Compare Square for Retail Free, Square for Retail Plus and Square Point of Sale
Square for Retail is a comprehensive, all-in-one POS solution designed specifically for retail businesses, and enhanced with unique features suitable for retailers large and small. Square for Retail includes advanced functionality to help retailers run their business more efficiently, such as intuitive inventory management and smart reporting.
Compare Square Point of Sale and Square for Retail Free and Plus plans to find the best POS solution for your business. To experience Square for Retail, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial of Square for Retail Plus. After your trial ends, you can upgrade your plan or continue with Retail Free.
Pricing
| Square Point of Sale | Square for Retail Free | Square for Retail Plus* | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Price | Free | Free | $109/month, per location |
| Card-Present Processing Fees using Square Reader or Square Stand | 1.9% | 1.9% | 1.6% |
| Card-Present Processing Fees using Square Terminal or Square Register | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1.6% |
| Card-Not-Present Processing Fees | 2.2% | 2.2% | 2.2% |
*The rate of 1.6% (GST inclusive) for contactless and chip + PIN payments on Square Reader and Square Stand is only applicable to payments processed when signed into a Square for Retail Plus account on the Retail POS app. If you process payments on Square Point of Sale or Square for Retail POS Free version, you will pay the standard processing fee of 1.9% (GST inclusive) for any tap or insert on Square Reader and Square Stand payments.
For more information regarding processing fees, check out our Square for Retail POS and Square POS pricing articles. Contact Sales for information on custom pricing, which includes discounts on Square Loyalty.
Features
| Square Point of Sale | Square for Retail Free | Square for Retail Plus | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory Management | |||
| Unlimited items | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Create item categories | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Low stock alerts | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Automatically track inventory | – | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Use SKU barcodes | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Use GTIN barcodes | – | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Auto-create items from GTIN | – | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Auto-generate SKUs | – | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Barcode printing | – | – | ✔️ |
| Cross-location stock counts | – | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Cross-location bulk transfers | – | – | ✔️ |
| Price Overrides | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Inventory counting tool | – | – | ✔️ |
| Bulk-receive inventory | – | – | ✔️ |
| Stock Conversion | – | – | ✔️ |
| Inventory Sell-Through Report | – | – | ✔️ |
| Purchase orders | – | – | ✔️ |
| Vendor management | – | – | ✔️ |
| Inventory history | – | – | ✔️ |
| Checkout experience | |||
| Saved carts | ✔️ (Open Tickets) | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Discounts | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Scan existing SKUs | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Scan price-embedded barcodes | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Barcode scanning with iOS camera | – | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Enhanced checkout grid | – | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Search by item variant, category and customer | – | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Create cross-location orders | – | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Accept cross-location returns | – | – | ✔️ |
| Exchanges | – | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Reports | |||
| Sales reports | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Sell-through reporting | – | – | ✔️ |
| Profit margin reports | – | – | ✔️ |
| Cost of goods sold | – | – | ✔️ |
| Vendor sales | – | – | ✔️ |
| Payments | |||
| Integrated payments | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Next-day transfers | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Data security (PCI) compliance | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| No hidden fees | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Invoices | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| eGift cards | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Physical gift cards | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Afterpay in-person | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Online Sales | |||
| Free online store | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Smart website builder | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Inventory sync across channels | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| In-store pickup or delivery | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Sell on TikTok, Google, Facebook/Instagram | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Custom domain | Starts at $15/mo for Square Online Professional plan | Starts at $15/mo for Square Online Professional plan | Starts at $15/mo for Square Online Professional plan |
| Product reviews | Starts at $30/mo for Square Online Performance plan | Starts at $30/mo for Square Online Performance plan | Starts at $30/mo for Square Online Performance plan |
| Customers | |||
| Auto created customer profiles | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Customer groups | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Custom fields | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Team Management | |||
| Unlimited personal passcodes | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✔️ |
| Unlimited customisable permission sets | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✔️ |
| Square Shifts | |||
| Timecard reporting | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Time tracking | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Sales vs Labour reporting | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✔️ |
| Multiple wage rates | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✔️ |
Afterpay and Square for Retail
With Square for Retail and Afterpay, customers can pay for transactions in four installments over six weeks.
- If you’re eligible, you can accept Afterpay payments between $1 to $2,000 in store via your Square for Retail POS app or via your Square Online website.
- Afterpay is available with Square for Retail Free, Plus and Premium plans.
Learn more about Afterpay and Square.
Square sellers using Afterpay get paid the full amount at the time of purchase, minus a processing fee on the total order. Enabling Afterpay with Square is free — there are no monthly fees or startup costs. There are no processing fees charged on the remaining installments or if your customer makes a late payment.
Afterpay online and in-person payments are 6% + 30 cents per sale.
Note: Afterpay rates are fixed and do not vary by subscription type, hardware, or custom pricing.
You can go to Payment Methods via your online Square Dashboard to enable or disable Afterpay at any time.
Note: The setting for In-person payments with Afterpay is global and applies across all Square products that can also take Afterpay payments in-person. This includes other online platforms such as Square Point of Sale, Square Appointments, Square for Restaurants, Square Invoices and Virtual Terminal. There isn’t a way to enable/disable Afterpay only for Square for Retail at this time.
To see if you are eligible for Afterpay, visit our In-Person eligibility.
What’s Included?
Supported Operating Systems
| Square Point of Sale | Square for Retail Free | Square for Retail Plus | |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPads | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| iPhones | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Android phones | ✔️ | - | - |
| Android tablets | ✔️ | - | - |
Note: Square for Retail on mobile has a limited feature set. Learn more about the differences between Square for Retail Plus and Square for Retail Free when using an iPhone.
Square Hardware Compatibility
| Square Point of Sale | Square for Retail Free | Square for Retail Plus | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Square Reader (1st and 2nd generation) | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Square Stand (1st and 2nd generation) | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Square point-of-sale kits for retail businesses | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Square Register | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Square Terminal | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
If you're interested in Square for Retail, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial of Square for Retail Plus.