Square Review Australia 2026
Best Free POS for Australian Small Businesses
Square remains the easiest no-monthly-fee POS for small AU sellers if you accept US-hosted systems and a 1.6% card-present rate (1.9% for some pre-30 May 2024 accounts on Reader/Stand/Tap to Pay). Hardware now starts at $65 for the Reader; Tap to Pay needs no reader. The stored $69 Plus plan is gone — Retail Plus is $109/location and Restaurants Plus is $129/location. Pair it with Xero or MYOB for BAS. Zeller still undercuts the card rate at 1.4% incl. GST.
- Best for
- Small businesses, cafes, food trucks, market stalls, pop-up shops, and retailers wanting a free, easy-to-use POS with no monthly fees
- Not ideal for
- Sellers who need Australian data residency, complex multi-location inventory beyond Retail Plus, or the lowest published card rate (Zeller 1.4%).
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Overview
Square is free pos software with affordable card payments. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in San Francisco, CA, USA (Block Inc), it serves Australian businesses.
Square screenshots
Square screenshots below are vendor-provided. They are not a SoftwareHQ product test, not from a logged-in editorial account, and not generated mockups. The live product may differ.
Source: images.ctfassets.net
Source: images.ctfassets.net
Feature highlights
These highlights come from vendor documentation and editorial analysis of public sources. They are not firsthand test results or a claim that every listed capability was exercised in a trial.
- Free POS Software
No monthly software fee on the base plan. Pay 1.6% when a new seller takes a card-present payment. Includes sales reporting, standard inventory tools and customer profiles. Tap to Pay needs no reader.
- Flat-Rate Card Processing
1.6% per tap or insert for sellers signed up on or after 30 May 2024, all major card brands. Older Reader/Stand/Tap to Pay accounts: 1.9% unless on a paid plan. Online/keyed 2.2%.
- Affordable Hardware Range
Reader $65, Terminal $329 (printer built in), Register $1,099, Handheld $349, Stand $149 (8 Sep 2026). Interest-free instalments. Hardware is purchased, not leased.
- Omnichannel Selling
Sell in person, online, via invoices or keyed entry. Square Online is a separate site builder that can sync inventory with POS. Confirm current Square Online plan fees separately — not re-priced here.
- Built-In Loyalty & Customer Management
Track customer preferences and purchase history automatically. Square Loyalty lets you reward repeat customers with points-based programs directly through the POS.
- Specialised Industry Solutions
Retail Plus $109/location: POs, vendors, barcode labels, stocktakes, COGS. Restaurants Plus $129/location: table/KDS workflows, optional +$50 mobile POS. Appointments Plus $40/location.
AU Compliance Scores
These scores apply to Australian tax, payroll and banking capabilities where they are relevant to Square. They are SoftwareHQ editorial judgements from public documentation, not firsthand product tests.
Not applicable means this product type is not scored on that dimension (for example BAS lodgement on a CRM). Not supported means the vendor does not offer it. Unknown means we could not verify it from public sources — that is not the same as unsupported.
POS system. BAS lodgement is via accounting software (Xero, MYOB), not Square.
No payroll product on the pages opened this check.
Square AU help: create GST as a sales tax and apply it automatically on in-person and online sales; receipts can show GST. No in-product BAS lodgement.
Not a bank-feeds product. Sales sync to Xero/MYOB; that is an integration, not Square bank feeds.
When this was checked
Status as of (page snapshot) against a 90-day review target. Checked dates are not updated when the site is rebuilt.
Editorial article date: . That is not proof that pricing, hosting, or compliance was re-checked.
- PricingVerified
Verified — checked 8 September 2026.
AUD advertised. Hardware shop prices treated as GST-inclusive. Free $0. Retail Plus $109/location, Restaurants Plus $129/location, Appointments Plus $40 / Premium $90. Card-present 1.6% (new accounts); CNP 2.2%. Hardware Reader $65, Terminal $329, Register $1,099. Stored generic Plus $69 and Reader $59 are stale.
- HostingVerified
Verified — checked 8 September 2026.
Community support: systems hosted in the United States; no local AU storage. Privacy notice overseas list includes US, Canada, Japan, Ireland, France, Spain, UK. PCI claimed. Not AU-sovereign.
- GST handlingVerified
Verified — checked 8 September 2026.
GST can be created as a sales tax and applied automatically. Receipts can show GST. No BAS lodge.
Pricing (AUD)
All prices below are in Australian dollars and include GST. Verified — checked 8 September 2026. Source: squareup.com/point-of-sale/retail.
- Locations: unlimited
- Registers: unlimited
- Locations: per_location
- Registers: unlimited
- Advanced Inventory: Yes
- Locations: per_location
- Kds: unlimited
- Mobile Pos Extra Monthly: 50
- Locations: per_location
- Locations: per_location
Estimate first-year cost for Square
Observed price changes
Recorded when a listed price changed. This is not a complete vendor timeline.
- Listed hardware Reader $65 / Terminal $329 / Register $1,099 (was $59 / $299 / $999). Generic Plus $69 replaced by Retail Plus $109, Restaurants Plus $129, Appointments Plus $40.
- Plus / Retail Plus · $69 → $109 · Generic Plus $69 no longer listed. Retail Plus $109/location, Restaurants Plus $129/location, Appointments Plus $40. Hardware Reader $65 / Terminal $329 / Register $1,099 (was $59 / $299 / $999).
- Plus · $60 → $69 · Plus plan increased from $60 to $69/month for AU market
- Card Rate · AU card processing rate increased from 1.5% to 1.6%
- Square Terminal (hardware) · $249 → $299 · Square Terminal hardware price increased from $249 to $299 in AU
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Free POS software — $0/month on the base plan
- 1.6% flat card-present rate for new sellers (same rate across Visa, Mastercard, eftpos, JCB, Amex)
- Tap to Pay on iPhone/Android with no Square hardware
- Hardware from $65 Reader; Terminal $329; Register $1,099 — buy outright, no rental
- Offline card payments for up to 24 hours if enabled before the outage
- Retail Free includes standard inventory; Retail Plus adds POs, stocktakes and COGS
- Xero and MYOB integrations listed for sales sync
Cons
- Systems hosted in the United States — not AU data residency
- 1.6% is higher than Zeller's published 1.4% incl. GST in-person rate
- Pre-30 May 2024 accounts can still pay 1.9% on Reader, Stand and Tap to Pay
- Paid Plus is $109 (retail) or $129 (restaurants) per location, not the old $69 SKU
- eftpos-only cards, gift cards and Afterpay do not work in offline mode
- No in-product BAS or payroll
How this review was made
Reviews separate vendor documentation, editorial analysis and firsthand records. They are not interchangeable.
- Vendor documentation — Public pages from Square and other sites. Recorded HTTP(S) URLs are listed under Sources. A source URL is a document we recorded, not a claim that every sentence on this page was checked against that URL.
- Editorial analysis — SoftwareHQ's written verdict and scores for Australian buyers. The header score is an editorial assessment, not a user-review average, not a lab result, and not a number derived from how many evidence records exist.
- Firsthand records — This review has no firsthand observation records, trial walkthroughs, or screenshots from a logged-in SoftwareHQ account. Missing tests stay not tested.
Vendor-provided screenshots, when shown, are labelled as vendor-provided imagery rather than firsthand testing.
This page does not rank products by speed or security from documentation or from evidence count.
Checked by SoftwareHQ Editorial Team. There is no named author profile for this page; attribution stays with the SoftwareHQ editorial team. How we test and the editorial policy for scoring, independence and affiliate rules.
Sources
Public pages recorded when this review was compiled. They are not a checklist that every claim was verified, and they are not evidence of hands-on product testing.
- Squareup pricing (squareup.com)
- Squareup pricing (squareup.com)
- Squareup Retail
- Squareup Full Service
- Squareup Appointments
- Squareup Hardware
- Squareup 5068 What Are Square S Fees
- Squareup 5061 Create And Manage Your Tax Settings
- Squareup 3796 Privacy And Security
- Squareup Buyer Privacy
- Community 802325
Square Alternatives
If Square doesn’t quite fit your needs, consider these alternatives for Australian businesses:
- Lightspeed — Full-featured POS for retail and hospitality. From $129/mo ex GST.
- Zeller — AU-made EFTPOS and POS in one device. Free plan available.
- Shopify POS — Omnichannel POS for retailers who sell online and in-store. From $56/mo ex GST.
Related Comparisons
Migration Guides
Step-by-step switching guides involving Square for Australian businesses.