Epos Now vs Square Fee Structure 2026: What US Merchants Actually Pay

Square operates a closed flat-rate processing model. It charges 2.6% plus $0.15 for in-person payments on its Free plan. Epos Now integrates with custom merchant accounts supporting transparent interchange-plus pricing. Square raised its per-transaction charge from $0.10 to $0.15 in late 2025. This baseline rate heavily taxes lower ticket sizes. Epos Now lets merchants negotiate processing margins directly with merchant account providers instead of locking businesses into a fixed rate card.

Square fits low-volume businesses prioritizing zero monthly software fees and instant setup without contracts. Epos Now targets established retail and food service merchants requiring specialized point of sale software coupled with scalable payment processing. High-volume merchants using flat-rate platforms pay substantial markups above wholesale card network costs. Cloud systems running interchange-plus structures consistently outperform fixed rate cards for growing businesses.

At $10,000 and $25,000 in monthly card volume, Square's effective card-present rates range between 2.7% and 2.9%. This creates significant cost inflation compared to interchange-based processing through Epos Now. Consider a business with a $50 average sale performing 200 transactions monthly at $10,000 total volume. Square Free costs $290 per month or $3,480 per year at a 2.9% effective rate. Square Plus costs $280 per month or $3,360 per year at 2.8%. Square Premium runs $270 per month or $3,240 per year at 2.7%. Processing online at this volume costs $350 per month or $4,200 per year across all Square plans. This creates a $960 yearly spread between the cheapest in-person and online options.

At $25,000 in monthly card volume with a $50 average sale across 500 transactions, Square's costs scale rapidly. Square Free requires $725 per month or $8,700 per year at a 2.9% effective rate. Square Plus requires $700 per month or $8,400 per year at 2.8%. Square Premium charges $675 per month or $8,100 per year at a 2.7% effective rate. Online processing charges $875 per month or $10,500 per year at a 3.5% effective rate, establishing a $2,400 annual spread between Square's lowest and highest processing tiers. Data consistently shows that Square's effective rate often falls behind traditional processors for established businesses.

Epos Now enables merchants to bypass Square's flat 2.6% plus $0.15 fee structure by choosing interchange-plus merchant accounts. Businesses processing $10,000 or more each month capture substantial savings over Square's $8,700 yearly cost on the Free plan at $25,000 volume. As transaction volume scales, Square's fixed percentage and transaction fees capture a disproportionate margin above true wholesale costs.

Upgrading your Square subscription lowers in-person card processing rates. These fee reductions offset monthly software costs only when US merchants hit specific transaction thresholds. Square Free carries a $0 per month location fee and a 2.6% plus $0.15 in-person rate. Square Plus costs $49 per month per location, dropping the in-person rate to 2.5% plus $0.15. Square Premium costs $149 per month per location with a 2.4% plus $0.15 rate.

For card-present transactions, the 0.1% rate reduction on Square Plus saves $10 per month for every $10,000 in volume. You need substantial processing volume to justify the $49 monthly fee purely on rate savings. On online card transactions, Square Plus and Square Premium reduce fees from 3.3% plus $0.30 to 2.9% plus $0.30. ACH bank transfers via invoice cost 1% with a $1 minimum on Free. Plus and Premium plans cap the 1% ACH fee at a $10 maximum. High-volume enterprise brands evaluating long-term platform fee structures must weigh these subscription costs against transparent interchange models.

Regulated US debit transactions carry a wholesale interchange fee of 0.05% plus $0.22. This creates a massive pricing advantage for merchants utilizing transparent interchange-plus models over flat-rate processing. Visa's published table for Visa Debit CPS Regulated and Mastercard's rate card for Mastercard Debit Regulated cap wholesale debit interchange at 0.05% plus $0.22. In contrast, Visa Credit CPS Retail costs 1.51% plus $0.10. Mastercard Consumer Credit Merit III Core costs 1.65% plus $0.10.

Square applies its standard flat rate of 2.6% plus $0.15 to regulated debit card swipes. It retains a significant profit margin on every debit transaction. Flat-rate providers charge a fixed percentage fee across all card types. Interchange-plus processors paired with Epos Now pass the low 0.05% plus $0.22 debit rate directly to the merchant alongside a small agreed markup. By routing wholesale rates, merchants bring their processing costs into parity with true network fees. For US retail and dining businesses with high debit card volume, this structural difference makes flat-rate billing far more costly than wholesale interchange routing.

Remote and online payment processing commands higher rates across all Square tiers. Online transactions cost up to 3.3% plus $0.30 on the Free plan. This decreases to 2.9% plus $0.30 on Square Plus and Square Premium. Keyed transactions and card-on-file payments incur a 3.5% plus $0.15 fee across all plans. Square bills online API transactions at 2.9% plus $0.30.

Square introduced an update on November 2, 2026, allowing sellers to automatically apply card surcharges to invoice payments on Point of Sale. When customers settle invoice balances using a credit card, the system automatically calculates and appends a surcharge to cover processing expenses. ACH bank transfers via API remain set at 1% with a $1 minimum and $5 maximum. This provides a low-cost alternative for high-value B2B invoicing.