Roots HQ vs. Square

Roots HQ is a storefront and operations platform, not a marketplace — it has no built-in buyer audience of its own. Bringing buyers is on the seller; in exchange, the seller keeps the customer relationship (see Business ownership).

Payments/POS/commerce software; not a marketplace with a buyer audience.

Buyers check out on the seller’s own branded checkout — Roots HQ does not operate a marketplace checkout of its own.

Not a marketplace — Square Online checkout is the merchant’s own.

Roots HQ runs the till and books the sale against the same inventory as every other channel. The card itself is taken by YOUR connected Square account — Square processes the payment and you remain the merchant of record. Roots HQ records the total, the processor's transaction reference and the payment status; it never stores card details.

In-person payments are the core of the product — Square Point of Sale takes chip, contactless and keyed-in cards. Limits: Processing rates differ by method; keyed-in and card-on-file are charged at a higher rate. Source: Square Point of Sale, read 2026-08-25.

The Square Tap-to-Pay module ships inside the POS app and the app checks for it at runtime. Tapping a phone to charge still requires Square to grant your account the Tap to Pay entitlement, a registered Square application ID, and a Tap-to-Pay-eligible Android device. Until all three are in place the app falls back to keyed card entry, which is live today.

Accepts Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay and NFC cards on the phone itself, with no extra hardware. Works in Square Point of Sale, Square Retail POS, Square Appointments POS and Square Invoices. Limits: iPhone XS or newer; not available on iPad; Requires a device passcode, automatic date & time, and a live internet connection — offline payments are not supported; Available in the US plus Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Japan, Spain and the UK. Source: Accept payments with Tap to Pay on iPhone — Square Support Center, read 2026-08-25.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Square Online provides a hosted store and online ordering. Limits: Online card processing is charged at a higher rate than in-person. Source: Square Point of Sale — "Websites" and "Online ordering profiles", read 2026-08-25.

Scoped to the customer contact list specifically (see “Data export” below for the exportable proof of this) — not a claim that every business record is exportable.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Square Customer Directory keeps customer profiles tied to payment history. Source: Square Point of Sale — "Customer directory", read 2026-08-25.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

The capability exists but is gated to a specific pricing plan or subscription tier — you get it, just not on every plan.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

The capability exists but is gated to a specific pricing plan or subscription tier — you get it, just not on every plan.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Item catalogue and inventory tracking are built into Square POS and the Square Dashboard. Limits: Advanced retail inventory features sit in the paid Retail plans rather than the free tier. Source: Square Point of Sale — "Track inventory", read 2026-08-25.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Real and shipped, but narrower than the feature name suggests. See the note on this cell for the specific boundary.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Works through the platform’s own first-party connection to an outside service (for example, live carrier rates through a shipping API) — real and supported, not a manual workaround.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Square Invoices is a first-class product, and Tap to Pay works inside the Invoices app. Limits: Invoice processing is charged at a different rate from in-person payments. Source: Square Support Center — Square Invoices listed among Tap to Pay compatible apps, read 2026-08-25.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

The capability exists but is gated to a specific pricing plan or subscription tier — you get it, just not on every plan.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Campaigns are composed, scheduled and sent from Roots HQ against a list you own. Delivery runs through YOUR own SMTP provider, billed to you — Roots HQ does not resell email sending, so deliverability is your provider's, not ours.

Square Marketing is Square's own marketing product for email campaigns. Limits: Square Marketing is priced separately from the POS subscription. Source: Square Point of Sale — "Marketing", read 2026-08-25.

Campaign and order SMS with TCPA opt-out and quiet hours enforced before anything sends — through YOUR own Twilio account and number, billed to you. The 10DLC carrier registration is yours to complete. Inbound SMS conversations are not supported.

Square Messages handles customer messaging; Square also sells text marketing. Limits: Priced separately from the POS subscription. Source: Square Point of Sale — "Messages", read 2026-08-25.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Not offered by this product today, as far as we could confirm from its own documentation.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Real and shipped, but narrower than the feature name suggests. See the note on this cell for the specific boundary.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

The capability exists but is gated to a specific pricing plan or subscription tier — you get it, just not on every plan.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

The capability exists but is gated to a specific pricing plan or subscription tier — you get it, just not on every plan.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.

Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.