One-time licence or monthly subscription: what should you pay for business software?

When Ghanaian business owners talk about software, one complaint comes up again and again: monthly fees. A small charge every month feels harmless at first, but it never ends, it rises with the exchange rate, and the moment a payment is missed the system can lock you out.

There is more than one way to pay for software. Here is how the main models compare, and what to ask before you sign.

What are the main ways to pay for software?

Monthly subscription. You pay every month for as long as you use the system. Starting is cheap, but over three or four years it is usually the most expensive option, and if you stop paying the software stops working.

One-time licence. You pay once and the software is yours to use. It costs more on day one. The catch with old-style one-time software is that updates and support often end after the sale, and your data sits on one computer that can break or be stolen.

One-time licence plus yearly renewal. You pay once for the software, then a smaller yearly fee for the services that genuinely cost money to run: cloud backup, syncing between devices, online pages, updates and support. If you stop renewing, the till still works. Only the cloud services pause.

Which costs more over three years?

Use your own quotes, but the shape is usually the same. Imagine a system priced like this:

These numbers are only an illustration, not anyone's real prices. The point is to add up the total over the time you expect to use the system, not just the first payment.

What should a yearly renewal pay for?

A cloud system has real running costs: servers, storage, backups, security and people answering your messages. A fair renewal pays for those, and nothing else. Ask the vendor to list exactly what the renewal covers. If they cannot, be careful.

What should you ask before you sign?

Whichever model you choose, get clear answers to these:

1. If I stop paying, does the till stop selling?
2. If I stop paying, can I still get my data out? In what format?
3. Are updates included, or do I pay for new versions?
4. What does support look like, and is it included?
5. Is the price fixed in cedis, or does it move with the dollar?
6. Can I add a branch or a till later, and what does that cost?

How is ManuelPOS priced?

We agree a one-time setup and licence fee with each business, based on its size, the number of tills and branches. After that, a small yearly renewal keeps your cloud backup, sync between devices, your online page and support running.

If a renewal is late, your till keeps selling. After a short grace period the cloud side pauses, every sale is kept on the device, and it all uploads the moment you renew. Nothing is deleted. You can read the details on our pricing page, or start a 14-day free trial first.