Pricing guide · updated 22 October 2026

Best free restaurant billing software in India: what "free" actually costs.

Free restaurant billing software in India usually means a trial with an expiry date, a feature-gated tier, or a cap set low enough to force an upgrade. This page names the six shapes that takes, compares what is documented for five vendors on a dated check, and states what our own free start does not include.

Most "free" restaurant POS in India is a trial with a clock on it. 510 Biller.app credits are not.

New outlets get 510 Biller.app credits, given once, no card — not a time-boxed trial, and the credits never expire. Here is how that compares with what is documented for the others.

What "free" means in Indian restaurant billing — the six traps

Six patterns cover almost every "free" claim in this category. Each one has a single question that settles it.

A trial dressed as freeCheck: the exact date your access changes.
Feature-gatingCheck: which features are in the free tier, in writing, on a page.
Card required upfrontCheck: whether you can raise a bill before entering card details.
Caps set low enough to force an upgradeCheck: the cap, against your real daily volume.
Paid onboarding on free softwareCheck: the setup fee, separately from the licence.
Data lock-inCheck: whether you can export your menu and your bills.

Why vendors do this

It is worth being fair about it. AI inference costs money per call, payment processing costs money per transaction, and support costs money per hour. A vendor that gives all three away indefinitely is not running a business, and a free tier with no revenue path behind it is a worse bet for you than an honest paid one.

The problem is not charging. The problem is marketing on the word "free" while the terms that qualify it live behind a secondary page or a sales call.

The comparison, checked 22 October 2026

Biller.app vs Petpooja vs Gofrugal vs Square vs Loyverse: what "free" costs
	Biller.app	Petpooja	Gofrugal	Square	Loyverse
What "free" means	510 credits at signup, given once, no card, no clock. Credits never expire.	No published free or trial tier in the sources reviewed.	Not free — a recurring monthly fee, regardless of bill volume.	A genuinely free tier, but built for card-present retail outside India.	A free tier for a single store; paid add-ons for the rest.
Built for India	GST tax invoices, Bill of Supply, CGST/SGST, HSN, UPI QR, FSSAI on the bill.	Yes — the dominant India SMB installed base.	Yes.	No — no India GST invoicing story in the sources reviewed.	Partial — general-purpose, not India tax-first.
AI menu digitisation	Yes, inside the free start — photograph the menu, review the catalogue.	No shipped owner-facing menu-photo onboarding in the sources reviewed.	No menu-photo or AI onboarding documented.	No.	No.
Setup effort	Photograph the menu; a reviewable catalog in about two minutes.	Reviews flag menu, tax and printer setup as slow.	Manual entry; no AI onboarding documented.	Manual entry.	Manual entry.

Every competitor cell is a dated fact from our own competitive research, checked 22 October 2026. Posist, Rista and UrbanPiper are not in this table: the sources reviewed do not document a free or trial tier for any of them, so they are left out rather than guessed at.

Sources, as checked on the date above: Petpooja · Gofrugal · Square · Loyverse · DineOpen · Posist (Restroworks) · Rista.

Giving credit where it's due: DineOpen

DineOpen does two things genuinely well that most of this category does not do at all: AI menu digitisation from a photo or a PDF, and AI voice ordering that takes an order. If you are shortlisting on capability rather than price, they belong on your list.

The honest distinction: a 7-day free trial is a trial. It is not standing free access, and it is not the same question this page is about.

Where a free start with Biller.app actually stands out

No card, no countdown. 510 Biller.app credits, given once. The credits do not expire, and a plain bill costs one credit.
India-tax-first. GST Tax Invoice and Bill of Supply, the correct CGST/SGST split, HSN where it applies, UPI QR and FSSAI on the bill. That is the Square and Loyverse gap, stated plainly.
Menu from a photo, in the free start. Not gated behind a paid tier — photograph the menu and review the catalogue in about two minutes.
The eight filing-ready tax reports. GSTR-1 tables 4A, 7 and 12; GSTR-3B 3.1(a); and CMP-08 for composition-scheme outlets. Included, not an upgrade.

What our free start does not include

Nobody else in the comparison above states a single limit on anything. Here are three of ours.

E-invoicing (IRP/IRN) is not shipped. It is on the roadmap. It is legally mandatory only above ₹5 crore annual turnover — below that threshold it changes nothing for you, and above it we are not the right fit yet.

Offline billing has a bound. Up to 5 days since the device last reached the internet, and 24 hours in a browser that has not guaranteed its storage. Completing a bill needs the server, because settling draws the GST invoice number.
Anything with AI in it needs a connection. Menu scanning, ingredient suggestions and Insights narration all call out; none of them work from a dead line.

Check any free claim in five minutes

This procedure applies to this page too. Run it on us.

Read the pricing pageLook for an expiry date and a card mandate. Both are usually there.
List the features you needBilling, KOT, GST invoicing, table QR, inventory, insights — and find each one in writing inside the free tier.
Confirm what happens the day afterNot "you can upgrade". What your data and your bills do.
Verify you can exportYour menu and your bills, out, in a format something else reads.
Test your real daily volumeA Saturday, not a Tuesday, before you commit to anything.

When free is enough, and when it isn't

Free is enough when

One counter, one outlet.
You are still testing whether software helps at all.
Your volume fits inside the credits you were given.
One person settles the bills.

You will outgrow it when

Multiple outlets, each with its own menu and taxes.
A kitchen that needs a ticket wall running all service.
Volume where credits become a recurring cost.
A team that needs roles and permissions.

Frequently asked

Is Biller.app really free to start?

Yes. Every new outlet gets 510 Biller.app credits, given once, no card. It is not a time-boxed trial and the credits never expire.

Do Petpooja or Gofrugal offer a free trial?

The sources we reviewed do not document a published free or trial tier for Petpooja. Gofrugal is not free — it charges a recurring monthly fee, regardless of bill volume.

Are Square or Loyverse real options for an Indian restaurant?

Both have genuine free tiers, but neither is built India-tax-first. If you need GST tax invoices, a Bill of Supply and the correct CGST/SGST split on every bill, that is the gap.

What about Posist (Restroworks)?

Quote-only, enterprise sales-assisted. The sources reviewed document no free tier, so it is not in the table rather than guessed at.

Is this a paid or sponsored comparison?

No. It is our own editorial page, built from publicly cited sources, each dated as of when it was checked.

What if a competitor has changed since?

Then this page is out of date and we would rather be told. Every claim carries the date it was checked, precisely so you can see how old it is.

Does the free start include GST invoices, or is that a paid feature?

Included. GST Tax Invoice and Bill of Supply from the first bill, plus the eight filing-ready reports — GSTR-1 tables 4A, 7 and 12, GSTR-3B 3.1(a) and CMP-08.

Does Biller.app generate e-invoices (IRN)?

No. It is on the roadmap and is not shipped. E-invoicing is legally mandatory only above ₹5 crore annual turnover.