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Custom ERP or Zoho?

Zoho is cheap and quick to start for one company with standard accounts and stock. You rent it per organisation and per user, within plan limits on users, invoices, orders and API calls. A custom ERP fits when you run several companies, manufacture to your own routes or have outgrown those limits, and want software built around you that you own.

Ask which fits you See it side by side

A custom ERP: from $3,000
Fee per user: none
The code: yours, once paid

Facts about Zoho checked on 8 November 2026, on Zoho's own website

Zoho fits if

You are one company with standard accounts and stock, a small team, and you want to start this week on a small budget.

A custom ERP fits if

You run several companies or branches, manufacture to your own routes, or keep hitting plan limits, and want a system built around you that you own.

How you pay for each

Zoho: You rent it
To start: Zoho Books from ₹749, AED 60 or $15 an organisation a month, billed yearly, for 3 users
Every month: A fee for every organisation, plus extra users; Zoho One's All Employee plan charges for every employee on payroll
As you grow: Higher plans for more users, invoices, warehouses and API calls; each extra company is its own subscription
Making it fit your work: Custom fields, workflow rules and scripts within each plan's limits; custom modules from Premium
If you stop paying: Zoho Books turns read-only; data is deleted after 120 days of inactivity

Custom ERP by Helmsman: You own it
To start: One agreed build price, from $3,000
Every month: No user fees
As you grow: No plan limits; new parts priced when you need them
Making it fit your work: That is the build itself
If you stop paying: The software and its code stay yours

Side by side

What matters Zoho Custom ERP by Helmsman

How it is delivered

Your business studied first With conditions: Ready-made: you set it up within its settings Strong: We map how work and money move, and agree it in writing before any screen

Who you work with With conditions: Zoho for the product; set-up and changes by you Strong: One small senior team, first meeting to after go-live

Your old data moved and checked With conditions: Up to you, or whoever you hire Strong: Stock and balances checked line by line before go-live

Going live Strong: A 14-day free trial; start the same day With conditions: First part in 6 to 10 weeks, the rest in dated stages

The software

Who owns it With conditions: Your data is yours; the software is Zoho's, rented each month Strong: You own the code

Several companies With conditions: One subscription per company, and no view of all of them in one place Strong: Every company in one system

Users With conditions: 3 to 15 users a plan (25 in India), then a fee for each extra user Strong: No limit and no fee per user

Volume With conditions: Books: 5,000 to 100,000 invoices a year. Inventory: 500 to 15,000 orders a month Strong: No caps by plan

Manufacturing With conditions: Inventory is "yet to support manufacturing modules"; Zoho ERP has bills of materials, launched in India Strong: Built around your production routes

Approvals With conditions: Sales and purchase approvals from Professional; custom approval workflows from Premium Strong: Built to your rules

Connecting your other software With conditions: API capped at 1,000 to 10,000 calls a day by plan Strong: Built in where you need it

Lowest cost to start Strong: A free plan under a revenue limit; paid plans from ₹749 a month With conditions: From $3,000

Why choose Helmsman over Zoho

The code is yours: Source code, database and documents, once paid. No licence that ends.
No fee per user: Add people, branches and companies without a bill that grows with them.
Built around how you work: Your rules and approvals, in the system, not in workarounds.
A fixed price, in writing: From $3,000 for a single module, agreed before work starts.
Live in weeks, paid in parts: The first part live in 6 to 10 weeks; bigger systems paid one part at a time.
One senior team: The people who study your business build it and support it.

Moving from Zoho?

Master data, opening balances, stock and open bills are moved from Zoho and checked line by line before go-live, and both systems run side by side until the numbers agree.

Data migration and legacy modernisation

How much does Zoho cost?

Zoho Books is priced per organisation per month, with a set number of users in each plan. Zoho Inventory, Zoho One and Zoho ERP are priced separately, and each extra company needs its own subscription.

Zoho Books, India: ₹749 (3 users) to ₹7,999 (25 users) an organisation a month, billed yearly
Zoho Books, UAE: AED 60 (3 users) to AED 660 (15 users), billed yearly
Zoho Books, US: $15 (3 users) to $240 (15 users), billed yearly
Extra user on Zoho Books: ₹150, AED 8 or $2.50 a user a month, billed yearly
Zoho Inventory, India: ₹999 to ₹7,499 an organisation a month, billed yearly
Zoho One, India, All Employee: ₹1,250 for every employee a month, billed yearly
Zoho ERP, India: ₹999 a user a month on Standard (at least 5 users), ₹2,499 on Premium, billed yearly
Free plan: Only while yearly revenue stays under 25 lakhs (India), AED 200,000 (UAE) or $50,000 (US)

Zoho's list prices, excluding tax, checked on 8 November 2026. Zoho shows each visitor the prices of their country.

Source: Zoho Books pricing (India), Zoho Books pricing (UAE), Zoho Books pricing (US), Zoho Inventory pricing (India), Zoho One pricing, Zoho ERP pricing (India)

Can Zoho Books run several companies?

Each company is a separate organisation with its own subscription. Zoho's help says that if you have several, "you'll have to upgrade each of them separately", and that you "cannot monitor the activities of all the organisations in a one place".

Combined reporting across companies is done in Zoho Analytics, a separate product, whose bulk import works only when every company has the same base currency. In a custom ERP, every company, branch and currency lives in one system.

Source: Managing multiple organisations in Zoho Books, Upgrading a Zoho Books plan, Viewing all organisations in one place, Zoho Analytics connector for Zoho Books

What limits does Zoho Books have as you grow?

Each plan caps what you can do, and the next plan up is the way past the cap:

Users: 3, 5, 10, 10 and 15 by plan (15 and 25 on the top two plans in India), then a fee for each extra user.
Invoices: 5,000 to 100,000 a year.
Locations: 3 on Premium, 8 on Elite and Ultimate.
Warehouses, serial and batch tracking: Elite and above.
Custom functions and custom modules: Premium and above, with 10 to 25 custom modules.
API calls: 1,000 to 10,000 a day.

Source: Zoho Books plan comparison

Is Zoho enough for a manufacturing company?

Zoho Inventory's own help page says: "As of now, we are yet to support manufacturing modules." It offers assemblies for products "that do not require a bill of materials".

Bills of materials, manufacturing orders and shop floor production are in Zoho ERP, which Zoho launched in India in January 2026. If your factory plans by order, by route or by stage, a custom ERP is built around exactly that.

Source: Zoho Inventory: manufacturing support, Zoho ERP pricing (India), Zoho launches Zoho ERP

What does Zoho One's All Employee price mean?

The lower Zoho One price requires a licence for every employee on payroll, not only the people who use it. Zoho's terms count employees from the latest statement filed with a government authority, require a licence for every new employee, and allow Zoho to audit with 15 days' notice.

Zoho's FAQ says that if unlicensed employees are found, you buy the rest or move to Flexible User pricing, and Zoho reserves the right to take further action, including termination of service.

Source: Zoho One pricing, Zoho One terms, Zoho One pricing FAQ

Can Zoho Creator build a custom ERP you own?

You own the intellectual property in the apps you build on Zoho Creator, and Zoho owns the platform they run on. Creator apps can be sold "only through Zoho Marketplace", and the export file stores the app's design, without data, for importing back into Creator.

Creator is priced per user per month. A custom ERP from Helmsman is code you own outright, running on your server or ours.

Source: Zoho Creator terms, Zoho Creator: the .ds file, Zoho Creator pricing

What happens if you stop paying for Zoho?

Zoho's terms say you own your content. After you cancel Zoho Books, the data stays but becomes read-only, and if the account is inactive for more than 120 days, the data is permanently deleted. Export a backup before you cancel.

Subscriptions renew automatically unless you tell Zoho at least seven days before the renewal date, and a price rise applies from your next billing cycle.

Source: Zoho terms of service, Cancelling a Zoho Books subscription, Zoho refund policy

Zoho or a custom ERP: which fits?

Choose Zoho when you are one company with standard accounts and stock, a small team, and you want to start this week for a small monthly fee.

Choose a custom ERP when you run several companies or branches, manufacture to your own routes, need approvals your way, or keep paying for the next plan to get past a limit, and you want to own the software outright.

Custom ERP or Zoho: questions, answered.

Is Zoho cheaper than a custom ERP?

To start, yes. Zoho Books starts at ₹749, AED 60 or $15 an organisation a month, billed yearly. A custom ERP from Helmsman starts at $3,000 for a single module, with no fee per user and no plan limits, and the code is yours once paid.

Can Zoho handle multiple companies?

Each company is a separate Zoho Books organisation with its own subscription, and Books cannot show all of them in one place. Combined reports need Zoho Analytics. A custom ERP runs every company in one system.

Does Zoho have manufacturing?

Zoho Inventory offers assemblies without a bill of materials and says it is yet to support manufacturing modules. Zoho ERP, launched in India in January 2026, has bills of materials and manufacturing orders.

Do I own my data on Zoho?

Yes, Zoho's terms say you own your content. What you rent is the software. After you cancel Zoho Books, the data is read-only, and it is deleted after 120 days of inactivity.

Can we move from Zoho to a custom ERP?

Yes. Master data, opening balances, stock and open bills are moved from Zoho and checked line by line before go-live, and both systems run side by side until the numbers agree.

Why choose a custom ERP over Zoho?

When you have outgrown one company and standard processes. We study how you work, agree it in writing, build it in dated stages and hand you the code, with no fee per user and no plan limits.

Sources

Every fact about Zoho on this page comes from Zoho's own website, checked on 8 November 2026. Prices change; the links below show today's.

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