Clover rates vs Square is an awkward comparison, because only one side is published. Square sets out its processing pricing on its own pricing page, so you can read it before you talk to anyone. Clover is sold through a wide network of resellers, and the processing behind it is priced by whoever signed you.
Clover rates vs Square, and why the shapes differ
Square’s pricing is published to be read in advance rather than worked out in a meeting, and the current figures and terms sit on Square’s own pricing page. Read them there. Published pricing gets revised, and anything copied into an article ages badly.
The Clover side is not one price at all. The software plans come from the company, but the processing is arranged through the reseller or bank that put the system in your store. Two shops on the same street running identical terminals can be paying meaningfully different rates, and neither is doing anything unusual.
That is the whole reason this comparison confuses people. You can look up one of these numbers and you cannot look up the other, because the other one does not exist until somebody quotes you.
What that means when you sit down to compare
You cannot compare a published rate to a category. You can only compare a published rate to a specific written quote with your name on it.
So get the quote first. Ask for the full fee schedule in writing, not a headline rate: the percentage, the per-transaction amount, and every monthly line including statement, gateway, compliance and minimums. Then read Square’s current published figures on their own page. Now you have two comparable documents rather than one number and a rumour.
Our own published rate is 2.50% plus $0.10 on an in-person sale, and 2.90% plus $0.25 keyed or online. Sample pricing applies to new accounts applying directly; pricing is subject to underwriting, MCC and the merchant agreement; rates may differ and are subject to change.
Everything else people argue about online is downstream of this, and most of the arguing happens because one side is quoting a figure from a store that is nothing like theirs.
The store size that flips the answer
A flat rate is generous to a merchant with unpredictable, low volume and punishing to a merchant with steady, high volume, because the flat rate never moves and negotiated pricing does.
Picture two stores. The first does a few thousand dollars a month in cards, mostly small baskets, and has no appetite for negotiation. A flat published rate is doing that store a favour: no minimums, no surprises, nothing to argue about. The second runs steady daily volume across many transactions. That store has bargaining room it can only use in a negotiated arrangement, and paying a flat consumer-grade rate on that volume is expensive in a way that compounds quietly every month.
Neither store is choosing wrong. They are answering a different question. The mistake is a growing store carrying the pricing it took on the week it opened, and that is the overpayment we run into most often.
The fixed fee is where small baskets get hurt
Both models charge a fixed amount per transaction on top of the percentage, and in a corner store that fixed piece often outweighs the rate entirely. A store selling small baskets pays a much higher effective rate than its quoted percentage suggests, whichever provider it is with.
That is why comparing headline percentages between the two is close to meaningless in this category. The right unit of comparison is your effective rate: everything you were charged in a month divided by your total card volume. We walked through that arithmetic in how much Square takes from a hundred dollar sale, and the same method works on any quote.
What sits underneath the rate
Two contract questions decide more money than a tenth of a percent ever will.
The first is what happens to your hardware if you leave, since that determines whether switching later is cheap or expensive. The second is the term: notice period, any minimum, and what an early exit costs. Ask both in writing before signing either arrangement, and read where Clover fits and where it stops for a bottle shop if inventory depth is also part of your decision.
There is also the question of whether you pass card costs to customers at all, which changes the maths on both sides and carries rules of its own. That sits on our cash discount and dual pricing page, and the general anatomy of a bill is on our processing fees page. If you want a written quote read properly, send it to us.
Frequently asked questions
Which one is cheaper? Neither, as a category. A flat published rate usually wins for very small or unpredictable volume, and a negotiated arrangement usually wins as steady volume grows. Your own effective rate is the only honest test.
Can I negotiate published pricing down? Published pricing is generally offered as written, so read the provider’s own page before assuming there is room. What you can always control is taking cards in person wherever possible and avoiding keyed transactions, which cost more everywhere.
Why did two stores get different Clover rates? Because the processing behind the system is arranged by the reseller who sold it, and those arrangements differ. It is worth knowing that before you assume a quote is a fixed price.
Does the software plan cost count in the comparison? Yes, and so does every add-on app you need. Add the monthly software line to the processing cost before comparing anything, or the cheaper looking option can easily be the dearer one.
How often should I recheck this? Once a year, and immediately after any material change in volume or average ticket. Pricing that fit you at opening rarely still fits three years on.