Compare · Tally
From Tally to Dexta Books, with your history coming along.
TallyPrime is the accounting software most Indian accountants learnt on. Dexta Books keeps your ledger in the browser, takes payroll and expenses straight from the rest of Dexta, and does the year-end from the same entries. Here's an honest comparison, and how your Tally data comes across.
Stay with TallyPrime if…
- your accountants want a desktop program they already know
- you need to work offline on a PC
- you want an e-invoice and e-way bill link with no outside account
- a one-time licence, from ₹22,500, is what you're after
Choose Dexta Books if…
- you want payroll and expense claims to post into the books by themselves, never twice
- you want several people working in the browser at once, with roles and maker-checker
- you want the year-end statements and tax audit papers from the posted ledger
- you want GST credit rules 37, 37A, 42 and 86B worked out every month
Side by side
How they differ.
TallyPrime's side comes from Tally's own website on 15 Oct 2026.
| Dexta Books | TallyPrime | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | In the browser, on our cloud in India or on your own server | A desktop program. Silver is for one PC; Gold gives multi-user access across PCs on a network. |
| Working from outside the office | In the browser, nothing extra to buy | The Cloud Access add-on, from ₹600, bought with a licence |
| Larger set-ups | The same server runs every company and every user | TallyPrime Server at ₹2,70,000, working with a Gold licence |
| E-invoices | IRN and signed QR on invoices and credit notes, with your own Masters India account | Tally says it is a GST Suvidha Provider connected to the IRP, writing the IRN and QR back to the voucher, in bulk if needed |
| E-way bills | Generate, update the vehicle, extend and cancel, with your own Masters India account | Generated on saving an invoice; cancel or extend online |
| Without the internet | An office server works with no internet connection | Works offline on the desktop |
| Payroll and people | Books sits beside ten other Dexta apps on one employee record: payroll, timesheets, expenses, reviews, a helpdesk, recognition, referrals and skills | Payroll with PF, ESI, NPS, PT and income tax inside TallyPrime; no expenses, reviews or employee self-service |
Published prices
What Tally publishes.
Before GST, as published on 15 Oct 2026. Lifetime licences renew their support and updates (TSS) each year: ₹4,500 for Silver and ₹13,500 for Gold.
| Edition | Monthly | Yearly | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silver (one PC) | ₹750 a month | ₹8,100 for 12 months | ₹22,500 lifetime |
| Gold (multi-user) | ₹2,250 a month | ₹24,300 for 12 months | ₹67,500 lifetime |
Source: tallysolutions.com/buy-tally, 15 Oct 2026. Cloud Access from ₹600; TallyPrime Server ₹2,70,000. Dexta Books' plans, on its own or with the suite, are on our pricing page.
The year-end
Statements and tax papers from the posted ledger.
Dexta Books keeps double-entry accounts with a ready Indian chart of accounts. Posted entries can't be edited, only reversed, and the ledger is hash-chained so any later change shows up on a check. At the year-end, Books prepares:
- Schedule III balance sheet and profit and loss, Division I or II, with last year beside
- Notes to accounts, related parties and the 2021 additional disclosures
- Cash flow statement (AS 3, indirect method)
- CARO 2020: what Books can see for each clause
- Tax audit papers (3CA/3CB and 3CD), with a CA review that stops anyone reviewing their own answers
- ITR-6 working papers, and a tie-out of the return to the signed 3CD
- MGT-7 / MGT-7A and the half-yearly MSME Form I
Every month
GST and TDS from the same entries.
- GSTR-1 per GSTIN as the portal's JSON, and GSTR-3B worked out with the credit set-off posted. You file on the GST portal and record the ARN in Books.
- GSTR-2B matching, with credit held on bills not yet in 2B
- Rules 37 (180 days unpaid), 37A (supplier didn't file), 42 (common credit) and the 86B cap
- Quarterly TDS files in Protean's layout for its free FVU: Form 140 (was 26Q), Form 144 (was 27Q) and Form 143 (was 27EQ)
- A compliance calendar with every due date, ticked off when Books sees it done
- Bank statements read from CSV, Excel, MT940 or PDF and matched to the ledger. Live bank feeds work with your consent through Setu's account aggregator.
Tally import
Bringing your Tally data across.
Export XML from Tally, and Books reads it. Start at the beginning of a year or part-way through one.
Masters
Groups, ledgers, parties, stock items and opening balances from Tally's XML, with an undo.
Day book
Vouchers after your opening date, brought in as journal entries.
Dues, bill by bill
Unpaid invoices, bills and advances from the old books, so ageing ties to the ledger.
A mid-year start
Bring the year's income and expenses so far, with an undo.
Last year's figures
Enter the prior audited year line by line, so your first statements show comparatives.
Not leaving Tally yet?
Dexta Pay can export each payroll run's journal as Tally XML, by department or cost centre, until you're ready.
Where TallyPrime is stronger
What Tally does that Books doesn't, today.
- Your accountants and your CA probably know it already
- It works offline on a desktop PC
- Its e-invoice and e-way bill link is built in. Dexta Books needs your own Masters India account for these.
- A one-time Silver licence at ₹22,500 is a low cost of ownership
Where Dexta Books is stronger
What Books adds.
- Payroll from Dexta Pay and claims from Dexta Spend post themselves, with cost centres
- Several people at once in the browser, with four company roles and maker-checker on hand-made journals
- The year-end statements and tax audit papers listed above, from the same ledger
- Encrypted daily backups kept in India, with a month-end copy kept for eight years
- CA firms keep many clients' books under one login, with staff assigned client by client
Facts about other products come from their public websites on 15 Oct 2026 and may have changed. Tally and TallyPrime are trademarks of their owner, named here only to identify their products.
Sources, checked 15 Oct 2026
- TallyPrime prices: tallysolutions.com/buy-tally/
- TallyPrime cost of ownership guide: tallysolutions.com/business-guides/tallyprime-total-cost-of-ownership-india/
- TallyPrime e-invoicing: tallysolutions.com/e-invoicing-software
- TallyPrime e-way bills: tallysolutions.com/gst/eway-bill-generation-using-tally/
- Payroll in TallyPrime (checked 25 Oct 2026): help.tallysolutions.com/tally-prime/payroll/
Try Dexta
See your books in Dexta.
A 30-minute demo on a sample company: the payroll run, the entries landing in Books, and the year-end statements coming out of them.