Free plan · TatvaBooks Solo

Free accounting software for India — no catch at the solo end.

TatvaBooks Solo is ₹0 forever for solopreneurs: unlimited GST-correct invoices, GSTR-2B reconciliation and return-ready books. Here's exactly what's free, what isn't, and how it compares to the other free options — honestly.

Reviewed June 2026
7 min read
CA Anil Agarwal & CA Ayush Agarwal

What you get free

The Solo plan is what we’d want if we were running on our own — not a crippled demo designed to push you to pay. It’s ₹0 forever for solopreneurs up to ₹25 lakh turnover.

Included on Solo — ₹0

Unlimited GST-correct invoices + credit/debit notes
GSTR-2B reconciliation + ITC tracking
Expense & purchase tracking with bill attachments
Manual bank statement import (CSV) + matching
Mobile app (iOS + Android) — coming during beta
Email support · 24h response

Not on the free plan

Payroll & TDS
Inventory & manufacturing
Multi-user access
Limits: 1 user · 1 GSTIN · up to ₹25 lakh turnover

That’s the whole deal, stated plainly. When you outgrow it — a second user, inventory, or payroll — you move to Business at ₹599/month. Until then, Solo is yours, free.

Other free options, honestly

We’re not the only free option, and pretending otherwise would be the opposite of books that tell the truth. Here’s how the common ones stack up for an Indian business.

Option	What’s free	Watch-outs
TatvaBooks Solo	₹0 forever — 1 user, 1 GSTIN, up to ₹25 lakh turnover. Unlimited GST invoices + GSTR-2B reconciliation.	No payroll, inventory or multi-user on the free plan; cloud-only (no offline desktop build).
Zoho Books (Free)	Free plan for businesses below a turnover cap; mature cloud product.	You pay once you cross the cap; global product with India as one market.
Vyapar (Free)	Free Android app for basic GST billing and stock.	Desktop/premium features are paid; device-based rather than multi-user cloud; no payroll.
Wave	Genuinely free invoicing/accounting — popular globally.	Built for the US/Canada — no GSTR-2B, IRN or Schedule III, so it can't produce India-compliant GST returns.
Excel / Google Sheets	Free and flexible if you already have it.	Not double-entry, no GST validation, no audit trail — it breaks down as soon as you scale.

The short version: for Indian GST, a tool built for India beats a free global one that can’t do GSTR-2B or IRN. And a real ledger beats a spreadsheet the day you get your first notice.

Free accounting software like Tally?

If you searched for something “free like Tally,” what you probably want is full GST accounting without paying. Solo gives you that — with one big difference: it’s cloud-native, not a desktop install. No dongle, no single-machine lock-in, daily backups handled for you. What you trade away versus Tally is offline use and Tally’s deep multi-level manufacturing. We lay that out fully on the Tally alternative page.

Is free accounting software safe?

A fair worry — “free” shouldn’t mean your books live somewhere flimsy. On TatvaBooks, your free-plan data sits on the same India-resident infrastructure as every paid plan:

Hosted on AWS Mumbai — your financial data stays in India.
Encrypted at rest, with daily backups and audit logging.
No lock-in — export your ledgers and reports to CSV anytime. If you leave, your data leaves with you.

See the security page for the full posture.

When free isn’t enough

Solo is built for one person. The moment you add a colleague who needs access, start tracking inventory, or run payroll, you’ve outgrown free — and that’s a good problem. The Business plan (₹599/month) adds up to three users, inventory and e-invoice preparation; Growth adds payroll. We’d rather you start free and upgrade when the business genuinely needs it than pay for capacity you don’t use.

Frequently asked questions

Is TatvaBooks really free?

Yes. TatvaBooks Solo is ₹0 forever — no card, no expiring trial, no 'free up to 10 invoices' catch. It's built for solopreneurs up to ₹25 lakh turnover: one user, one GSTIN, unlimited GST-correct invoices, credit/debit notes and GSTR-2B reconciliation. We make our money from businesses big enough to need the paid plans, not from the solo end.

What's the catch with free accounting software?

With most tools the catch is a turnover cap, a single user, a small invoice limit, or device-bound data. We'd rather state ours plainly: Solo is one user, one GSTIN and up to ₹25 lakh turnover, and it doesn't include payroll, inventory or multi-user access — those start on the Business plan at ₹599/month. Within those lines, Solo is genuinely free, forever.

Is there free accounting software like Tally?

If by 'like Tally' you mean full GST accounting, TatvaBooks Solo is the closest free option — but it's cloud-native rather than a desktop install. You open it in a browser, your data lives on India-resident servers with daily backups, and there's no dongle. What you give up versus Tally: offline use and Tally's deep multi-level manufacturing. See our Tally alternative page for the full comparison.

Is there free accounting software for small business in India?

For a true solo business, TatvaBooks Solo is free and enough. But be wary of anyone promising a full free plan for a growing business with staff, inventory and payroll — that's where 'free' usually ends. Once you add users, inventory or payroll you'll move to a paid plan (our Business plan is ₹599/month). We'd rather tell you that now than after you've set everything up.

Can I download free accounting software to use offline on my PC?

TatvaBooks is cloud software — you use it in a browser, and a mobile app (iOS + Android) is coming during the beta. There's no offline desktop download. If working fully offline on a single PC is a hard requirement, a desktop tool like Tally, Busy or Vyapar fits that need better, and we'll say so honestly.

Is my data safe on free accounting software?

On TatvaBooks, your free-plan data sits on the same India-resident infrastructure (AWS Mumbai) as paid plans — encrypted at rest, with daily backups and audit logging. You can export your ledgers and reports to CSV at any time, so there's no lock-in. 'Free' doesn't mean second-class storage.

Does the free plan include GST billing?

Yes — unlimited GST-correct invoices with HSN, place of supply and the full tax breakup, plus credit and debit notes, are included on Solo at no cost. Your GSTR-2B is reconciled and your return workings roll up ready to review; you file on the GST portal.

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₹0 forever · no card

Start free. Upgrade only when you outgrow it.

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