Platform comparison
Shopify vs Square Online for a small shop: an honest comparison
Where Square Online beats Shopify, where Shopify wins, and the four things that decide it for a local shop: delivery scheduling, subscriptions, themes, fees.
Updated August 23, 20264 min readBy Granite Logic
We build on Shopify, so read this knowing where we sit. We have also told shop owners to stay on Square, because for some of them it is the right answer, and a migration that does not change anything important is just a bill.
The comparison below is for a small retail shop: one or two locations, a few hundred products at most, some walk-in trade, some delivery. Not a brand shipping nationally.
Where Square Online wins
Price. Square Online has a free tier (you pay card processing only) and a Plus plan at $29 a month. Shopify Basic is $39 a month, $29 paid annually. If the website is a brochure with a handful of products, Square is cheaper and perfectly fine.
The register. Square's POS is the best-liked counter system in small retail for good reason. Hardware is cheap, staff learn it in minutes, and the reporting is clear. Shopify POS Lite is capable and included, but if the register is the heart of your business and the website is secondary, Square's starting point is stronger.
Simplicity. There is less to configure. For an owner who wants to put up a menu, take a few orders, and get back to work, that is a feature.
Where Shopify wins
Delivery scheduling. This is usually the deciding factor for florists, bakeries, caterers, and farm stands. Square Online offers local delivery with zones and a simple time estimate. It does not let a customer choose a delivery date and time slot at checkout in a way you control by zone and cutoff. Shopify does not do this natively either, but a $30-a-month app (Zapiet is the standard) makes it work properly: zones by zip, per-zone fees and cutoffs, blackout dates, pickup slots. We have a full guide on local delivery and pickup on Shopify.
Subscriptions. Shopify's Subscriptions app is free and native: weekly, fortnightly, monthly, customer-managed pause and skip, prepaid gift subscriptions. Square's subscription support exists but is thinner and less flexible at checkout.
The theme. Square Online's templates are tidy and limited. You can change colours and fonts and reorder sections; you cannot really make the site look like yours. Shopify's free themes are genuinely customizable, and a developer can add sections you control from the editor. If you have ever looked at a competitor's site and wondered why yours cannot look like that, this is the reason.
Product structure. Variants with their own prices, images, and inventory; metafields for dimensions and care notes; collections that build themselves from tags. Square handles options, but Shopify's model scales better once you have sizes, colours, and add-ons across a real catalogue.
Apps and the long tail. Reviews, bundles, wholesale pricing, accounting sync, loyalty, booking. Square has some of these. Shopify has all of them, several times over. That is also a risk (see costs below), but the capability is there when you need it.
Search. Shopify's themes are fast and structured in ways search engines like. Collection and product pages rank. Square Online sites can rank too, but we see fewer of them doing it, and there is less you can do about it.
Where it is a tie
Card processing. Both charge about 2.9% + 30¢ online on their entry plans, a little less in person. Neither has a meaningful edge for a small shop.
Gift cards. Both support them, both work in store and online.
Email. Square Marketing and Shopify Email both do the basics. Shopify Email is free to 10,000 sends a month; Square charges from about $15 a month.
Reliability. Both are large, stable platforms. You will not lose your store to either.
The costs, honestly
| Square Online (Plus) | Shopify Basic | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | $29/mo | $29 to $39/mo |
| Delivery-date scheduling | Limited, included | ~$30/mo app |
| Subscriptions | Basic, included | Full, free |
| POS | Excellent, free | Good, included |
| Theme flexibility | Low | High |
| Processing (online) | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ |
So a florist who needs scheduling pays about $60 to $70 a month on Shopify against $29 on Square, and gets date selection, subscriptions, and a site they control for the difference. A gift shop with no delivery might pay $29 on either and should probably stay put. The full cost breakdown covers the rest.
When to stay on Square
- In-store sales are most of the business and the website is a menu
- You do not need customers to pick a delivery date
- You do not sell subscriptions, or your subscribers are happy
- The templates look fine to you
- You have no plans to grow the online side
If that is you, keep Square and spend the money on photography.
When to switch
- Customers ask to choose a delivery day and you are doing it over the phone
- You want subscriptions that customers manage themselves
- You have outgrown what the templates let you change
- You are paying a florist network or a marketplace a percentage of every order on top of a monthly fee
- You want one inventory across the counter and the website, and you are already considering changing the register
Switching is two weeks of work if it is done in the right order. The migration checklist is the order, and our Launch Shopify package with the migration add-on is what it costs to have us do it. If you are not sure which side of the line you fall on, send us your current bills and we will tell you straight.
Questions people ask
- Is Square Online cheaper than Shopify?
- On the monthly fee, yes: Square Online has a free tier and Shopify Basic is $29 to $39. Card processing is about the same (2.9% + 30¢ online). Once you add the things Square cannot do natively, such as delivery-date scheduling and flexible subscriptions, the gap narrows or reverses.
- Should I stay on Square Online?
- If in-store sales dominate, your online catalogue is small, you do not need delivery scheduling or subscriptions, and you are happy with the templates, stay. Square's register is excellent and the online store is free. Move when the website starts costing you sales or your time.
- Can I keep Square for the register and use Shopify online?
- You can, but inventory then lives in two systems and never quite agrees. Shopify POS Lite is included with Shopify, so most shops that switch move the register too and run one inventory.
- Does Shopify work for florists and local delivery shops?
- Yes, with one app for delivery-date scheduling (about $30 a month). Zones, fees, cutoffs, and pickup are native. Subscriptions and gift cards are native and free.