Square Online's pitch is unbeatable on the surface: free tier, no monthly fee, integrates with Square POS, set up in an afternoon. For a low-volume operation, it's a defensible choice. For a restaurant doing real volume, the per-transaction percentage starts to matter more than any monthly bill.
This is the math, honestly.
TL;DR
- Square Online has a real free tier. No monthly fee, custom domain on the $79 premium plan, full e-commerce features.
- The cost is the percentage. 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. On a busy takeout restaurant, that's the most expensive line item by far.
- Remi is $69/month and takes nothing per transaction on the website itself. Use whatever payment processor you want.
What you actually pay on Square Online
Square Online's tiers in 2026:
| Plan | Monthly | Per transaction |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Plus | $29 | 2.9% + $0.30 (lower for in-person) |
| Premium | $79 | 2.6% + $0.30 (volume discount) |
For a restaurant, the realistic plan is Plus or Premium because Free includes Square branding on your site. Add:
- Custom domain (after free first year): $20/yr
- Square Restaurants POS (if you want the menu sync): separate $0–165/mo software fee depending on plan
- Online ordering with delivery integration: included in tiers, but per-order DoorDash/Uber Eats handoff fees apply if used
Run the math at real volumes
This is where the comparison sharpens. Two scenarios for a restaurant doing online ordering:
Scenario A: 20 orders/day, $40 average ticket
- Daily online revenue: $800
- Monthly online revenue: $24,000
- Square processing on online orders: $24,000 × 2.9% + 600 × $0.30 = $876/month = $10,512/year in transaction fees
- Plus Square Online Plus: $29/mo = $348/yr
- Total Square: ~$10,860/year
For Remi at this volume:
- Remi: $828/year
- Stripe processing (typical replacement): 2.7% + $0.05 = $670/month = $8,040/year
- Total Remi + Stripe: ~$8,868/year
Difference: ~$2,000/year savings. The Stripe rate vs Square rate is small, but real.
Scenario B: 50 orders/day, $35 average ticket
- Daily online revenue: $1,750
- Monthly online revenue: $52,500
- Square processing: $52,500 × 2.9% + 1,500 × $0.30 = $1,973/month = $23,676/year
- Plus Square Online Plus: $348/yr
- Total Square: ~$24,024/year
For Remi:
- Remi: $828/year
- Stripe processing: 2.7% + $0.05 = $1,492/month = $17,904/year
- Total Remi + Stripe: ~$18,732/year
Difference: ~$5,300/year savings.
The 0.2% rate spread between Square and Stripe doesn't sound like much. At $50K/month in online sales, it's the price of two rounds of marketing photos.
What Square Online includes that's actually useful
To be fair to Square — and we are, because the product is competent:
- Real free tier. $0/month, no trial, no surprise charges. Rare in this space.
- POS integration if you're on Square Restaurants. Menu sync, inventory tracking, real-time 86 status. Same value proposition as Toast.
- Built-in payments. No separate Stripe/processor setup. One vendor, one bill.
- Pickup and delivery routing. Built-in support for in-house pickup, integrated delivery via DoorDash, Uber Eats handoff.
- Square Marketing. Email and loyalty addons that talk to your POS.
If you're a small operation already on Square Restaurants POS doing modest online volume — say, under $10K/month in online sales — Square Online is genuinely cheaper than Remi all-in. The percentage damage hasn't compounded enough yet.
What Square Online underplays
- Themes are general-purpose, not restaurant-specific. Square Online's editor descends from their original Weebly acquisition. The restaurant templates are Weebly templates with menu blocks added on. They look like e-commerce stores with food in them.
- Menu structure is shopping-cart-shaped. Each dish is a "product." Categories are "collections." It works, but it's a layer of abstraction that doesn't fit how restaurants think about menus.
- Accessibility varies by template. Square's accessibility statement covers their dashboard. Customer-facing rendered output depends on which template you picked and how you customized it.
- Lock-in via processing. If you want to leave Square, you're not just migrating your website — you're switching payment processors, which means card-on-file customer reauth and merchant account paperwork.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Square Online | Remi |
|---|---|---|
| Listed price | $0–79/mo | $69/mo |
| Per-transaction fee | 2.9% + $0.30 (or 2.6% premium) | None from Remi (use any processor) |
| Real cost at $30K/mo online sales | $11,000+/yr | $9,000/yr (Remi + Stripe) |
| Restaurant-specific themes | Generic with restaurant menu blocks | 5 themes designed for restaurants only |
| Menu data model | Shopping cart (products + collections) | Restaurant-native (dishes + sections + dietary flags) |
| POS integration | Deep (Square Restaurants) | None |
| Custom domain | $79/mo plan or $20/yr add-on | Included |
| WCAG 2.2 AA compliance | Varies by template | Built in, every theme |
| Payment processor flexibility | Square only | Bring your own |
| Online ordering | Built in | Bring your own |
| Free tier | Yes (with Square branding) | No |
When Square actually wins
Three real scenarios:
- You're already on Square POS. The integration is the value. Don't break it for $69/month savings.
- Your online volume is genuinely low. Under $5K/month, the per-transaction math doesn't bite yet, and the free or $29 tier is cheaper than Remi.
- You want one vendor for everything. POS, payments, website, marketing in one Square login. Real value if you'll actually use it all.
When Remi wins clearly
- Online volume above ~$15K/month. The transaction-fee gap eats whatever Square saves you on monthly fees.
- You want a website that looks like a restaurant. Square's templates are general-purpose; Remi is restaurant-only.
- You want payment-processor flexibility. Stripe, Paddle, Adyen — Remi works with whatever you pick.
- ADA compliance can't be optional. Every Remi theme passes WCAG 2.2 AA out of the box, no widget required. Square's compliance varies.
Migration: Square Online → Remi
The website piece is straightforward:
- Sign up for Remi.
- Paste your menu (or export Square product CSV and import).
- Move photos from Square's media library.
- Repoint the domain.
The payment-processor switch is the bigger move. Two patterns:
- Keep Square as the processor only. Remi connects to Square as a payment endpoint. You lose POS integration, but you keep the existing card-on-file customers and merchant relationship.
- Switch fully to Stripe. Cleaner long-term, more flexibility, slightly lower rates. Customers re-add their cards; small friction.
Most owners do the first migration in a day, then evaluate processor switching over the next quarter.
Bottom line
Square Online's free tier is a great deal when your volume is small. As volume grows, the percentage starts to matter more than the monthly fee, and a flat-fee platform like Remi plus a competitive processor like Stripe ends up cheaper.
If you're under $5K/month online, stay on Square. If you're past $15K/month, the math says move.