# Stripe alternatives for small businesses

Title: Stripe alternatives for small businesses

Description: Simple options for online and in-person selling, without a fake ranking. Read November 9, 2026. Source pages linked. Compared with Stripe. No invented rates.

A small business does not need the provider with the most infrastructure. It needs a yes, a rate it can explain, and a payout it can reconcile. The options below are grouped by where you sell, in person or online, and each rate was read on the provider's own pricing page.

## Who should use Square in person?

Square. The free plan's tap, dip, or swipe rate is **2.6% + $0.15**, and the point-of-sale software is included in the sense that you are not buying a second product to take the payment. Online on that same free plan is **3.3% + $0.30**, which is worse than Stripe. If you are mostly online, don't pick Square for the counter rate.

## Who should stay on Stripe for online sales?

Stripe. **2.9% + $0.30**, no monthly fee on standard pricing, and you will not outgrow the API next year. Braintree is fine and almost the same price. PayPal belongs on the page if customers ask for it, at PayPal's checkout rate, not as the only processor.

## What if the store is already on Shopify?

Shopify Payments, so you are not also paying Shopify's third-party fee.

## When does Helcim's schedule start to matter?

Helcim's interchange-plus margin is the first published schedule in this directory that is designed to get cheaper as you grow. Run the calculator before you believe a blog that says interchange-plus always wins. It doesn't at low volume or on expensive cards.

## When is a small business actually a restricted business?

Then you are not in the "small business" shopping aisle. You are on the high-risk page. Frame is the up-front underwriting option for US businesses in that situation, and it is not the cheap option.

## Questions

### Who should use Square in person?

Square. The free plan's tap, dip, or swipe rate is 2.6% + $0.15, and the point-of-sale software is included in the sense that you are not buying a second product to take the payment. Online on that same free plan is 3.3% + $0.30, which is worse than Stripe. If you are mostly online, don't pick Square for the counter rate.

### Who should stay on Stripe for online sales?

Stripe. 2.9% + $0.30, no monthly fee on standard pricing, and you will not outgrow the API next year. Braintree is fine and almost the same price. PayPal belongs on the page if customers ask for it, at PayPal's checkout rate, not as the only processor.

### What if the store is already on Shopify?

Shopify Payments, so you are not also paying Shopify's third-party fee.

### When does Helcim's schedule start to matter?

Helcim's interchange-plus margin is the first published schedule in this directory that is designed to get cheaper as you grow. Run the calculator before you believe a blog that says interchange-plus always wins. It doesn't at low volume or on expensive cards.

### When is a small business actually a restricted business?

Then you are not in the "small business" shopping aisle. You are on the high-risk page. Frame is the up-front underwriting option for US businesses in that situation, and it is not the cheap option.

## Sources

Last verified November 9, 2026.

- Stripe pricing: https://stripe.com/pricing?ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.stripealternatives.com

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