What accounting software should a small D2C brand in India actually use, Zoho, Tally, Vyapar, or just Excel?
The short answer
Zoho Books is the easiest starting point, GST-compliant invoicing built in, free under Rs 25 lakh turnover, and a clean interface if you've never done bookkeeping before. Vyapar is mobile-first and popular with sellers who want fast billing and inventory tracking off their phone rather than a desktop workflow; Tally remains the CA's favourite for its depth but has a steeper learning curve for a solo founder. Skip pure Excel the moment you're issuing more than a handful of invoices a month, reconciling GST manually against a spreadsheet is where founders lose entire weekends.
A quick summary to orient you. The real value is below: the resources worth your time, from people who've actually done it, not us.
Here are the resources
Hand-picked from around the web, each with a note on why it earns your time. India-specific ones carry a badge.
Why we picked it
Surveys options specifically for ecommerce sellers (marketplace integrations, multi-channel order sync) rather than generic small-business accounting, relevant once you're selling on more than just your own site.
Why we picked it
A CA firm's practical picks rather than a vendor's self-promotion, useful second opinion when deciding what to actually implement versus what a software company wants to sell you.
Why we picked it
A neutral, feature-by-feature comparison of the three tools every Indian founder actually considers, saves you from three separate sales pitches.
Why we picked it
The easiest on-ramp into proper bookkeeping for a founder with zero accounting background, free under Rs 25 lakh turnover and GST-compliant invoicing out of the box.
