Square Online Store Review 2025: Pricing, Pro&Cons, Features and more

Square, a well-known payment gateway and POS system, is expanding its eCommerce ecosystem with the launch of Square Online. So, how does the Square Online store work, and is it the best solution for your business? Find the answers in our Square Online store review!

In today's article, LitExtension – the #1 Shopping Cart Migration Expert, will go through the following points:

• Ease of use
• Customization flexibility
• POS integration
• Sales tools & eCommerce features
• Marketing & SEO
• Apps & Integration
• Security & Support

Now, keep scrolling to start your discovery!

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Pros and Cons of Square Online

Square Online provides a convenient way for businesses to create and manage an online store. However, this solution may lack several powerful functionalities to gain eCommerce values effectively.

Let’s dig into our evaluations of Square Online's pros and cons for more information.

Now, let's read on for a full breakdown of our Square Online store review to have the best preparation for your eCommerce plan.

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Who Should Run A Square Online Shop?

As one of the leading platforms for selling online and in person, Square Online impresses merchants with a wide range of powerful functions. However, you should also consider some of its drawbacks, like higher transaction fees or a lack of customization features.

From our experience, you should operate a Square Online store when:

• Have a tight budget and prefer basic functions to build your site;
• Find an eCommerce solution supporting a strong POS system;
• Prefer working with the Square Pay processor;
• Want to find an affordable platform to test your business plan?

In case you want to move your current store to Square Online, consider a Square migration using LitExtension's eCommerce migration services. With over 12 years of experience in this field, LitExtension will surely bring the finest results for your eCommerce store.

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Square Online Pricing Breakdown

First, let’s start this Square Online store review with a detailed evaluation of Square Online pricing. Square charges you annually; thus, you need a one-time payment to start an online store.

If you feel risky about this decision, you can utilize its forever-free plan to test the features. That’s also why the answer to “Is Square free?” is always “Yes” with this option.

Basically, Square offers three pricing plans (Free, Plus, and Premium), including:

#1. Free plan ($0/month)

It is highly recommended for those who want to test and evaluate whether Square is the ideal solution. On the Square free website, you can:

• Use basic SEO tools;
• Sell on multiple channels;
• Sync with Square POS system;
• Have shipping, payment, and delivery setups.

#2. Plus plan ($49/month)

Whenever you want to grow your business and streamline operations effectively, you should start with the Square Online Plus plan. This package will include:

• Free domain for a year;
• Advanced setups;
• Plenty of themes;
• Expanded site customizations.

#3. Premium plan ($149/month)

To get the best rates for your online store, it’s time to register for the Premium Plan. With this solution, you can:

• Save budget with lower transaction fees;
• Get real-time shipping rates;
• Experience excellent customer service;
• Get free in-house delivery.

Besides the monthly subscription, merchants also need to pay an additional 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction, plus processing fee from payment gateways and extra costs for apps (if there's any).

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Ease of Use

In this section of our Square Online store review, we will mention its customization flexibility.

Square Online is designed with simplicity in mind, making it very easy to set up and manage even for people who have never built a website before. The signup process is straightforward, and the platform guides you step by step through creating your online store. As soon as you log in, you are presented with a clean and intuitive dashboard that shows you exactly where to add products, customize your site, and manage orders without feeling overwhelmed.

However, while the platform is very easy to use, it also means there are fewer advanced tools for users who want more control or complex features. If you are looking for highly detailed customization or sophisticated eCommerce options, you might find the simplicity of Square Online a bit limiting.

Overall, Square Online scores highly on ease of use because it removes most of the technical barriers to creating an online store. It is perfect for small businesses, beginners, and anyone who values speed and convenience over advanced design flexibility.

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Customization Flexibility

Next in our Square Online Store review, let's talk about its customization ability.

Square Online offers a simple and straightforward approach to customization, which makes it easy for beginners but may feel limited for users who want full creative control. The platform provides a selection of clean, mobile-friendly templates that you can adjust with basic design tools. You can change colors, fonts, and layouts, but the overall structure of the store remains quite fixed, which means you cannot fully redesign it the way you might with more advanced website builders.

One of the main benefits of Square Online is that you do not need any coding skills to create a functional and professional-looking store. The drag-and-drop editor allows you to quickly rearrange sections, add images, and organize product categories without any technical knowledge. This makes it ideal for small business owners who prefer simplicity and speed over deep customization.

However, if you are looking for very detailed design control, like creating completely unique layouts or adding complex visual elements, Square Online might feel restrictive compared to platforms like Weebly or Wix. You have limited access to custom code, and there are fewer third-party design apps or themes to choose from. This can be a drawback if you want your online store to stand out with a very specific brand style.

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POS integration

Square is widely known for its impressive ecosystem, which includes a powerful payment gateway and POS system. Thus, using Square Online will be an ideal option if you are bringing your brick-and-mortar store online and want to combine it with a powerful POS system to control all orders in a central hub.

Square POS offers various delivery and pickup features, such as:

• Provide an app-like ordering experience;
• Drive clients to proper products;
• Plan and promote sales events;
• Personalize how to deliver and pick up the orders.

More impressively, Square POS allows you to use the self-ordering option. You can put ordering QR codes anywhere, both on your physical store and website. Once your customers scan these codes on their mobile devices, they can start their ordering process immediately.

Here is a highlight in Kelsey B.’s review of the Square POS system:

“Square POS has enabled us to keep track of our customer base as well as keep track of our inventory and sales. We have utilized Square POS to its fullest potential, making use of nearly every feature that is available to us, and it has surpassed our expectations in every way.”

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Sales Tools & eCommerce Features

When developing an eCommerce store, sales features are the most important factor. Hence, in the upcoming section of this Square Online Store review, we will cover the 4 following four sales-related aspects:

• Adding & managing stock;
• Payment processing;
• Shipping;
• Tax calculations.

Adding & Managing Stock

On the Square website, you can easily add products with categories to your store. More impressively, Square Online will automatically suggest types of items depending on how similar products are distributed across your web. This makes it simple and flexible to organize your products.

You can effectively update your store's inventory using Square, especially when it's integrated with your POS system.

Here are some of the great experiences you can expect:

• Add the new number for stock received;
• Have inventory recount;
• Set up restock return;
• Update stock damage, theft, and loss.

Payment processing

Square Pay is the main payment gateway of Square Online shops. With this processor, your store can work well with all major credit cards, such as Mastercard, Visa, and American Express.

Like other eCommerce platforms, Square Online also charges you a fee for every transaction, which might be 2.6% + 10¢ or 2.9% + 30¢. If you want to proceed with payments through an invoice or manually entered card, you must pay up to 3.5% + 15c.

Shipping

Square allows you to set up various shipping options, such as flat rate, free shipping, order weight/total, item quantity, and real-time rates. However, if you want to activate the real-time rates, you should upgrade to the Premium Square Online plan.

When running a Square Online store, you can access a wide collection of fulfillment settings to satisfy your needs. Square Online supports your control of digital items, events, donations, or memberships for both worldwide and domestic purchases. This is ideal for growing your business beyond your local scale.

Tax calculation

Square only provides an Automatic Tax Calculator for stores in the United States or Canada. It means that you need to set your orders’ tax rates (which are based on buyers' and sellers’ locations) manually for other countries.

Basically, you can have 4 different types of tax settings, including:

• Non-taxable items;
• Tax-included item prices;
• Tax calculations on shipping or local delivery fees;
• Order level tax rates (online orders by default).

Abhyona G. – A cosmetic store’s owner has reviewed: “I also like the fact that payment is very easy, not as time-consuming as other platforms or means, and allows me to efficiently and effectively check out clients upon completion of their service.”

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Marketing & SEO

This part of our Square Online store review will help you have an in-depth understanding of the platform’s marketing and SEO features.

Square Online allows you to customize your page titles and meta descriptions with ease. It is great for improving your site’s rankings on search engines like Google or Bing. Additionally, the Square Up website offers amazing email marketing functionality, making it easy to grow your customers’ contact list.

In case you want to create your site’s content faster, you can utilize Square AI technology to create compelling campaigns.

Here’s a highlight in Scott A.’s review of Square Online’s marketing features:

“Square stepped up its game by offering more options during the pandemic, such as enhanced marketing tools, sales channel integrations with Facebook, and an additional fulfillment method to offer to clients.”

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Apps & Integrations

In this section of our Square Online Store review, let's analyze how well the platform works with apps and third-party integrations. Square Online Store is designed to connect seamlessly with the wider Square ecosystem. This means you can easily link it with Square Appointments, Square Invoices, Square Loyalty, and the Square POS system. For a small business that already uses Square in a physical store, this integration is very helpful. It keeps inventory, sales, and customer data in one place without extra effort.

When it comes to third-party apps, Square Online features a wide collection of powerful apps to optimize your business’s sales effectively at Square App Marketplace. These apps are divided into 17 different categories, helping you easily search and pick a proper solution for your online store. If you don’t know what app to add to enhance your eCommerce capability, refer to the High Rated section for the best choices.

If you are selling on multiple channels, you can integrate with third-party apps to improve your business’s performance. For example, you can employ the support of LitCommerce to simplify your multichannel selling experience. It is one of the leading solutions providing a central dashboard for managing product listings, inventory, and orders.

Overall, Square Online Store provides simple, reliable integrations that work well for small businesses or local retailers who just need the basics. But if you want a store that grows into a more complex operation with highly specialized tools, the limited app ecosystem could hold you back.

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Security & Customer Support

Coming last on our Square Online Store review, we'll take a look at the platform’s security and the quality of its customer support. The platform includes SSL encryption for all websites, so customer data and payment details stay protected. It also meets PCI compliance standards, which is required for secure credit card processing. Because Square handles both the store and the payment system, you don’t have to worry about connecting a third-party gateway or setting up extra security layers.

In terms of customer support options, Square Online Store provides a help center with clear guides and tutorials, which are helpful for solving basic problems. There is also live chat and phone support, but these are only available during business hours. In our test, the live chat responded in a few minutes, and the agent was polite and gave simple answers. However, for more complex questions, the support felt a bit limited compared to larger platforms, which have 24/7 support.

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Other Square Online Store Alternatives for Consideration

While this Square Online Store review shows that it is a solid choice for small businesses and those who already use Square POS, it may not fit every business's needs. Some store owners might want more customization, advanced eCommerce tools, or a platform that is better for scaling. To help you find the best fit, here’s a quick comparison of Square Online with other popular website builders and eCommerce platforms.

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The Methodology: How I Create This Square Online Store Review

To create this Square Online Store review, I followed a detailed and structured research process that ensured every part of the content was accurate, balanced, and useful for small business owners and anyone exploring eCommerce options.

The detailed research process was as follows:

1. Create a demo store and analyze its features

I started by signing up for a free Square Online account and building a demo store from scratch, which allowed me to experience the setup process exactly as a new user would. During this step, I explored the dashboard, added several test products, experimented with design templates, and completed a few sample orders to see how the checkout experience worked from a customer’s perspective, while also noting how easy or difficult it was to customize the overall store layout.

2. Assess Square Online Store against its competitors

After testing its core features, I compared Square Online with other popular platforms like Shopify, Wix, and WooCommerce to better understand where it stands in the market. This comparison made it easier to highlight Square Online’s strengths, such as its seamless POS integration, while also pointing out areas where it may not be as strong as its competitors, like advanced design options or scalability for very large stores.

3. Start producing the material

Once I gathered all my notes from testing and competitor research, I began organizing the information into clear and structured sections that would be easy for readers to follow. This step was important because it helped turn raw research into a well-organized guide that gives both quick answers and in-depth details.

4. Proofread and publish the review

Finally, I carefully reviewed the entire text to make sure every sentence was clear, the language was simple, and all the facts matched official sources and trusted references. After checking for accuracy, readability, and flow, I published the Square Online Store review.

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Square Online Store Review: FAQs

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Conclusion

And that brings us to the end of our Square Online Store review. In general, if you plan to build both a physical and online store, Square is an ideal solution. However, you need to consider transaction fees carefully to increase your sales effectively.

LitExtension, the #1 Shopping Cart Migration Expert, hopes you will have a wonderful experience with the Square Up website. Check out our LitExtension Blog or join our Facebook Community Group for more valuable insights.