a quick four-step process, though you’ll need to do some preparation beforehand!)

Before deciding, you may want to read how Square stacks up with PayPal. Also, those in the foodservice industry should check out our favorite restaurant POS apps.

If you’ve had experience with either or both of these services, please leave us a comment and tell us about it! And as always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact us!