Comparison
Enterprise Pay Gateway vs Square
Square is the simpler choice if you mainly sell in person and want hardware in the box. Enterprise Pay Gateway is the better choice if you take payments online, want your own Stripe account rather than an aggregated one, and need recurring billing, invoicing, multi-location and team access without paying per feature.
Last updated 9 September 2026
Square bundles the merchant account, the software and the terminal into one product. That is what makes it easy, and it is also the trade-off: you sit inside Square's aggregated account, and Square decides how your funds move. Enterprise Pay Gateway puts payments in your own Stripe account and layers the software on top.
Feature by feature
What you get out of the box with each, side by side.
Your own merchant account
Payments settle in an account in your business name, not an aggregator's.
Hosted checkout links per product
A permanent, shareable pay page for anything you sell.
Public storefront page
A ready-made page listing everything you sell, no website needed.
Memberships and recurring billing
Monthly or yearly plans with saved cards and automatic retries.
Invoicing with bank debit (ACH)
Send an invoice with a pay button and take low-cost bank payments.
Staff logins with their own access
Invite your team instead of sharing one password.
Multi-location reporting
Compare revenue site by site.
Dispute tracking with deadlines
Reason, amount at risk, countdown, evidence checklist and private notes.
Payout and fee reports with CSV export
Every payout itemised against the fees deducted from it.
Import your catalogue
CSV, Shopify, Square or WooCommerce, read-only sync.
Transparent, separated fees
Subscription, platform fee and processing shown apart, never blended.
Already on Square? You can switch without losing your catalogue — import by CSV or sync it across.
| Enterprise Pay Gateway | Square | |
|---|---|---|
| Merchant account model | Your own Stripe account | Aggregated under Square |
| Software fee | $49–$499/mo | $0–$89+/mo per feature bundle |
| Platform fee on volume | 0.20%–0.75% | None (baked into processing rate) |
| Card processing | Stripe's rates, billed to you | Square's flat rates |
| In-person hardware | Not included | Included, strong |
| Recurring billing | Included on every plan | Paid add-on |
| Invoicing with ACH | Included | Included, extra fee for ACH |
| Multi-location | Included | Higher tiers |
| Account holds | Handled by Stripe, on your own account | Square may hold or freeze funds |
| Product import | CSV, Shopify, Square, WooCommerce | Square catalogue only |
Choose Enterprise Pay Gateway when
- Most of your revenue arrives online, by link or by invoice
- You want your own processing account and your own name on the statement
- You need recurring plans, memberships or packages without add-on pricing
- You run several locations or want staff logins with limited access
Choose Square when
- You are a counter-service or retail business and want a till and card reader today
- You want one flat rate with zero software decisions
- Your volume is small enough that a monthly software fee outweighs the benefits
Common questions
- Can I move from Square to Enterprise Pay Gateway without rebuilding my catalogue?
- Yes. You can connect Square and import your existing products, or upload a CSV. Products keep their source so re-syncing does not create duplicates.
- Is Enterprise Pay Gateway cheaper than Square?
- It depends on volume. Square's flat rate hides the software cost inside processing; we charge a visible monthly fee plus a small platform percentage on top of Stripe's rates. At higher volume our platform fee drops to as low as 0.20%, which usually wins.
- Do I still need Square hardware?
- If you take card payments at a counter, keep a terminal. Many merchants run both: in-person on their existing terminal, online and recurring through Enterprise Pay Gateway.
What would we cost you?
Move the slider to your monthly card volume. Stripe keeps billing you its own processing rates directly — this is only what Enterprise Pay Gateway adds on top.
$15,000
Recommended plan
Starter
- Subscription
- $49 / mo
- Platform fee (0.75%)
- $113 / mo
- Total added by us
- $162 / mo
- Effective rate on volume
- 1.08%
Stripe's processing fees are separate and billed to you by Stripe under your own account.
Other comparisons
Third-party pricing and features are typical published figures and change often — verify with each provider before deciding. Our own figures come from the pricing page.