By Khanal Group · Published 25 October 2026. This article is about our own products. Every feature named here is on the linked product page; where a feature is not built, we say so. New to the site? Start here.
- Software cost has six parts: subscriptions, duplicate data entry, integration upkeep, training, login and access management, and the cost of mistakes between tools.
- For most SMEs the hidden parts, counted in staff hours, outweigh the subscriptions.
- Below is a sheet you can fill in, and a worked example in hours. Every number in the example is assumed; replace it with your own.
Why the subscription is the smallest line
When owners compare software, they compare the monthly fee. That is the one number on the vendor's page. The bigger costs never appear on an invoice: the accountant who retypes site bills, the HR executive who copies attendance into payroll every month, the hour lost each time someone forgets which password goes with which tool, and the GST mismatch found three months late because two systems disagreed.
None of this means separate tools are a bad choice. A firm that needs only accounting and has a team fluent in its package should keep it. The point is to count the full cost before you decide.
The six cost lines
1. Subscriptions and per-seat sprawl
Each tool charges for its own users. A site engineer who needs the DPR app, the attendance app and the CRM may be a paid seat three times. Some tools add charges per transaction, per document or per credit on top. Write down, for every tool, the number of seats you pay for, the people who actually use it, and any per-use charges.
2. Duplicate data entry
Count every place the same fact is typed twice: a customer in the CRM and in accounts; a contractor bill checked on site and keyed again by accounts; a won tender set up again as a project; attendance copied into payroll. Each copy costs minutes, and each copy can be wrong.
3. Integration upkeep
Where tools are connected through a third-party connector, spreadsheet macro or custom script, someone has to fix it when one side changes. Count the hours your team or an outside developer spends on that, and the connector fees if any.
4. Training
Every tool has its own screens and habits. A new joiner who must learn five tools takes longer to become useful than one who learns one way of working. Count the training hours per new joiner and your yearly joiners.
5. Logins and access
Each tool has its own users to add when someone joins and remove when someone leaves. Forgotten removals are a real risk: a former employee who still has access to a tender vault or a payroll file. Count the minutes per joiner and leaver per tool, and the password resets.
6. Mistakes between tools
This is the hardest to count and often the largest: a bill paid twice, a bank guarantee that lapsed because the tender sheet and the accounts disagreed, a missed MSME 45-day payment (see the MSME 45-day rule). Look back over the last year and list the incidents you know about.
The sheet: fill in your own numbers
| Cost line | How to count it | Your figure per year |
|---|---|---|
| Subscriptions | Sum of every tool's yearly fee, including per-use charges | ______ |
| Duplicate entry | Hours a month spent retyping × 12 × staff cost per hour | ______ |
| Integration upkeep | Fix-up hours a year × cost per hour, plus connector fees | ______ |
| Training | Joiners a year × tools × hours per tool × cost per hour | ______ |
| Logins and access | (Joiners + leavers) × tools × minutes each, plus resets | ______ |
| Mistakes | Known incidents last year × what each cost to fix | ______ |
| Total | ______ |
Fill it in twice: once for your current set of tools, once for the option you are considering. Ask each vendor for their prices; ours are on the pricing page.
A worked example, in hours (all numbers ASSUMED)
Take an imaginary contractor with 40 office and site staff and these separate tools: an accounting package, a GST spreadsheet, a tender sheet, WhatsApp for site reports, a biometric attendance system, a phone-based CRM, a dispatch register and self-typed email signatures. The figures below are assumptions for illustration only, not measurements from any customer.
| Hidden cost (ASSUMED) | Separate tools: hours a month | Connected apps: hours a month | Why it changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retyping site bills, GRNs and expenses into accounts | 20 | 6 | They arrive in a review queue; accounts check instead of type |
| Copying attendance into payroll | 8 | 2 | Month totals arrive for review |
| Setting up won tenders and deals as projects | 6 | 1 | BOQ and milestones are sent across |
| Chasing missing DPRs and site photos | 10 | 3 | Dashboard and reminder emails |
| Adding and removing users across tools | 4 | 1 | One Khanal ID per person |
| Fixing integration scripts and spreadsheets | 5 | 1 | Links are part of the apps |
| Total | 53 | 14 |
Three cautions about this example. First, the connected column still has hours: review takes time, and it should. Second, your own numbers may be much smaller if your team already works well with its tools. Third, switching itself costs time: data migration, training and a few weeks of running both. Put that one-time cost into the sheet too.
Online presence for a small firm: what to count
"Going online" for a small Indian firm usually means a website, business email, a way to sign documents, a way for clients to see quotes or progress, and apps for the field team. Each is often a separate subscription. A practical checklist:
- Website. Does each enquiry reach a named salesperson, or sit in an inbox? K-CRM web forms turn enquiries on your existing site into assigned leads. We do not build or host websites.
- Business email and signatures. Email itself comes from Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. K-MailSign keeps every employee's signature correct, at a list price of ₹75 per user per month plus GST, with at least 3 licences.
- Signing documents. Contracts need a document e-signature service; we do not offer one. See email signature vs e-signature.
- Client-facing links. K-CRM sends a quotation as a secure link, valid until its valid-until date, that the customer accepts or declines online with their name; K-Survey records a client's acknowledgement of a site visit on the phone. There is no full client portal.
- Field apps. Site staff use K-Projects, K-HR and K-Survey from a phone, offline where needed, with a PIN login if they have no e-mail.
- Documents. Every app files into your own Google Drive or OneDrive through connected storage, so you are not paying for a separate document store per tool.
How Khanal pricing is structured
Apart from K-MailSign's list price above, we do not quote our prices in this article; they are on the pricing page. The structure matters for the sheet above:
- Most prices are per organisation per month, for a plan with set limits (K-MailSign is priced per licence, K-IPO per issue). Paying yearly costs 10 months' fees for 12 months, and prices exclude GST.
- Every feature of an app is in its plan. Nothing is sold on top and nothing is charged per use. The only allowances are GST and MCA look-ups, which an outside provider charges us for, and each plan includes a monthly number of them.
- Bundles (CS Firm, Contractor, Construction suite, Business suite and Khanal One) have one pool of seats: a person seated in one app of the bundle is seated in all of them.
- Connected storage is free with any app, because files stay in your own drive.
To compare approaches beyond cost, read connected suite vs separate tools, and for the full map of apps, one login for your whole business.
Common questions
Is a connected suite always cheaper than separate tools?
No. If you need only one or two jobs done, or you already run a tool your team knows well, separate tools can cost less. The framework in this article helps you check your own case.
Are there per-use charges in the Khanal apps?
Every feature of an app is included in its plan, and nothing is charged per use. Where an outside provider charges us per look-up (GST and MCA look-ups), the plan includes a monthly allowance.
Where are the prices?
On the pricing page, for every app and bundle. This article uses assumed numbers only.
Features as on 25 October 2026. The apps are in beta except K-MailSign and change often; the product pages carry the current detail. Prices: pricing page. See the disclaimer.