Ask most vendors what their software costs and you get a form to fill in. That is a sales tactic, not a pricing model, and it exists because the answer depends on how much they think you can pay.
Here is the honest version.
The models you will encounter
Per student, per month. Typically a small amount multiplied by your roll. Predictable for a school of 80, punishing for a school of 900, and it makes growth feel like a penalty.
Flat monthly fee, banded by size. A single price that covers everything up to a student ceiling, then a higher band above it. Easier to budget, and it does not make you think twice about admitting another child.
One-time licence. A single payment, usually with an annual maintenance charge afterwards. Look closely at what maintenance covers — if it excludes updates, you have bought a snapshot.
Free tier plus paid modules. A working core at no cost with specific features chargeable. Genuinely useful when the free tier is honest, and a nuisance when the thing you need turns out to be in a paid module.
What we charge
We publish it rather than quoting per conversation:
| Plan | Students | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Free | up to 100 | Rs 0 |
| Starter | up to 300 | Rs 5,000 |
| Standard | up to 800 | Rs 10,000 |
| Premium | up to 2,000 | Rs 15,000 |
Larger groups are a conversation, because at that size the questions are about campuses and migration rather than about price per head.
Full breakdown of what is in each plan is on the pricing page.
The costs that appear later
Whoever you buy from, ask about these specifically. They are rarely hidden dishonestly — they are just not volunteered.
Data migration. Getting your existing students, fee history and staff records into the system. For a school with eight hundred students and paper records, this is real work. Ask whether it is included, and what format they need your data in.
Training. Usually one or two sessions. Ask how many, whether they are on-site, and what happens when you hire a new office administrator next year.
SMS. Almost always billed separately, because the vendor is buying it from a gateway. Ask for the per-message rate and estimate your own volume — a school of 600 families sending two messages a month is 1,200 messages, and the difference between rates adds up.
Additional campuses. Frequently a separate charge, sometimes a whole additional licence.
Support, after the first year. Ask what is included and what response time you can expect, in writing.
Questions worth asking before you commit
- How do I get my data out? The single most important question, and the one that most clearly separates vendors. You should be able to export your students, fees and results without asking permission.
- What happens if I stop paying? Does the data stay readable? Is there a window to export it?
- Can I see it with my own paperwork? Not a slide deck — your fee structure, your report card format, your class list. A vendor who will not demonstrate against your own documents is usually avoiding a gap.
- Who else in my city uses it? And can you speak to them.
- What does it do when the internet is down? For a school on an unreliable connection this is not a theoretical question.
Is the cheapest option the right one?
Often, for a small school — with one caveat. The cost that matters is not the monthly fee, it is the cost of changing your mind. Software you can leave is software you can afford to try; software that holds your five years of fee history hostage is expensive at any price.
Start with what you can leave, and make sure you have seen it run against your own paperwork first.