Free vs Paid Billing Software for a Small Shop: When 50 Bills a Month Is Enough

Updated 31 October 2026 · By Ashok Sachdev · Plans as listed on each vendor's official page on 31 October 2026. Not tax or financial advice.

In short

• 50 bills a month is about 2 bills a day on a 26-day working month. Below that, a free plan is a real option.
• The cost of a paid plan per bill falls fast as volume rises: Rs 6.41 at 26 bills a month, Rs 0.64 at 260.
• The deciding factors are usually not price: they are the bill cap, one login only, no export for your CA, and a footer on the bill.
• Other free plans have different shapes: Swipe lists unlimited invoices, Zoho Invoice 500 a year, Zoho Books Free 1,000 invoices a year.

Most small shop owners ask the wrong question: "Which software is cheapest?" The useful question is "How many bills do I actually make, and what happens on the day I hit the limit?" This guide does the arithmetic. It uses the RichPOS Free plan (50 bills a month) as the example because we know its exact rules, and it points to the other free plans from our free GST billing software comparison where they fit better.

How many bills is 50 a month, really?

RichPOS Free counts new sale bills on the calendar month in India time. Editing a bill, a return or a cancellation does not give a bill back to the count, and deleting a bill does not either. So 50 means 50 bills created, not 50 net sales. Here is what that looks like for different counters, assuming 26 working days a month.

The cost per bill is the yearly price divided by 12 and by the bills in a month: Rs 1,999 / 12 is about Rs 166.6 a month. This is a plain division, not a claim about value. The honest reading: below about 40 bills a month a free plan is reasonable; above 50 you are choosing between a plan without a cap or a different free plan.

Real math: what does one blocked bill cost?

On RichPOS Free, when the 50th bill is made, new bills wait until the 1st of next month or until you upgrade. Old bills, reports and printing stay open. So the cost of "free" is the risk of reaching the limit in a busy week. Let us put numbers on it, with assumptions you should replace with your own.

• Your assumed average bill: Rs 300.
• Your assumed gross margin: 15%. That is Rs 45 margin on a Rs 300 bill. Use your real figure.
• Yearly plan: Rs 1,999 is about Rs 167 a month.

To earn Rs 167 of margin at Rs 45 a bill you need about 4 bills a month. In other words, a paid plan pays for itself in margin terms if it lets you record just 4 sales a month that you could not otherwise bill, for example because the free cap blocked them. If your shop never gets near 50 bills, that does not apply and free is simply cheaper. The point is the shape of the decision: the plan's cost is small compared with the margin on a handful of bills, so the real risk to avoid is being blocked at the counter, not the Rs 167.

The other side, equally honest: if you bill 35 times a month and always will, paying Rs 1,999 a year buys you nothing you use, apart from no footer and export. Free is the right answer.

What else changes between free and paid

The bill count is only one limit. These are the RichPOS Free rules, from the plan itself:

Two of these decide more shops than the bill count: the export, because your CA will ask for sales data at return time, and the single login, because the moment a helper bills at the counter, the owner's login is shared. Both are normal for free plans, not a defect, but they are the real reasons to upgrade.

Free plans that fit different shops

If 50 bills a month is too few, do not assume you must pay. As listed on 31 October 2026:

Sources: getswipe.in/pricing, zoho.com/in/invoice/pricing, zoho.com/in/books/pricing, mybillbook.in/free, vyaparapp.in. Where the page did not say, the table says "not stated". For the full comparison see the pillar guide. Several of these beat RichPOS Free on bill count. RichPOS Free is aimed at a small counter that wants a POS with barcode scanning, thermal printing and stock rather than an invoice maker, and it needs internet.

A simple decision rule

1. Count last month's bills. Open your bill book or your current software.
2. Add a buffer for festivals. If Diwali or wedding season doubles your count, use the doubled figure.
3. If the busiest month is under 45: a free plan with a 50 cap is fine.
4. If it is 45 to 100: pick a free plan with a higher cap (for example Swipe or Zoho), or take a paid plan.
5. If you need the CA export, a second login or no footer: go paid whatever your count is.

A worked month

A small stationery shop bills 30 times a month in normal months and 60 in June, when schools reopen. With a free 50 cap, it is fine for 11 months and blocked in June, the month with the most sales. The June cost is the margin on the 10 blocked bills at Rs 45 each, Rs 450 in this example, more than two months of the Rs 199 monthly plan. The owner has two sensible choices: take a paid plan from May and move back, or use a free plan with a higher cap. Both beat discovering the limit at the counter in June.

How to start without risk

Create the account at app.richdaddy.in/register and tick "Free forever plan instead of the 30-day trial" to start on Free. The default signup instead gives the 30-day trial of a paid plan, no card needed, to see the full product. A note on prices: Rs 99 a month applies for the first 3 monthly payments, then Rs 199, and RichPOS charges no GST on its own price. Read billing apps without a monthly fee for the one-time and yearly alternatives, and यह गाइड हिंदी में.

Bottom line

If you make fewer than about 40 bills a month with one person, a free plan is the sensible choice and paid software would add little. If you bill every day, share the counter or need exports, the plan's cost per bill is small and the limit is the bigger risk. Start on the Free plan, or compare in the free GST billing software guide.

Plans and prices as listed on 31 October 2026 on the vendors' official pages. They change often; confirm before you decide. Margin and bill figures above are assumptions for illustration.