Sevastack vs Tally
Tally is business accounting software; Sevastack is built for Indian non-profits. The difference shows up in fund accounting, 80G receipts and statutory filings — not in bookkeeping itself.
Sevastack or Tally — which should an Indian NGO choose?
Tally is capable business accounting software, and that is exactly the limitation for an NGO. Its ledger model has no concept of corpus, restricted or FCRA funds, no 80G receipting, and no Form 10BD or 10BE — so a trust running on Tally re-enters the same data into a second system for compliance, which is where mismatches begin. Sevastack does true fund accounting, generates the Receipts & Payments, Income & Expenditure and Balance Sheet in the format Indian auditors expect, issues 80G receipts on every donation, and files 10BD and 10BE from the same ledger. You do not have to abandon Tally to move: Sevastack imports your existing Tally ledgers with AI-assisted mapping and exports Tally-importable XML, so a CA who works in Tally keeps working in Tally.
Choose Sevastack if
- You need corpus, restricted, project and FCRA money kept apart, not pooled
- 80G receipts, Form 10BD and Form 10BE should come out of the same ledger
- Your CA, treasurer and programme lead need the same numbers on the same day
- You want to import existing Tally data rather than start the books again
Keep Tally if
- Your CA works exclusively in Tally — Sevastack exports Tally XML to them
- You run significant GST-registered commercial activity alongside the NGO
- Desktop, single-machine bookkeeping is a deliberate choice for you
Sevastack vs Tally — feature comparison
80G receipt automation
Sevastack
Auto-generated and emailed on every donationTally
No — not a built-in featureForm 10BD / 10BE generation
Sevastack
Generated from donation records, ready to submitTally
No — no awareness of Indian NGO filing requirementsFCRA compliance tracking
Sevastack
Deadline alerts 30 days before, FCRA reports includedTally
No — no FCRA module or deadline remindersDonor CRM with PAN
Sevastack
Full donor profiles with PAN validation and historyTally
No — Tally has ledgers, not donor profiles with PANUPI donation collection
Sevastack
Public donation page with UPI, Razorpay, and bank linkTally
No — Tally records transactions, does not collect paymentsCSR proposal builder
Sevastack
CSR proposal templates with project and budget builderTally
No — no CSR-related functionalityCA portal
Sevastack
Read-only CA portal with reports, receipts, and audit trailTally
No — CA receives exports; no dedicated portal accessFree tier
Sevastack
Free to start, with paid plans only for advanced featuresTally
No — Tally requires a paid license from day oneNGO-specific accounting (R&P, I&E, Balance Sheet)
Sevastack
Receipts & Payments, Income & Expenditure, Balance Sheet built inTally
Partial — requires manual chart-of-accounts setup for NGOsCloud-based access
Sevastack
Fully cloud-based — access from any browser, any deviceTally
Partial — Tally Prime has cloud sync, but primarily desktop-basedDouble-entry bookkeeping
Sevastack
Yes — built on standard accounting principlesTally
Yes — Tally's core strengthGST filing support
Sevastack
Focused on NGO compliance — GST via your CA using Sevastack reportsTally
Yes — Tally is well-known for GST compliance
Comparison based on publicly available information as of 13 Jun 2026. Tally's features and pricing may have changed since — verify directly with them before deciding. Sevastack details reflect the current product.
Why Tally is not enough for Indian NGOs
Tally does accounting. Indian NGOs also need compliance, donor management and purpose-built reporting.
Tally was built for businesses, not non-profits
Tally's ledger model does not map to how NGOs work. Donor receipts, project-based fund accounting, FCRA foreign contributions, and 80G certificates are all outside its scope.
No NGO-specific compliance
Indian NGOs must file Form 10BD, issue Form 10BE, maintain FCRA records, and track 80G URN expiry. Tally has no awareness of any of these — you end up maintaining a parallel system anyway.
It requires an accountant to operate
Tally is designed for trained accountants. NGO staff who handle donor communications or volunteer coordination cannot use it. Sevastack is built for the whole team.
License cost with no free tier
Tally Prime charges per user from day one. Sevastack is free to start — meaningful for small NGOs that are still in early growth.
Frequently asked
Can Tally generate 80G receipts and file FCRA returns for an NGO?+
No. Tally records accounting transactions but has no 80G receipt module, no Form 10BD/10BE generation, and no FCRA return support. NGOs using Tally typically maintain a parallel spreadsheet for donor PAN records, receipt numbering, and filing deadlines. Sevastack issues the 80G receipt automatically on each donation, compiles Form 10BD/10BE from the same records, and tracks FCRA deadlines with alerts 30 days ahead.
What is the process for generating 80G receipts and filing FCRA digitally?+
In Sevastack the sequence is: record the donation with the donor's PAN (validated at entry), and the 80G receipt is generated with its URN, receipt number, and QR verification code, then emailed to the donor automatically. At financial year end, Form 10BD is compiled from those donation records for submission on the Income Tax portal, and Form 10BE certificates are issued back to donors. For FCRA, foreign contributions are tagged and tracked in a separate fund with the quarterly and annual reporting data ready to export. In Tally each of these steps is manual work done outside the software.
Is Sevastack a replacement for Tally, or do NGOs use both?+
It depends on what your organisation does. If your NGO's finances are donations, grants, and programme expenses, Sevastack covers it end to end. If you also run commercial activity requiring GST invoicing and filing, many NGOs keep Tally for that side and use Sevastack for donor management, 80G, Form 10BD/10BE, and FCRA. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Does Sevastack do double-entry accounting like Tally?+
Yes. Sevastack is built on standard double-entry principles and produces the statutory statements Indian NGOs are asked for — Receipts & Payments, Income & Expenditure, and a fund-wise Balance Sheet — without the manual chart-of-accounts setup Tally needs to approximate NGO fund accounting.
Can my chartered accountant work with Sevastack?+
Yes. Sevastack includes a read-only CA portal with audit-ready statements, receipt logs, and an audit trail, plus sign-ready PDF exports. Your CA does not need a Sevastack license or training to review your books.
Can I migrate my existing Tally data to Sevastack?+
Yes. Donor and donation history import via bulk CSV, with automatic PAN validation and duplicate detection. Your Tally data stays intact — most NGOs run both in parallel for one filing cycle before switching fully.
Ready to reclaim your NGO's time?
Join 100+ Indian NGOs who have left spreadsheets behind. Donors, 80G receipts, accounts and filing dates in one place — free to start.
256-bit encrypted · DPDP compliant · No credit card