Square ACH Payments: Fees, Timing and Limits

Short answer: Square accepts ACH bank payments on Square Invoices and through its developer API, at 1% per payment with a $1 minimum, on the US fee pages we checked on 26 October 2026. The cap depends on where the payment happens: $5 through the API on every plan, $10 on invoices for Plus and Premium, and no cap listed on invoices for the Free plan. Square says ACH settles in about 2 to 3 days. If you already invoice through Square, it is a simple add-on. If you run a WooCommerce store, the official Square plugin does not list ACH, so you will need another route.

Square ACH fees by plan#

These are from Square's "Our fees" page and its fee help article.

Square's fee article adds a line for legacy plans: 1%, minimum $1, with a "$10 fee cap on all ACH bank transfer payments." Square also says businesses processing over $250,000 a year can ask about custom pricing.

For comparison, Square's own card rates for online and invoice payments are 3.3% + 30¢ on Free and 2.9% + 30¢ on Plus and Premium.

What Square ACH costs on real payments#

Worked out from the published rates above:

Two things stand out. The $1 minimum makes ACH proportionally expensive on small payments: $1 on a $50 invoice is 2%. And on the Free plan, a large invoice paid by ACH is charged the full 1%, with no cap listed, which is $50 on $5,000. If you send large invoices, check your plan before you rely on ACH being cheap.

When a card is cheaper than Square ACH#

Because of the $1 minimum, ACH is not always the cheaper option on Square. On the Plus or Premium plan, an online or invoice card payment costs 2.9% + 30¢, which only passes $1.00 at about $24. On the Free plan, the online card rate of 3.3% + 30¢ passes $1.00 at about $21.

So for small invoices, offering ACH saves your customer nothing and costs you more. ACH starts to pay off from roughly $25 and matters most on invoices in the hundreds or thousands.

Where Square ACH works#

Square Invoices. Square launched ACH on invoices on 28 April 2021, and said the average ACH transaction during its beta was $3,500. According to Square's help article, you turn ACH on as a payment option when you create an invoice in the Square Dashboard. Customers verify their bank "through credential-based authentication" by logging in to their online banking, and Square says manual entry of account and routing numbers "varies by transaction and is determined by ongoing eligibility criteria."

Square's developer API. Square says "ACH bank transfers are only supported by the Web Payments SDK and the Payments API in the United States." It uses Plaid for verification: "Square supports instant authentication through Plaid for verifying a buyer's bank account before making an ACH payment." Square also says it must capture the buyer's authorization for one-time and recurring ACH payments, and the SDK supplies the authorization text.

Other channels. Square's fee pages list ACH for invoices and the API only. They do not list ACH for in-person payments or for other channels, so we have not included them.

How to turn on ACH for Square invoices#

Based on Square's help article for ACH invoice payments:

1. Create the invoice in the Square Dashboard as usual.
2. Turn on the ACH bank transfer option for the invoice; Square describes it as a payment option you enable when you create the invoice.
3. Decide on partial payments. If you allow them, customers can pay part of the balance, up to $50,000 toward the invoice.
4. Send the invoice. The customer chooses bank transfer, verifies their bank (usually by logging in to online banking) and authorizes the payment.
5. Watch the status. The payment stays pending until it completes, and a refund is only possible after that.

If you have a Square Checking account, Square lists $0 processing fees for ACH transactions deposited there, which is the cheapest way to take ACH on Square.

How long do Square ACH payments take?#

Square's developer documentation says "ACH transactions take about 2-3 days to settle and appear in a report", and the Payments API page says "It can take up to two to three business days to complete the payment."

How the status works:

1. The payment is created as PENDING.
2. It moves to COMPLETED or FAILED depending on whether the transfer succeeds.
3. While pending, it "cannot be canceled or completed using the Payments API."
4. A refund is only possible "after it's COMPLETED."

Square also notes that a customer's bank can request a return that reverses the funds, and that the seller handles those disputes with the customer. Its invoice help page says "ACH disputes differ from credit card disputes." Treat an ACH payment as unconfirmed until it completes, and plan for the chance it comes back later. Return codes and windows are explained in ACH return codes.

Square ACH limits#

Square's pages we checked did not give a separate per-payment ACH limit.

Square ACH vs Stripe ACH#

On fees alone, Stripe is lower on small payments (no $1 minimum) and the same on large API payments. Square's bank verification is built into its flow without a separate per-verification fee on the pages we checked, which narrows the gap for one-off customers: a $100 payment costs $1.00 on Square and $2.30 on Stripe if the customer verifies instantly.

When Square is the better fit#

Square is a good choice when:

• You already run your business on Square (POS, invoices, Square Checking) and want bank payments on the invoices you send.
• You deposit to Square Checking, where Square lists $0 ACH fees.
• You send a few large invoices on a Plus or Premium plan, where the $10 cap applies.
• You build your own checkout on Square's Web Payments SDK.

It is a weaker fit when you send large invoices on the Free plan (no cap listed), when most payments are small (the $1 minimum), or when your store runs on WooCommerce.

Does Square ACH work with WooCommerce?#

Not through the official plugin, as documented today. The WooCommerce documentation for Square for WooCommerce says the extension can "Accept cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Square Gift Cards, and CashApp Pay at checkout," and does not mention ACH or bank transfers. The WordPress.org listing shows 80,000+ active installations, and its description does not mention ACH either.

So a WooCommerce store that wants bank payments has three practical routes:

1. Stripe ACH Direct Debit through the free Stripe gateway plugin, if you can use Stripe alongside or instead of Square. Costs are in Stripe ACH fees.
2. Another ACH processor with a WooCommerce plugin, compared in ACH payment processors for small business.
3. Plaid with a processor, or Plaid Transfer, for bank login with balance and ownership checks before the debit.

Whichever you choose, the hard part on a store is not the fee; it is knowing the account is real, belongs to the buyer and has the money before you ship. Square's invoice flow solves part of that with a bank login. On WooCommerce, you need to add it.

Setup steps for the Stripe route and the Plaid routes are in How to accept ACH payments in WooCommerce.

How BankBridge adds ACH to WooCommerce#

BankBridge adds Plaid Link to WooCommerce checkout and MemberPress signups, so a customer can pay by bank in your WooCommerce store even if your card payments stay with Square. The customer logs in through Plaid and picks an account. Before the debit, BankBridge can run Plaid Balance for available funds, Plaid Identity to compare the account owner with the buyer, and Plaid Signal to score the chance of a return. The money moves through a processor such as Stripe or Dwolla, or through Plaid Transfer if Plaid approves your business (WooCommerce doc). BankBridge does not connect to Square's ACH.

Plans start at $79 a month for a single site ($149 for five sites, $299 for unlimited), and Plaid bills its own fees. If you mostly send invoices from Square, Square's own ACH is simpler and you may not need anything else. If you sell through WooCommerce, try the bank login in Plaid's Sandbox on the live demo, then pick a plan.

This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. Prices and limits are from Square's and Stripe's public pages on 26 October 2026 and change over time. Square, Stripe and Plaid are trademarks of their owners; BankBridge is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them.