Software & Comparisons
Tattoo Shop POS: Payments, Deposits, and Commissions in One Place
Square's US appointment plans, checked November 8, 2026, and how Tattoo Studio Pro checkout records Stripe, cash, and a terminal you already own.
Tattoo Shop POS: Checkout, Deposits, Tips, and Commissions in One Place
A tattoo checkout can include the session, a deposit from weeks ago, a bottle of aftercare, a tip, and a commission for the artist who did the work. Square Appointments publishes a US price for that job. Stripe publishes card rates and does not sell a booking calendar on the page opened here. Tattoo Studio Pro’s checkout claims below come from help, not from either of those pages.
The longer Square comparison is Tattoo Studio Pro vs Square Appointments. The product page is the point of sale.
What the Square US page lists
Opened November 8, 2026: squareup.com/us/en/appointments/pricing. Fees below are per location. An extra 1.5% applies when the card was issued outside the United States. That extra is not folded into the rates in the table.
| Free | Plus | Premium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly software | $0 | $49 | $149 |
| In person, card present | 2.6% + 15¢ | 2.5% + 15¢ | 2.4% + 15¢ |
| Online or invoice card | 3.3% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ |
| Manually entered or card on file | 3.5% + 15¢ | 3.5% + 15¢ | 3.5% + 15¢ |
Plus and Premium each offer a 30-day trial. Free has no monthly software fee. You pay the processing rate when a card runs.
Appointment deposits, prepayments, and automatic contracts are on every column, including Free. The contracts row is e-signature on contract templates. Requiring a signed contract before an invoice payment is not on Free. Tip pooling and commission tracking are not on Free. Appointment reminders, text and email, are on every column. Appointment confirmations, text and email, are not on Free.
The page does not describe a checkout button that stays off until a tattoo intake form is complete.
Stripe’s published card rates, by channel
stripe.com/pricing, opened the same day, splits the rates. The in-person cards block lists 2.7% + 5¢ per successful domestic card transaction. The online cards block lists 2.9% + 30¢ per successful domestic card transaction. Those are Stripe’s rates. They are not a Tattoo Studio Pro fee, and the two channels are not the same number.
That page does not list a booking subscription. Help does not publish a processing rate or a payout schedule for the studio’s Stripe account.
How Tattoo Studio Pro checkout takes money
Help separates three paths.
Card through the studio’s Stripe account. Settings > Payments, Set Up Stripe, then Stripe’s own onboarding. Choosing Card sends the client to Stripe’s hosted checkout page. Since v4.2, a card reader can also take the card inside checkout: Stripe Reader S710, S700, or BBPOS WisePOS E on the web app, or a Bluetooth M2 on the mobile app. You buy the reader from Stripe. Tattoo Studio Pro does not sell it. This check did not reopen Stripe’s hardware shop, so no reader price is repeated here. A Square or Clover terminal does not connect to this path.
A terminal you already own. Choose Other Processor. The card runs on that machine. Tattoo Studio Pro records the sale, the amount, and the artist. Reports and commission still include it. You can rename Other Processor to Square under Settings > Payments.
Methods you record, and the app does not process. Cash, Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Afterpay, crypto, gift card, debit, and Other are on by default. You type the amount. Nothing is sent to a processor from that menu. Hide the ones you never use in Settings > Payments.
Pay Over Time is a fourth case, and it is not the recorded Afterpay row. Affirm, Klarna, or Afterpay can show on the Stripe-hosted online payment page and on deposit links. The studio is paid in full up front. Help places this on the web app’s hosted page. It does not describe those options on the card reader.
Checkout starts from the Queue, and the button stays off until the intake form status is Complete. Quick Sale (Cash Only) is the exception, for a cash purchase with no client file.
One payment method per transaction. Tax uses the rate in Settings > Preferences. The tip is one dollar amount for the transaction. Help does not describe a per-artist tip split. A service line needs an artist if you want commission on it. Commission is a report of what is owed. It does not pay the artist.
Online deposits are one flat dollar amount for every new appointment, sent as a link in the booking confirmation text. The deposit comes off the checkout total. Auto-confirm after payment applies when Require deposit to confirm is on. With that toggle off, the appointment confirms when you create it and the deposit link is optional.
Price
Solo is $29 a month or $239 a year for 1 team member. Every feature is on every plan, including checkout. Yearly billing costs less than paying monthly. Other team sizes are on the pricing page. Managers and health officials do not count toward the limit.
The subscription includes website hosting. The $10 a month or $100 a year hosting card shows as included. Subscribers do not buy that card separately.
The trial is 30 days. A payment method is required. You are not charged until it ends.
FAQ
What is a tattoo shop POS?
The screen where you close the visit: services, retail, a deposit already collected, a tip, tax from your rate, and a commission record for the artist on the service.
Can I keep a Square terminal?
Yes. Take the card on that terminal and record the sale as Other Processor. You can rename that label to Square. The reader itself does not connect.
What Stripe readers does help list?
Web: Stripe Reader S710, S700, and BBPOS WisePOS E. Mobile: Stripe Reader M2. Card payments need a completed Stripe Connect account. Reader prices were not re-checked on Stripe’s shop.
Does checkout wait for the intake form?
Yes, except Quick Sale (Cash Only). The Queue checkout button stays disabled until the form status is Complete.
Do deposits confirm the appointment?
The confirmation text can carry a one-time deposit link. The appointment auto-confirms after payment only when Require deposit to confirm is on.
Is Pay Over Time the same as selecting Afterpay in the payment menu?
No. The Afterpay row in the payment menu records a payment you already took. Pay Over Time runs on the Stripe-hosted page, and the studio is paid in full up front.
See the consent form article and how switching works.