Ruunly vs Square
Square handles payments. Ruunly runs the service business.
Square is a strong payment and commerce platform. It offers Square Online, Appointments, and Subscriptions, but they're general-purpose — not built around recurring service plans, client portals, or win-back for home-service businesses. Ruunly is.
Ruunly
$19/mo
website + billing + portal
Square
Free tier available
Square Appointments Free tier is $0/mo per location. Plus is $49/mo, Premium $149/mo (per location). Source
Why service businesses switch to Ruunly
Built for repeat service
Ruunly is built around selling monthly, seasonal, or annual service plans with auto-pay. Square has basic subscriptions, but they're not designed for service business workflows.
Service plans tied to customers
In Ruunly, every customer profile carries their active plan, subscription, portal access, and conversation history in one place. Square's Customer Directory is built for general commerce, so pulling the same view for a service business means stitching data across Appointments, Subscriptions, and Messages.
Client portal for service accounts
Ruunly's client portal is purpose-built around service plans: customers log in, see their plan, manage billing, and message you. Square has customer accounts through its commerce tools, but the flow is oriented around purchases and appointments, not recurring service relationships.
Less patching service workflows together
Square's pieces — Appointments, Subscriptions, Online, Marketing — are strong individually, but you wire them together yourself to cover recurring service plans, client portals, and automated follow-ups. Ruunly ships those wired in.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Ruunly | Square |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Monthly software fee | $19/mo | $0/mo Free tier, $49/mo Plus[src] |
| Online card fees | Stripe passthrough + Ruunly platform fee | Square processing rates[src] |
| Per-location pricing (Plus/Premium) | Flat per-tenant pricing | $49/mo per location (Appointments Plus)[src] |
| Card-not-present fee (online bookings) | Stripe passthrough + Ruunly platform fee | 3.3% + 30¢ per transaction (Free tier)[src] |
| Card-present fee (in-person payments) | Stripe passthrough + Ruunly platform fee | 2.6% + 15¢ per transaction (Free tier)[src] |
| Website | ||
| Website / booking | AI-built service site | Square Online + booking site[src] |
| Billing | ||
| Subscription billing | Service plans + autopay | Square Subscriptions[src] |
| Online payment processing | [src] | |
| Service-plan-first signup flow | Plans built into signup and website | Requires manual checkout link build with Subscriptions[src] |
| Cancellation policy enforcement on member cancel | Built-in cancellation rules | Depends on manual Subscriptions configuration[src] |
| Customers | ||
| Client portal | Service client portal | Customer accounts[src] |
| Operations | ||
| Job scheduling (field work) | Appointment booking only[src] | |
| CRM / customer records | Square Customer Directory[src] | |
| Multi-tier estimates (good/better/best) | Included all plans | Not native to Appointments — requires Square Invoices[src] |
| On-my-way / live technician ETA | Included | Not built-in — Appointments has booking notifications, not field-service ETA[src] |
| Marketing | ||
| Email campaigns | Pro+ | Square Marketing (paid add-on)[src] |
| Email and SMS broadcasts | Pro+ | Square Marketing add-on (separate product)[src] |
| Hardware | ||
| POS hardware | [src] | |
| Best for | ||
| Ideal use case | Service owners selling plans | General payments, POS, commerce |
Common questions
Is Ruunly more expensive than Square?
Ruunly has a $19/mo base plan plus a small Ruunly platform fee on each payment. Square's Free tier has no monthly subscription but charges published per-transaction rates that can add up — see the Square Appointments pricing page for current rates. Square offers a website (Square Online), customer directory, and booking flow, but they're general-purpose; Ruunly wires a service-business website, portal, and recurring plans together out of the box.
Square has subscriptions — why choose Ruunly?
Square Subscriptions exist, but they're not designed for service business workflows. Ruunly ties plans to customer profiles, job scheduling, a client portal, and automated communications. It's the difference between a payment link and a business platform.
Sources
Comparison facts last verified against Square's public pages on . Pricing and features can change — always confirm on the vendor's own site before switching. If you see something out of date, email [email protected] and we'll fix it.