Clover vs Square (2026): Hardware, Plans and Processing Costs

Square is cheaper to start and to leave; Clover is cheaper per sale. Square Free costs $0 a month, sells a $59 card reader and charges 2.6% + 15¢ per in-person card. Clover's Starter plan charges 2.6% + 10¢, and its Growth plans go down to 2.3% + 10¢, but they add a software fee from $84.95 a month and Station hardware from $1,799.

For a small business the answer turns on two numbers: how much you sell in person each month, and whether you can pay for hardware upfront. Below about $20,000 a month at the counter, Square Free usually wins on total cost. Above it, Clover's lower rate starts to pay for its software fee, though the hardware gap takes years to recover.

Every price here was read on the vendors' own US pages on 21 October 2026: Clover pricing, Clover retail pricing, Clover Go pricing and Square pricing. The monthly and multi-year totals are our arithmetic on those prices, not a quote from either company.

Toolradar data: among the 191 payment processing tools Toolradar ranks as of October 2026, 56 have a free plan, and Square Free is one of them. The full list sits on Toolradar's payment processing ranking, with product pages for Square and Clover Dining, Clover's restaurant system.

Clover vs Square at a glance

Cost (US, read 21 October 2026)	Clover	Square
Cheapest software plan	Starter, no monthly fee, sold with a device	Square Free, no monthly fee
Paid software plans	Essentials $29.95/mo; Retail or Services Growth $84.95/mo; Restaurant Growth $89.95/mo	Plus $49/mo per location; Premium $149/mo per location
In-person card	2.6% + 10¢ on Starter, 2.5% + 10¢ on Essentials, 2.3% + 10¢ on Growth	2.6% + 15¢ Free, 2.5% + 15¢ Plus, 2.4% + 15¢ Premium
Keyed-in, phone or online card	3.5% + 10¢	3.3% + 30¢ online; 3.5% + 15¢ keyed-in or card on file
Cheapest card reader	Clover Go, $199	Square Reader, $59
Counter POS with customer screen	Station Duo, $1,899 bought, or a 36-month subscription	Square Register, $899
Instant payout	Rapid Deposit, 1.75%	Instant transfer, 1.95%
Chargeback	Dispute processing fee, amount set by contract	No fee
Contract	36-month subscriptions are non-cancelable	Paid plans cancel anytime

The pattern is consistent. Clover's fixed fee is 5¢ lower on every in-person sale, on every plan, and its Growth tier reaches a lower percentage than Square Premium at a lower monthly price. Square charges less for what you pay once or walk away from: the hardware and the contract.

What is the real difference between Clover and Square?

Clover sells a bundle of device, software plan and processing, and the device decides the plan. Square sells free software and lets you pick hardware separately. That split shapes every cost line below.

On Clover's site, a business type and a device come first. A Clover Go reader is sold with Starter or Essentials; a Station Duo for retail is sold with Retail Growth; a full-service restaurant setup comes with Restaurant Growth. Clover's own FAQ says its devices cannot be used with other payment processors, so the hardware purchase also commits you to Clover's rates.

Clover is also sold by banks. Its pricing FAQ names Citi, PNC and Wells Fargo among more than 3,000 financial institution partners, and says contract terms and termination fees vary by provider. The prices on this page are the ones Clover prints for Clover.com buyers; a bank's quote can differ, so ask for the full fee schedule in writing.

Square Free gives a seller the point-of-sale app, an item library, a basic online store, invoicing and booking with no monthly fee. A seller who outgrows it moves to Plus or Premium for industry features and lower rates, and can step back down without a penalty. Our Square review covers the product side in more depth.

Which is cheaper for a mobile or market seller?

Clover Go Starter, by a small margin, if you only need to take cards. Both charge 2.6% per tap on their entry plans, but Clover's fixed fee is 10¢ against Square's 15¢, and small tickets magnify the gap.

The scenario: a market stall taking $4,000 a month in person, an average ticket of $10 (400 sales), no refunds or disputes.

Line	Square Free + Reader	Clover Go Starter	Clover Go Essentials
Percentage fee	2.6% = $104.00	2.6% = $104.00	2.5% = $100.00
Fixed fee	15¢ x 400 = $60.00	10¢ x 400 = $40.00	10¢ x 400 = $40.00
Software plan	None	None	$29.95
Monthly total	$164.00	$144.00	$169.95
Reader	$59	$199	$199
First year, reader included	$2,027.00	$1,927.00	$2,238.40

Clover Go Starter saves this stall $20 a month and recovers its $140 hardware gap in seven months. The catch is the feature set. Clover's own Go table leaves item creation, stock tracking, itemized orders, detailed sales reports and the customer database out of Starter; they start on Essentials, which costs more than Square Free here. Square Free includes an item library and inventory tracking at $0.

So the honest split: a seller who rings up a single amount per sale saves money on Clover Go Starter. A seller who needs a product catalog, stock counts or a customer list pays less on Square Free.

Which is cheaper for a shop with a counter?

Square Free over one to three years, Clover Growth only for a high-volume store that keeps its hardware a long time. Here Clover's lower rate meets its biggest cost: the counter hardware and the monthly software plan.

The scenario: a boutique selling $25,000 a month in person, an average ticket of $40 (625 sales), comparing two-screen counter systems.

Monthly line	Square Free + Register	Square Plus + Register	Clover Station Duo, bought	Clover Station Duo, subscription
Percentage fee	2.6% = $650.00	2.5% = $625.00	2.3% = $575.00	2.3% = $575.00
Fixed fee	$93.75	$93.75	$62.50	$62.50
Plan or subscription	None	$49.00	$84.95	$180.00
Monthly total	$743.75	$767.75	$722.45	$817.50
Hardware upfront	$899	$899	$1,899	Nothing
First year	$9,824.00	$10,112.00	$10,568.40	$9,810.00
Three years (36 months)	$27,674.00	$28,538.00	$27,907.20	$29,430.00

Clover wins the monthly line by $21.30, but the $1,000 hardware gap takes 47 months to recover, longer than the 36-month window. Over three years Square Free stays $233.20 cheaper than a purchased Station Duo, and $1,756 cheaper than the subscription.

The break-even sits near $20,000 a month. At a $40 ticket, Clover Growth's lower rate saves 0.425% of sales against Square Free, which covers the Growth plan fee at about $19,990 of monthly card sales. Below that, the plan costs more than it saves; well above it, say $60,000 a month, the monthly saving reaches about $170 and the hardware pays back within a year.

Square Plus does not help this boutique. Its 0.1-point cut is worth $25 a month at this volume against a $49 fee. Square's in-person discount covers Plus only from $49,000 a month at the counter, and Premium needs more still, so both are bought for features rather than for the rate.

Clover's cheapest counter option changes the picture for a simple shop. The Basic retail bundle pairs a Compact terminal with Starter at $349, at the same in-person rate as Go Starter. On this boutique's sales it would run $712.50 a month, the lowest bill in the comparison, but the retail table leaves inventory management, itemized orders and detailed reports out of it.

Which is cheaper online and over the phone?

It depends on the ticket. Clover charges its typed-in rate whenever the card is not present, and its pricing FAQ names online sales and phone orders as examples. Square splits the same traffic in two: a hosted online rate, and a keyed-in rate for a card typed in or kept on file. The table shows what each costs per order.

Order	Clover, 3.5% + 10¢	Square online, 3.3% + 30¢	Square keyed-in, 3.5% + 15¢
$25	$0.98	$1.13	$1.03
$50	$1.85	$1.95	$1.90
$100	$3.60	$3.60	$3.65
$250	$8.85	$8.55	$8.90

The crossover with Square's online rate is a $100 order: below it Clover's lower fixed fee wins, above it Square's lower percentage does. On phone orders Clover is always 5¢ cheaper, since both charge 3.5% and Clover's fixed fee is lower.

Two caveats. Clover's plan tables list building a new online store as an optional add-on on every plan, so price that add-on with Clover before you compare a web shop. Square Free already includes a basic online store, and on Plus its online rate drops to 2.9% + 30¢, the same rate Square charges through its payments API on every plan. A shop that mostly sells online should also read Square vs Stripe, since an online-first business has a third option.

Payouts, disputes and contracts

Fast payouts favor Clover. Rapid Deposit costs 1.75% of the amount you move, against 1.95% for a Square instant transfer, so pulling $5,000 the same day costs $87.50 on Clover and $97.50 on Square. Standard payouts differ in speed: Square sends payments taken before 5 PM PT the next business day, while Clover describes standard settlement as one to three days.

Disputes favor Square. Square's fee help page lists chargebacks and dispute management among the things it does not charge for. Clover's help center says a won dispute is credited back minus the fee for processing the dispute, and its US pricing tables do not show that amount, so ask for it before you sign.

Contracts are the largest gap. Clover's FAQ says its subscriptions are non-cancelable and not refundable, can only be broken through a buyout or upgrade, and continue at the same monthly charge after the term unless you give 30 days' notice. Square Plus and Premium come with a 30-day free trial and can be cancelled or switched at any time.

Financing also differs. Square sells hardware on credit sale plans issued by Block at a 15% APR, for example the Register at $44 a month over 24 months. Clover's subscription is no money down and includes its Equipment Protection Program warranty, while a buyer of the same device gets a one-year limited warranty unless they add Clover Care.

Promotions run on both sides. Clover advertises a $450 statement credit online on Station, Mini or Flex, and a 90-day trial without software fees on Essentials or Services Growth for qualified merchants through 31 December 2026. These are offers, not list prices, so the scenarios above leave them out.

Where each one falls short

Clover's weaknesses. Hardware is expensive and locked to Clover's processing, the 36-month subscription cannot be cancelled, and the useful features sit behind a software fee on every device. Pricing also depends on who sells it to you: a bank partner can quote different rates and termination terms than Clover.com.

Square's weaknesses. The 15¢ fixed fee costs more on every in-person sale, which adds up for small-ticket sellers. Paid plans are priced per location, so three stores on Plus pay $147 a month before card fees. Hosted online payments on the free plan carry a 30¢ fixed fee, three times Clover's, which makes Square the dearer option on orders under the crossover point.

Neither is the cheapest route for every channel. If most of your revenue is invoices paid by bank transfer, Square fees breaks down the ACH caps, and the best invoicing software for freelancers covers tools built around that flow. Businesses paid by overseas clients can compare Payoneer vs PayPal. If your sales are online and international, Stripe vs PayPal fees and the Stripe review are the better starting points.

Verdict by business type

Business	Cheaper	Why
Market stall or pop-up, no catalog	Clover Go Starter	10¢ fixed fee against 15¢ on small tickets
Mobile seller who tracks stock	Square Free	Item library and inventory included free; Clover needs Essentials
Counter under about $20,000 a month	Square Free	No plan fee and cheaper hardware
Counter well above $20,000 a month, keeping hardware 4+ years	Clover Growth, bought	The lower rate outweighs the plan fee
Online orders under $100	Clover	Lower fixed fee, once the online store add-on is priced
Online orders over $100	Square	3.3% against 3.5%
Phone orders	Clover	Same percentage, 5¢ lower fixed fee
Frequent same-day payouts	Clover	1.75% against 1.95%
Frequent chargebacks	Square	No dispute fee
Unsure the business will last 3 years	Square	No contract to break

The deposit side matters too: card payouts land in a business checking account, and the best business bank accounts roundup and our business banking fees breakdown compare where to receive them. For a retail operator's view of Clover's full device range, Retailpresso has a Clover pricing breakdown. Payment fee changes like these go out in the Finpresso newsletter at finpresso.com.

How we computed it

Every price comes from the vendors' own US pages, read on 21 October 2026: Clover pricing, Clover retail pricing, Clover Go pricing, Clover Station Duo pricing, Clover Rapid Deposit, Clover dispute help, Square pricing, Square hardware, Square's fee guide and Square's transfer options. Square's plans are billed monthly; Clover's are monthly software fees or 36-month device subscriptions, and each table says which. The scenarios multiply each rate by the stated volume and add the fixed fee per sale. They assume list prices from Clover.com, US cards, no refunds, no promotions and no negotiated rates. Louis Corneloup, founder of Toolradar and Dupple, is the author.

FAQ

Is Clover or Square cheaper in 2026?

Square is cheaper for most small businesses over one to three years, because Square Free has no monthly fee and its counter hardware costs less. Clover charges less per sale thanks to its 10¢ fixed fee and lower Growth rate, so it wins for small-ticket sellers on Clover Go Starter and for high-volume counters that keep their hardware four years or more.

How much does Clover cost per month?

Clover's Starter plan has no monthly software fee, Essentials costs $29.95 a month, Retail and Services Growth $84.95 and Restaurant Growth $89.95. Hardware is extra: $199 for Clover Go, $349 for the Compact bundle and $1,899 for Station Duo, or a 36-month subscription such as $180 a month for Station Duo on Retail Growth.

What are Clover's processing fees compared with Square's?

In person, Clover charges 2.6% + 10¢ on Starter, 2.5% + 10¢ on Essentials and 2.3% + 10¢ on Growth plans; Square charges 2.6% + 15¢, 2.5% + 15¢ and 2.4% + 15¢ on Free, Plus and Premium. For cards not present, Clover charges 3.5% + 10¢, while Square charges 3.3% + 30¢ online and 3.5% + 15¢ keyed-in.

Can I cancel a Clover contract?

Not easily. Clover's own FAQ says its device subscriptions are non-cancelable and ineligible for refunds, can be ended through a buyout or upgrade, and roll on at the same monthly charge after the 36-month term unless you give 30 days' notice. Square's paid plans can be cancelled at any time and Square Free has no contract.

Can I use Clover hardware with Square or another processor?

No. Clover's pricing FAQ states that Clover devices cannot be used with other payment processors, even when bought or leased from a third party. Buying a Station Duo for $1,899 therefore ties the business to Clover's processing rates for as long as it uses the device.

Does Clover or Square charge for chargebacks?

Square lists no fee for chargebacks and dispute management. Clover's help center says a won dispute is credited minus a fee for processing the dispute, and the amount is not shown in its US pricing tables, so a business with frequent disputes should get that figure from Clover before signing.

Which is better for a restaurant, Clover or Square?

On list price, Clover's restaurant systems start at $1,799 plus $89.95 a month for Station Solo on Restaurant Growth, at Clover's lowest in-person rate. A restaurant can run on Square Free with a $899 Register at 2.6% + 15¢; a kitchen display needs Plus at $49 a month per location plus $30 a month per display device. The same volume math applies: Clover's rate pays off only at high monthly sales.

This page is general information, not personalized financial advice. Confirm current rates, contract terms and fees with Clover, your Clover reseller or Square before you sign up or buy hardware.

Cite this: Finpresso, "Clover vs Square (2026): Hardware, Plans and Processing Costs", November 2026.

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