E-Commerce · alternatives
Alternatives to Square
24 e-commerce tools sit alongside Square in this directory. Below is what separates each from Square on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 24
- With a free tier
- 14
- Cheaper to start
- -
- Square starts at
- Free
Why people look past Square
Nothing on the record flags a reason to move. Square has a free tier. People still switch over fit and workflow, and those are not things a catalogue entry can measure, which is what the comparisons below are for.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Hosted e-commerce platform that charges no transaction fee and no surcharge for third party gateways
- No free tier, where Square has one.
- Publishes an entry price of $29.95/month, where Square does not.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than freemium.
Open core commerce platform, free as Magento Open Source and licensed by revenue as Adobe Commerce
- Publishes an entry price of Free, where Square does not.
- Sold on a open-source model rather than freemium.
Cloud-based POS for small businesses
- No free tier, where Square has one.
- Publishes an entry price of $89/month, where Square does not.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than freemium.
- 3 tiers to Square's 2.
Cloud point of sale and inventory management sold alongside Heartland card processing
- No free tier, where Square has one.
- Publishes an entry price of $150/month, where Square does not.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than freemium.
Automate and scale your product data with an AI-powered open-source PIM.
- Sold on a open-source model rather than freemium.
- 1 tier to Square's 2.
Social resale marketplace with a flat fee on low-value sales and a percentage cut above that
- Sold on a Free to list; tiered seller commission by sale price model rather than freemium.
- 1 tier to Square's 2.
Every Square alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Square (this page) | Free | Freemium | 2 | |
| BigCommerceEnterprise ecommerce platform for ambitious merchants | $29.95/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Square |
| MagentoOpen-source ecommerce platform for enterprise retail | Free | Open-source | 2 | vs Square |
| ShopkeepCloud-based POS for small businesses | $89/month | Subscription | 3 | vs Square |
| Heartland RetailOmnichannel retail management platform | $150/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Square |
| UnoPIM | Free | Open-source | 1 | vs Square |
| Poshmark | Free | Free to list; tiered seller commission by sale price | 1 | vs Square |
| Instacart | Free | Free to download; item markups plus delivery and service fees per order, optional subscription | 2 | vs Square |
| Mercari | Free | Free to list; 10 percent seller commission on sale price plus payment processing fee | 1 | vs Square |
| Depop | Free | Free to list; percentage plus per-order seller fee, separate payment processing fee | 1 | vs Square |
| Temu | Free | Free to browse and use; pay per order, heavy promotional discounting | 1 | vs Square |
| Shein | Free | Free to browse and use; pay per order, optional paid loyalty tier | 2 | vs Square |
| Wish | Free | Free to browse and use; pay per order | 1 | vs Square |
| Amazon Shopping | Free | Free to use; optional Prime subscription for fast shipping and bundled media | 2 | vs Square |
| Vinted | Free | Free for sellers, no commission; buyer pays a variable Buyer Protection fee at checkout | 2 | vs Square |
| Zendrop | Free, then $49/month | Freemium | 3 | vs Square |
| Saleor | Free | Open-source | 4 | vs Square |
| CJ Dropshipping | Free | Freemium | - | vs Square |
| BackToMe | €25/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Square |
| Mollie | £0.3/transaction | Per transaction by payment method | 3 | vs Square |
| Klarna | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Square |
| Drip | $39/month | Per month by contact count | 3 | vs Square |
| Memberful | $49/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Square |
| FastSpring | On request | Transaction | 1 | vs Square |
| SamCart | $79/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Square |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Square badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
What you would be giving up
Square is most often brought in for accept payments with all-in-one pos application, online ordering and basic website creation, invoicing and appointment booking, staff scheduling and loyalty programmes. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Square is broadly right and the question is cost, the Square pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the E-Commerce category lists everything the directory holds, and best e-commerce tools ranks them.
Square runs on pos (mobile app), web. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Square alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Square?
- 24 other e-commerce tools are listed in this directory, led by BigCommerce, Magento, Shopkeep, Heartland Retail. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Square?
- 14 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Magento, UnoPIM, Poshmark, Instacart, Mercari.
- Is there a reason to switch away from Square?
- Nothing in the data flags one. Square has a free tier. Fit and workflow are the usual reasons to move, and those are not things this record can measure.
- What would I give up by switching from Square?
- Square is most often brought in for accept payments with all-in-one pos application, online ordering and basic website creation, invoicing and appointment booking, staff scheduling and loyalty programmes. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Square?
- Magento, UnoPIM, Saleor are recorded with an open-source licence model.
- How were these Square alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, E-Commerce, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Square against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Square covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every e-commerce tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the E-Commerce category, 24 tools beside Square. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.