JustBill vs Tally: a cloud Tally alternative for GST billing

TallyPrime suits you if your accounts team works from one office, you want software that keeps running without an internet connection, and you need deep accounting in one place, including banking and payroll. Many CAs in India already know Tally well, which keeps year-end work familiar.

JustBill suits you if most of your work is making GST invoices, tracking stock and collecting payments, and you want to do it from a shop counter, a phone or a laptop at home with the same login. You pay a monthly or yearly subscription instead of buying a licence, and you can start on a free plan.

Some businesses use both: they bill in JustBill and their CA keeps the books in Tally, using JustBill’s Tally XML export of invoices.

JustBill has three plans. Free costs ₹0 and covers 50 invoices a month for one user. Silver is ₹349 a month or ₹3,399 a year, with 500 invoices a month, 3 users, reports and WhatsApp. Gold is ₹399 a month or ₹3,799 a year, with unlimited invoices, unlimited users, e-invoicing, CA sharing and priority support. See JustBill pricing for the full plan list.

TallyPrime is sold as a lifetime licence or as a rental. According to Tally’s buying page, Silver (one PC) costs ₹22,500 for a lifetime licence or ₹750 a month on rental, and Gold (multiple users) costs ₹67,500 lifetime or ₹2,250 a month. Tally’s cost of ownership guide says these prices exclude 18% GST, that a lifetime licence includes one year of TSS (Tally Software Services), and that TSS renews at ₹4,500 plus GST a year for Silver and ₹13,500 plus GST for Gold.

For a fair comparison, add up three to five years of Tally costs (licence, yearly TSS and Cloud Access if you need remote access) and set that against the JustBill plan that fits your invoices and users.

• Fully offline. Tally says you can keep using it without an internet connection, which helps where connectivity is patchy.
• Deeper accounting. TallyPrime covers banking, payroll, and credit and cashflow management alongside invoicing and inventory. JustBill builds P&L, balance sheet, trial balance and general ledger from your transactions, but it does not yet let you post manual journal entries.
• One-time licence option. If you would rather pay once and renew TSS each year, Tally offers that. JustBill is subscription-only.
• Familiar to accountants. Many CAs and accountants already work in Tally, so handing over books at year end is straightforward.
• Many desks in one office. Tally describes Gold as being for unlimited users on a local area network, which suits an office with several accounting desks.

• Access from anywhere by default. JustBill runs in a browser and can be installed as an app from the browser, so the same account works on a shop PC, a phone and a laptop without a separate cloud add-on.
• Low cost to start. Begin on the Free plan and move up as your invoices or team grow.
• Built for billing. Ten document types, including invoices, quotations, proforma invoices, delivery challans, returns, credit and debit notes and purchase orders, with GST split on every line and quotations that convert into invoices.
• Keeps billing when the line drops. New invoices and payments entered without a connection are saved on the device and sync when you are back online.
• Counter and stock tools in one place. POS billing with thermal receipts, barcode scanning and godowns. See inventory management.
• CA access without sharing your login. Gold include a read-only report link for your accountant. See JustBill for chartered accountants.

JustBill is a sensible Tally alternative if your day is mostly invoices, stock and payment follow-up, and you want to work from more than one place. If your business depends on manual journal entries or a fully offline setup, TallyPrime may remain the better fit. You can also bill in JustBill and let your CA keep final accounts in Tally.

1. 1

   Pick a start date

   Choose the first day of a month or of the financial year. Keep billing in Tally until then, so each system covers a clean period.

2. 2

   Put parties and items in a spreadsheet

   Make one CSV or Excel file of customers and suppliers (name, phone, GSTIN, state, address, opening balance) and another of items (name, HSN/SAC, unit, sale and purchase price, GST rate, opening stock). Your CA or Tally partner can help you get these lists out of Tally.

3. 3

   Import them into JustBill

   Upload the files from the Parties and Items pages. JustBill accepts .csv, .xlsx and .xls files, checks every row and lists errors by row number so you can fix them before saving.

4. 4

   Finish the set-up

   Add your bank account and UPI details, logo, signature and invoice theme, then invite your team with admin, staff or view-only access.

5. 5

   Keep your CA in the loop

   At month end, export sales or purchase invoices for a date range as Tally XML, or share reports through a read-only link on Gold.