Square Review: Card Readers, EPOS & Online Store

Square is an extremely popular provider for all things related to taking payments, providing businesses with payment processing, an EPOS system, and even an ecommerce platform.

We’ve been testing and rating Square for several years here at Expert Market, and we’re impressed by its constant innovation, and expanding suite of tools. Quantity generally doesn’t outstrip quality when it comes to Square, with its Square Terminal making it onto our list of the best card readers for small businesses in our most recent round of testing.

Square has become the all-in-one platform for small businesses, with enough scalability to follow them as they grow. However, as with many providers who do it all, while it’s a solid choice, it might not always be the best platform for niche use-cases.

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How Much Does Square Cost?

Square is very transparent about its costs. It charges 1.75% for every card in-person transaction, and the Square Reader, its entry-level PDQ machine costs £19 + VAT, with the more advanced version, the Square Terminal costing £149 +VAT.

Here’s quick breakdown:

Square comes with no monthly fees, and its most popular software, its EPOS system and online store builder, all come with a free version. This makes it great value for money for small businesses looking for an affordable way to run a restaurant or shop, and boost their income through online sales.

Other platform provide similar free tools, including SumUp and Zettle. However, based on our testing, Square’s free tools come with more advanced features, and are more scalable. Zettle, for example, doesn’t offer a more advanced paid version of either its EPOS software or online store.

Square does fall a little short when it comes to its transaction fees. Although its 1.75% fee for in-person transaction is in line with the UK average, you can get cheaper fees with other fixed-rate providers, like SumUp (1.69%), or with provider that offer negotiable fees, like Worldpay, whose fees can go as low as 0.75%.

It is possible to access cheaper fees if you sign up to a Square EPOS system with custom pricing, although this will come with monthly fees as well. SumUp makes accessing lower fees easier than Square does, since you can sign up to the £19 per month SumUp One plan to get 0.99% fees on both in-person and online transactions.

For a more detailed review of Square’s pricing, head over to our guide.

Square Card Reader and Terminal

Square offers two card machines, the Square Reader and the Square Terminal:

Square Reader: For on-the-go selling

The Square Reader is an extremely compact and simple card reader, that takes contactless and chip and pin payments. It needs to be used with the Square POS app on your phone or tablet (iOS and Android) in order to process payments. Since the reader is very small and lightweight, it’s ideal for on-the-go payments, and we’ve seen it being used by several vendors at markets.

When testing it, however, we did note that some merchants might feel a little awkward having to use both hands, one for the phone and one for the reader, to take payments. Square does have a solution to this. It sells an iPad case with a built-in slot for the Square Reader, and hand strap. Unfortunately, the case only fits the iPad mini 6th generation, and there are no other sizes.

We also didn’t love that, if a customer needs to enter their pin, this has to be done on the vendor’s phone or iPad. Not all compact card readers require this – the SumUp Air and the Revolut Reader, both also compact readers, still have a pin pad.

When it comes to ease-of-use, however, the Square Reader is great. We didn’t have trouble using the Square app, since the layout and wording is more or less identical across the Square platform. There weren’t an overwhelming number of tabs, and the app opens directly onto the checkout, making taking a payment fast.

You shouldn’t have much trouble operating the reader, but if you want more information, read our guide on how to operate a Square card reader.

Square Terminal: For the countertop

The Square Terminal is more heavy duty than the Square Reader. It’s a standalone card reader with touchscreen and built-in receipt printer, from which you can access Square’s EPOS software directly, no app required.

Unlike the Square Reader, this card machine can’t be used on-the-go since it only connects to Wifi or Ethernet, can’t connect to your devices via Bluetooth to use 4G, nor does it come with a SIM card.

Based on our experience with it, the Square Terminal is best suited to countertop use. It could potentially work for table service or processing orders on the shop floor, but it’s not the lightest card machine, and we found it quite wide, which made holding it a little awkward for those on the team with small hands. Providers like Clover or takepayments offer similar card machines that are narrower and more lightweight, making them better suited to table service.

The real appeal of the Square Terminal is that it gives you direct access to whatever Square EPOS software you’re using, whether that be its retail, restaurant, or appointments systems, free or paid. The layout is the same as what you get on the Square app, with the card machine opening directly onto the checkout page. If you’ve pre-catalogued items, you can select them from a list for a fast and easy checkout.

Square EPOS System

Square offers three EPOS systems:

• Square for Restaurants (£0-£69/month): Designed for the hospitality industry, it comes with key features like table and menu management.
• Square for Retail (£0-£49/month/location): Designed for retail stores, it comes with key features like stock tracking and online store integration.
• Square for Appointments (£0-69/month): Designed for salons and other appointments-based businesses, it comes with key features like scheduling and integration with an online bookings website.

All three of Square’s EPOS systems come with free and paid versions, and can be accessed via the Square App on a tablet, via Square’s EPOS terminals, or via desktop.

Square isn’t the only provider with free EPOS software, with its closest rivals SumUp and Zettle also offering it. However Square marks itself out by offering three distinct systems for three industries, while SumUp and Zettle offer one system for use in both restaurant and retail establishments. Plus, based on our testing, both the SumUp and Zettle EPOS systems are much more geared towards hospitality, even though they claim to suit both industries.

Our experience with Square’s EPOS System

After testing Square’s EPOS systems, we ranked it the best EPOS supplier overall, largely due to its scalability, ease-of-use, and fair pricing.

When testing Square’s EPOS system, we were able to completed basic tasks like creating a menu or categorising products without a hitch, but we did have a little trouble with more advanced tasks like bill splitting and adding a discount, with one tester noting they had to “add the amount” each customer was paying for, instead of selecting what items each customer was paying for.

It actually is possible to split bills by menu items with Square, as well as by amount, but it’s clearly not easy to figure out how to do the former.

We were particularly impressed by the breadth of features included in Square’s free EPOS software plans. For example, Square’s free restaurant EPOS software comes with multi-site stock and employee management, and menu and table management. These features are missing from SumUp’s free EPOS software, making Square’s version much more functional.

As your business grows, you can upgrade your Square plan to a paid version to get access to more advanced features, like discounts use tracking on Square for retail, or bulk inventory uploads. Its scalability is also what gives Square an edge over other free EPOS software. SumUp’s paid EPOS software is heavily geared to hospitality businesses, and not suitable to growing retail stores, whilst Zettle doesn’t even offer more advanced paid EPOS software.

Square EPOS: Available hardware

Square’s EPOS system can be used on iOS and Android tablets, saving you money on physical terminals in you already own a tablet.

However, if you are interested in physical terminals and other countertop equipment, Square has enough of a range to cover all your bases. Here’s what’s available:

• Square Register (£599 + VAT): Square’s proprietary countertop terminal, with a 12.5 inch touchscreen and 6.85 inch customer display with built-in card reader, it’s a great all in one solution for stores, or counter-service restaurants and cafes.
• Square iPad stand (£99 + VAT): An useful accessory for businesses using Square POS on iPad, the stand bring the iPad to an accessible height for typing, and comes with a built-in card reader.
• Square hardware kits (£419-£1,329 + VAT): You can save money by purchasing several items as part of a package. Square has four hardware kits, that include either the Square Register or Square Stand, plus a different cash drawer and printers, with one including a label printer and barcode scanner for retail stores.
• KDS screens (£189-£549 + VAT): Square offers KDS software as well as hardware. It offers three screens, varying from 10.1 to 21.5 inches, and also offers a £59 + VAT wall mount.
• Accessories (£7-£319 + VAT): Square’s accessories range includes replacement and extension cables, receipt paper, printers, cash drawers, and barcode scanners.

Square doesn’t bundle its EPOS software and hardware into one package, like other EPOS suppliers including SumUp and Lightspeed. This gives you the flexibility of choosing the hardware you want, without paying a premium for EPOS features you don’t need. And, given the breadth of Square’s hardware and accessories offering, you likely won’t need to purchase or rent any equipment from other suppliers.

Square Online and Remote Payments

As well as providing tools for taking payments in-person, Square also has a range of solutions for taking online and remote payments. These include:

• Online store builder (£0-£64/month)
• Online payment gateway (free)
• Payment links and QR codes (free)
• Invoices (£0-£20/month)

Online store and payment gateway

Square gives you two options for selling online via a website. You can:

• Create an online store with Square’s builder, or
• Integrate Square’s online payment gateway into an existing website via widget

The free online store builder is quite basic, with limited customisation (you don’t get access to prebuilt designs or stock photos for example), but its a good starter website for small businesses, and you can link to it on your social media to boost sales. Plus, free online stores are a rarity, earning Square a spot on out list of the best ecommerce platforms for small businesses and the best free website builders.

Rivals SumUp and Zettle also offer free online store builders, but unlike Square, they don’t let you upgrade to paid versions (£20-£64 per month) that open the door to more website customisation.

That being said, Square’s online store builder, even the paid versions, is designed for small businesses, and won’t be able to handle massive ecommerce growth.

If you’re planning on building up your ecommerce business, the best option is still Shopify. Even though it’s more expensive than Square, with plans ranging from £19 to $2,300 USD per month, it’s worth the price. It gives you all the tools you need to manage sales, inventory, and deliviries, even on an international scale. If you’re not convinced, you should know that Shopify’s customers include well-known brands such as GymShark and Chilly’s, proof that the platform can accomodate massive growth.

Shopify has also branched out into in-person sales, offering an EPOS system and hardware, and has earned a third place spot in our picks for the best EPOS systems.

Payments links and QR codes

Another way to get paid remotely without an online store is through Square’s payment links. The link takes customers to a checkout page, which you can customise with your brand’s logo and name.

They are free to generate and send, and can be shared with customers via email and group text, added to social media posts, or embed buy buttons on a website. You can also generate QR codes and print them out, a good option for food trucks or pop-up stands.

Invoices

Square has free version of its invoicing tool, and a paid version, both of which include free unlimited invoice sends, including recurring invoices.

The main difference between the two is that the paid tool allows you to customise your invoice layouts, send invoices in batch, and orgnise invoice into projects.

The Pros and Cons of Square

Here’s a quick breakdown of Square’s pros and cons:

✔ Pro: Useful offline selling mode

Square’s card machines and EPOS system come with an offline selling mode, which means you can keep taking payments even if you lose Wifi or reception. This is an extremely useful feature for on-the-go sellers working festivals or other events where connection can be faulty.

With the Square offline mode, you can accept offline payments for up to an hour, and you have 24 hours to reconnect your device to process the payments.

Most providers don’t offer an offline mode, although Square’s rival, SumUp, does, on both its Air and Solo card readers.

✔ Pro: An array of free tools

Square offers an array of free tools for taking and managing payments on various channels, including payment processing with no monthly fee, free EPOS software, a free online store builder, and free invoicing and payment links.

The only other provider on the market with the same gammit of free tools is SumUp, althoug as we’ve noted throughout this review, Square’s free tools are, for the most part, better quality than SumUp’s.

✔ Pro: Easy to use and set up

Since Square is a zero-contract provider, it’s very quick and easy to set up an account and start selling. You don’t have to waste time negotiating a contract beforehand, or waiting for a quote, since Square’s pricing is very transparent.

Square also has a unified platform for its various tools, from payment processing to EPOS, to ecommerce software. You’ll find the same, intuitive layout throughout, which means that if you already use Square and start using a new Square product, it’ll be easy to find your way around.

X Con: Card machines don’t work with third-party EPOS systems

One downside to Square is that its card machines don’t integrate with third-party EPOS systems, they only work with Square POS. This means that you won’t be able to keep you current EPOS system and still use Square’s payment processing service.

If you want a payment processing provider that, like Square, offers simple fixed-rates, and zero-contract, but who’s card machines still integrate with third-party EPOS systems, we recommend Zettle. At 1.75%, its in-person transaction fees are the same as Square’s.

X Con: Customer support isn’t 24/7

Another downside to using Square is that it’s customer support team isn’t available 24/7. You can only get in contact with Square support on weekdays, between 9 AM and 5 PM. This is less than ideal for small businesses who’s busiest times are usually after 5 PM and on the weekends.

While its not the only provider with these support hours – Zettle and SumUp’s support teams are also only available on weekdays – you can find providers that offer weekend support. Worldpay’s support team is available 24/7, while takepayments’s team is available on weekends and bank holidays.

X Con: No card machines with mobile data

Although Square has a wide offering of hardware, it’s missing card machines with mobile data. The Square Reader connects to smartphones via Bluetooth, and so can use the phone’s data to run, and the Square Terminal only connects to Wifi and Ethernet.

This might be an issue for on-the-go sellers, so if you’re interested in card machines with built-in SIM cards, we recommend checking out takepayments or SumUp’s range.

What Type of Business is Square Best for?

We recommend Square for small businesses looking for an all-in-one solution to taking and managing payments, thanks to its simple pricing and array of free tools. It’s also easy to set up an account with Square, and easy to use the platform (you don’t need to be a tech wizard), which is convenient for everyone, but especially small businesses.

It’s a particularly good option for small businesses looking to expand, since Square offers more advanced paid versions of almost all its software, from EPOS to ecommerce, to shift management. This makes it a highly scalable provider, setting it apart from similar options like SumUp and Zettle, who, although offering free tools, don’t offer advanced versions of all of them.

Square Customer Reviews

Our group of testers gave Square an average rating of 4.5 out 5, with most sayig they would recommend Square to small businesses thanks to its ease of use and fair pricing.

They weren’t the only ones to like Square. The provider has a 4.1 out of 5 star rating on TrustPilot, and 4.7 rating on GetApp, not too far off from the ratings our own testers gave it.

Customers have generally found that Square’s platform is easy to use, reliable, and affordable. Disgruttled customers, however, complain about Square’s card reader disconnecting from their phone when taking payments, and their Square account being closed with no notice.

How We Reviewed Square

To bring you this Square Review, we tested 18 payment processing providers, assessing them across five main areas of investigation, and 23 subcategories.

Here’s what we looked at:

• Hardware: we looked at each card machine size, weight, and portability, and assessed its connectivity, its interface, receipt printing, and battery life.
• Software: we tallied up how many payment types each provider accepted, looked at payout times, reporting and security features, EPOS functionality, and what systems it integrated with.
• Pricing: we compared monthly fees, card machine costs, transaction fees and contract lengths against the features of each provider, to determine the value for money of each.
• Ease of use: We had several different average users test each card machine and related app to see how intuitive each one was to use, and how quickly everyday tasks could be complete.
• Help and support: we assessed providers based on how many different support they offered, and how available and responsive the support team was.

We then gave each provider an overall score based on how well they faired in the above assessment categories.