The fees, on a $100 sale in 2026:
| In person | Online | |
|---|---|---|
| Square | 2.6% + 15¢ ($2.75) | 3.3% + 30¢ |
| Stripe | (POS available) | 2.9% + 30¢ ($3.20) |
| PayPal Checkout | — | 3.49% + 49¢ ($3.98) |
Each one wins at one thing. Square owns in-person: the lowest card-present rate, plus the hardware (readers, registers, kitchen displays), appointments, and inventory — it's a full point-of-sale business, not just a processor. If you sell face-to-face at all, Square is built for you.
Stripe owns online and developer-driven payments: the best API, the best subscription and billing tooling, the most flexibility to build a custom checkout. Its 2.9% + 30¢ online rate is the lowest of the three for card-not-present, and it's the default for SaaS and modern e-commerce. Note the payout fee — 1% (min 50¢) for instant transfers.
PayPal owns checkout trust: the highest fees here, but the PayPal button and one-touch checkout measurably lift conversion for stores whose customers already have PayPal accounts and trust the brand. You're paying ~0.5 points more for that conversion bump.
The fixed fee is what makes small tickets expensive — on a $100 sale, the same processor can cost 16–67% more online than in person depending on which you pick, and on a $5 sale the 30–49¢ fixed component dominates.
Selling in person: Square, for the rate and the POS ecosystem. Selling online, especially subscriptions or anything custom: Stripe. Running an e-commerce store where checkout trust drives conversion: offer PayPal alongside another processor rather than as your only one.