Search "free pharmacy billing software" in India and most results are a trial with "free" in the headline. Here is a checklist for telling the difference, written for a pharmacist at a counter, or for anyone building or advising on this kind of software. Team Nesayo makes one of the products named below, so read the Nesayo lines as a vendor's lines.
1. Is the free plan a plan or a clock?
Ask three questions: is there an end date, is there a bill cap, and does it need a card? Prices and plans below were read from each vendor's own page or a directory listing on 6 October 2026. Check them again before you decide.
| Product | What its own page or listing says about free |
|---|---|
| Vyapar | Its medical-shop page says a free version with limited features is available, and lists batch and expiry tracking. It does not spell out what the limits are. |
| eVitalRx | Capterra lists a free version and a 7-day free trial (read 6 October 2026). We could not read eVitalRx's own pricing page from our network. |
| LocalWell | Three paid tiers by daily-customer band, each with a 7-day free trial. No permanent free plan is shown. |
| Nesayo | Billing is free forever, no card, no bill cap. Paid plans add voice billing, prescription scanning and AI help: Essential is Rs399/month + GST and Full is Rs999/month + GST (as of October 2026). A new pharmacy gets 200 AI-assisted bills free, no time limit. |
We have left out Marg and GoFrugal. They are strong, long-established products, but we did not re-read their pricing today and will not quote it from memory.
2. Does it read an expiry month as the last day?
A pack printed EXP 08/2026 is sellable through 31 August. Rule 96 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 says the date of expiry "shall mean that the drug is recommended till the last day of the month". Software that stores it as 1 August throws away up to thirty days of sellable stock per pack. Test it: enter a batch with this month's expiry and see whether the system lets you sell it today.
If you parse stock exports yourself, the fix is one line: resolve a month-only date to the last day of that month.
3. Does it pick batches by expiry, not by arrival?
FEFO (first-expiry-first-out) is not FIFO. A delivery that arrives today often carries shorter dating than one from two months ago. If the software picks the oldest arrival first, the short-dated pack stays on the shelf and expires. Item-wise stock cannot manage this at all: "40 strips" is a sum, and expiry lives in the parts.
4. Does it refuse expired stock at the bill?
Rule 65(17) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules says: "No drug shall be sold or stocked by the licensee after the date of expiration of potency recorded on its container, label or wrapper". It carves out stock the licensee has taken steps to return or dispose of, kept apart and marked "Not for sale". A warning colour is not the same as a block. Ask what happens when the counter tries to bill an expired batch.
5. Is the GST rate per product?
GST on medicines is set per product and was revised in September 2025, so check the current CBIC rate notification for the items you stock. The rate belongs to the product. One rate typed once for the whole catalogue files wrong every month while looking fine on screen. Also check what the GST export actually is. Nesayo's GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B export is a summary (JSON and CSV) for your CA to work from, on every plan.
6. What does it do for the Schedule H1 register?
Rule 65(3)(h) says the supply "shall be recorded in a separate register at the time of the supply giving the name and address of the prescriber, the name of the patient, the name of the drug and the quantity supplied and such records shall be maintained for three years and be open for inspection". That is clause (h) in full. The same sale also goes in the prescription register or cash memo under the rest of Rule 65(3). A good system logs the sale at billing time. Ask whether it captures the prescriber's address. Nesayo logs patient and prescriber names, medicine and quantity at billing, and the pharmacist adds the prescriber's address from the prescription, which stays with the shop.
7. What happens when the internet drops?
Ask for the offline behaviour in writing, and ask which checks do not run offline. In Nesayo, the drug-interaction prompt does not run on a bill made offline, The pharmacist's own check applies on every bill; the prompt is only an aid.
8. Can you leave?
Ask whether the vendor moves your current data across, and whether you can export everything at any time. Nesayo moves data across free of charge and lets you export your data at any time.
Where Nesayo is not the right choice
- No e-invoice (IRN) or e-way bill yet. Some competitors list both.
- No rack or shelf location field.
- No dealer network. Support is WhatsApp and email.
- No Play Store app. It installs from the browser.
- No public reviews yet. We would rather say so than hide it.
If you need any of those today, use a product that has them. Running two systems side by side for a month while you decide is the best test.
Try the free tools first
None of these need a signup:
- Expiry date decoder
- Schedule H1 checker
- Medicine GST calculator
- A sample pharmacy you can click through
The full write-up of what our free plan includes and excludes is on our site. If something here is wrong or confusing, tell us at hello@nesayo.com.
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