Shopify and Square Online are two of the most popular ecommerce platforms available today. While they both offer tools to help you sell products online, their approaches differ significantly.
Choosing the right one depends on the type of business you're running, your goals, and how much control you want over your store's design and functionality.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through a direct comparison of Shopify and Square Online across key areas like pricing, design, ecommerce tools, payment options, SEO, and customer support.
After testing and researching both platforms extensively, I'll help you determine which one is better suited to your needs.
Quick Verdict
- Shopify – Best for growing ecommerce brands with larger product catalogs and long-term scalability
- Square Online – Best for small businesses and brick-and-mortar stores needing a simple, fast online store
Shopify vs Square Online: Quick Comparison
| Feature | Shopify | Square Online |
|---|---|---|
| Best For | Scaling ecommerce brands | Local businesses or side hustles |
| Free Plan | No | Yes |
| Monthly Pricing Tiers | $39 to $399 | $0 to $79 |
| Transaction Fees | 2.9% + $0.30 (+ additional fees with non-Shopify gateways) | 2.9% + $0.30 (no extra fees) |
| Templates & Design | Advanced and customizable | Basic and limited |
| Sales Tools | Extensive, includes automation | Basic to moderate |
| SEO & Marketing Tools | Comprehensive | Minimal |
| App Marketplace | 8,000+ integrations | ~600 apps |
| Ease of Use | Moderate | Beginner-friendly |
Best for Pricing: Square Online
For businesses that need to get online quickly without spending much upfront, Square Online is the more budget-friendly option.
It even includes a free plan, which is rare among ecommerce builders.
Square Online Pricing (Billed Monthly)
- Free Plan – $0/month
The free plan includes essential ecommerce tools like unlimited products, inventory management, in-store pickup and delivery, and a mobile-friendly checkout. However, your site will display Square branding, and you can’t use a custom domain unless you upgrade. - Plus Plan – $29/month
This removes Square branding, unlocks site customization tools, lets you use a custom domain, and adds advanced shipping tools, customer reviews, and personalized product recommendations. - Premium Plan – $79/month
This plan is ideal for larger stores or businesses looking for better shipping discounts and performance insights. It includes real-time shipping rates, advanced analytics, and higher priority customer support.
Each paid plan includes standard transaction fees of 2.9% + $0.30 per order, with no additional fees for using Square’s built-in payment processor.
Shopify Pricing (Billed Monthly)
- Basic – $39/month
This plan includes everything you need to run a small store: an online storefront, unlimited products, basic reports, discount codes, abandoned cart recovery, and Shopify’s sales channels (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Google). You can also assign two staff accounts. - Shopify – $105/month
Designed for growing stores, this tier includes professional reports, five staff accounts, standard internationalization features, and lower credit card rates (2.6% + $0.30 with Shopify Payments). - Advanced – $399/month
Targeted at high-volume merchants. Includes advanced reports, 15 staff accounts, third-party shipping rate calculations, and deeper analytics. Credit card fees drop to 2.4% + $0.30.
Shopify also has an introductory offer that gives you your first three months for $1/month, but after that, full prices apply.
And if you choose not to use Shopify Payments, you’ll pay an extra 0.5% to 2% on top of the standard transaction fees.
| Plan Level | Shopify Monthly Cost | Square Online Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Entry-Level | $39 | $0 |
| Mid-Tier | $105 | $29 |
| Advanced | $399 | $79 |
The Winner: Square Online
Square Online is more affordable for beginners and offers solid features even at the free level. Shopify’s pricing makes more sense for serious sellers planning to scale quickly.
Best for Selling Online: Shopify
Both Shopify and Square Online provide tools that allow you to sell products through an online storefront, but Shopify has a clear edge when it comes to depth, flexibility, and scalability.
Square Online’s ecommerce tools are geared toward smaller, simpler stores—especially for those already using Square POS in a physical shop. If you’re syncing in-store inventory and need a basic online presence, it’s more than enough.
However, Shopify was designed from the ground up for selling online. It excels at managing complex product catalogs, integrating with multiple sales channels, and building automated workflows.
Shopify's Key Sales Features
- Unlimited products, variants, and collections
- Abandoned cart recovery built-in on all paid plans
- Advanced shipping settings (zones, rates, labels, local delivery)
- Gift cards, discount codes, automatic promotions
- Multi-channel sales (Amazon, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Google)
- Digital products, subscriptions (via app), and pre-orders
- Shopify Magic (AI-generated product descriptions)
Square Online's Key Sales Features
- Unlimited products with categories
- Order syncing with Square POS
- Pickup, delivery, and shipping management
- Subscriptions and tipping (for service-based businesses)
- Limited multi-channel integrations
- Abandoned cart recovery only on paid plans
| Feature | Shopify | Square Online |
|---|---|---|
| Product Variants | Unlimited | Limited |
| Abandoned Cart Emails | All paid plans | Plus & Premium only |
| Multi-Channel Selling | Full (Amazon, Meta, TikTok) | Basic (Meta only) |
| Subscription Products | Via app | Built-in |
| Shipping Customization | Extensive | Moderate |
The Winner: Shopify
Shopify’s robust ecommerce tools give you everything you need to grow an online business—from first sale to full-scale operation.
Best for Design & Templates: Shopify
A polished, user-friendly storefront builds trust with your customers—and when it comes to design, Shopify outperforms Square Online by a large margin.
Shopify’s Theme Library
Shopify offers over 100 themes, with 13 available for free. All themes are mobile-optimized and support industry-specific designs. Whether you sell apparel, food, electronics, or digital goods, there's a theme that fits.
Premium themes range from $140 to $400, but they’re one-time purchases and come with built-in features like:
- Product image zoom
- Quick buy buttons
- Custom product filtering
- In-cart upsells
- Animations and parallax effects
You can also edit HTML/CSS if you need full creative control or hire developers who specialize in Shopify’s Liquid templating language.
Square Online Design Options
Square Online offers fewer templates—roughly 6–10 default layout styles—and most design elements are based on content blocks. These blocks are simple to arrange but difficult to customize beyond color and layout.
There’s no access to raw HTML or CSS, and layout options are restricted to what Square provides in the visual builder.
| Design Feature | Shopify | Square Online |
|---|---|---|
| Free Themes | 13 | ~6 |
| Premium Themes | 100+ ($140–$400) | Limited |
| Mobile Optimization | Yes | Yes |
| HTML/CSS Editing | Full access | None |
| Industry-Specific Layouts | Yes | Few |
The Winner: Shopify
If your brand depends on a strong visual identity and custom shopping experience, Shopify’s design tools give you the flexibility to create a premium online storefront.
Best for Payment Options: Square Online
Both platforms handle transactions reliably, but Square Online keeps things simple by not charging additional fees, while Shopify incentivizes you to use their in-house processor—Shopify Payments—by penalizing external gateways.
Shopify Payments
- Rates: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (Basic plan)
- Lower rates on higher plans: down to 2.4% + $0.30
- If you use PayPal or another gateway, Shopify adds a 0.5% to 2% fee per transaction
- Supports 100+ payment providers, including digital wallets and local payment methods
Square Payments (Built into Square Online)
- Flat rate: 2.9% + $0.30
- No additional platform fees
- Integrated POS system across online and in-store sales
- Fewer global payment gateways, but works well for US-based businesses
| Feature | Shopify | Square Online |
|---|---|---|
| Built-in Payment Processor | Shopify Payments | Square Payments |
| Extra Fees for Other Gateways | Yes | No |
| Digital Wallet Support | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-Currency Support | Yes (Advanced) | No |
| POS Sync | Paid add-on | Native |
The Winner: Square Online
Square’s all-in-one system is better for small shops that want transparent pricing and easy in-person + online integration. Shopify gives you more flexibility but charges more if you stray from their default payment processor.
Best for SEO & Marketing: Shopify
For long-term growth, marketing and SEO tools are essential. Shopify clearly invests more in helping merchants drive traffic and build customer relationships.
Shopify’s Marketing Suite
- Built-in blogging platform
- Email marketing with Shopify Email
- Social selling across multiple channels
- SEO-friendly URLs, meta tags, and schema support
- App integrations with Semrush, Klaviyo, Omnisend, and more
Shopify’s marketing features are designed to help businesses not just launch, but grow through multiple online channels. Whether you’re running email campaigns, optimizing for search, or selling on TikTok, Shopify brings everything into one streamlined dashboard.
Square’s Marketing Tools
- Basic newsletter signup forms
- Email marketing (via Square Marketing, paid add-on)
- Meta descriptions and titles
- Google Shopping sync
- No built-in blogging platform
Square’s marketing tools are more limited and primarily geared toward local or small businesses. While you can run basic email campaigns and connect to Google Shopping, you’ll need to pay extra for most features, and there’s no built-in blog to support long-term content marketing.
| Feature | Shopify | Square Online |
|---|---|---|
| SEO Customization | Advanced | Basic |
| Email Marketing | Built-in or apps | Paid add-on |
| Blog Support | Yes | No |
| Schema Markup | Available via apps | Not supported |
| Analytics | Native & GA4 support | Basic dashboard |
The Winner: Shopify
With better SEO structure, marketing integrations, and tools to run full campaigns, Shopify is more suited to businesses serious about online visibility.
Best for Customer Support: Shopify
Strong support can make or break your store’s performance when something goes wrong.
| Support Channel | Shopify | Square Online |
|---|---|---|
| 24/7 Live Chat | Yes | Yes |
| Phone Support | Yes (limited) | Yes |
| Help Center | Extensive | Moderate |
| Community Forum | Active | Smaller |
| Priority Support | Shopify Plus only | Premium plan only |
Both platforms offer round-the-clock support, but Shopify’s help center is more comprehensive, and you’re more likely to find solutions through community forums, Reddit threads, and third-party tutorials.
Square’s help system is decent but more focused on POS-related issues.
The Winner: Shopify
Shopify wins for its depth of support resources, third-party guides, and 24/7 access to live agents.
Final Verdict: Shopify vs Square Online
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| Pricing | Square Online |
| Ecommerce Tools | Shopify |
| Design & Templates | Shopify |
| Payment Processing | Square Online |
| SEO & Marketing | Shopify |
| Ease of Use | Square Online |
| App Ecosystem | Shopify |
| Support | Shopify |
Overall Winner: Shopify
If your goal is to build and scale a professional online store with advanced tools and room to grow, Shopify is the best choice. It offers the flexibility, integrations, and scalability you’ll need as your business expands.
Use Square Online if:
- You're a local store already using Square POS
- You want to get online quickly with minimal cost
- You don’t need advanced ecommerce functionality or deep customization
Both platforms offer free trials, so the best way to decide is to test each one for yourself.
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