When a retail shop needs barcode stock tracking, physical printed thermal receipts, and digital udhaar without recurring per-message SMS costs.
| Capability | Karobari | Khatabook |
|---|---|---|
| Item-Wise Barcode POS Billing | Instant 0.5s camera & scanner gun checkout | Standalone ledger / basic invoicing |
| Local Stock Reduction at Till | Automatic immediate shelf decrement | Manual separate inventory updates |
| Thermal Receipt Printing (58mm/80mm) | Direct WebUSB/Bluetooth thermal printing | Digital SMS/WhatsApp ledger links |
| WhatsApp Payment Reminders | 100% Free from your own WhatsApp number | Metered SMS & platform messaging |
| Evening Galla Cash Drawer Milao | Integrated physical denomination counter | Daybook cash balance only |
| Software Cost & Subscription | ₹0 forever (Zero subscription paywalls) | Paid tiers for premium features |
Karobari is engineered as a complete retail counter operating system: 0.5-second camera barcode scanning, USB barcode guns, instant thermal receipt printing, and live stock decrements linked directly to customer udhaar accounts. Every bill, expense voucher, and credit balance stays local-first with zero per-SMS charges.
Khatabook started as a mobile digital ledger (bahi khata) app for recording customer debt and sending payment reminder links. While it has added basic invoicing, it is not optimized as a high-speed counter POS for barcode guns, dual units (kg/gram), 58mm/80mm thermal auto-cutters, or split item-wise GST retail rates.
Traditional red bahi-khata books require no phone battery, but leave the merchant with zero inventory count visibility, no barcode gun support, and manual calculation arithmetic every night.
The columns above describe categories, not products, and that is deliberate. A claim about somebody else's app is true on the day it is written and stops being true the week they ship something — so a page with a rival's name on it ages into a false statement that we then have to be told about. What is described instead is a pattern of behaviour you can check against whatever you are actually using, in about a minute, without taking our word for any of it.
No card and nothing to cancel. Install it, sign in with your phone number, and the shop is yours from the first bill.