I’ve narrowed it down to two payment API options and need someone to tip the scale. Stripe vs Square—which one actually makes sense for a small SaaS that processes mostly recurring subscriptions but also occasional one-off invoices?
Stripe seems more developer-friendly and the subscription management tools look solid on paper, but I keep hearing their support gets useless once you hit a real edge case. Square on the other hand has simpler flat-rate pricing and the hardware integration is a non-issue for me, but their API docs feel thinner and I worry about scaling limits when we add more users. Both claim PCI compliance is handled, both have decent client libraries, and neither charges setup fees.
So the real question for anyone who has put both into production: does Stripe’s extra flexibility actually matter for a business that just needs reliable recurring billing and the occasional custom invoice, or is Square’s simplicity going to cause a dead end six months from now? I’m trying to avoid a migration later.
Stripe seems more developer-friendly and the subscription management tools look solid on paper, but I keep hearing their support gets useless once you hit a real edge case. Square on the other hand has simpler flat-rate pricing and the hardware integration is a non-issue for me, but their API docs feel thinner and I worry about scaling limits when we add more users. Both claim PCI compliance is handled, both have decent client libraries, and neither charges setup fees.
So the real question for anyone who has put both into production: does Stripe’s extra flexibility actually matter for a business that just needs reliable recurring billing and the occasional custom invoice, or is Square’s simplicity going to cause a dead end six months from now? I’m trying to avoid a migration later.
