Restaurant Billing Software Price in Nepal (2026): Real Plan Costs, Hidden Fees & Your True First-Year Budget
Updated 20 September 2026 · By Wilson Shrestha, web & billing-software developer, Kathmandu · 12 min read
Short answer
Restaurant billing software in Nepal costs roughly Rs 6,000 to Rs 60,000 per year for cloud subscription plans. Most single-outlet cafés and restaurants land between Rs 10,000 and Rs 24,000 a year (about Rs 830–2,000 per month). Add Rs 12,000–35,000 one-time for a thermal printer, cash drawer and a counter device, and budget separately if your turnover crosses the IRD e-billing threshold.
Realistic first-year total for a normal Kathmandu restaurant: Rs 28,000 – Rs 55,000. Software is usually the cheapest line in that number — which is exactly why comparing only the subscription price is a mistake.
Search "restaurant billing software price in Nepal" and you get a strange result: page after page written about pricing, with almost no prices on them. Vendors talk about transparency, then send you to a contact form. Blogs explain that hidden costs exist, then never name one.
So this article does the boring part. Below are the actual published plan prices of the main restaurant billing and POS vendors operating in Nepal as of September 2026, the hardware costs nobody adds up for you, the IRD e-billing rules that quietly change your price bracket, and three complete first-year budgets you can copy.
Restaurant billing software price in Nepal — 2026 comparison table
These are publicly listed prices from each vendor's own pricing page. Where a vendor shows a promotional rate, both the list price and the offer price are shown, because renewal is normally at the list price.
| Software | Entry plan | Mid plan | Top plan | Free trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restronp | Rs 6,000/yr | Rs 12,000/yr | Rs 24,000/yr | Free tier |
| NRestro | Rs 10,000/yr | Rs 15,000/yr (list Rs 24,000) | Custom | 1 month |
| RestroX | Rs 12,000/yr | Rs 24,000/yr (list Rs 30,000) | Rs 60,000/yr | 14 days + free tier |
| Hamro SAN | Rs 599/mo (~Rs 7,188/yr) | Rs 999/mo (~Rs 11,988/yr) | Rs 1,199/mo (~Rs 14,388/yr) | 7 days |
| Tiya App | Not published — quoted on request (cafés & chiya pasal focus) | Yes | ||
| Recaho | Not published — quoted on request (regional vendor) | Demo | ||
Prices collected from vendor pricing pages, September 2026. Plan limits differ substantially — see the caveats below before treating this as like-for-like.
⚠️ Why a cheap plan can cost more
The Rs 6,000 and Rs 12,000 tiers are almost always capped — typically around 5 user logins, 16–20 tables and a few hundred menu items, with inventory locked to a higher plan. A 40-table restaurant with three cashier shifts will hit those ceilings inside a month and upgrade anyway. Read the limits column, not the price.
What price you should expect for your size of restaurant
Nepali vendors package plans by user count, table count and menu size — not by revenue. Here is how that maps to real outlets:
Chiya pasal / small café
Rs 0 – 10,000/yr
1–2 staff, under 10 tables, single counter. A free tier or the lowest paid plan genuinely works here. You mainly need fast billing and a daily sales total.
Single restaurant, 15–40 tables
Rs 12,000 – 24,000/yr
The real sweet spot. You now need KOT/BOT printing, table management, inventory and multi-user roles. This is where most Kathmandu restaurants land.
Bar, lounge or 2–3 outlets
Rs 24,000 – 60,000/yr
Multi-outlet consolidation, recipe costing, advanced reporting, priority support. Often quoted per outlet, so confirm whether the price covers branches.
Chain / IRD e-billing required
Rs 60,000+/yr
Custom/enterprise contracts, dedicated database, CBMS integration, SLA. Almost never published — you negotiate, so bring competing quotes.
The costs that never appear on a pricing page
This is the content gap in every competing article I reviewed for this keyword. They warn you about "hidden costs" as a concept and stop there. Here are the actual numbers, at Nepali market rates.
| Cost item | Typical price in Nepal | One-time or recurring? |
|---|---|---|
| 80mm thermal bill printer | Rs 9,500 – 13,500 | One-time |
| Second printer for kitchen KOT | Rs 9,500 – 13,500 | One-time (per kitchen) |
| Cash drawer | Rs 4,000 – 8,000 | One-time |
| Complete POS terminal + drawer + printer bundle | Rs 25,000 – 32,000 | One-time |
| Counter tablet or refurbished laptop (cheaper route) | Rs 15,000 – 30,000 | One-time |
| Thermal paper rolls | Rs 160 – 200/roll | Recurring — a busy outlet burns 4–10/month |
| Router power backup (for outages) | Rs 2,000 – 3,000 | One-time |
| Dedicated internet line for the counter | Rs 1,200 – 2,500/mo | Recurring |
| Bulk SMS credits (bills, promos) | Charged per SMS, often extra | Recurring |
| Menu setup + staff training | Free to Rs 10,000 | One-time — always confirm in writing |
| Data migration from your old system | Often quoted separately | One-time |
The renewal trap is the one to watch. Several Nepali vendors advertise a first-year discount and describe renewal in small print. A plan listed at Rs 30,000 and sold at Rs 24,000 is a Rs 30,000 plan; the discount is an acquisition offer, not your ongoing rate. Before signing, ask one question in writing: "What exactly will I be invoiced on the same plan 12 months from today?"
If you also run a retail counter or kirana side-business, the pricing logic is similar but the feature set isn't — I've broken that down separately in POS billing software for kirana shops in Nepal.
IRD approval and CBMS: the price factor almost nobody explains
This is where restaurant pricing in Nepal diverges from generic POS pricing, and where most "price" articles go silent.
Nepal's Inland Revenue Department requires covered businesses to issue invoices through approved electronic billing software that reports to the Central Billing Monitoring System (CBMS). The general turnover threshold is NPR 10 crore — but for hotels, restaurants and canteens the threshold is lower, at NPR 5 crore. Separately, businesses above the NPR 25 crore mark are expected to sync invoices to CBMS.
Under the Electronic Billing Procedure, 2074 (fourth amendment), approved software generally has to:
- connect to CBMS for real-time or scheduled invoice sync;
- number invoices by fiscal year and label reprints correctly (Copy of Original – 2/3…);
- keep an immutable audit trail — no hard deletes, and every edit records user, time and reason;
- store data securely, with hosting or accessible backup inside Nepal;
- support VAT reporting formats, including rebate reporting on digital payments.
What this does to your price
Those requirements are engineering work, not a checkbox. A vendor that is genuinely IRD-approved and CBMS-integrated prices their compliant tier well above their café tier — frequently in the enterprise "contact us" bracket. If a vendor quotes you Rs 6,000 a year and claims full IRD e-billing approval, ask for their approval certificate and CBMS test report before you pay anything.
Below the threshold, you are not obliged to buy an approved system — but a VAT-registered outlet can adopt one voluntarily, and it is much cheaper to start compliant than to migrate mid-growth. I keep a running reference of what to check here: IRD-approved billing software list in Nepal. Always confirm your own category and current thresholds with your accountant — the rules get amended.
Monthly, yearly or lifetime — which actually costs less?
Nepali vendors sell in three shapes, and the cheapest label is rarely the cheapest outcome.
| Model | Best for | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly Rs 599–1,199/mo | New outlets, seasonal businesses, anyone still testing a vendor | Rs 999/mo is roughly Rs 12,000/yr — no cheaper than an annual plan, you're paying for the exit option |
| Annual Rs 6,000–60,000/yr | Established restaurants confident in the vendor | Money is locked in. If the software doesn't fit by month three, you've paid for nine months of nothing |
| Lifetime around Rs 1,00,000 one-time | Outlets certain they'll run the same system 7+ years | Break-even against a Rs 12,000/yr plan is over 8 years. "Lifetime" means the vendor's lifetime, not yours |
My rule: pay monthly for the first three months even if it costs slightly more, then switch to annual once your staff have actually adopted it. The extra few thousand rupees is cheap insurance against a system your cashiers quietly abandon.
Are the free plans real?
Partly. Free tiers from Nepali vendors are genuine products, not just trials — but they are engineered so a growing outlet outgrows them. Typical free-tier ceilings look like this:
- around 100 menu items and 10 categories
- about 10 tables and 2 staff logins
- a handful of income/expense entries per day
- no reservations, no inventory, no customer orders
- community support only, and short data-retention windows
For a chiya pasal or a small takeaway counter, that is honestly enough — run it free for a year. For anything with a kitchen and waiters, the free tier is a demo of the paid tier. Plan for the upgrade rather than being surprised by it during Dashain rush. If your need is simply clean, professional bills rather than a full POS, a lighter tool may do the job — I've compared that route in my invoice generator and billing software guide.
What I've learned building billing systems for Nepali businesses
I build restaurant and retail billing software from Kathmandu — including DinePosAi, a restaurant management system with a live kitchen display, and Woobex Infotech's offline-first billing product for Nepali retail. Which means I've sat on the other side of these quotations. Four things I'd tell any restaurant owner before they sign:
1. Ask what happens when the internet drops — and test it.
This is the single biggest cost nobody prices. A cloud POS that stalls during an outage costs you a full dinner service. Ask whether billing continues offline and syncs later, then actually unplug the router during the demo and try to punch a bill. Vendors who have solved this will happily show you. Vendors who haven't will change the subject.
2. Count your printers before you compare plans.
Restaurants consistently under-budget hardware. One counter printer, one kitchen printer, often a bar printer — that's Rs 30,000 before a single subscription rupee. Some plans also cap how many printers you may connect. Check the printer limit, not just the table limit.
3. Ask how you get your data out.
Exports are the cheapest form of leverage you have. If sales history, menu items and customer records can only leave the system as a PDF, your switching cost in year three is enormous — and the vendor knows it. Ask for an Excel or CSV export of everything, and test it during the trial.
4. The cheapest software your staff won't use costs the most.
I've seen outlets pay for a system for a full year while the cashier kept billing on a notebook because the interface was too slow at rush hour. Put the software in front of the person who will use it every night, not only the owner, and let them bill ten mock orders. Adoption beats features, and features beat price.
Three realistic first-year budgets
Copy the one that matches your outlet. All figures in NPR, hardware at market rate, software at published plan prices.
| Line item | Small café 8 tables, 2 staff | Mid restaurant 30 tables, 8 staff | Bar & lounge 50 tables, 2 kitchens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software subscription (yr 1) | 6,000 | 15,000 | 24,000 |
| Counter device | Existing tablet — 0 | 18,000 | 28,000 |
| Bill printer | 10,500 | 11,000 | 11,000 |
| Kitchen / bar KOT printers | — | 11,000 | 22,000 |
| Cash drawer | — | 5,500 | 6,500 |
| Power backup for router | 2,000 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
| Paper rolls (year) | 3,800 | 9,600 | 16,000 |
| Training & setup | 0 | 0–5,000 | 5,000–10,000 |
| Year-one total | ≈ Rs 22,300 | ≈ Rs 72,600 – 77,600 | ≈ Rs 1,15,000 – 1,20,000 |
| Year two onward | ≈ Rs 9,800 | ≈ Rs 33,600 | ≈ Rs 46,000 |
Notice the shape of it: hardware dominates year one, then the cost drops by roughly half or more. Anyone quoting you a "monthly price" without that hardware line is showing you a quarter of the picture.
Ten questions to ask before you pay any vendor
- What will this exact plan be invoiced at on renewal, in writing?
- Does billing keep working with no internet, and how does it sync afterwards?
- How many printers, users, tables and menu items does this tier allow?
- Is the price per outlet or per account?
- Are setup, menu entry and staff training included or billed separately?
- Can I export my full sales, menu and customer data to Excel myself?
- Is VAT 13% invoicing and PAN/VAT bill format handled correctly out of the box?
- Are you IRD-approved and CBMS-integrated — and can you show the certificate?
- Are eSewa, Khalti and Fonepay QR payments supported natively, and at what cost?
- What is your support window, and who do I call at 9pm on a Friday?
Frequently asked questions
How much does restaurant billing software cost in Nepal per month?
Between roughly Rs 500 and Rs 5,000 per month depending on plan. Monthly-billed products sit around Rs 599–1,199/month, while annual plans work out to about Rs 500/month at entry level and Rs 2,000/month for a well-featured plan.
Is there genuinely free restaurant billing software in Nepal?
Yes — several vendors run permanent free tiers. They are usually capped near 100 menu items, 10 tables and 2 users, with no inventory or reservations. Workable for a chiya pasal or small takeaway; not for a restaurant with a kitchen and waiters.
Does my restaurant need IRD-approved billing software?
It depends on turnover. The threshold for hotels, restaurants and canteens is NPR 5 crore, lower than the NPR 10 crore general threshold. Below that you may bill on ordinary software, though VAT-registered outlets can adopt an approved system voluntarily. Confirm your category with your accountant, since thresholds and procedures are amended periodically.
How much does the hardware cost?
An 80mm thermal bill printer runs about Rs 9,500–13,500, a cash drawer Rs 4,000–8,000, and a complete POS terminal bundle Rs 25,000–32,000. Restaurants needing a separate kitchen KOT printer should double the printer line.
Is a lifetime licence around Rs 1 lakh worth it?
Only for outlets certain they'll run the same system for eight years or more — that's roughly the break-even against a Rs 12,000/year plan. Given how fast IRD rules and payment integrations change in Nepal, most restaurants are better served by an annual plan.
Can I use one billing system for a restaurant and a retail shop?
Some Nepali platforms handle both, but the workflows differ sharply — restaurants need tables, KOT and modifiers, while retail needs barcodes, SKU control and a credit khata. A product built for one usually feels bolted-on for the other. Test with your real menu or real SKUs, not the demo data.
What is the cheapest way to start billing digitally?
A free-tier cloud plan on a tablet you already own, plus a single thermal printer at about Rs 10,000. That gets a small outlet billing properly for under Rs 12,000 in year one, and you can upgrade the software plan later without replacing the printer.
The bottom line
Restaurant billing software in Nepal is cheap. Restaurant billing systems are not — and the gap between those two numbers is where owners get caught.
Budget Rs 12,000–24,000 a year for software if you run a normal single-outlet restaurant, then add Rs 25,000–50,000 of hardware in year one and expect the running cost to roughly halve afterwards. Choose on offline reliability, printer support, data export and staff adoption — in that order — and treat the subscription price as a tiebreaker rather than the decision.
Get those four right and almost any of the plans in the table above will serve you well. Get them wrong and the cheapest plan in Nepal will still be the most expensive thing on your counter.
Need help choosing or building one?
I build billing, POS and restaurant management systems for Nepali businesses from Kathmandu. If you're weighing quotations or thinking about a system built around your own workflow, get in touch through wilson.com.np.
Disclosure & sources: plan prices were collected from vendor pricing pages in September 2026 and may change — always confirm current rates directly. Hardware ranges reflect Kathmandu retail listings. IRD e-billing thresholds and CBMS requirements reflect the Electronic Billing Procedure, 2074 (fourth amendment); confirm your obligations with a qualified accountant. The author develops DinePosAi and works with Woobex Infotech, both linked above.