Square Online pricing: Website costs and plans, explained

Got a great idea for a business? A product you want to sell online successfully? Then you’ll need an online store. Square Online offers the means to dive straight in without spending a penny; you can have a store up and running in hours.

Those who wish to get a bit more serious with selling online have the option to step up to Square Online’s Plus plan, which offers a few more tools. The next plan on from that is Premium, which boasts all the essential ecommerce features present in the other plans, along with some very useful advanced features. Plus, you get lower credit card rates and no in-house delivery charges. If you have high-volume sales and are looking to sell across different locations, then this is definitely the plan for you.

Here, we give you an insight into what each Square Online plan offers to help you decide which plan is best for you.

Square Online pricing: How much does it cost to get started?

Square Online keeps things simple, offering only three plans from which to make a choice. The Free plan is a great starting point for those who are taking their first steps into online selling, while the Plus and Premium plans are great choices for serious sellers.

As you might expect, you won’t have to shell out anything for the Free plan. This offers all the basic ecommerce features you need to start selling online, for as long as you want, but note that you will outgrow this plan as your business begins to expand.

The Plus plan arrives with a far more comprehensive set of ecommerce features for £20/mth. The plan still has the same fees for online payments – 1.4% + 25p per UK card/2.5% + 25p per non-UK card – but features include a free domain name, expanded site customisation and PayPal payments, which aren’t available with the Free plan.

The top-tier plan, Premium, includes all the features of the Plus plan, but differs in the fees for online payments. While the Premium plan costs £64 per month, you can make big savings on card payments – 1.4% + 15p per UK card/2.5% + 15p per non-UK card – if your business’ sales are high volume.

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Square Online pricing: What does Square Online offer as a website builder

Square is a leading digital payment brand that branched out into website builders when it purchased Weebly back in 2018. Today, Square Online combines the power of both to give those needing an online store plenty of options.

It’s relatively easy to set up with its question-led process, with relevant help and information, if needed. Beyond this, it offers a good range of built-in themes and styles, with ready-to-go designs. These present a range of standard sections that are easy to customise, with the ability to add more if you want, which is ideal for those with limited design experience.

Adding products and organising them into categories is simple, plus you get a decent set of marketing tools, too, including ready-made, customisable email templates. Users of the paid plans also get in-depth reporting features and tools.

Overall, Square Online is great at handling physical and digital products, rather than services. It isn’t as versatile as some other ecommerce focused builders, but it’s generally cheaper and easier to use.

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Square Online pricing: Which Square Online plan should I consider?

With only three plans to choose from, and with one of those available for free, making a decision about which will work best for you is relatively easy. Below, we outline what each plan has to offer to help you make the right choice.

Square Online Free

If you want to trial Square Online, or want to get a small store set up in no time at all, then the Free option is a great starting point. Once you have built your basic site and it’s up and running, you can upgrade to a more advanced plan whenever you’re ready.

However, there’s no free custom domain name included and you can’t connect a domain name you already own – which isn’t a winning option if you’re trying to promote and establish a brand. You get only basic site layouts and design control, which might not be an issue if you’re not looking for anything fancy for the time-being. However, note that this plan lacks more advanced commerce features, is restricted with regards to online payment providers (there’s no PayPal, for example) and you get no access to any analytics tools.

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Square Online Plus: £20/mth + VAT

Businesses that are still small scale but are looking to take more control over their brand and drive growth will likely find the Plus plan more suited to their needs. It provides a major upgrade over the Free plan for features; introducing custom domains, the ability to upload custom fonts and widgets, providing access to more catalogue, order and checkout options, plus analytics tools. However, you’ll still be paying the same online fees as the Free plan.

Square Online Premium: £64/mth + VAT

This has all the features of the Plus plan, but with the key difference being the fees that you pay for online card payments and to couriers. Reduced card payments are offered both inside and outside the UK – 40% less than Plus – and there are no in-house delivery fees, compared with 50p per order on the other plans. These additions make the Premium plan a terrific option for sites that have a high volume of sales. As a general guideline, if you’re selling more than 500 items a month, then Premium is likely to be a more cost-effective solution than Plus.

Square Online pricing: Does my online store integrate with Square hardware?

If you’re selling in person as well as online, then you can use Square Online together with credit card payment hardware including Square Reader or POS. Square Reader is a chip and PIN contactless card reader that you can take with you, while Square POS is a point-of-sale system. In-person orders using both these methods and online orders sync automatically to streamline your inventory management.

Square Online pricing: What payment providers does Square Online include?

Online stores need a range of payment providers to work well. Square Online Free, Plus and Premium plans all accept Square Pay, Apple Pay and Google Pay. The Free plan doesn’t accept PayPal; you’ll need to upgrade to Plus or Premium for this.

Square Online also works with ClearPay, which lets customers pay in instalments. However, the best bit with this is that you get paid the full amount straight away, so there’s no waiting around for you, while it increases the chances of a sale.