Braintree Vs Square: The Best Choice for Your Subscription Business?

“We offer multicurrency support!”

“Our payment gateway supports multiple payment methods.”

“Our platform will seamlessly encrypt the sensitive customer account information to ensure maximum security during payment processing.”

Whenever you search for a payment gateway, everyone claims such things making it more and more difficult to choose a payment gateway that can serve the needs of your subscription business. If you are facing the same situation, then team SubscriptionFlow has taken the initiative to bring a series of blogs on comparison of various payment gateways in the market. In this article, we will be discussing the details of Braintree vs Square.

Also Read: PayPal vs 2Checkout: Which is Better for Your Business?

So, read on to get answers to your unanswered queries about Braintree in comparison with Square!

Comparing Square with Braintree

Though both Braintree and Square are payment processing platforms, they differ in one way or another.

Targeted Audience of Square & Braintree

Being part of the subscription business market, we all know that all sizes of businesses can be found in this highly competitive arena. Here, the approach of Braintree and Square to fish customers differs. Braintree targets large and established businesses and enterprises. For instance, Uber, Airbnb, and Coursera are already their clients. And who doesn’t know the size of these businesses?

On the flip side, Square has a different strategy to cater to customers. They preferably target SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). If we delve into the details, then probably both strategies produce the same results. How?

When large enterprises are onboarded, then, of course, they pay you more revenue. You can also achieve revenue targets by onboarding small to medium-sized businesses, however, more in number.

Supported Payment Methods

Statistics show that there are almost 200 different payment methods across the world.

And of course, not all payment gateways offer support for all online payment methods. Coming towards the payment methods supported by Braintree and Square—the former can process PayPal payments, however, the latter cannot. People who opt for Square, usually prefer it for its efficient bank card transactions (through Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Visa, and Mastercard, etc.).

Other than that both gateways support the most commonly used payment methods.

Also Read: What Are the Online Payment Methods for Automated Recurring Payment Processing and How Do They Work?

Pricing Strategy

The pricing plan of the payment gateway is a leading factor when subscription businesses need to decide on the payment gateway. It is obvious that usually startups and small businesses lack financial resources and they need to be cautious while they select applications and software for their tech stack.

When it comes to the comparison of Braintree and Square, the latter starts with a free plan for small businesses and startups who need to run their payment process online. However, for advanced features, they have paid plans where they charge a flat fee on each transaction.

Braintree, on the other hand, starts from paid plans. Also, they charge a certain percentage on each transaction being processed through this gateway. The pricing structure of both gateways can also vary depending on the business size and type of transaction that you need to allow your customers.

Features Offered by Braintree & Square

While debating on Braintree vs Square comparison 2023, the comparison of their features is crucial. There are many features that both Braintree and Square offer. However, depending on the needs of the customer, Square offers inventory management as well. On the other hand, Braintree offers advanced fraud detection.

What Suits Your Subscription Business: Braintree/Square?

Now that you know the basic points of difference between Braintree and Square, it is time to decide which one suits your business. The factors discussed above play the most significant role in deciding the payment gateway for a subscription business. Other than that you need to pay attention to:

Smooth & Easy Integration

Many sophisticated and high-tech payment processing platforms have become complicated to integrate with subscription management software. Their integration either needs time for approval (Holding Time) or the overall process is tiring and complicated and the startups and small businesses find them difficult to onboard. Therefore, whenever you need to pick the payment gateway, go for the gateway that easily and smoothly gets integrated. If you have a small business, then it is better to opt for a payment gateway that is easy and quick to integrate.

The Level of Security

For instance, both Braintree and Square offer PCI DSS compliance, but there are some advanced security mechanisms that some businesses need. You will have to decide the level of security that you need to provide to your subscribers. Some payment gateways offer advance security, however, you need to decide based on your business niche what suits you the best.

Budget of Your Subscription Business

The most important factor that everyone considers is the budget. It is a common mistake made by many subscription businesses that they opt for a cheaper payment gateway just in a way thinking that they will switch or go for multiple payment gateway integration in the future. However, opportunities can come your way at any time. So, prepare for them and integrate efficient and robust payment gateways so that you can reach out to foreign clients easily. Try to cut your budget on other expenses (if possible) and invest in a better payment gateway.

Also Read: A Guide to Payment Gateways for Dummies

In Conclusion

Summing it up, the comparison of both Braintree and Square is here. Almost, all factors that a business considers while choosing a payment gateway have been discussed. We hope you can now decide which platform will serve you best in the long run.

However, if you need subscription management software integrated with any of these gateways, then SubscriptionFlow is an all-encompassing, flexible, and scalable platform that can integrate with Braintree as well as Square.

Schedule a demo with a SubscriptionFlow expert to learn more about integration with Braintree or Square.