Square vs Clover POS Fees in 2026: What Restaurants Are Actually Paying - Germany Social Bookmarking Website

Square vs Clover POS Fees in 2026: What Restaurants Are Actually Paying voiceplug.ai

Most of the Square vs Clover comparisons you’ll find right now are running outdated numbers.

Square quietly overhauled its pricing in late 2025 — raising the per-transaction fixed fee from $0.10 to $0.15 and bumping the online rate on its Free plan from 2.9% to 3.3%. That’s not a small change if you’re doing any meaningful online order volume. And yet most guides still show the old rates.

Clover has a different problem: its real price depends entirely on who sold you the hardware. The same Clover Station Duo can cost two restaurant operators completely different amounts per month — not because their businesses are different, but because one bought from a bank and one bought from a reseller.

If you’re a restaurant owner trying to figure out which Restaurant POS System is cheaper — or whether the one you’re already on is costing you more than it should — this is the breakdown with the actual 2026 numbers.

1. Square POS Fees in 2026 — Updated After the October 2025 Overhaul

Square simplified its plan structure in 2025, folding industry-specific tiers (restaurants, retail, appointments) into three universal plans. The fee structure changed significantly at the same time.

PLAN	MONTHLY	IN-PERSON	ONLINE	KEYED-IN (phone orders)
Free	$0	2.6% + $0.15	3.3% + $0.30	3.5% + $0.15
Plus	$49 / location	2.5% + $0.15	2.9% + $0.30	3.5% + $0.15
Premium	$149 / location	2.4% + $0.15	2.9% + $0.30	3.5% + $0.15
Custom (Pro)	Negotiated for $250K+ annual volume	Lower	Lower	Lower

Source: Square published pricing, verified July 2026.

A few things worth flagging about Square before moving on:

• No contracts, no early termination fees. Square is month-to-month across all plans. Cancel any time, no penalty. For restaurants that have been burned by Clover contracts, this matters.

• No chargeback fees. Square absorbs chargeback processing costs — most processors charge $15–$25 per dispute. For restaurants that deal with any delivery disputes or card-not-present fraud, this is a meaningful differentiator.

• The 3.3% online rate on the Free plan is high. If your restaurant does significant online ordering volume and you’re on Square Free, run the numbers on Plus. The $49/month fee pays for itself at around $12,250 in monthly online card sales. Below that, stay on Free.

• Keyed-in is 3.5% across all plans. This is how phone orders get processed when your staff manually type in the card number. More on why this matters below.