Square POS vs Helcim

Two point of sale tools side by side. Prices are the starting plan a small business would pick, in USD.

Compare	Square POSBlock	HelcimHelcim
In one line	Free POS with pay-as-you-go processing	Free POS with interchange-plus pricing that drops as you grow
Starting price	Free	Free
Six-person team	$0/mo	$0/mo
On $10,000 of card sales	$320/mo	Interchange plus a markup
Plans	Free $0/mo: 2.6% + 15¢ per tap, dip, or swipe; Plus $49/mo per location: 2.5% + 15¢; Premium $149/mo per location: 2.4% + 15¢	No monthly fee; in-person interchange + 0.40% + 8¢, online interchange + 0.50% + 25¢ (first $50K/mo, lower above); card reader $199; Smart Terminal $349
Pricing model	Free tier	Free tier
Free trial	—	—
Users	Unlimited	Unlimited
Both connect to	QuickBooks Online, Xero, Zoho Books
Also connects to	Akaunting, Kashoo, ZipBooks, Bench	Wave
Team size	Just me · 2–10 people · 11–50 people	Just me · 2–10 people · 11–50 people
Available in	US · UK · CA · AU	US · CA
Phone support	Every plan (US)	Plans not stated
Live chat	Plans not stated	None listed
Support hours	Phone: 6am–6pm PT M–F for the first 90 days (Square Free only), 6am–6pm PT M–F (Square Plus only), 24/7 (Square Premium only)	Phone: Monday – Friday: 7am – 5pm MT; Saturdays: 9am – 5pm MT
Incidents posted	14 incidents posted on Block's status page, which covers all Block products and regions, in the 90 days to Oct 27, 2026; 0 marked major or critical by Block. Status page	Helcim has a public status page. Status page
Capterra score	4.6 / 5 from 3,039 reviews	Not listed
Trustpilot score	Not listed	4.1 / 5 from 1,112 reviews
Fit: Retail shop	95	82
Fit: Restaurant or café	85	55
Fit: Service business	80	85
Fit: Agency or studio	20	50
Fit: Trades or contractor	60	80
Fit: Online store	55	60
Why people pick it	No monthly fee on the free plan Hardware and software from one vendor Deep accounting integrations	No monthly or contract fees Lower rates at higher volume
Where it falls short	Processing fees add up at higher volume Account holds are a common complaint	Rates vary by card, harder to predict Light restaurant features
	Visit Square POS ↗	Visit Helcim ↗

Six-person prices are what a team of six would pay on the published plans; "Not listed" means those plans don't cover six. Card sales costs include the plan price and card fees at US rates, at a $25 average sale. How we calculate prices