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E-Commerce · head to head

Square vs Very Good Security

Square logo

Square

E-Commerce

Powering the economy

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Very Good Security logo

Very Good Security

Cybersecurity

Tokenisation proxy that keeps card and personal data out of your own systems and out of PCI scope

From
$1000/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Square has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Square plus plan pricing not specified in documentation; Very Good Security vGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • They diverge on capability: Square covers Payment processing, Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Square and Very Good Security actually diverge.

Attributes where Square and Very Good Security differ
AttributeSquareVery Good Security
Starting priceFree$1000/month
Pricing modelfreemiumPer month
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsPOS (Mobile app), WebWeb, API
CategoryE-CommerceCybersecurity
Founded2009Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Square

  • Payment processing
  • Point of sale
  • Invoicing
  • Payroll
  • Banking
  • QuickBooks
  • WooCommerce
  • Wix

Only in Very Good Security

  • Aliasing proxy
  • PCI scope reduction
  • Network tokenisation
  • Processor optionality
  • Card issuing data
  • Vault and access controls
  • Data residency options
  • Compliance artefacts

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Square

  • Accept payments with all-in-one POS applicationnot Very Good Security
  • Online ordering and basic website creationnot Very Good Security
  • Invoicing and appointment bookingnot Very Good Security
  • Staff scheduling and loyalty programmesnot Very Good Security

Very Good Security

  • A marketplace facing its first PCI DSS Level 1 assessment that wants to keep card data off its own estate rather than harden a dozen servicesnot Square
  • A merchant negotiating with a second acquirer that needs card credentials portable so the negotiation is real rather than theoreticalnot Square
  • A fintech collecting bank account and identity documents that wants sensitive fields absent from logs, backups and analytics warehouses by constructionnot Square
  • A card issuer that must display a full PAN in its own mobile app without the app or its backend touching cardholder datanot Square

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Square

  • Plus plan pricing not specified in documentation
  • Processing fees differ by tier but exact rates not detailed
  • Free plan pricing mentioned but specific features for Plus unclear
  • Text marketing charged at 3¢ per message after first 500 included

Very Good Security

  • VGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • Token portability is the whole selling point yet leaving VGS means migrating tokens back out, a project the vendor has no incentive to streamline, so the lock-in you removed from your acquirer partly moves to VGS.
  • Entry pricing at around one thousand US dollars a month is real money for a pre-revenue fintech, and it buys volume-limited throughput, so cost scales with exactly the growth that made you buy it.
  • Scope reduction is not scope elimination: your QSA still assesses how you integrate, and teams regularly discover that a support tool or an internal admin screen pulled plaintext back in and dragged systems into scope again.
  • Proxy-based interception constrains how you design request flows, and non-standard payloads, streaming uploads or binary formats often need custom routing rules that make debugging production issues noticeably harder.

Pricing, plan by plan

Square

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Accept payments with all-in-one POS app
    • Online site builder (ordering profiles, basic websites, online stores, booking sites)
    • Item library and inventory tracking
  • Plus$null/mo
    • All Free plan features
    • Advanced POS features for food, retail, and appointments
    • Lower processing fees on card transactions

Very Good Security

$1000/month
  • Starter$1000/month
    • Aliasing proxy
    • Vault storage
    • PCI scope reduction
  • Growth$undefined/month
    • Network tokenisation
    • Multiple processors
    • Data residency options
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom vault architecture
    • Dedicated support and SLA
    • Contractual compliance coverage

Which should you pick?

Choose Square if

  • You need payment processing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on POS (Mobile app), Web.
  • You also want point of sale.
Square review

Choose Very Good Security if

  • You need aliasing proxy.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want pci scope reduction.
Very Good Security review

Questions people ask

Is Square or Very Good Security better?
Neither clearly leads. Square starts at Free and Very Good Security at $1000/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Square or Very Good Security?
Square has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Square and $1000/month for Very Good Security.
Does Square or Very Good Security run on more platforms?
Square runs on POS (Mobile app), Web. Very Good Security runs on Web, API.
Can I use Square for free?
Yes. Square has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Very Good Security starts at $1000/month.
What is Square best used for?
Square is most often used for accept payments with all-in-one pos application, online ordering and basic website creation, invoicing and appointment booking, staff scheduling and loyalty programmes. Of those, accept payments with all-in-one pos application and online ordering and basic website creation are not what Very Good Security is typically brought in for.
What can Square do that Very Good Security cannot?
Square covers Payment processing, Point of sale, Invoicing, Payroll. Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy, PCI scope reduction, Network tokenisation, Processor optionality.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Square: Does Square offer a free plan?

Yes, Square's free plan includes an all-in-one POS app, online site builder, item library and inventory tracking, invoicing, appointment scheduling, staff calendars, and checking and savings account access. No subscription fees are charged.

Source
Very Good Security: Does VGS make me PCI compliant?

No. It removes cardholder data from your systems so your assessment covers a far smaller boundary, but you still complete an assessment and your integration is part of it.

Square: What does Square Plus add compared to the free plan?

Square Plus adds advanced POS features for food and retail, lower processing fees on card transactions, custom loyalty programs, unlimited email marketing campaigns, text messaging, and staff scheduling and attendance tracking.

Source
Very Good Security: Can I move to another processor without re-collecting cards?

Yes, that is a core reason people buy it. The vault reveals stored credentials to whichever processor you route to.

Very Good Security: What does it cost?

Published entry pricing is about one thousand US dollars per month; growth and enterprise tiers are quoted.

Very Good Security: Is it only for card data?

No. The proxy handles any sensitive field, including bank details, national identifiers and documents, though payments is where the product is now focused.

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