Despite what you may have heard, it’s not always hip to be square. We’re talking about payments of course.

We’re often asked to explain what makes our solution better than the one offered by Square. It’s also a frequent question on Q&A forums like Quora. A lot of companies shy away from addressing these questions directly, but we believe in transparency and honesty here at ShopKeep, so we’re going to try and give as clear an answer as possible. The short answer is that each business has set out to solve a different problem, for a different audience, in a different way – and that origin informs everything the companies do. There’s more to say, but before we get into the details, we want to give you a little background:

What is Mobile POS?

Mobile POS can be confusing to the newcomer. Even the term itself is a little misleading, covering a huge range of mobile payments services and business models, (see the notoriously headache-inducing PYMNTS.com mPOS Tracker).

It’s no wonder therefore, that when people type ‘Mobile POS’ into Google, they’re left a little bewildered by the range of possible services offered. You’re left looking at results for ShopKeep and for Square, but also Amazon Payments, Magtek, Verifone, and for some bizarre reason, even Verizon. The services offered by these various providers are wildly different – and the new merchant can very easily end up trying to compare oranges and apples.

So, What’s the Answer?

The answer for most small business owners is to be clear about their business needs; about what each company provides; and crucially, about what each company stands for. It’s with that in mind that we put together a short ShopKeep vs. Square Q&A.

Why Do The Companies Exist?

You can learn a lot about a startup company by examining the problem they originally set out to solve. Square is primarily a mobile payment processor and offers a great solution for the micro-merchant customer base they originally set out to serve. They had a goal of disrupting the world of credit card processing and to allow as many people as possible to accept credit cards – and they’ve done that well.