Khatabook Review 2026

What is Khatabook?

Walk into almost any kirana store in a Tier 2 town and you will still find a red cloth-bound register under the counter, full of names, amounts and crossed-out dues. Khatabook was built to replace that book, and its Android listing was updated as recently as 16 October 2026. This khatabook app for small business ledger review looks at what the app really does in 2026, what it costs (mostly nothing), where the money is made instead, and when a shop owner should move to a proper GST billing tool such as Vyapar or TallyPrime.

What the Play Store listing promises a shopkeeper today

The Android app is called Khatabook Credit Account Book and is published by ADJ Utility Apps Private Limited under the developer name "Khatabook - Business Apps". Inc42 lists the startup itself as Khatabook Technologies Private Limited, founded in 2018 by five co-founders including Ravish Naresh and Vaibhav Kalpe, and describes it as based in Bengaluru. The developer address on Google Play, though, is an office on Anna Salai in Chennai. On iPhone, the same company publishes the app under the name Khatabook Vyapar App, which can confuse people looking for the separate Vyapar billing product. They are not related.

Going by the current listing, the Android app covers six jobs:

• A digital ledger with one page per customer or supplier, recording what you gave and what you received.
• Payment reminders sent by SMS or WhatsApp.
• GST and non-GST invoices.
• Stock tracking with alerts when an item runs low.
• A dashboard with account summaries and reports.
• A Khatabook QR code so customers can pay by UPI.

Language support is wide. The Play listing mentions English, Hindi and more than ten regional languages, and the iOS listing names thirteen, including Assamese, Oriya and Punjabi.

Khatabook credit and debit entry on a busy counter

Everything in the app hangs off two buttons on each customer's page: money you gave (credit sold, the old udhaar khata entry) and money you got. Each entry takes an amount, and the running balance updates at once. The top of the home screen shows two totals, what customers owe you and what you owe suppliers, which is the whole point of customer balance tracking for a small trader.

The iOS listing says you can remove a transaction you entered by mistake, and that every new entry triggers a free SMS to the customer. That message works as a receipt: Sharma ji gets a text saying ₹1,250 was added to his account, which cuts most "I never took that" arguments before they start. You can also keep separate personal khata books for money lent to friends and family, so they do not mix with shop dues.

A practical tip from how the app is laid out: enter each customer's existing balance from the paper register as a single opening entry dated today, rather than retyping six months of history. You get an accurate starting figure in minutes, and the paper book becomes an archive.

Reminders that customers actually read

Chasing dues is where most owners lose time and goodwill. Khatabook lets you send a payment reminder SMS or a WhatsApp message from the customer's page, with the pending amount filled in. The Play listing says collections can come in by UPI, cards, wallets or the Khatabook QR code, so the customer does not need to ask for your number again.

What the app cannot do is decide which customers deserve patience. Sorting your list by the largest pending amount once a week and reminding only the top ten tends to work better than blasting everyone.

Is the Khatabook app free or paid?

For the ledger itself, it is free. The App Store listing describes the cash book as completely free to use and lists no in-app purchases, and neither official store page shows a subscription price. We could not load any official Khatabook pricing page, and we found no published premium plan or INR price on the company's own channels. If the app ever shows a paid option, check the amount on that screen before paying rather than trusting third-party price lists.

So how does the company earn? Two visible ways. First, the Android listing says the app contains ads. Second, it offers business loans through RBI-registered NBFC partners. According to Google Play, partner NBFCs lend from ₹10,000 to ₹5,00,000 over 3 to 24 months, at 15% to 24% interest a year, with a processing fee between 0% and 5% and an option to repay in daily instalments. The iOS listing quotes a narrower range of ₹50,000 to ₹5,00,000, collateral-free. Those numbers are not small. A ₹1 lakh loan at 24% costs far more than a bank overdraft, so compare before tapping "apply".

Khatabook vs OkCredit for a shop that wants clear costs

OkCredit is the closest rival and the one most owners compare first. Both apps keep a free credit register with unlimited customers, reminders and online backup. The difference is in how they charge. OkCredit's official pricing page lists four tiers: a free Basic plan, Unlimited Transactions at ₹30, Ads Free++ at ₹75 and Premium at ₹99, each billed for 30 days. The ₹75 tier adds GST and normal bills, multi-device login, desktop access, stock items and priority support, while ₹99 adds unlimited SMS sent by OkCredit.

Khatabook keeps more in the free app, including invoices and stock alerts according to its Android listing, and lets one account run on several phones per the iOS page. The cost is ads and the loan offers that appear as you use it. If you dislike ads and want a written price that will not change, OkCredit's ₹75 plan is easy to budget for. If you want the most features at ₹0 and can live with the ads, Khatabook is the better deal.

Where the invoice tool runs out

The invoice feature in Khatabook is useful for a trader who occasionally needs to hand over a GST bill. It is not built for a business whose main paperwork is billing. The store listings say nothing about e-way bills, e-invoicing through the IRP, GSTR-1 exports, batch or expiry tracking for stock, or a desktop version. A medical store or a distributor filing monthly returns will feel these gaps within weeks.

There is also no staff salary register or attendance feature in the current listings, so payroll and advances for helpers have to live somewhere else.

Khatabook alternative for GST billing when invoices become the main job

Once invoices outnumber udhaar entries, look at a proper GST invoice maker. Vyapar is the common next step for Indian shops: a dedicated billing and inventory product with a free mobile plan, a 7-day trial of its premium features and desktop plans from ₹3,799 a year plus GST, as our Vyapar page details. Test it on a few real invoices before paying. TallyPrime is the heavier option most CAs already know, with single-user licences starting at ₹750 a month plus GST on rental, as our TallyPrime page details.

Backups, RBI wording and who sees your customer list

The Play Store description claims bank-grade security, with encrypted data, secure servers and RBI-compliant systems. Read that line carefully. The RBI regulates the lending partners, not a ledger app as such, so "RBI-compliant" mainly speaks to the loan side. Google's data safety section is more concrete: data is encrypted in transit, you can request deletion, and the app collects location, personal information and seven other data types. It also states that personal and financial information, along with four other data types, is shared with third parties.

The iOS privacy label adds that contact info, user content, identifiers, usage data and diagnostics may be used to track you. For a shop that stores its full customer list and dues in the app, that is worth knowing. Nothing here suggests careless handling, but it is a free product funded partly by ads and lending, and the privacy and terms pages on khatabook.com did not render for us, so we could not confirm where data is stored or how long it is kept.

What happens when the phone is lost or an entry is deleted

Backup and restore data is automatic. Each entry is saved online, so logging in with the same mobile number on a new phone brings the full ledger back. The iOS listing confirms one account can run on multiple phones, which helps when a family member handles the counter.

Deleted entries are a different matter. The listings mention that you can delete a transaction but do not describe an undo, recycle bin or edit history. If a helper deletes an entry by mistake, contact support at once through feedback@khatabook.com or +91 96068 00800, the email and phone shown on Google Play. Those two are the only support channels the store listings give, and we found no live chat or status page on the official pages we could load.

Our khatabook app for small business ledger review verdict on who should install it

Install it if you sell on credit, your dues live in a paper book or in your head, and your main device is an Android phone. It is especially good for kirana stores, hardware and paint shops, small wholesalers, tuition centres and repair businesses with regular customers who pay later.

Skip it, or pair it with something else, if you need audited books, GST returns, payroll or multi-branch stock. Larger teams also lose out because there are no user roles or permissions in the listings.

Your first hour with the app

• Install from Google Play or the App Store and log in with the shop's main mobile number, since backup is tied to it.
• Pick your language, then add your top 20 credit customers with their mobile numbers.
• Enter each one's current balance from the paper register as a single opening entry.
• Add your two or three main suppliers so both sides of the khata show up on the home screen.
• Print or display the Khatabook QR code at the counter.
• Send one reminder to your largest pending account and see how the message reads to a customer.
• Ignore loan offers for the first month until you know your real monthly collections.

After a month, compare the dues shown in the app with the cash you actually collected. If the gap is shrinking, the free register is doing its job.