Buyer's guide · Counter billing & GST
A shop needs different software from a company. You need to bill a customer standing at the counter in seconds, apply GST correctly, know what stock is left, and keep working when the internet does not. You do not need double-entry accounting, consolidated financials or an audit trail — and paying for them usually buys complexity your staff will work around. Prices below range from free to ₹67,500 and the right answer for most shops is at the cheap end.
The best fit for most Indian shops — free on mobile, from ~₹3,399/year on desktop
Vyapar is built for exactly this buyer and it shows. Billing is fast, the interface needs no training, it works completely offline, and the free mobile tier means you can run a shop on it without paying anything until you need desktop billing. GST invoicing, HSN codes, stock levels and party ledgers are all handled. Paid desktop editions start around ₹3,399 a year and about ₹4,010 with mobile sync. Where it stops being enough is batch-and-expiry trades like pharmacy, or when several staff need to bill simultaneously.
Pros
Cons
Best for: General retail, kirana, apparel, hardware, electronics, and service businesses billing at a counter. The default recommendation.
The right answer for pharmacy and distribution — from ₹8,100 one-time
Marg is the standard in Indian pharmaceutical retail and distribution for a specific reason: batch numbers, expiry dates and distributor schemes are core to the product rather than bolted on. If you run a chemist, a medical store or any trade where stock expires, this is the tool. Basic is ₹8,100 one-time, Silver ₹12,600 and Gold ₹25,200, so there is no recurring licence fee. The trade-off is a steeper learning curve than Vyapar and an interface that assumes some training.
Pros
Cons
Best for: Chemists, medical stores, pharma distribution and wholesale where batch and expiry tracking is non-negotiable.
Buy it when your accountant will run it — ₹22,500 one-time
Tally is the most widely understood business software in India, and for a shop that is both its strength and its problem. Every accountant knows it, so your CA will be comfortable; but it is accounting software first and billing software second, and counter staff generally find it slower than purpose-built billing tools. Silver is ₹22,500 one-time and Gold ₹67,500, with TallyPrime on Cloud from about ₹1,200 a month. Right if you need real books; heavy if you just need to bill.
Pros
Cons
Best for: Shops that also need proper books, businesses under audit, and anyone whose accountant has asked for Tally.
Cloud books rather than counter billing — for shops that have outgrown a till
Zoho Books is cloud accounting, so it suits a shop that has become a business — several locations, an accountant who should log in directly, bank reconciliation that matters, and reporting that goes beyond daily takings. It is not counter-billing software and does not pretend to be, and it needs an internet connection to work at all, which rules it out for shops with unreliable connectivity. Where it earns its place is if you already run Zoho CRM or Inventory, since the integration removes duplicate data entry entirely.
Pros
Cons
Best for: Multi-location retail, shops with an accountant, and businesses already using the Zoho suite.
When stock is the problem, not billing — free tier, then ₹1,499/month
If your difficulty is stock across multiple channels rather than raising invoices, Zoho Inventory is the better-shaped tool. It handles multi-warehouse stock, purchase orders, and order sync with Shopify, Amazon and other channels — none of which billing software does well. Free tier available, then ₹1,499, ₹2,999 and ₹4,999 a month by tier. For a single counter shop this is the wrong purchase; for a retailer also selling online it is often the missing piece.
Pros
Cons
Best for: Retailers selling across a shop plus online channels, and anyone whose real problem is stock accuracy rather than invoicing.
Vyapar for most — the mobile tier is free, it needs no training, it works offline, and paid desktop editions start around ₹3,399 a year. Choose Marg instead if you run a chemist or any trade where batch and expiry tracking matters, and Tally if your accountant will operate it or you need audit-ready books. Start with Vyapar's free tier before paying for anything.
Yes. Vyapar's mobile app has a permanently free tier that covers GST invoicing, basic inventory and customer ledgers — enough to run a small shop indefinitely. It is not a time-limited trial. You pay when you need desktop billing, sync across devices, or multi-user access. Be wary of anything advertised as free that turns out to be a 15-day trial.
If you are GST-registered, you need invoices carrying specific fields — your GSTIN, the customer's GSTIN for B2B, HSN codes, and the correct CGST/SGST/IGST split. Software makes that automatic and makes your returns reconcile. You can technically issue compliant invoices by hand, but errors surface at filing and correcting them afterwards costs more time than the software does.
Vyapar, Marg and Tally all work fully offline — they are installed applications. Zoho Books and Zoho Inventory are cloud products and need a connection. For shops in areas with unreliable connectivity this is often the deciding factor: offline software keeps billing through an outage, cloud software stops entirely.
Free to about ₹4,010 a year for Vyapar, ₹8,100 to ₹25,200 one-time for Marg, and ₹22,500 to ₹67,500 one-time for Tally. Cloud options are monthly — Zoho Inventory from ₹1,499. For a typical single shop, budget nothing to start on Vyapar's free tier, then around ₹4,000 a year plus GST once you need desktop billing.
Tell us what you sell and how you bill — counter, phone, or both — and we will recommend the smallest tool that covers it. WhatsApp +91 98119 98370.