Stripe Invoicing vs Square Invoices: fees compared for 2026

Square Invoices is usually cheaper for a small business sending a modest number of invoices, because it has a free plan and no per-invoice charge on top of processing. Stripe Invoicing suits you if you already use Stripe and want control of the payment flow. The detail most people miss is that a Stripe invoice carries two fees.

The two fees on a Stripe invoice

Stripe Invoicing adds a charge per paid invoice on top of normal payment processing: 0.4% on the Starter plan and 0.5% on Plus. The page says plainly that Stripe Payments pricing still applies, according to Stripe's invoicing pricing. The processing fee is Stripe's standard US card rate, widely published at 2.9% plus 30 cents.

So a card-paid Stripe invoice costs the processing fee plus the invoicing fee. On a $2,000 invoice that is about $58 in processing and another $8 to $10 for invoicing. It is not huge, but it is a real cost that Square does not add to the same transaction.

The 2026 fees side by side

Square lists its invoice card rate at 3.3% plus 30 cents on the free plan and 2.9% plus 30 cents on Plus, with ACH at 1% and a $1 minimum, and a $10 cap on paid plans, on Square's fees page. Plus costs $20 a month and adds reusable templates, milestone payment schedules on a single invoice, multi-package estimates and automatic conversion of accepted estimates into invoices, according to Square's announcement.

The honest read is this. Square is cheaper and simpler when you send a handful of invoices a month, unless the 3.3% card rate bothers you enough to pay $20 a month for Plus. Stripe is the pick when you want its ecosystem, its checkout control or its recurring billing tools, and you accept the stacked fee.

Who should send from which

If you send a few invoices a month and work remotely, the free Square plan is the pragmatic default. You pay no monthly fee and can improve the card rate later if volume justifies the upgrade.

If you sometimes take payment in person at a shoot, a workshop or a client meeting, Square doubles as a card reader. Its in-person rate on the free plan is 2.6% plus 15 cents, per the same fees page, which a purely online tool cannot match.

If you already use Stripe for subscriptions or a checkout, adding invoices there keeps everything in one dashboard, and the extra 0.4% to 0.5% may be worth it.

PayPal is a third option your clients may ask for. Its invoice rate for cards is 2.99% plus a fixed fee and for PayPal checkout is 3.49% plus a fixed fee, as PayPal's merchant fees page lists. It is worth keeping as a secondary choice if a client trusts it, because a client who pays quickly through a tool they know is worth more than a cheaper tool they hesitate on. For the cross-border comparison, see the Stripe vs PayPal vs Wise guide.

Card versus bank transfer moves more money

For a service business the choice between card and bank transfer matters more than the choice between Stripe and Square. Card fees are a percentage with no cap, so a $5,000 invoice paid by card costs well over $100. Bank transfer through Square's paid plans is capped at $10.

So offer both and steer large invoices toward bank transfer. A $300 invoice by card is fine. A $5,000 retainer by card is money you did not need to spend.

Disputes are the cost nobody plans for

Card payments carry chargeback risk. Mastercard projects that consumers will file $37.07 billion in disputes in 2026, and merchants net-recover only 10.7% of contested payments, according to Chargebacks911's statistics page.

Both tools give you records to fight a dispute, but the best defence is upstream: a signed contract, a clear scope and a deposit before you start. The guide on winning payment disputes goes into the evidence to keep.

Why the invoice needs a working Pay button

The reason to care about any of this is speed. According to the QuickBooks small business late payments report, online invoices can be paid up to four times faster than paper ones, a figure based on QuickBooks user data rather than an independent study. The same report found 56% of surveyed US small businesses were owed money, averaging $17.5K each.

An invoice with a one-click pay link gets paid sooner, whichever tool sends it. The fee behind that button is the number to compare.

A worked comparison on three invoice sizes

Numbers make the structure easier to see. These use the card rates above and ignore fixed monthly plan costs, so treat them as illustrations.

A $300 invoice by card costs about $9.00 plus 30 cents on Stripe's processing rate, and a further $1.20 to $1.50 for the invoicing fee. On Square's free plan it costs about $9.90 plus 30 cents. The gap is a few cents, and either tool is fine.

A $2,000 invoice by card costs about $58 plus 30 cents on Stripe, plus $8 to $10 for invoicing. On Square's free plan the same invoice costs about $66 plus 30 cents, and on Plus about $58 plus 30 cents with no invoicing fee. Here Plus catches up with Stripe and drops below it, but you pay $20 a month for that.

A $5,000 invoice by card costs well over $100 on either tool. Paid by bank transfer through Square's paid plans, it costs $10 at most. That single choice is bigger than the whole Stripe versus Square question.

So the practical order of decisions is: first, how many large invoices you send; second, whether clients can pay by bank transfer; third, which tool you already have open. The brand matters least.

Recurring work and retainers

If you bill the same client every month, look at how each tool repeats an invoice. Both can schedule recurring invoices, and saved payment methods reduce late payments because the client does not have to find a card each time. The cost of a recurring invoice follows the same fee table above, so a retainer paid by card each month adds up fast. A retainer paid by bank transfer keeps the percentage out of it. Ask your accountant how to record the fees for your own return.

How Delivvo handles invoices differently

Stripe and Square both process the payment and also send the invoice. Delivvo separates the two jobs. It sends the invoice and runs everything around it, and your own gateway takes the payment. Delivvo takes 0% and is never the merchant of record.

Here is the flow:

1. You build a quote from packages and add-ons. The client opens one link, signs the contract and pays the deposit.
2. Delivvo creates the client, project, contract, invoice and payment schedule from that single acceptance.
3. Invoices get sequential numbers in your format. Tax fields, reverse charge, void and credit notes are built in.
4. Payment schedules split a project into up to 12 payments, and recurring invoices handle retainers.
5. The client pays through the processor you connected, which can be Stripe, PayPal or Square.
6. If an invoice is overdue, an automation sends reminders at 7, 14 and 30 days and stops once it is paid.

That means a Stripe account is one choice among nine gateways, not a requirement. You can use Stripe for card payments and still send invoices that carry your branding and your tax details. Each invoice has a verification code, so a client's finance team can confirm it is real.

If you only need a single invoice today, the free invoice generator works without an account. For the full flow, see Delivvo invoicing and payment schedules. Deposits before work starts are covered in how to collect a deposit.

Read more about how payments work, or start with the CRM and client portal.

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