Square vs Verifone: Comparison of Payment Providers

Note that the information about Verifone and Square found in this article was taken from their respective websites on 22 April 2024. This information is subject to change.

Verfione and Square are the two giants in the team of e-commerce and in-person payments. This makes the choice between them a difficult task.

Square was founded in the US in 2009 with the introduction of its original card reader for mobile devices. It soon expanded to Canada, Japan, Australia, the UK, Europe and more. Today, Square is one of the leaders in payment processing for businesses, offering a wide array of sophisticated solutions.

Verifone, on the other hand, is a true legacy player founded by William Melton in the US and Hawaii in 1981. Today, the provider is one of the leaders in point of sale (PoS) systems and electronic payments globally.

Here, we compare Square and Verifone, reviewing the product range, integrations and pricing.

Square vs Verifone for Online Payments

Square offers an extensive suite of products for online payment processing.

Square Payments enables merchants to accept online payments, setting up a free online store, sell through social media or integrate their current online store with Square’s payment solutions. Developers can use prebuilt Square Checkout APIs or build from scratch using Square Web Payment SDKs.

Merchants can create and send digital invoices and facilitate recurring payments, as well as send customers payments links to checkout via text or email. The platform allows to take payment over the phone, keying card information directly into Square app or web browser.

Square offers merchants free transfer options: manual, default and instant transfers. The latter are the quickest, allowing merchants to send funds to a linked bank account for a fee of 1%.

Verifone Checkout offers three checkout solutions: hosted, redirect and iFrame. The provider enables merchants to send custom payment links via email, messaging services, social media channels, and more. Verifone offers eCommerce API to collect and encrypt payment data directly on the merchant’s site. In terms of payment security, Verifone offers fraud protection system with real-time fraud scoring and tokenised payments.

Verifone Advanced Payment Methods is an online and in-person configuration that offers merchants a wide range of alternative payment options, including digital wallets, BNLP, cryptocurrencies, and more. Verifone Subscriptions offer global payment support for recurring billing, enabling merchants to streamline subscription billing management.

Square vs Verifone: In-Person Payments & Hardware

Square PoS App allows merchants to take any contactless, mobile or chip and PIN payment at the counter or on the go. The app works with a range of hardware options. Square also offers a virtual terminal, which turns a merchant’s computer into a payment card terminal. It’s perfect for remote billing or taking credit and debit cards over the phone.

Square offers a number of PoS Solutions for different business functions: PoS for retail businesses, restaurants, a kitchen display system (KDS), and a PoS for appointments.  Their hardware includes readers, terminals, a stand, a register and hardware accessories.

Verifone too offers a range of hardware devices, including its mobile PoS, countertops, PIN pads, multilanes, as well as portables and transportables and unattended & self-service devices. Like Square, Verifone offers out-of-the-box virtual terminal, which allows merchants to accept payments via mail orders or telephone orders.

Square vs Verfifone: Additional Features

Square Contracts allows merchants to create documents such as agreements, policies, obligations, and requirements. The feature enables them to add clauses, add invoices, all managed from Square Dashboard.

Meanwhile, Verifone Dashboard offers merchants features like versatile out of the box reports, device management, and data consolidation.

Square and Verifone Integrations & Coverage

Payment processing with the Square app is available in the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, the UK, Republic of Ireland, France and Spain. Square does not allow its users to charge customers in different currencies. For this, globally-oriented businesses must create multiple Square accounts for each country where they run operations.

As of 2023, Square Marketplace hosted over 300 apps and integrations for various business types. The most popular include GoDaddy, Wix, Xero, Ecwid, WooCommerce, and more. The company also offers a partnership programme.

Verifone offers merchants to integrate third-party connectors onto their CMS to start accepting online transactions. This can be done with their Magento, OpenCard, PrestaShop, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Shopify and WooCommerce plugins. Verifone operates in 165+ countries.

Verifone vs Square: Fees

In terms of Verifone vs Square pricing, the providers are taking a drastically different approach to how much to reveal about their fees.

Square’s PoS software is free. The provider will charge 1.75% for each in-person transaction. For online payments, it’s 1.4% + 25p for UK card transactions or 2.5% + 25p for non-UK card transactions. The price is 2.5% for manually keyed-in transactions, recurring payments via online checkout links, square invoices and virtual terminals. Square’s hardware pricing varies from £19+VAT for Square Reader to £599+VAT for Square Register.

As of April 2023, Verifone did not reveal its pricing on the website, including for its hardware devices. Merchants would have to contact the sales team to learn about Verifone fees.

Alternatives to Square and Verifone

​​Noda is a global open banking provider that assists online merchants with end-user KYC, payment processing, LTV forecasting and UX optimisation. We partner with 2,000 banks across 28 countries, spanning over 30,000 bank branches. Noda supports a wide range of currencies for globally-minded clients. We offer scalable plans to fuel your business growth and e-commerce plugins for easy integration.

With Noda's advanced Open Banking API, online businesses can easily integrate direct bank payments, offering their customers a seamless and secure payment experience with lower fees. Whether you're looking to enhance customer verification processes, optimise payment systems, forecast long-term value, or refine user experience, Noda is your partner in growth.