How much does ERP software cost in Kenya?

The short answer

For a small or growing Kenyan business, the software part of a cloud ERP is a monthly subscription that covers hosting, backups and updates. Plentier ERP starts at KES 1,000 a month. What varies most from one business to another is the second part: how much help you need to set up, move your data and train your staff.

What you pay for

• The software. Either a subscription (the provider hosts and maintains it) or a licence plus your own server. ERPNext itself is open source, so there's no licence fee, but someone still has to run the server, apply updates and keep backups.
• Users. Most plans price by the number of staff who log in. Count the people who create invoices, receive stock or approve purchases, not everyone in the business.
• Locations. More shops or warehouses usually means a bigger plan, because stock is tracked per location.
• Setup. Your chart of accounts, taxes, items, prices, customers, suppliers and opening balances have to go in before day one. You can do it yourself or have it done for you.
• Data migration. Moving years of records from Excel, QuickBooks or an old system takes longer than starting fresh with opening balances.
• Customisation and integrations. Special forms, approval steps, or links to other systems are quoted separately almost everywhere.
• Training and support. Short training for each role pays for itself in fewer mistakes in the first month.
• Hardware. For a shop: a barcode scanner, a receipt printer and maybe a cash drawer. The ERP itself runs in a browser on the computers you already have.

Three ways to run an ERP

Self-hosted. You install open-source ERPNext on your own or a rented server. No licence fee, but you pay for the server and for someone with the skills to install, update and back it up. Suits businesses with their own IT team.

Hosted subscription. The provider gives you a ready ERP and looks after hosting, updates and backups for a fixed monthly or annual price. You set it up yourself, with help when you need it. This is how Plentier ERP's self-service plans work.

Managed implementation. A team sets the ERP up around how you work, moves your data, adds what's missing and trains your staff. It costs more up front and is quoted per project, but you go live faster and with fewer surprises.

A worked example: Plentier ERP's plans

These are our current plans in Kenyan shillings. Every plan includes your own private ERP, hosting, daily backups, updates, the point of sale and M-Pesa, with no setup fee. Paying annually costs less than twelve monthly payments.

On any plan, the point of sale and stock come with it: this is the same ERP, selling at the counter from the same item list your accounts use.

How to estimate your own budget

1. Count the users who will log in, and your shops or stores.
2. Pick a plan that covers them, with a little room to grow.
3. Decide how you'll start: fresh with opening balances (quick), or with your history moved across (more work).
4. List anything special: integrations, approvals, custom documents. These are the parts to get quoted.
5. Add hardware for each till if you sell over the counter.

Costs to ask about before you sign

• Is there a setup or onboarding fee, and what does it include?
• Are backups, updates and support in the price, or extra?
• What happens to your data if you stop paying, and can you export it?
• Is M-Pesa included, or an add-on?
• What does adding a user or a shop cost later?

For Plentier ERP: there's no setup fee on self-service plans; backups, updates and support are included; if you don't renew, your ERP is paused rather than deleted and comes back when you renew; and M-Pesa is included on every plan.

About this guide

We sell Plentier ERP, so we've kept this guide to what drives ERP costs in general, and used our own published prices as the example rather than quoting other providers. The table above is read from our live price list, so it's always current. Questions about your own setup? Talk to us; for a managed rollout see ERPNext implementation.