Kaiku Labs / buyer guide

Buy the standard core. Build the missing workflow.

Feature-by-feature comparison of Kaiku Labs, EZO Books, DotPe, Hostinger, Vyapar, myBillBook, Petpooja, Zoho Books, TallyPrime, eZee, and EZO asset management.

Three honest choices.

Do not start by asking which brand has most features. Start with work that must happen every day.

1Buy ready-made

Best when billing, GST, POS, hotel, restaurant, ecommerce, or asset work is standard.

2Combine both

Keep proven software as core. Ask Kaiku Labs to build missing view, approval, or connection.

3Choose Kaiku Labs

Best when workflow is unusual, crosses tools, or forces staff into side notebooks and repeated entry.

NeedStrong defaultKaiku Labs role
GST billing, stock, party ledger, duesEZO Books, Vyapar, myBillBook, Zoho Books, or TallyPrimeKeep accounting core. Build operational gap or integration.
Restaurant POS, KOT, menu, tables, kitchenPetpooja or DotPe/RistaBuild only guest, approval, branch, loyalty, or integration gap.
Hotel PMS, booking engine, OTA distributioneZeeBuild public site, unusual enquiry/guest flow, or safe integration.
Basic site or DIY online storeHostinger Website BuilderChoose Kaiku for writing, proof, custom flow, QA, and accountable delivery.
Prototype or simple internal web appHostinger HorizonsChoose Kaiku for durable data, permissions, audit, migration, testing, and support.
Asset custody, maintenance, auditEnterprise EZOBuild only executive view or integration.
Business-specific workflowKaiku LabsMap, build, test, and hand over smallest useful version.

Customer case: three businesses under one roof.

This is not one billing setup. It is a shared operating product with strict separation between businesses.

APPRecommended Kaiku lane

Scope from the APP starting range.

Customers order from the single-QR menu, owners control dish availability and timing, staff get notified on any device — the software becomes where daily sales begin. By this guide's own rule, that is an APP, on top of three business profiles with strict separation, receipt printing, migration, backup, and recovery.

Derived at ₹1,00,000 setup — the published APP starting price, which this scope fits inside — then from ₹2,000/month. Final price becomes fixed only after device and workflow discovery.

Founding client price: ₹50,000 flat. First five clients only.

Kaiku Labs is new. Our first clients take a risk on an unproven supplier, give us the real workflows to learn from, and let us show the finished work to the next buyer. That is worth paying for, so we do.

Five places. This is the honest reason the price is lower, and the honest reason it ends.
What you pay₹50,000 flat for the build, in place of the ₹1,00,000 APP starting range — the published founding offer, applied as written. One fixed price, agreed in writing after discovery, not an estimate that grows.
What stays at standard rateThe monthly subscription. It is the real cost of keeping software running, backed up and supported every month, and discounting it would mean cutting the service later. From ₹2,000/month, unchanged.
What we ask in returnHonest feedback while we build, permission to describe the work and show the result to other buyers, and an introduction if the software genuinely helps you.
After the fiveThe price returns to the derived standard rate. Founding clients keep their agreed price for the work in their signed contract. New work quoted later is at the rate current at that time.

What the first version includes

  • Three separate business profiles with clear business switcher.
  • Separate menu or item catalogue, prices, taxes, stock rules, and receipt identity for each business.
  • Separate books or accounting exports. Never mix ledgers between businesses.
  • Family-owner overview across all three, without changing underlying separate records.
  • Staff roles, business access, audit history, daily closing, machine-readable export, daily backup, and tested recovery.
  • Thermal receipt printing after the hardware test passes. The EZO device is a receipt printer, not a till: the customer has confirmed they do not want a point-of-sale system built, so none is in scope.
  • One QR code at the door: scanning it opens a fast web page showing all three shops and their vegetarian menus, and customers place their order from it. Nothing to install and no account to create — they pay at the counter as today.
  • Owner and staff accounts kept separate: owners — not staff — control which dish is available, which is off, and from what time a dish becomes available. Per-dish time windows, owner-only.
  • Staff notifications with pop-up, push and sound on iPhone, Android, Mac and Windows for new orders, updates and notices — delivered through an installable web app, with no app-store apps to build or maintain.

What Kaiku deliberately does not rebuild

  • GST accounting, statutory reports, and full double-entry accounting are never rebuilt from scratch — a mature accounting product stays the financial source of truth for each business.
  • The Kaiku app handles clean operations: business separation, menus, roles, the owner view, and safe exports or integrations.
  • A smaller first phase — one central read-only owner view over the billing tools already in use — is quoted as a SYSTEM.
  • Once the software takes daily orders and becomes the record of sales, as here, it is quoted as an APP.

Reusing your EZO machine: promised only after a real test.

EZO sells its Bada and Chota machines without software and describes them as mobile-operated thermal printers — so the hardware may well work with other apps. But EZO's public pages do not prove third-party compatibility, ownership after cancellation, or warranty support. Kaiku will not promise reuse on hope; here is how it is settled at the discovery visit.

  1. Keep your purchase invoice and written terms handy, and get it confirmed in writing that the machine stays yours after the EZO subscription ends.
  2. Kaiku records the exact model, paper width, connections, and how printing works today.
  3. Before anything is cancelled, all your EZO data — customers, items, menus, invoices, payments, stock, tax — is exported and checked.
  4. Kaiku prints a sample receipt from a non-EZO app on your machine and checks text, totals, paper cut, reconnection, and offline behaviour.
  5. If the machine turns out locked or unreliable, a standard replacement printer costs about ₹3,000 — Kaiku never bypasses vendor locks or relies on modified EZO software.

Official evidence: Bada machine without software, Chota machine without software, and EZO billing-machine collection. Compatibility remains a real-device acceptance test, not a sales claim.

What Kaiku Labs sells.

Kaiku Labs is a delivery partner, not boxed software. Every custom feature becomes part of one fixed written quote.

BUILDBroad starting request. Kaiku maps buyer, user action, manual problem, and timeline, then routes work into SITE, SYSTEM, APP, AI, or a smaller first step.

SITE

From ₹20,000, then from ₹600/month

Clear public pages that explain offer and produce next action.

  • Landing or 3–5 page site
  • Service and offer pages
  • Writing and proof structure
  • Forms, call and message actions
  • Basic analytics
  • Booking/lead handoff
  • Responsive and accessible QA

SYSTEM

From ₹40,000, then from ₹1,200/month

One operating view for work scattered across messages, sheets, screenshots, and memory.

  • Lead or booking capture
  • Owner/staff status board
  • Payment-proof review
  • Admin queue and approvals
  • Renewal, expiry, follow-up
  • Roles, branch, vehicle, field logic
  • Export, daily backup, tested recovery

APP

From ₹1,00,000, then from ₹2,000/month

First useful version of product people can return to use.

  • Dashboard or admin panel
  • Customer/student/member portal
  • Founder MVP
  • Accounts and permissions
  • Saved data and progress
  • Booking, payment, learning flow
  • Export, daily backup, tested recovery

AI

Add-on from ₹4,999, then from ₹1,199/month

Narrow assistant inside controlled work. Person stays responsible.

  • Reply drafting
  • Classification and sorting
  • Approved-source search
  • Research/content assistance
  • Practice or tutor loop
  • Source/context display
  • Human approval before action

Data leaves with customer.

For every covered hosted custom SYSTEM and APP, Kaiku includes machine-readable export, daily automated backup, and a restore drill before launch.

System does not launch until restore drill passes.
Portable exportCSV or JSON, original uploads, field guide, record counts, date range, and file hashes. Included at launch, once a month on request, and at exit.
Daily backupAt least every 24 hours. Stored separately from live data with 30-day rolling retention.
Tested recoveryRestore into a clean test environment before launch and at least every 90 days during managed support.
Clear recovery limitUp to 24 hours of recent changes may need re-entry. Standard restore target is two business days after access and provider availability.

Included delivery value

  • Workflow diagnosis and smallest useful scope.
  • Design, writing, rules, screens, and integrations can be combined.
  • Real-device QA, handover, and agreed defect correction.
  • Customer owns business records and managed uploads.
  • Machine-readable export at launch, monthly on request, and at exit.
  • Daily backup, 30-day retention, and tested recovery.
  • Existing accounting/POS can remain source of truth.

Limits

  • Higher setup cost and slower start than subscription.
  • Every feature needs discovery, build, and testing.
  • Monthly fee does not include unlimited new features.
  • Up to 24 hours of recent changes may need re-entry after a serious incident.
  • Standard restore target is two business days, not instant recovery.
  • EZO or other third-party data needs a lawful usable export or API.
  • Import into a replacement product is separately scoped.
  • Provider fees and outages can still affect connected systems.
  • Kaiku does not rebuild mature tax, restaurant, hotel, or asset cores.

The monthly fee keeps it running. It does not buy new work.

Ready-made software charges you again for higher plans, extra users, extra outlets, and add-on modules. Custom build has the same boundary, stated plainly instead of buried in a plan table.

Nothing new is built free. Every addition is quoted in writing first.
What the monthly fee coversKeeping the delivered system running and reachable, fixing faults in what was already accepted, security and dependency updates, daily backup with tested recovery, and your export on request.
What is charged separatelyAny new feature, screen, report, dashboard, integration, or automation. Data imports and cleanup. Extra user types, extra branches or businesses, extra devices. Redesigns and training sessions.
How a new request is handledWritten quote first, stating scope, price, timing, the test that proves it works, and who owns the result. Work starts only after you approve that quote in writing.
Add-ons can change the monthlyA large addition may carry both a one-time build price and a rise in the monthly fee, because there is more to keep running. Both numbers are shown in the quote before you decide.

Small SYSTEM pilot

₹2,000 setup + ₹600/month

One bounded problem, standard setup, fictional-data demo, handover, continued access, basic checks, and defect correction. Migration, custom integrations, new flows, and provider fees excluded.

Connected enquiry inbox

Social: ₹4,999 + ₹1,199/month · With WhatsApp: ₹6,999 + ₹1,799/month

Automatic incoming-message sync, AI reply drafts, mandatory human approval, and manual phone-enquiry entry. Meta and messaging charges separate.

LEARN

Owner workshop ₹1,500/seat · private hour ₹5,000 · two hours ₹10,000

Plain-language AI teaching for work the owner already does. The workshop runs one hour and is announced once four seats are paid for. A private session is one business at your own place of work, with no wait. Separate career tutorials, course and mentoring run under Kaiku Labs Media.

Feature matrix.

Choose up to 3 providers. Compare what matters without sideways scrolling.

Compare
Legend:CoreCustomPlan dependentAdd-on / integrationVerifyNot its job

Everything each provider sells.

Choose a provider. See what it covers, where it fits, and what still needs checking.

Pros and cons.

Neither route wins every time. Best choice depends on whether need is standard or specific. We build the custom option, so read our own cons first: they are the reasons not to hire us.

Choose ready-made software

Pros

  • Lower entry cost
  • Faster setup
  • Mature specialist features
  • Existing device and integration ecosystem
  • Vendor maintains domain rules
  • Broader support organisation

Cons

  • Business adapts to vendor workflow
  • Plan, user, device, outlet, and item limits
  • Renewal and add-on charges
  • Export may be partial
  • Contract or platform lock-in
  • Large interface for small job

Choose Kaiku Labs

Pros

  • Exact workflow fit
  • One accountable delivery partner
  • Custom statuses, approvals, and exceptions
  • Site, system, app, and AI can connect
  • Small first version
  • Deliberate ownership and handover

Cons

  • Higher starting cost
  • Needs discovery and decisions
  • Custom scope takes longer
  • Every feature must be built and tested
  • New scope costs extra
  • Cannot economically match specialist suites

Best answer for most businesses: combine both.

Keep proven core. Build only what makes business different. Tell us the part that is actually yours, and we will say honestly whether it needs building.

WhatsApp →Instagram →Facebook →

Buying test and sources.

Do this before you sign anything. Public pages never replace a live demo and a written contract.

Run real-work test
  1. Use your real device, printer, staff roles, and sample records.
  2. Turn internet off. Record what works, queues, and conflicts.
  3. Export customers, items, invoices, payments, stock, attachments, and audit history.
  4. Open export outside product.
Get full written price

Include GST, term, renewal, hardware, users, outlets, businesses, devices, items, messages, AI usage, payment fees, delivery, integrations, training, migration, and support.

Protect ownership

Put domain, phone/OTP, payment gateway, Meta, Google, app-store, and vendor account in your name. Confirm data access after cancellation.

Confirm support in Manipur

Check real hours, language, escalation, on-site charges, backup, restore, retention, deletion, and breach support.

Primary official sources