Braintree vs Stripe vs Square: Payment Processing Fees, Worked at Three Volumes
Braintree, Stripe, and Square will all take a customer's card and put the money in your account. What each one meters decides the bill. Braintree meters the payment method: cards at one rate, wallets at another, ACH at a third, and interchange-plus for established businesses that ask. Stripe meters the transaction: one flat rate for domestic cards, with add-ons. Square meters the plan and the channel: a monthly fee buys a lower rate, and the rate changes with how the card was taken. This guide prices all three at $10,000, $50,000, and $200,000 a month, at a $100 average order, from the vendors' own pricing pages, read November 14, 2026. The companion Stripe vs Square vs PayPal fee playbook prices the same volumes at a $50 average order.
Who this guide is for, and who should stop here
This guide is for a founder or finance lead choosing the processor for a business doing $10,000 to $200,000 a month in card volume, online, in person, or both, who will price the decision. It assumes US domestic transactions in dollars and no negotiated custom pricing. Not for the business already on a negotiated interchange-plus contract, or for a charity: Braintree publishes a 2.19% + 29¢ rate for verified 501(c)(3) organizations, which changes every number here.
The rate table
| Fee | Braintree | Stripe | Square (Free/Plus/Premium) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online card | 2.89% + 29¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ | 3.3% / 2.9% / 2.9% + 30¢ |
| In-person card | 2.89% + 29¢, all channels | 2.7% + 5¢ (Terminal) | 2.6% / 2.5% / 2.4% + 15¢ |
| Monthly fee | $0 | $0 | $0 / $49 / $149 per location |
| Manual entry | Not stated | +0.5% | 3.5% + 15¢ |
| PayPal wallet | 3.49% + 49¢ | Not native | Not native |
| Venmo | 3.49% + 49¢, US only | Not native | Not native |
| ACH | 0.75%, $5 cap; 1.5% + 10¢ same-day | 0.8%, $5 cap | 1%, $1 min, $10 cap / $5 API |
| International | +1% foreign card; +1% non-USD | +1.5%; +1% conversion | Not stated |
| Chargeback fee | $15.00 | $15.00 | None stated |
The fee table above is an archived copy of the PayPal-hosted Braintree schedule, dated November 8, 2026; every figure in it was verified line by line against the live page read November 14. Cards and third-party digital wallets cost 2.89% + 29¢, with a 15¢ American Express pass-through and 1% each for foreign-issued cards and non-USD sales. PayPal transactions carry no rate on Braintree's own table: the row defers to your PayPal account terms, where Checkout costs 3.49% + 49¢. Footnote: "Custom flat rates, interchange plus pricing, and discounted rates are available for established businesses based on business model and processing volume." No volume threshold is published.
Stripe's page states the model in one line: pay-as-you-go, no setup fees, monthly fees, or hidden fees. The standard rate is 2.9% + 30¢ per successful transaction for domestic cards. Terminal in-person payments cost 2.7% + 5¢ — newly published on the page. ACH Direct Debit costs 0.8% with a $5.00 cap, and a dispute costs $15.00. Custom pricing is offered for large volume; the page does not price it.
Square's page prices the plan first and the channel second. Free $0, Plus $49, Premium $149 a month per location. In person: 2.6% + 15¢ Free, 2.5% + 15¢ Plus, 2.4% + 15¢ Premium; online: 3.3% + 30¢ Free, 2.9% + 30¢ Plus and Premium. ACH through an invoice is 1% with a $1 minimum and a $10 cap; through the API the cap is $5. No per-dispute fee or international card rate is published — confirm both in your agreement.
The worked month: $10,000, $50,000, and $200,000
The rate table decides nothing until it meets a volume. The worked months below use a $100 average order: $10,000 is 100 transactions, $50,000 is 500, and $200,000 is 2,000.
| Monthly volume | Braintree online | Stripe online | Square Free online | Square Plus online | Square Free in person | Stripe Terminal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 (100 txns) | $318.00 | $320.00 | $360.00 | $369.00 | $275.00 | $275.00 |
| $50,000 (500 txns) | $1,590.00 | $1,600.00 | $1,800.00 | $1,649.00 | $1,375.00 | $1,375.00 |
| $200,000 (2,000 txns) | $6,360.00 | $6,400.00 | $7,200.00 | $6,449.00 | $5,500.00 | $5,500.00 |
Braintree is cheapest online at every volume — by $2.00 a month over Stripe at $10,000, $10.00 at $50,000, and $40.00 at $200,000; by $42.00, $210.00, and $840.00 over Square Free online. In person it trails by $43.00, $215.00, and $860.00 a month. Annualized: $480 over Stripe online, $10,080 over Square Free online, and $10,320 more than Square Free in person.
The fixed fee is the quiet line. At $100, Braintree's effective online rate is 3.18%, Stripe's 3.20%, Square Free's 3.60% online and 2.75% in person. Cut the average order to $25 and the fixed fees dominate: Braintree 4.05%, Stripe 4.10%, Square Free online 4.50%. Raise it to $500 and the three converge: Braintree 2.95%, Stripe 2.96%, Square Free online 3.36%.
Interchange-plus: the threshold test
Braintree's flat rate is 2.89% + 29¢. Its interchange-plus option charges the true interchange and scheme fees plus a markup Braintree does not publish. It beats the flat rate only when the markup is smaller than the gap between the flat rate and your real interchange cost:
Take an illustrative blended interchange-plus-scheme cost of 1.80% + 10¢ — a placeholder, not a published figure; your own processing statement shows the real number. At that placeholder, interchange-plus wins whenever Braintree's markup is below 1.09% + 19¢ per transaction. At a markup of 0.50% + 10¢, the all-in cost is 2.30% + 20¢, or $2.50 on a $100 sale against the flat $3.18 — a saving of $0.68 per sale, $340 a month at 500 transactions, $4,080 a year. At a markup of 1.10% + 19¢, the all-in cost is $3.19 — one cent above the flat rate — and the flat rate wins. Get the markup in writing.
PayPal, Venmo, and ACH: where Braintree earns its keep
The card-rate gap is $2 a month at $10,000 in volume. The wallet gap is structural. Braintree accepts PayPal and Venmo natively, in the same checkout and settlement stream: Venmo at 3.49% + 49¢, or $3.98 on a $100 sale, and PayPal Checkout at the same rate under your PayPal account terms. Stripe accepts neither natively. A Stripe merchant who wants PayPal runs a second account, a second settlement stream, and a second reconciliation — same $3.98 rate, doubled operation. With wallet buyers, Braintree is the only one of the three without a second integration.
ACH is the second place Braintree earns its keep. A $100 invoice paid by card on Braintree costs $3.18; paid by standard ACH it costs $0.75 — a saving of $2.43 per invoice. On Stripe the same invoice costs $0.80 by ACH against $3.20 by card; on Square, $1.00 by ACH invoice against $3.60 by card online. The cap is where the money is: Braintree's 0.75% reaches its $5.00 cap at $666.67, so a $1,000 invoice costs $5.00 by ACH against $29.19 by card — a $24.19 saving on one payment. Stripe's 0.8% caps at $625.00; Square's invoice ACH caps at $10.00, reached at $1,000. Returned and unauthorized ACH cost $5.00 each on Braintree.
Dispute economics and the risk layer
The transaction fee is the visible cost; the dispute is the hidden one. Braintree charges $15.00 per chargeback. Stripe charges $15.00 per dispute. Square's pricing page states no per-dispute fee. At a 1% dispute rate on 500 transactions a month — five disputes — Braintree and Stripe each cost $75.00 in dispute fees, plus the $500.00 value of the five transactions at a $100 average order, plus the representment work. At 2,000 transactions the fee line is $300.00 a month on either processor. The fee is not the cost because the refunded sale and the time are.
Braintree sells protection as an add-on: Chargeback Protection starts at 0.4% per transaction, Effortless Chargeback Protection at 0.6%. At $50,000 a month, 0.4% is $200.00 — nearly three times the $75.00 in dispute fees at a 1% dispute rate. The add-on also covers the transaction value: $200.00 a month against $575.00 of exposure.
The risk none of the three prices on its pricing page is account stability. All three underwrite the merchant, and all three can hold payouts, request documentation, or terminate an account after a spike in chargebacks or a change in business model. None publishes a reserve policy, a hold threshold, or a termination timeline on the page this guide opened, so no figure for any of them appears here. The defense is the same on all three: keep the dispute rate low and keep a second payout path — a bank account that can receive a wire — so a hold is a delay, not a shutdown. Check the dispute-ratio program in the Visa VAMP dispute-ratio playbook before the ratio, not after it.
Decision table: which processor fits which operator
| Operator | Best fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Online store, cards only | Braintree | $318.00/mo at $10,000 |
| Online store with PayPal/Venmo buyers | Braintree | Only native wallet acceptance of the three |
| In-person seller, one location | Square Free or Stripe Terminal | $275.00/mo at $10,000; tie at 2.75% effective |
| Invoice-heavy B2B | Braintree or Stripe ACH | $5.00 ACH vs $29.19 card |
| High-volume, negotiated rates | Braintree or Stripe interchange-plus | Flat rate never falls with volume; markup is the negotiation |
| Low-ticket online | Stripe or Braintree | 4.10% / 4.05% effective vs Square Free 4.50% |
Scenario: Cascadia Trail Supply at $50,000 a month
Cascadia Trail Supply is a worked example: an online outdoor-gear store doing $50,000 a month at a $100 average order — 500 transactions. Its mix is 75% cards, 15% PayPal wallet, and 10% ACH invoices from wholesale buyers. On Braintree the month costs $1,528.50: 375 card sales at $3.18 is $1,192.50; 75 PayPal wallet sales at $3.98 is $298.50; 50 ACH invoices at $0.75 is $37.50. On Stripe the same mix costs $1,538.50: cards $1,200.00, ACH $40.00, wallet sales $298.50 — but through a second PayPal account. On Square Free online: $1,698.50 — cards $1,350.00, ACH $50.00, wallet $298.50 through a separate account.
Braintree wins the scenario by $10.00 a month over Stripe and $170.00 a month over Square Free — $120 and $2,040 a year. The $10.00 is the honest headline: at this volume, Braintree and Stripe are the same processor with a different wallet. Move the mix to 100% cards and the gap collapses to $10.00 a month against Stripe and $210.00 against Square Free. Move it to 100% in person and Braintree loses by $215.00 a month to both.
Who should not use each processor
Do not pick Braintree if the business is mostly in person: it charges $3.18 on a $100 card-present sale where Square Free and Stripe Terminal charge $2.75. Do not pick Stripe if a material share of buyers pays with PayPal or Venmo: there is no native acceptance, and the second account is a second operation. Do not pick Square Free if the business is mostly online: the Plus saving pays for itself at $12,250 a month in online volume. Do not pick any of the three on the headline rate alone: at $10,000 a month the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive online option is $42.00, and a switch costs a new integration, new reconciliation, and re-entered cards.
Founder & CEO Insight — Enow A. Jovial
Execution checklist: the processor file
- [x] Step 1: Measure the mix — Volume, average order, wallet share, invoice share.
- [x] Step 2: Price the fixed fee at your order value — At $25 it decides the answer.
- [x] Step 3: Run the three volumes — At your average order.
- [x] Step 4: Get the interchange-plus markup in writing — Run it through the threshold formula.
- [x] Step 5: Price the dispute line — $15.00 on Braintree and Stripe.
- [x] Step 6: Price the ACH line — Caps bind at $666.67, $625.00, and $1,000.
- [x] Step 7: Count the switch — Engineering days against the monthly saving.
- [x] Step 8: Keep a second payout path — A bank account that can receive a wire.
- [x] Step 9: Confirm the unpublished rates — Square's unpublished rates.
Related reading: the Stripe vs Square vs PayPal fee playbook for the same three volumes at a $50 average order; the Adyen vs Stripe vs Checkout enterprise pricing guide for the volume where flat-rate pricing itself becomes the cost to beat; and the Wise vs Airwallex vs Payoneer payout guide for the cross-border leg.