Committees comparing society apps usually get three quotes with three different shapes: per flat per month, a flat annual fee, or "free" with conditions. This guide explains what each shape means for your society's budget, and the costs that only show up after you sign.
The three pricing shapes
Per flat per month is the most common. The society pays for every flat, occupied or not, so a 100-flat society at ₹20 per flat pays ₹24,000 a year. Simple to budget, and it scales down for small societies. Ask whether vacant flats count.
Flat annual fee suits larger societies: one number, one renewal. Ask what happens when a new tower is added, and whether support is included or billed per ticket.
Free tiers are usually funded by something else: ads inside the app, paid add-ons for the features you actually wanted, or your residents' data. Read the privacy policy before the committee meeting, not after.
The hidden costs
- Onboarding: who types in your towers, flats and resident roster? If the answer is "your committee, via Excel upload", budget volunteer evenings for it. White-glove onboarding, where the vendor sets everything up, is worth paying for once.
- Hardware: guard-gate tablets, biometric devices, boom barriers. None of these are required for a working visitor system; a guard's phone is enough. Treat hardware as a separate decision.
- SMS and notification charges: some vendors bill OTP and alert SMS to the society over and above the subscription. Ask for the all-in number.
- Exit costs: can you export your resident register, accounts and gate logs if you leave? A vendor that cannot answer this in one sentence is planning on you staying for the wrong reason.
Questions that settle a vendor call in ten minutes
- What is the all-in annual cost for our society size, including onboarding, SMS and support?
- Do vacant flats count as billable flats?
- Who enters our data, and how long does go-live take?
- What do we get back if we leave?
- Are our society's own bye-law rules (booking charges, deposits, penalties) enforced by the app, or is it a generic template?
The honest benchmark
For a mid-size society, a fair all-in budget is roughly the cost of one or two cups of tea per flat per month. Below that, ask what funds the product. Far above it, ask what you are getting that your bye-laws actually require. The right app should be cheaper than the volunteer hours it replaces.