Square sells its point-of-sale software in three tiers — Free, Plus, and Premium — and the differences matter more than the names suggest. Pick too little plan and you'll outgrow it in months; pick too much and you're paying a monthly fee for tools you never open.
Complicating things, most pricing articles quote US numbers. Square's Canadian pricing is its own thing, with Interac rates and per-location fees in Canadian dollars. Here's how the three plans actually compare in Canada in 2026.
The three plans at a glance
| Free | Plus | Premium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | $0 | $60–$79 per location* | Custom pricing |
| In-person credit cards | 2.5% | 2.5% (Retail: 2.45%) | Custom rates |
| Interac debit (chip/tap) | 0.75% + 7¢ | 0.75% + 7¢ | Custom rates |
| Online payments | 2.8% + 30¢ | 2.8% + 30¢ | Custom rates |
| Support | Weekday phone | 24/7 phone | Dedicated onboarding |
| Contract | None | None | None |
| Best for | New and small operations | Growing single locations | Multi-location and high volume |
\*Square for Restaurants Plus is $60/month per location (plus $40/month per added POS device); Square for Retail Plus is $79/month per location. Premium eligibility typically starts around $250,000 in annual card volume.
Square Free: $0/month
Free is a complete POS, not a trial. You get the full point-of-sale app, unlimited devices and locations, a free online store, basic inventory tools, and menu management — and you only pay processing fees when you take a payment.
The trade-offs are support and depth. Phone support runs weekday business hours, and advanced tools like kitchen display systems, automatic purchase orders, and advanced reporting aren't included.
Choose Free if: you're opening your first location, running a market stall or food truck, or keeping fixed costs at zero while you find your footing. Most independent operators start here — and many never need to leave.
Square Plus: $60–$79/month per location
Plus is where Square stops being just a cash register and starts running operations. Everything in Free carries over, plus the tools that matter once you have staff, inventory, or a kitchen to coordinate.
For restaurants, Plus adds the kitchen display system (KDS), live sales reporting, auto-86ing with item counts, close-of-day and shift reports, shared device settings, and 24/7 phone support. For retail, it adds advanced inventory with automatic purchase orders, barcode label printing, and cycle counts. Every Plus plan starts with a 30-day free trial, and there's still no long-term contract.
One honest note on pricing: Plus barely moves your processing rates in Canada. Retail Plus trims in-person credit from 2.5% to 2.45% — a $5 saving per $10,000 in card sales. You'd need roughly $158,000 a month in card sales for the $79 fee to pay for itself on rates alone. Buy Plus for the operational tools, not the discount.
Choose Plus if: stock counts, staff management, or kitchen coordination are eating your week, or you need help at 9pm on a Friday — that's when 24/7 support earns its fee.
Square Premium: custom pricing
Premium is a negotiated plan for established businesses, typically those processing around $250,000 or more a year. Pricing is custom — software fees and processing rates are set around your volume, ticket size, and footprint.
What you get beyond Plus: a dedicated onboarding specialist, custom processing rates, and bundled or discounted add-ons like Square Loyalty and Square Marketing. It's Square's answer for multi-location groups that want one point of contact.
Choose Premium if: you're running multiple locations or your annual card volume gives you leverage to negotiate. Below that threshold, Plus covers nearly everything.
Which plan is right for your business?
- Just opened, one counter, tight budget → Start on Free. It's genuinely free until you sell something.
- Inventory headaches, a team to manage, or a kitchen to run → Plus. The $60–$79/month usually costs less than the hours it saves.
- Multiple locations or serious volume → Talk to Square about Premium, and get the custom rates in writing.
And remember: every plan is month-to-month. Start on Free and upgrade the month a missing feature starts costing you real money — that's the whole point of the tier system.
The bottom line
For most independent Canadian operators, the decision is simpler than Square's pricing pages make it look. Free handles selling; Plus handles operating; Premium handles scaling. Match the plan to the problems you actually have this year, not the business you hope to be in three years — you can always move up.
Sevenflow helps independent Canadian businesses choose, buy, and set up the right POS hardware and software. If you're weighing Square against the alternatives, start with our Clover vs. Square comparison or request a callback.