Clay Pay vs Square

Square owns the small-business POS conversation. The free reader, the simple flat-rate pricing, and the ecosystem of Square-branded products won countless solo and quick-service operators. Clay Pay starts being the better choice once your concept needs hardware depth, vertical specialization, or interchange-plus economics at volume. For any Square operator who is mostly trying to lower processing cost, the biggest lever is dual pricing or cash discount, which Square does not natively support and which we set up as part of the onboarding.

Pick Clay Pay if

• Annual processing is over $1M and you want interchange-plus instead of flat 2.6% + 10¢
• You're in a high-risk vertical Square restricts (hemp, kratom, firearms, coaching, adult, adult AI, MLM, continuity, travel, debt consolidation, warranty, supplemental insurance, prop firms)
• You want to run dual pricing or cash discount and bring net processing cost close to zero
• You need a POS Square doesn't make (NRS, SkyTab, Clover, Korona, Exatouch, etc.)
• Multi-location with complex inventory across stores
• You want hardware procurement, on-site install, and direct phone support

Pick Square if

• Solo or single-location and under $500K annual processing
• You like Square's ecosystem (Capital, Loans, Banking, Marketing)
• You want zero contracts and the ability to walk away tomorrow
• Your concept fits Square's standard restaurant or retail templates
• You need a free entry-level POS to test a new business