Migration Guide
How to Switch from Square: No Contract, So It Is Pure Math
Last updated: August 2026
Square is the easiest POS to leave. It is month-to-month at every tier, there is no early termination fee, and there is no hardware lease to settle — the iPads you bought stay yours and stay useful. Nothing is holding you in.
Which means this guide is not about escaping. It is about whether moving is worth the afternoon it costs — and that comes down to three numbers.
The Processing Rate
Square's published card-present rate for restaurants is 2.6% + 15c. Ginger passes through partner rates as low as ~2% + 5c. On $40,000 a month in card volume that gap is roughly $240 a month, about $2,880 a year — which for most independents is larger than any software fee either system charges.
Bilingual Operation
This is the clearest functional difference. If your kitchen reads Chinese, Square does not print Chinese kitchen tickets or run a Chinese staff interface. Ginger is bilingual throughout — staff POS, kitchen tickets, online menu, receipts — built in rather than bolted on with a translation plugin.
Phone Orders
Square has no voice AI and no phone-order automation, so every call is keyed in by hand. Ginger's optional $250/month add-on answers the phone, takes the order including modifiers, and drops it into the POS and onto the kitchen printer. Whether that matters depends entirely on how much of your volume arrives by phone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a fee to leave Square?
No. Square for Restaurants is month-to-month at every tier with no early termination fee, and there is no hardware lease to settle. You can cancel at the end of a billing period without a penalty, which makes the timing of a switch entirely your choice.
Can I keep my iPads?
Yes, and that is a genuine advantage of having been on Square. The iPads are ordinary hardware, not locked to the platform, so they carry straight over to any browser-based POS. Ginger runs in the browser, so the same devices become your ordering screens with nothing to buy.
What data can I take out of Square?
Export your sales and tax reports, your item library, and any customer directory while the account is active. As with any POS change, historical transactions do not import into the new system — they stay in Square — so treat the exported reports as your permanent record for accounting.
How long does the switch take?
Short, because nothing is blocking you. AI menu extraction rebuilds the menu in about 30 minutes plus a manual pass over modifiers, then run both systems side by side for a few days so staff practice on real orders, and cut over on a slow day. No closure, and you can stop at any point.
Should I switch at all?
Be honest about it: if you are an English-only operation with a simple menu and few phone orders, Square is a solid system and the rate difference may not justify the afternoon. The case for moving gets strong when you need Chinese kitchen tickets, when phone volume is high enough that a person is tied to the handset, or when your card volume makes the processing gap material.
Want to See It Before You Decide?
Open the live demo and try the real POS — no signup. Hardware included for eligible restaurants, and no contracts.
© 2026 Ginger. Free restaurant POS with built-in AI phone ordering.