Square vs Clover for restaurants

Start with Square if you want no monthly fee, no contract and every price in public, or if you might close or switch within three years. Start with Clover if you will sign a 36-month subscription or buy the hardware, and most of your sales are cards at the counter: Clover.com prints 2.3% + 10¢ per tap against Square's 2.4% to 2.6% + 15¢.

Where you buy Clover changes the price. Clover sells on Clover.com and through banks and resellers, and its FAQ says contract terms and termination fees vary by seller. Treat the Clover figures below as a baseline to hold a bank's quote against. Square prints one public price list and offers custom pricing to sellers above $250,000 a year.

Question	Square	Clover (Clover.com prices)	Start here if
Lowest monthly cost for a restaurant	Square Free, $0/mo. per location; Square Terminal $299	Quick-service Starter, $135/mo for 36 months, or $849 + $89.95/mo	Square, if you want to start without a monthly bill
Card tapped, dipped or swiped	2.6% + 15¢ on Free, 2.5% + 15¢ on Plus, 2.4% + 15¢ on Premium	2.3% + 10¢ on all six restaurant bundles	Clover, if most sales are cards at the counter and you will commit to a term
Card typed in, as on a phone order	Manual entry: 3.5% + 15¢ on every plan	Typed in: 3.5% + 10¢	Either; Clover costs 5¢ less per payment
Online ordering	Online site on every plan; online cards 3.3% + 30¢ on Free, 2.9% + 30¢ on Plus and Premium	Ordering page with no subscription or setup fees; online cards at the typed-in rate	Square Plus, if your online orders average more than about $33
Contract	"No hidden fees or locked-in contracts. Cancel or switch anytime."	Subscriptions are "non-cancelable"; terms vary by seller	Square, if the lease on your space or your concept might change

Square's prices come from its pricing page, its fees help article and its hardware page. Clover's come from its quick-service and full-service pricing pages, which say the prices are only available on Clover.com, and its pricing FAQ. For every Square fee, see our Square POS pricing guide; for all six Clover bundles, see our Clover POS pricing guide.

What would a month cost on each? A worked example

The figures below are made up. They describe a counter-service café with 1,500 in-person card payments a month at a $20 average ($30,000) and 100 phone orders typed in at a $30 average ($3,000). The example leaves out cash, online orders, tax and add-on apps.

Setup	Plan or bundle	Card fees	Monthly total
Square Free	Square Free plan: $0	Square Free card fees: $1,125	Square Free total: $1,125
Square Plus	Square Plus plan: $49	Square Plus card fees: $1,095	Square Plus total: $1,144
Clover quick-service Starter, subscription	Clover subscription: $135	Clover card fees: $955	Clover subscription total: $1,090
Clover quick-service Starter, hardware bought	Clover monthly fee after purchase: $89.95	Clover card fees, same mix: $955	Clover purchase total: $1,044.95, plus $849 up front

Hardware differs. The Clover subscription includes a Mini with a built-in receipt printer; the cash drawer is an add-on. On Square, add a device such as Square Terminal, which also prints receipts, at $299 once or $27/mo over 12 months. Over 36 months with a Terminal, Square Free comes to $40,799 and Square Plus to $41,483. The Clover subscription comes to $39,240, and buying the Clover hardware comes to $38,467.20.

Almost all of the card-fee gap comes from the in-person rate. At a $20 payment, Clover's 2.3% + 10¢ costs 11¢ less than Square Free's 2.6% + 15¢. Counting counter payments only, that covers Clover's $135 subscription at about 1,230 payments a month, or roughly $24,500 in card sales. Below that, Square Free costs less each month. The plans also carry different features, so price the one that has what you use every shift.

Which costs less for phone and online orders?

For a card read out over the phone, both charge 3.5%. Clover adds 10¢ and Square adds 15¢, so 100 phone orders cost $5 more a month on Square. Square also lets you send an invoice, which is charged at its online rate. Our Square guide works out when that beats typing the card in.

For online orders the gap depends on order size, because Square charges a bigger flat fee and Clover a bigger percentage:

• Square Plus or Premium against Clover: 2.9% + 30¢ against 3.5% + 10¢. They cost the same at about $33. Above that, Square costs less.
• Square Free against Clover: 3.3% + 30¢ against 3.5% + 10¢. They cost the same at $100, so Clover costs less on any order under $100.

Clover's FAQ says its typed-in fee covers card-not-present sales "like an online sale or phone order." If you bought Clover from a bank, your own statement sets these rates.

What do you sign with each?

Square's pricing page says there are no locked-in contracts, and Plus and Premium start with a free 30-day trial. Square's hardware payment plans are credit sales from Block, Inc. at a 15% APR, and they are not offered in Alabama, Delaware, Missouri, Mississippi, New Hampshire or Tennessee.

Clover's FAQ says a subscription is "non-cancelable and ineligible for refunds," though you can pay it off or upgrade. It also says Clover devices bought or leased from other sellers "cannot be used with other payment processors." Clover's FAQ says Citi, PNC and Wells Fargo sell Clover, and that contract terms and termination fees vary by seller.

What should you ask before you choose?

1. How do your card sales split between the counter, the phone and online? Price each part at each company's rate.
2. What is your average card payment, at the counter and online? Put it into the break-even sums above.
3. Could you close, move or change concept within three years? Price Clover's full term against Square's month-to-month plans.
4. If a bank offers you Clover, what are its rates, term and exit fee in writing? Compare them with Clover.com line by line.
5. Which features do you need on day one, such as a kitchen screen, kiosks or tableside ordering, and which plan or bundle includes them?
6. Do your delivery, payroll and phone-ordering tools connect to both? Maple Pro, for example, writes phone orders into both Square and Clover, per Maple's integrations list.

If Toast is also on your list, our Toast vs Square comparison covers Toast's plans, rates and agreement.

Published by Maple. This AI-assisted comparison combines Square's and Clover's own US pricing, fee and FAQ pages with an original worked example and break-even sums using made-up sales. It does not include a quote from Square, Clover or any bank, and it does not claim anyone tested either system.