If customers pay you both face to face and online, Square may be useful for keeping those payment routes within one system. It supports in-person card payments alongside online checkout, invoices and other payment tools, with optional hardware for businesses that sell at events, appointments, markets, studios or physical premises.
What it can help with
Square may help you accept contactless and chip-and-PIN payments without arranging a traditional merchant terminal, while also giving customers ways to pay remotely. That can be useful if the same business moves between workshops, pop-ups, appointments and online sales rather than operating through one fixed checkout.
Who it may suit
It may suit service businesses, makers, retailers and independent operators that take a meaningful proportion of payments in person. If nearly all of your payments happen through a website or subscription product, compare Square with online-first payment providers rather than choosing on the card-reader element alone.
How it works
You create and verify a Square account, connect a bank account and choose the payment routes you need. In-person transactions can use Square hardware or supported contactless options; online customers can pay through Square Online, Online Checkout or integrations. Square also supports invoice payments. Hardware and some point-of-sale software or specialist business tools are charged separately from transaction processing.
Cost and access
Price checked 2 September 2026. Square currently charges 1.75% for in-person UK-card payments and 1.4% + 25p for online UK-card payments. Manually entered payments and invoice card payments are 2.5%, with higher charges applying to some non-UK transactions. Hardware and additional software may add further costs.
What to check before committing
Work out what proportion of your transactions will be in person, online, invoiced or manually entered, because the fee differs. Check the cost of any reader or point-of-sale hardware, how quickly funds are paid out and how refunds and disputes are handled. Confirm that your website, ecommerce or booking system connects to Square as required. Also plan how Square fees and sales records will reach your accounting software, rather than creating another financial record that has to be reconciled by hand.
Next action
Compare the current processing fees and any hardware or software costs against the mix of payments your customers actually make.
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