Clover and Square both offer exceptional all-in-one PoS services, making it essential for both online and brick-and-mortar businesses. But which one is the best for your business?
Choosing the correct PoS system for your business can be challenging, considering everything that goes into choosing one, such as charges, customer support, integration options, and much more.
But don’t you worry! In this Clover vs Square guide, we will take a detailed look at both services and evaluate them based on certain factors.
Without further ado, let’s end the dilemma!
Clover vs Square: What Are They?
Both Clover and Square are all-in-one PoS services offering tons of helpful tools for businesses of all kinds and sizes. Let’s learn a bit more about each service.
Square
Square constitutes a comprehensive point-of-sale (POS) system that facilitates transactions for businesses with physical and online stores. Additionally, it provides a suite of tools designed for inventory management, sales optimization, staffing efficiency, marketing, financial assistance, and much more.
To learn more about Square, check out our guide: What is Square? Detailed Look at Features [2025].
Clover
Similarly, Clover is another point-of-sale service offering hardware and software solutions to help businesses operate efficiently. Designed to cater to various industries, including retail, restaurants, and service-based businesses.
Clover offers a range of hardware options, such as Clover Station, Clover Mini, Clover Flex, and Clover Go. Each is designed to meet different business needs. Beyond payment processing, Clover enables businesses to manage inventory, track sales, analyze customer data, and even run marketing campaigns, just like Square.
Additionally, Clover allows merchants to accept various payment methods, including credit and debit cards, mobile wallets, and contactless payments, ensuring a smooth checkout experience for customers.
Clover vs. Square: Features Comparison
Square offers multiple services that can be super beneficial for small to medium-sized businesses. Such as:
Square’s Features
Square is an all-in-one service known for its amazing features and services. Let’s take a look at some of its most impactful features:
- Square PoS service. Point-of-sale (POS) software is a fantastic business tool that helps you manage sales and accept payments. It also makes employee management a breeze, provides insightful reporting and analytics, and helps you stay on top of your merchandise. Whether you’re running a physical store or an online shop, POS software is there to help.
- Payment processing. Square is known for its outstanding payment processing solutions. When you create a free Square account, you don’t have to worry about setting up bank accounts or dealing with third-party services. Instead, Square automatically sets up a central merchant account for you, and you instantly receive an aggregate merchant account.
- Square marketing tools. With Square marketing tools, you can easily create engaging email campaigns, send out SMS messages with Square Messages, segment your audience for better targeting, and set up automated campaigns. Plus, you can add discounts to entice your customers and monitor important performance metrics like open rates and clicks.
- Square appointments. Square has a fantastic service designed especially for service-based businesses. This handy application features a built-in POS system, providing all the essentials you’ll need to manage your small service-based business successfully.
- Square invoices. Square invoices allow users to create and send invoices to payers via email or SMS, receiving payments through credit or debit cards, or bank transfers.
- Square capital. Square offers accessible loan services through Square Capital to eligible businesses looking to grow on a budget. The process is fairly straightforward and does not require filling out excessively lengthy forms.
Clover’s Features
Now, let’s take a look at Clover’s answers to Square’s questions:
- Clover PoS system. Clover also offers a highly customizable point-of-sale (POS) system that helps businesses process payments, track sales, and manage operations efficiently.
- Payment processing. Another similarity is their payment processing services. It supports a wide range of payment methods, including credit and debit cards, mobile payments, contactless payments, and gift cards.
- Clover’s inventory app. Clover makes it easy to track and manage inventory in real time. Businesses can add and update product listings, monitor stock levels, and receive automatic low-stock alerts. These features help prevent shortages and improve customer experience.
- Employee management software. This one is Clover’s answer to Square’s “Mineral.” Employee management tools allow business owners to track work hours, set permissions, and monitor staff performance. It also supports time-tracking and shift management capabilities, which also help with Payrolls.
- Customer engagement & loyalty programs. This unique feature helps businesses attract and retain customers. Users can create personalized loyalty programs, send automated promotions, and gather customer feedback to keep them coming back.
- Virtual terminal payment processing. Clover provides a virtual terminal for businesses that take phone orders or process payments remotely. This feature allows businesses to accept payments without requiring physical hardware, making it super beneficial for businesses or corporations operating remotely.
- Clover Go. For businesses that need mobility, Clover offers portable devices like Clover Go, which allows card payments on the go.
- Clover capital. Finally, to compete with Square Capital, Clover has unveiled their Clover Capital, which offers financing options to eligible businesses. Like Square Capital, repayments are made as a percentage of daily sales, making it a flexible option for small businesses.
Clover vs. Square: Payment Processing and Fees
In the previous section, we learned that the features are quite similar in both services. Let’s take a deep dive into payment processing charges.
Square’s Payment Processing and Fees
Square offers multiple payment options. Here’s how the payment model works out:
- For in-person transactions, simply put, when a customer taps, dips, or swipes a card for a brick-and-mortar store, you will pay 2.6% + $0.15 per transaction.
- When customers make a purchase on your online store or through the eCommerce API, the processing fee is 2.9% + $0.30.
- If you plan on entering a customer’s card details manually, you will pay 3.5% + $0.15 per transaction.
- For ACH Bank Transfers, 1% with a $1 minimum transaction.
- When paying invoices, either in-person or online, you pay 3.3% + $0.30 per transaction.
Clover’s Payment Processing and Fees
Clover’s processing rates differ depending on the subscription plan. Here’s how the prices compare:
- In-person transactions for the basic plans are 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction.
- For all the other plans, the charges are 2.3% + $0.10 per transaction.
- Card-not-present (CNP) transactions on all plans come at 3.5% + $0.10 rates.
Although the pricing for Clover looks very straightforward, they are not as simple as it seems. We will elaborate in the next section about pricing.
Clover vs. Square: Pricing Breakdown
Let’s talk about pricing. But before debunking Clover’s pricing, we want to look at Square’s pricing model.
Square’s Pricing
Square offers three plans, with multiple benefits with each upgrade. Here’s what the three plans include:
- Standard: The first one, Standard, is completely free with charges at 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction. The plan includes a website builder with SEO tools, synchronization with a POS system, multiple payment options, and more, all free of cost.
- Plus: Plus is $29/month. The transaction charges do not change, but the plan includes all the benefits in the free plan, along with appealing website themes, site customization, customer accounts, personalized ordering, subscriptions, and a free domain for 1 year.
- Premium: The plan is $79/mo and cuts the transaction charges to 2.6% + 30¢ per transaction. Includes every benefit of the previous plan, including highly accurate real-time shipping rates and premium 24/7 customer support.
Square does not have any hidden charges and offers a free PoS.
Clover’s Pricing
Clover offers a range of pricing plans, primarily based on the type of hardware and software package a business needs. Unlike Square, Clover’s pricing structure is often influenced by third-party resellers. Here’s how the plans compare:
- Starter: Clover’s pricing plans start from $14.95 per month. It includes access to Clover Go and Virtual Terminal Payment Processing for payments. The starter plan also allows for accepting credit/debit cards, contactless payments, mobile wallets, and basic sales reporting tools, enabling proper monitoring.
- Standard: This plan costs $44.95-$49.95 per month. The price varies depending on the hardware you may require, according to the business requirements. The plan includes benefits in the previous plan plus Clover’s inventory app, employee management software, and customer engagement & loyalty programs.
- Advanced: The last one costs $54.95-$94.85 per month; again, the price varies depending on the hardware you choose. Offers all the benefits, including in-depth sales analytics tools, enabling even better and accurate monitoring. This plan also includes table mapping and menu management for businesses such as restaurants and multi-location stores.
Clover POS payment processing contracts may involve hidden fees that differ by reseller. Since third parties influence the service’s pricing plans, it’s always wise to check the total costs before deciding on a plan.
Also, if you plan on buying the PoS systems separately, it can be very costly. Depending on the type of system you plan to buy, it can be somewhere from $279 countertop terminals to all-in-one systems that start at $160 per month.
However, if the prices seem too high, you can lease the hardware. By purchasing it, you pay a one-time fee and take full ownership of the device. By planning to lease, you will keep paying a monthly fee for hardware and software. The choice is completely yours!
Conclusion: Clover vs. Square – Which One Wins?
Square takes the win, being super affordable with transparent prices and fantastic features.
It also stands out as an excellent option for small businesses, startups, and eCommerce brands due to its transparent pricing, free POS software, and ease of use. Its other features, including the marketing tools and financing options, make it an attractive choice for budget-conscious businesses.
On the other hand, Clover is ideal for businesses that require a more customizable POS experience, particularly those in retail, restaurants, and service-based industries. It offers hardware options, advanced sales analytics, and flexible payment processing, which provide a high level of control and functionality. However, it is imperative to consider the costs and hidden charges that you may bear if you plan to go with Clover.
Ultimately, the decision comes down to your business requirements. Before making a decision, consider your budget, business size, and required features to ensure you invest in the right POS system.
Don’t forget to check out our other articles in the series:
To connect Square to your WordPress site, try WP EasyPay.