Under $15k/month: stay with Square. Past $20k/month: switch and keep 0.4–0.6% of every sale.
Square is genuinely competitive at low volume because their margin on small accounts is thin enough that nobody can underbid them. The math flips when your card volume gets large enough that the percentage matters more than the simplicity. Most merchants we audit who are past $30k/month on Square are leaving $400–$1,200/month on the table.
What Square actually charges
Square's headline rates:
- In-person card present: 2.6% + 10¢ per transaction
- Online / Square Online: 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction
- Manually keyed: 3.5% + 15¢ per transaction
- Invoice payments: 3.3% + 30¢ per transaction
- Square Card on File: 3.5% + 15¢ per transaction (for recurring billing)
Under those headline rates, the actual cost is interchange (which Square pays the card networks) plus Square's margin. On a typical retail merchant with a 70% credit / 30% debit mix, interchange averages about 1.6–1.8%. Square's spread on top of that is roughly 0.8–1.0 percentage points. At low volume, that spread is reasonable. At high volume, it compounds.
The exact pricing math, by volume
| Monthly card volume | Square annual cost | NMS Interchange Plus annual cost | Annual difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| $8,000 | $2,640 | $2,400 | ~$240 (not worth switching) |
| $15,000 | $4,950 | $4,200 | ~$750 |
| $30,000 | $9,900 | $7,920 | ~$1,980 |
| $60,000 | $19,800 | $15,360 | ~$4,440 |
| $120,000 | $39,600 | $29,760 | ~$9,840 |
Assumes mostly in-person sales at 2.6% + 10¢ blended, 70% credit / 30% debit mix, average ticket $48. Your actual numbers depend on card mix and online/in-person split.
Side by side
Square
- Free POS app on your phone or tablet
- No monthly fees on basic plan
- Free magstripe reader, low-cost chip readers ($59–$299)
- Square Online store, payroll, loyalty all built in
- No contracts, cancel anytime
- Premium pricing at scale — 0.4–0.6% over Interchange Plus past $20k/mo
- Processor-locked — Square hardware only works with Square processing
- Account holds and freezes are well-documented problems for high-volume sellers
- Customer service via email or chat — limited phone support
National Merchant Solutions
- Interchange Plus pricing — pay the real cost plus a small fixed markup
- Hardware sold separately and owned outright — never leased, never locked
- Compatible with most third-party POS systems (Clover, Lightspeed, custom)
- Direct phone line to David and Ohad, no call center
- Month-to-month, no contracts, next-day funding
- $500 best-rate guarantee
- Setup takes 24–48 hours, not "scan a QR code and start selling"
- No free phone-as-a-POS app — you'll need real POS hardware or a third-party app
When you should stay with Square
- You're under $15k/month in card volume. The simplicity premium is small enough that it isn't worth your time to switch.
- You're seasonal (pop-up, farmers' market, food truck) and Square's no-monthly-fees model fits the business pattern.
- You're a single-person operation that values "phone is the POS" simplicity over saving a few hundred a month.
- You use Square Online, Square Marketing, and Square Loyalty as a tightly integrated stack you'd have to rebuild.
When you should switch
- You're past $20k/month and your effective rate is north of 2.6% on Square.
- Your card mix has shifted toward higher-cost premium credit cards, pushing Square's spread up.
- You've had Square hold funds or freeze the account during a busy week — common for high-ticket categories.
- You need real-person customer service when something goes wrong.
- You're tired of being processor-locked and want to choose POS software independently of processing.
FAQ — NMS vs Square
Can I keep my Square hardware?
Square's Stand, Terminal, Register, and Reader devices are locked to Square processing — you can't re-use them with another processor. If you switch, you'll need new hardware. Countertop EMV terminals start at $250 outright with us; if you want a similar all-in-one experience, Clover Mini ($599) is the closest analog.
What if I use Square Online for my e-commerce?
Square Online is processor-locked too. Switching processing means moving the storefront to a different e-commerce platform (Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce). That's a bigger lift than just changing the rate.
Will my Square data transfer?
Customer card files don't transfer — Square stores tokens that only Square can use. For most retail, this isn't a problem because customers re-tap on each visit. For subscriptions or recurring, you'll need a re-authorization flow when you switch.
What about Square's reputation for account holds?
That's real and well-documented for high-volume or high-ticket merchants. Independent processors with real underwriting (which we do) hold funds less frequently because we know your business when we onboard you, not after a $5,000 transaction trips a fraud rule.