Tap to Pay turns the phone in your pocket into a card terminal: the customer taps a contactless card or wallet on the back of your phone, and no reader is involved. It is the cheapest way to start taking cards, and the question is only whose app, at what rate, on which phones. We read each provider's own Tap to Pay and pricing pages on October 28, 2026 (Stripe's in-person rate on October 27). Nothing here comes from a hands-on trial.
For whom: a market stall, pop-up, mobile service, tutor or new business taking a handful of card payments a day. Not for: a shop with a counter, a queue and an inventory to track; see POS for mobile businesses or a full system.
The three options
| PayPal | Square | Stripe | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phones | iPhone XS and later; Android 8.0 and later with NFC and Google Play services; not tablets | iPhone XS or later on iOS 15.5 or later (Android not described on the page) | iPhone and NFC Android devices certified by Google, in the US |
| How you use it | Tap to Pay in the PayPal app, per PayPal's Tap to Pay page; the separate PayPal POS app (formerly Zettle) is PayPal's point of sale | Square's app | The Stripe Dashboard mobile app, with no code; or inside your own app through Stripe Terminal's SDKs |
| Rate per tap | PayPal app: 2.29% on its Tap to Pay page as read; PayPal POS app: 2.29% + 9¢ for in-person card payments on its POS pricing page | 2.6% + 15¢ | Stripe's in-person rate, 2.7% + 5¢, plus a per-authorization Tap to Pay fee whose US amount we could not read (Stripe served us its European page) |
| Monthly fee | None | None stated on the Tap to Pay page | None for Terminal |
| If you later want a reader | PayPal POS: first card reader $29 | Square readers sold separately | Terminal readers |
On a $40 sale, PayPal's fee is about $0.92 at 2.29% in the PayPal app, or $1.01 at the PayPal POS app's 2.29% + 9¢, against $1.19 on Square. The two PayPal prices belong to two different apps; PayPal's Tap to Pay page also says fees are subject to change, so confirm the current rate in the app you install.
Our pick
PayPal's Tap to Pay in the PayPal app. It is the lowest published rate of the three, it works on both iPhone and Android phones, and the app costs nothing. If you later want a catalog and a $29 card reader, PayPal's separate POS app adds them at 2.29% + 9¢. For a seller taking occasional payments, that is the whole job.
- Choose Square if you expect to outgrow the phone: Square's free POS plan and its readers run on the same account, so you will not switch providers when you add a counter. The rate gap on a $40 sale is under 30 cents.
- Choose Stripe if you already invoice or sell online through Stripe: its Dashboard mobile app takes Tap to Pay payments with no code, on an iPhone XS or later or a supported Android phone, so in-person sales land in the same account. It is a way to take a payment, not a POS with a catalog. Developers can also build Tap to Pay into their own app with Stripe Terminal's SDKs.
Limits to know before the first sale
- Phones, not tablets. PayPal says its Tap to Pay works only on phones.
- Transaction limits may apply, as Square's page says, and not every contactless card is accepted.
- No tap, no sale. A customer with a chip-only card needs a reader; keep that $29 option in mind if you see it often.
For what a full system costs once you move past a phone, see POS system cost; for selling without a monthly fee at all, see POS with no monthly fee.
Traceable evidence
Sources for this decision
- vendorPayPal Zettle official product sitePayPal Zettle · checked Aug 5, 2026 · supports: Vendor-published product scope used to verify capabilities relevant to this buyer context: Small and mobile sellers evaluating a straightforward PayPal-connected in-person checkout. It does not prove the guide's fit verdict, configured performance, current pricing or compliance.Open source ↗
- vendorSquare official product siteSquare · checked Aug 5, 2026 · supports: Vendor-published product scope used to verify capabilities relevant to this buyer context: Small merchants evaluating an integrated POS, payment, hardware, and business-software ecosystem. It does not prove the guide's fit verdict, configured performance, current pricing or compliance.Open source ↗
- vendorStripe Terminal official product siteStripe Terminal · checked Aug 5, 2026 · supports: Vendor-published product scope used to verify capabilities relevant to this buyer context: Software-led businesses evaluating developer-controlled in-person payments within a Stripe stack. It does not prove the guide's fit verdict, configured performance, current pricing or compliance.Open source ↗
- vendorPayPal: Tap to Pay on your phonePayPal · checked Oct 28, 2026 · supports: PayPal's Tap to Pay page as read on October 28, 2026: merchants download the PayPal app from the App Store or Google Play to use Tap to Pay, on iPhone XS and later and on Android 8.0 and later with NFC and Google Play services, phones only and not tablets, no monthly fee or setup cost, and a per-transaction rate of 2.29% on credit and debit card payments, subject to change; it does not mention a fixed per-transaction fee or limits.Open source ↗
- vendorPayPal Zettle pricing pagePayPal Zettle · checked Oct 27, 2026 · supports: PayPal Zettle's own pricing page as read on 2026-10-27, supporting the entry list price of its PayPal POS plan ($0/month; 2.29% + 9¢ in person) and the page details recorded with it (First card reader $29), and a free plan (Yes, free POS app). It does not prove the total cost for a given buyer, later price changes, promotions, negotiated discounts or taxes.Open source ↗
- vendorSquare: Tap to Pay on iPhoneSquare · checked Oct 28, 2026 · supports: Square's Tap to Pay page as read on October 28, 2026: Tap to Pay on iPhone XS or later running iOS 15.5 or later at 2.6% + 15 cents per tap, no long-term contract, transaction limits may apply and some contactless cards may not be accepted; it does not describe Android Tap to Pay or a monthly fee.Open source ↗
- vendorStripe Terminal: Tap to PayStripe · checked Oct 28, 2026 · supports: Stripe's Tap to Pay page as read on October 28, 2026: Tap to Pay on iPhone and on NFC Android devices certified by Google, available in the United States, offered to developers through the Stripe Terminal iOS and Android SDKs without separate Terminal hardware; it does not state a Tap to Pay rate or describe the no-code Dashboard app.Open source ↗
- vendorStripe docs: accept in-person payments without codeStripe · checked Oct 28, 2026 · supports: Stripe's documentation as read on October 28, 2026: three no-code ways to accept in-person payments, including Tap to Pay in the Stripe Dashboard mobile app on iOS (iPhone XS or later, passcode and iCloud sign-in) or a supported Android device with NFC, for contactless cards and NFC wallets, priced under Stripe's pay-as-you-go Terminal and Tap to Pay pricing; it does not state the US Tap to Pay fee or describe a catalog-based POS.Open source ↗
- vendorStripe Terminal pricing pageStripe Terminal · checked Oct 27, 2026 · supports: Stripe Terminal's own pricing page as read on 2026-10-27, supporting the entry list price of its Pay-as-you-go plan ($0/month; 2.7% + 5¢ in person) and the page details recorded with it (Developer platform; Stripe Reader M2 $59), and a free plan (Yes, no monthly fee). It does not prove the total cost for a given buyer, later price changes, promotions, negotiated discounts or taxes.Open source ↗