Not often, recently: Square had zero major incidents in the last 90 days of StatusBird's independent 2-minute monitoring, with 100.0% availability and a A+ reliability grade.
Short-term numbers only tell part of the story, so below is the full data, how Square compares to its category, and how to track future incidents without watching a status page all day.
Square outage history: the last 90 days
| Metric (90 days, as of August 2026) | Value |
|---|---|
| Availability | 100.0% |
| Reliability grade | A+ |
| Major incidents | 0 |
| Total major-outage downtime | 0 minutes |
| Average incident duration | n/a |
| Most recent major incident | None in the last 90 days |
| Checks in window | 61,587 |
Among the 11 payment processing services StatusBird monitors, Square ranks number 7 for 90-day availability. See the full ranking of payment processing tools by reliability.
Does a Square outage affect your store?
A Square outage can stop card payments both in person and online at the same time. In-store, card readers and the POS app fail to authorize charges, forcing staff to turn customers away or take cash. Online, Square Online stores can fail at checkout and Square-powered payment forms on other sites decline or hang. Inventory, reporting, and the seller dashboard can also become unavailable, and split incidents sometimes hit payments while the dashboard still loads, or the reverse.
The stakes at checkout are well documented: the Baymard Institute's long-running cart abandonment research puts the average online cart abandonment rate near 70% even when everything works, and payment failures push shoppers away at the exact moment they were ready to buy.
How can I track Square outages?
Three ways, from slowest to fastest. Square's official status page at issquareup.com is authoritative but often acknowledges incidents late. StatusBird's live Square status page reflects independent checks every 2 minutes. Fastest is an alert: StatusBird sends SMS, email, or Slack notifications the moment Square's status changes, so you find out before customer emails do.
Frequently asked questions
A customer's card was charged but Square never showed the sale. Did the payment go through?
During an outage a charge can authorize on the card network but fail to record on Square's side, or the authorization may simply drop off the customer's statement in a few days. Do not immediately recharge the customer. Wait for Square to recover, check the transactions list for the payment, and only then charge again if it is truly absent.
Should I use Square's Offline Mode during the outage?
Offline Mode helps when your internet is down, and during some Square outages it can keep card capture working, but understand the tradeoff: payments are only authorized later, and if a card is then declined you have already handed over the goods. Use it for trusted, lower-value transactions and prefer cash for large sales.
How this data is measured
StatusBird checks Square's status every 2 minutes, around the clock, independently of the vendor. The availability figure counts major and critical outages only; minor degradation is excluded so numbers are not skewed by vendors that report small blips near-continuously. Grades run from A+ to F. See the live numbers on the Square reliability page and current status on the Square status page, or browse all 84 service grades.
Know before your customers do
StatusBird monitors Square and 83 other services online stores depend on, plus your own storefront, every 2 minutes. When something goes down you get an SMS, email, or Slack alert with plain-English context, usually before the official status page catches up. Start monitoring free, no card required for the free plan.