Shopify vs Square Online: which fits your store?

Last verified 2026-10-01 some data medium/low confidence

Shopify and Square Online are both ecommerce platform tools compared here on pricing verified 2026-10-01, published plans, App Store standing, and themes from recent merchant reviews. Square Online starts cheaper (free vs ≈ $30/mo); Square Online has a free tier, Shopify does not. — auto-generated from tracked data; editorial verdict pending.

How do Shopify and Square Online compare?

	Shopify	Square Online
App Store rating	—	—
Price from	≈ $30/mo	free
Free tier	✗ no	✓ yes
Published plans	5	4
Data confidence	high	medium

Detected on 3,796 tracked DTC storefronts

Shopify 2885 brands

Square Online 1 brands

→ Shopify leads among brands we track

What would you actually pay?

Shopify plans

Plan	Monthly	Limits / notes
Basic	≈ $30	10 inventory locations; no additional staff accounts listed; 50 synced marketplace orders/month free, then 1% up to $99 USD/month; 2% fee for third-party payment providers; limited checkout customization and API data access; 1 headless storefront.
Grow	≈ $83	Up to 5 staff accounts; 10 inventory locations; 50 synced marketplace orders/month free, then 1% up to $99 USD/month; 1% fee for third-party payment providers; limited checkout customization; full API data access; 1 headless storefront.
Advanced	≈ $430	Up to 15 staff accounts; 10 inventory locations; 50 synced marketplace orders/month free, then 1% up to $99 USD/month; 0.6% fee for third-party payment providers; limited checkout customization; up to 2x rate on select APIs; 1 headless storefront.
Plus	—	Unlimited staff accounts and B2B catalogs; 200 inventory locations; up to 200 POS Pro locations, with 20 locations included according to the comparison table; 50 synced marketplace orders/month free, then 1% up to $99 USD/month; 0.2% fee for third-party payment providers; full checkout customization and API data access; up to 10x rate on select APIs; 25 headless storefronts; up to 9 expansion stores.
POS Pro	≈ $89	Priced per physical retail location; includes advanced staff roles and permissions, in-store inventory management, in-store pickup, and flexible delivery.

≈ prices converted from EUR at 1.1205 (ECB, 2026-10-22).

Prices are displayed in EUR and were not converted to USD. Some credits, marketplace overage caps, and promotional benefits are separately stated in USD.

Verified 2026-10-01 from vendor pricing page.

Square Online plans

Plan	Monthly	Limits / notes
Square Free	$0	$0/mo per location; pay processing fees when payments are taken. Processing fees shown include 2.6% + 15¢ in-person, 3.3% + 30¢ online, 2.9% + 30¢ Online API, 1% ACH via invoice with $1 minimum, 1% ACH via API with $1 minimum and $5 cap, 3.5% + 15¢ manual/card on file, 6% + 30¢ Cash App Afterpay; text message marketing not available; 2.5% gift card load fee; 1.00% bitcoin conversions.
Square Plus	$49	$49/mo per location. Processing fees shown include 2.5% + 15¢ in-person, 2.9% + 30¢ online, 2.9% + 30¢ Online API, 1% ACH via invoice with $1 minimum and $10 cap, 1% ACH via API with $1 minimum and $5 cap, 3.5% + 15¢ manual/card on file, 6% + 30¢ Cash App Afterpay; 500 texts included then 3¢ per text; 2.5% gift card load fee; 1.00% bitcoin conversions.
Square Premium	$149	$149/mo per location. Processing fees shown include 2.4% + 15¢ in-person, 2.9% + 30¢ online, 2.9% + 30¢ Online API, 1% ACH via invoice with $1 minimum and $10 cap, 1% ACH via API with $1 minimum and $5 cap, 3.5% + 15¢ manual/card on file, 6% + 30¢ Cash App Afterpay; 2,500 texts included then 1.5¢ per text; 0% gift card load fee; 0.5% bitcoin conversions.
Square Pro	—	Custom pricing and processing fees for businesses processing over $250,000 per year.

Verified 2026-07-15 from vendor pricing page.

Which features does each include?

Feature	Shopify	Square Online
Hosted online store	✓	✓
Point of sale	✓	✓
Multichannel selling	✓	✓
B2B / wholesale	✓	—
Headless / API-first	✓	✓
App ecosystem	✓	✓
Themes & templates	✓	✓
Abandoned cart recovery	✓	✓
Multi-currency	✓	—
Multilingual storefronts	✓	—
Native subscriptions	—	✓ paid
Carrier shipping rates	✓ paid	✓ paid
Built-in email marketing	✓	✓
SEO tools	✓	✓
Zero platform transaction fees	✓	—
Free plan	✗	✓

Extracted from each vendor's App Store listing (2026-07-15); "—" = not stated there. Verify tier availability on vendor pricing pages.

FAQ

Which is cheaper, Shopify or Square Online?

Square Online starts lower at free, vs ≈ $30/mo for Shopify (verified 2026-10-01).

Does Shopify or Square Online have a free plan?

Square Online has a free tier; Shopify does not publish one.

Which is rated higher on the Shopify App Store?

App Store ratings are shown in the table above where available.

How we compare: pricing and plans are collected automatically from vendor pages on a schedule and shown with verification dates; ratings come from the Shopify App Store; merchant sentiment is synthesized from the most recent App Store reviews (paraphrased, never quoted). We currently have no affiliate relationship with either vendor. Found an error? The data snapshot behind this page is dated — check the vendor's page for same-day changes.

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