Tally runs on that machine. Your business does not.
We build one of the two systems on this page, so read it knowing that. Tally is a serious product and this page assumes you know it better than we do — the rows where it wins are left in the middle of the table rather than tidied to the bottom.
The feature list is not the difference.
People expect this page to say Tally cannot do godowns or recipes. It can, and it does them properly. Anyone who tells you otherwise has not used it.
The difference is where the system lives. Tally lives on a machine, and everyone who needs it has to get to that machine — or have remote access set up for them. Records ERP lives at a web address, so the storekeeper, the rep and you are all looking at the same figures from wherever you happen to be standing.
Where Tally is better.
Raw entry speed
Keyboard-first and decades refined. A trained operator is genuinely faster than they will be in any browser, ours included.
No internet, no problem
It runs on the machine in front of you. We need a connection, and on a bad line you would notice.
Everybody knows it
An accountant in every town has used it. That is worth real money at handover, and we know it.
Side by side.
Every line is true of both as they stand today.
| What you need | Tally | Records ERP |
|---|---|---|
| Invoices, receipts, customer statements | Yes, and very fast to key once somebody is trained. | Yes. Plus one link that opens the customer’s own statement on their phone. |
| Stock in a godown and a depot or two, with transfers | Yes. Godowns are Tally’s own idea and it does them properly. | Yes — per store, transfers between them, and a ledger of every movement. |
| Production runs and recipes (bills of materials) | Yes, through a bill of materials and a manufacturing journal. | Yes. What went in, what came out, and what each unit actually cost. |
| Two units for one product — buy by the kilo, sell by the sack | Yes, through alternate units. | Yes, and the conversion holds in stock, in cost and in every report. |
| Speed of entry for a trained operator | Faster than us. It is keyboard-first and decades refined, and a good Tally operator is very quick indeed. | A browser. Quick, but a practised Tally hand will beat it on a long day of entry. |
| Working when the internet is down | Keeps going. It is a program on the machine in front of you. | Needs a connection. On a bad line that is a real cost and we will not pretend otherwise. |
| Where it runs | A Windows program, on the machines it is installed on. | A browser. The office computer, a laptop at home, the phone in the yard — the same records. |
| Seeing the figures from outside the office | Remote access has to be set up and maintained for it. | A web address and your password. Nothing to arrange. |
| A rep selling out on the road | Nothing for stock on a van or a rep’s own credit. | Invoices and payments from the phone they already have, and you see who sold what. |
| Changing how it works for your business | Through a partner, and customisation is written in TDL — a programming language. | Settings you can change yourself, or you ask us and we do it. |
| Ask a question in plain words and get a figure | No. You go and find the report. | Yes — it answers from your own records and shows the table it counted. |
| Getting somebody who knows it | Easy. Every accountant in Nairobi has used it, and that is worth real money. | Newer. We train your people ourselves, at no extra cost, because we have to. |
| What you pay, and for how many people | Licensed through a partner, priced by the installation and how many use it at once. | Ksh 96,000 a year — or Ksh 9,500 a month, or Ksh 180,000 once and Ksh 35,000 a year from the second year. Everything included, however many people use it. |
| Who you are actually buying from | A local partner. What you get depends a great deal on which one. | Us, in Nairobi. Within 5 hours, usually on WhatsApp. |
When to stay on Tally.
One office, one machine, one operator who is fast on it, and nobody who needs the figures from anywhere else. Tally is doing that job well and swapping it for ours would cost you speed and buy you little. Ring us in a year when there is a second store.
Questions people ask.
- Is Records ERP a Tally alternative?
- For a manufacturer or distributor in Kenya, yes. Both keep stock in several godowns, both handle recipes and production, and both produce full accounts. The difference is shape rather than feature list: Tally is a Windows program on particular machines, set up and customised through a partner. Records ERP runs in a browser and on a phone, is set up by us, and can be asked a question in plain words. If your people are outside the office — a store, a depot, a rep on the road — that difference is the whole thing.
- What does Tally do better than Records ERP?
- Three things, honestly. A trained Tally operator enters data faster than anyone will in a browser — it is keyboard-first and decades refined. It keeps working when the internet does not, because it runs on the machine in front of you. And every accountant in Kenya has used it, which is worth real money at handover and at audit. If your business is one office, one machine, one very fast operator and an unreliable line, Tally is the sensible choice and we would tell you so on the phone.
- We already keep godowns and a bill of materials in Tally. What actually changes?
- Not the fact that you can do those things — you can, and Tally does them properly. What changes is who can see them and from where. In Records ERP the storekeeper confirms a transfer from the store, the rep invoices from the yard, and you look at the same figures from your phone on a Sunday, without anybody setting up remote access. The other change is cost that follows the goods: correct a purchase price from three months ago and it moves through the production run, across transfers and into the cost of what you already sold.
- Can I move from Tally to Records ERP?
- Yes. Tally exports customers, suppliers, stock items and balances; you bring those in from a spreadsheet, correct anything the screen highlights, and start. If the import goes wrong, the whole thing undoes in one action. We do this with you rather than handing you a template — setup is included in the price, not a separate consulting line.
- Do we have to stop using Tally straight away?
- No, and most people should not. Run the two side by side for a month on the same transactions, and compare the trial balance at the end of it. If the two do not agree we would rather find out in that month than after you have switched. Nothing about Records ERP requires you to delete anything.
- What about KRA and eTIMS?
- eTIMS is about the invoice rather than the return — an electronic tax invoice has to reach KRA when it is issued, which is why “the accountant files it later” was never really an answer. Records ERP does not transmit to eTIMS yet: today you issue through whatever eTIMS route you already use and keep the business’s own records here. Integration is being built and is first on the roadmap. What applies to your particular business is a question for your own accountant.
Try it for thirty days, next to what you already run.
Keep entering in Tally if you like. Put the same month into Records ERP and compare the trial balance at the end of it — that is the only comparison worth anything.
- 30-day free trial
- No card needed
- Free setup