Custom domain without Square Plus
Use Pro for a real brand domain, domain purchase workflow, custom pages, blog posts, and local search content.
Square Free vs Square Plus
Stop paying Square Plus for a cottage food website.
Cottage CMS uses Square for credit and debit checkout. Keep Square Free for processing, then use Cottage CMS Pro for the website, loyalty, locations, and pre-orders.
The math makes Square Plus a bad website upgrade.
Square Plus can make sense for a Square-native back office. But Cottage CMS sellers already use Square for card processing. If the goal is custom domain, loyalty, marketing, and better online ordering, Cottage CMS Pro is the stronger storefront choice.
$388
Less per year than one Square Plus location when Cottage CMS Pro is paid annually.
Square stays
Cottage CMS is not a Square replacement. It uses Square for card checkout and gives sellers a stronger storefront layer.
Multiple locations, one Cottage CMS Pro price
Add pickup and delivery locations, give each one its own schedule and product list, block dates by location, and let shoppers filter by the location they use.
What Cottage CMS Pro adds on top of Square Free
This is the practical growth stack cottage food sellers usually wanted when they started looking at Square Plus.
Loyalty where online orders happen
Reward repeat customers with Cottage CMS loyalty, coupons, subscriptions, customer accounts, and order history.
Multiple pickup and delivery locations
Run per-location schedules, product eligibility, blocked dates, and storefront location filters without added Cottage CMS location pricing.
Cottage food pre-orders
Control order open and close timing, pickup windows, recurring drops, blackout dates, and limited bake capacity.
Customer marketing stack
Use newsletters, SMS tools, push notifications, reminders, QR codes, chat, and reports from the same storefront.
Forms, quotes, and fulfillment
Collect custom questions and image uploads, review quotes, support delivery and shipping, and route credit/debit checkout through Square.
The better setup is simple.
Keep Square Free for card processing. Use Cottage CMS Pro to run the cottage-food-specific website, ordering flow, loyalty, locations, and marketing.
Keep Square Free for credit/debit processing and use Cottage CMS Pro for the website, custom domain, loyalty, pre-orders, pickup windows, and customer marketing.
Choose Square Plus only when Square-native POS, staff management, advanced Square back-office tools, and one Square-owned subscription matter more than a cottage-food-specific storefront.
Cottage CMS does not replace Square payments. It gives your business the website and ordering layer around Square checkout.
When Square Plus still wins
Square Plus is still reasonable when Square-native POS features, staff tools, back-office consolidation, or Square loyalty at the in-person register are the center of the business.
Read full comparisonClaims checked against product and pricing sources.
Square pricing changes over time. These links were checked for the Square side of the comparison and this page was last researched June 19, 2026.
Square Plus questions
Is Cottage CMS Pro plus Square Free cheaper than Square Plus?
Yes for the software subscription. Cottage CMS Pro is $20/month or $200/year, while Square Plus is listed at $49/month per location. Square processing fees still apply because Square processes the payment.
Does Cottage CMS charge more for multiple locations?
No added Cottage CMS per-location platform fee is part of Pro pricing. Cottage CMS supports multiple availability locations, per-location pickup and delivery schedules, product assignment, blocked dates, and storefront filtering inside the same plan.
Should I stop using Square?
No. Cottage CMS uses Square as the primary credit/debit payment provider. Keep Square Free for processing and use Cottage CMS Pro for the website, ordering flow, custom domain, loyalty, locations, and customer marketing.
When is Square Plus still the right choice?
Choose Square Plus when Square-native POS loyalty, staff management, advanced Square back-office tools, or broader Square consolidation matter more than a cottage-food-specific storefront and ordering layer.
Keep Square. Upgrade the storefront.
Start free with Square checkout, then use Pro when custom domain, loyalty, locations, and customer marketing need to work together.