What billing software really costs a shop over five years
The licence is the smallest line. A worked five-year cost for a one-counter kirana, Offline and Cloud, with hardware and the third-party charges.
Most shop owners compare billing software by the number on the quote. That number matters, but over five years it is rarely the biggest one. The hardware at the counter usually costs more than the software. And some running charges come from other companies entirely, so they never appear on any software quote.
This article puts all of it in one place for a typical one-counter kirana store, using the prices we actually charge and what our customers usually spend.
What the ₹25,000 actually covers
Both editions of Stock2Track are priced at ₹25,000, excluding GST. The figure is not just a licence key. It includes the work that usually gets billed separately:
- Installation on your counter PC, or setup of your Cloud account.
- Training for you and your staff.
- Data migration from your old system, so your items, customers and balances come across instead of being typed again.
- Updates to the software.
- Annual support for the first year.
After that, the two editions part ways. The Offline edition is a one-time, lifetime licence for one shop. From the second year, annual support is ₹1,000 a year. The Cloud edition is ₹25,000 every year and covers up to five locations in that one fee.
The hardware is the bigger cheque
For a kirana or general store, the essentials at the counter are a Windows PC, a bill printer, a barcode scanner, a label printer and a weighing scale. Together these usually come to around ₹60,000. That is more than twice the software.
Two things keep that number under your control. First, Stock2Track prints through the standard Windows driver, so there is no approved-hardware list and no lock-in. If a printer installs on Windows and takes your paper size, it works. Second, most scanners need no setup at all. The one device that genuinely differs is the weighing scale, and we test a scale before we promise it will work. The details are on our hardware page.
Hardware warranty and repairs are between you and the manufacturer, not your software company. Keep the bills, and register the warranties when you buy.
The charges that come from other companies
Some features of any modern billing system run on services owned by someone else. With Stock2Track, these are subscriptions that the shop takes directly from the provider, and pays the provider for:
- WhatsApp messages, for sending bills and reminders.
- SMS messages.
- E-invoice and e-way bill services, for businesses that need them.
We prefer it this way, and we say so at the start. You see the provider’s own rates, you are not paying a markup through us, and you can see exactly what each message or document costs. The honest thing to do when you plan your budget is to ask how many bills you send on WhatsApp each month, and whether your turnover puts you inside e-invoicing. Then price those services directly with the provider.
Five years, worked out
Here is the arithmetic for one shop with one counter. The prices exclude GST, the hardware figure is the typical ₹60,000 above, and the third-party charges are left as a separate line because they depend on how you use them.
| Offline edition | Cloud edition | |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 software (installation, training, migration, updates, support) | ₹25,000 | ₹25,000 |
| Years 2 to 5 | ₹1,000 a year support = ₹4,000 | ₹25,000 a year = ₹1,00,000 |
| Software over five years | ₹29,000 | ₹1,25,000 |
| Counter hardware (typical) | about ₹60,000 | about ₹60,000 |
| Total before third-party charges | about ₹89,000 | about ₹1,85,000 |
| WhatsApp, SMS, e-invoice, e-way bill | Paid directly to the provider, as you use them | |
On a single shop, Offline costs less over five years, and that is a fair reason to choose it. Cloud earns its fee in other ways. You get the owner app on Android and iOS, you can see the shop from anywhere, and the same fee covers up to five locations. A shop that opens a second or third branch in those five years pays nothing extra for the software. For a one-shop owner who never leaves the counter, those benefits may not matter. For an owner with two branches, or one who travels, they usually decide it.
You can change your mind
The choice is not permanent. A shop can move from Offline to Cloud when it grows, or from Cloud back to Offline if it no longer needs the branches or the phone app. The data moves with it. So the right question is not which edition you will want forever. It is which one fits the way you run the shop today.
Five questions to ask before you sign
Whichever software you are considering, these questions bring the real cost into the open:
- Is installation, training and moving my old data included, or charged separately?
- What does support cost after the first year, and what happens if I don’t take it?
- Which hardware will work, and am I locked into one brand?
- Which services do I pay other companies for, and can I see their rates myself?
- If I open a second branch, what changes in the price?
If you would like these answered for your own shop, with your item count and your counters, book a free demo. We will go through the numbers with you before you spend anything.