Stripe vs Square: Which is Better for UK Businesses?

UK businesses have a lot of choice when it comes to payment service providers (PSPs) - but some of the major global providers such as Stripe¹ and Square² are a good place to start when you’re comparing your options.

If you’re considering whether Stripe vs Square would be the best fit for your business, this guide is for you. We’ll walk through each and compare features and fees - plus we’ll touch on Wise Business which can help you receive international payments from Stripe and Square, with mid-market exchange rate currency conversion and low, transparent fees.

💡Learn more about Wise Business

Stripe vs Square - Comparison overview

This guide covers a full Square vs Stripe review, plus details about Stripe vs Square for online payments and when transacting in person. We’ll look at each option in a little more detail in a moment, and also have a head to head comparison looking at fees to help you spot the similarities and differences.

First, let’s kick off with a Stripe vs Square comparison overview to give a flavour of what each can offer you.

Square payments reviews

Square Payments UK offers a range of ways to take customer payments on and offline, supported by a range of POS hardware for in person payments, as well as industry specific solutions. Industry specific options include ways to track inventory for retail businesses, scheduling systems for businesses making customer appointments, and ordering tools for restaurants and take out businesses.

Some of the features you can get with Square payments include:

• Online and in person payment solutions
• Invoicing including recurrent billing
• Checkout links, buttons and QR codes
• Ways to take payment with nothing more than a phone or laptop
• Broad range of POS hardware to suit different business types
• No chargeback fee, with PCI compliance as part of the transaction cost
• Ways to generate your own gift cards
• Dashboard and analytics
• Industry specific solutions for scheduling, inventory, ordering and more

It’s also a smart idea to take a look at one or more Square payments reviews before you decide if they’re right for you. The good news is that on Trustpilot, Square UK scores a good 4.3 out of 5 star rating³ - 80% of posted reviews are 5 stars. Scan some of the comments for a deeper insight into what existing customers say about Square.

Can Square accept international payments?

Square can accept payments from international cards where the Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Maestro, Visa Electron or Vpay logo is displayed. At the time of writing, customers with a card on the Discover, JCB or UnionPay International networks won’t be able to pay through Square⁴.

All card payments are subject to the card issuer’s approval, so there may be exceptions, but generally, international transactions should be hassle free with Square. It’s worth noting though that the fee for processing a Square payment with a foreign card is quite a bit higher than a local payment at 2.5% + 0.25 GBP.

Square payments fees

The Square payments fees you’ll run into will depend on the type of payments you’re taking. Fees vary based on whether you’re physically processing an in person payment or taking money online - and whether the customer uses a local or international card. Here are the key Square fees you’ll want to know about.

Stripe payment reviews

Stripe is another major PSP in the UK and globally, which offers quite a lot of overlapping services compared to Square. There are some differences in their approach - and in the fees you’ll pay - so it’s well worth comparing both before you decide which is best for your business. We’ll run through a Stripe vs Square fees head to head comparison a little later so you can see the differences there, too.

Overall, because Stripe has a very comprehensive range of products and services, they’re pretty flexible in terms of the customers they may suit. Smaller businesses and startups can benefit from their no-code options, while enterprise level companies could prefer tailor made solutions covering more complex solutions.

Here’s a flavour for the features you’ll get with Stripe UK:

• Ways to get paid from 47 countries, using 50+ payment methods and 135 currencies
• Stripe payment terminals for in-person card payments
• Tools to accept payments with a smartphone
• Reusable payment links for customer transactions
• Invoicing and billing tools
• Different subscriptions and payment methods including pay per usage
• Prebuilt and optimised checkout for online card payments
• Platform payments and finance automation for enterprise customers

So what about a Stripe payments review? On Trustpilot Stripe scores a poor 2.7 star rating out of 5⁸. However it’s worth mentioning that this isn’t a fully representative score - in fact, 47% of the reviews are 5 stars. The low score comes because a further 42% of reviewers only give Stripe 1 star - so reading through some of the reviews and comments may help you form your own view of their suitability for you.

Is Stripe payments safe?

Stripe is a safe PSP to choose in the UK. It’s a level 1 Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS)⁹ provider and handles 250 million or more API requests a day, with a historical uptime of over 99.999%.

Stripe security measures include¹⁰:

• Annual onsite audits and additional quarterly checks
• Processes to spot and correct any vulnerabilities
• Industry level security to prevent malware and viruses

Stripe payment fees

We’ll look at Square and Stripe head to head on fees in a moment. Both providers have somewhat similar fees - but they’re not exactly the same, so which is best for you may depend on the types of payments you take regularly.

Here’s what you need to know. You can also get a complete Stripe payment fee review here.

Stripe vs Square fees - Head to head comparison

Finding the right PSP for your business may simply come down to cost. Both Stripe and Square offer many common payment processing services including in person and online payments. The right one for you may just depend on the sort of transactions you make most commonly. Here’s a quick head to head comparison of Stripe vs Square fees to help you decide.

Manage your international business with Wise

If you have customers, contractors or suppliers overseas, you could save on the costs of currency conversion with Wise Business.

Open a Wise Business account online or in the Wise app, to hold and exchange 40+ currencies, and receive money from overseas with local bank details in 8 major currencies apart from GBP.

Connect your Wise account to PSPs like Square and Stripe for easy ways to get paid from international customers - and use Wise to make business payments to 160+ countries with the mid-market rate and low and transparent fees from 0.43%¹³.

Wise Business accounts offer handy extras like debit and expense cards, batch payment solutions and a powerful API to automate workflow - making it easier for you to manage your admin, so you have more time to grow your business.

Get started with Wise Business 🚀

Both Stripe and Square are great options for UK businesses looking for a payments platform to process online and in person payments. You’ll find the two providers have quite a lot of overlapping services, but their approach isn’t exactly the same - and neither is their pricing. Use this guide to compare the options based on convenience and cost, and don’t forget to check out Wise Business as a smart way to manage your money internationally, with both Square and Stripe - and whenever you need to send, receive, hold or exchange foreign currencies.

Sources used in this article:

Sources last checked January 16, 2024