Square Fee Calculator

How do you calculate fees on Square?

Choose the US Square plan, then the payment channel from this list. Enter the USD amount to estimate processing and net receipt.

Reverse mode starts with the amount you want to receive and solves for a charge under the same selected conditions. ACH has minimums and, in some modes, caps, so its reverse calculation checks each applicable fee condition. The result covers the estimated successful payment. Hardware, instant transfers and optional services have their own prices. Compare the payment’s settlement schedule alongside its processing cost.

Which US rates apply to Square Free, Plus and Premium?

The Square US pricing page, checked October 13, 2026, lists the current Free, Plus and Premium rates. Square’s processing-fee help page also confirms website bank-payment pricing.

Free invoice ACH has a $1 minimum and is uncapped. Plus and Premium invoice ACH have a $10 cap. Bank payment through a website integration has a $1 minimum and a $5 cap.

How do in-person, online and manual-card fees differ?

Payment channel describes how the customer pays. A salon can take an in-person card today and an online invoice payment tomorrow. The correct rate follows the channel used for that payment.

For a $100 domestic card payment on Free, tap/dip/swipe costs an estimated $2.75, online or invoice card costs $3.60, Custom website card payment costs $3.20, and manual entry or card on file costs $3.65.

A custom website integration uses the website-card channel. A regular invoice paid online uses online/invoice card. Seller-entered card details use manual entry.

Why are invoice card and ACH fees different?

Invoice card payments use the plan's online/invoice-card rate. Invoice ACH uses its own percentage, minimum and applicable cap. At $50, the 1% calculation would be $0.50, but the $1 minimum makes the estimated ACH fee $1. At $1,000, Plus and Premium invoice ACH reach the $10 cap.

Free invoice ACH is uncapped. A $5,000 payment therefore estimates a $50 fee. Under Plus or Premium's capped invoice ACH entry, it estimates $10. Bank payment through a website integration instead caps at $5, so a $1,000 website bank payment has a $5 fee.

Square’s processing-fee help page confirms the $1 minimum and $5 cap for website bank payments, and zero processing fees for invoice and website ACH deposited into Square Checking. Select that destination only for a payment deposited there; an external-bank destination uses the selected ACH rate.

What should you charge to receive a target amount after fees?

To receive $100 using Free online or invoice-card pricing, reverse mode finds a $103.72 charge. Its rounded fee is $3.72, leaving $100.00. A $103.71 charge leaves only $99.99.

Invoice ACH depends on the selected plan and destination. For an external-bank payment with a $50 target, $51 has a $1 minimum fee and leaves $50. A $1,000 target on Plus needs $1,010 because the fee is capped at $10. Free’s uncapped invoice ACH instead needs $1,010.10: fee $10.10, net $1,000.00.

Reverse mode checks the fee for the proposed total after cent rounding. Use the gross charge when preparing the selling amount; keep the estimated fee and net receipt for internal budgeting. For card-payment policies, see the surcharge requirements on the Stripe fee page.

Which fee applies to international cards?

Square adds 1.5 percentage points for credit or debit cards issued outside the country of the Square account. For the US rate options, that means a card issued outside the United States. It is the card's issuing country, rather than simply the buyer's shipping address, that defines this option.

The addition applies across Square's card channels and pricing tiers. Free online/invoice-card pricing becomes 4.8% + $0.30, so a $100 payment has an estimated $5.10 fee and $94.90 net. Free in-person pricing becomes 4.1% + $0.15, producing $4.25 and $95.75.

Square’s international transaction fee guidance excludes alternative methods such as ACH and Afterpay from this international-card addition. The calculator therefore disables the international-card option in ACH mode. The result remains in USD with the applicable international-card addition.

Why can a $1 sale appear to have a very high fee percentage?

A fixed fee takes a larger share of a smaller payment. On Free in-person pricing, $1 × 2.6% + $0.15 gives $0.176, rounded to a $0.18 fee and $0.82 net. The effective fee on that $1 payment is 18%; the published pricing remains 2.6% plus $0.15.

At $100, the same channel costs $2.75, or 2.75% of the payment. Free online/invoice-card pricing costs $3.60 on $100; manual entry costs $3.65. Those examples need their channel labels because “Square charges per $100” has several possible answers.

For a Free in-person seller, four $25 payments cost $0.80 each, totaling $3.20. A single $100 payment costs $2.75. The difference reflects the fixed amount charged on each transaction. For repeated sales at one price, enter the combined dollars and the number of sales. For a basket of different ticket amounts, work out each ticket’s rounded fee before adding the costs.

How do monthly plan fees change the total cost?

The Square US pricing page lists monthly location costs of $0 for Free, $49 for Plus and $149 for Premium. Monthly mode combines those subscription amounts with estimated processing and another entered monthly cost. Use this monthly total to budget the location’s processing and software costs.

For an illustrative single location with only domestic online/invoice-card payments, Plus saves 0.4 percentage points against Free while the fixed payment fee stays the same. $49 ÷ 0.004 gives $12,250 monthly volume for those processing savings to equal the subscription difference. That break-even example compares processing and subscription dollars for the stated channel mix.

Custom website card rates are the same across the three current plans, so the processing savings in the example above come from the online/invoice-card channel. Use the comparison page for cross-brand comparisons with matching conditions.

How do shops, online sellers, contractors and freelancers use Square fee estimates?

Shops and mobile sellers

Choose tap, dip or swipe for an in-person card. The small-payment example shows how the fixed fee affects a low-value sale. Record the plan with the amount.

Keep processing fees with the day’s sales record. Track refunds and bank transfers alongside the original estimate when reviewing retained proceeds.

Online sellers

Distinguish standard online orders from custom website card payments. Record the plan and international-card condition with the result to compare matching order amounts.

Record the payment method for each collection if it changes between an order and its balance.

Contractors and service businesses

Compare invoice card and invoice ACH separately. Include the ACH deposit destination when estimating net receipts. Manual entry and stored-card payments use their own pricing and are different from a customer paying an online invoice.

For a larger bank payment, the Free and paid-plan caps can change the receipt estimate. Select the actual plan and match each payment to its stage of the job. The invoice amount is the gross agreed charge; retain processing estimates with the job’s internal budget.

Freelancers

For a project invoice, select the customer’s expected payment channel and calculate the dollars left from the agreed amount. Use reverse mode when planning a target receipt, then compare that proposed total with the scope you intend to offer.

Next step: turn the charge into an invoice

For a customer’s job, use the valid transaction result, add a work description and choose Turn into an invoice. After free registration, an editable invoice receives the gross agreed charge and description. Keep the plan and payment channel in your pricing notes. Monthly totals are business budgets and can't be turned into an invoice.

Or make it without an account. In the free generator, enter the agreed job amount and describe the work. The invoice amount stays tied to that customer’s project, while processing and monthly software costs remain part of your business budget.

Sources

Official sources for the rates and policies used on this page. Checked October 13, 2026. The worked examples apply those rates to the stated payment conditions.

Square US pricing page

Square’s processing-fee help page

Square's refund guidance

Square’s international transaction fee guidance — the 1.5-percentage-point addition and exclusions for ACH, Afterpay and other alternative methods.