Payroll Software Price in Bangladesh: What You Actually Pay For
Payroll software in Bangladesh is priced per employee, per seat, by licence plus AMC, or as a custom build. Here is what drives the cost and how to compare first-year totals.
There is no single payroll software price in Bangladesh. Small cloud packages are advertised from roughly Tk 900 to Tk 6,000 a month for up to 100 employees at the time of writing. Above that size, and for almost every garment factory, the price is quoted case by case. What you pay depends far more on the pricing model and the extras than on the headline number, so compare total first-year cost and three-year cost, not the monthly fee.
The four pricing models you will meet
Per employee per month. A cloud subscription that rises and falls with headcount. Usually sold in bands (1-25, 26-50, 51-100 employees) with a quote above the top band.
Per user or seat. You pay for each person who logs in to the software, not for each worker on the payroll. Cheap for an office of 30. For a factory, check whether supervisors, line chiefs and worker self-service count as seats.
One-time licence plus AMC. You buy the software once, usually installed on your own server, then pay an annual maintenance contract. AMC is commonly quoted at around 15 to 20 per cent of the licence price each year.
Custom build. A software house writes or heavily modifies a system for you. You pay by project, then for every change afterwards.
What actually drives the price
Headcount. The biggest factor in almost every quote. Ask how leavers and seasonal workers are counted.
Attendance devices. The number of biometric devices, gates and sites to integrate. Devices themselves are a separate purchase. Our guide to ZKTeco devices for garment factories covers that side.
Modules. Attendance and payroll only, or also leave, overtime, piece rate, bonus, final settlement, loans and compliance reports.
Cloud or on-premise. On-premise adds a server, backup, power backup and someone to look after it.
Implementation. Employee data migration, shift and wage structure setup, pay slip formats, parallel runs.
Training and support. On-site or remote, hours covered, and whether Bangla-speaking support is included or billed.
The models compared
Model | How you pay | Suits | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
Per employee per month | Monthly or yearly, by headcount band | Factories and firms that want predictable cost and no server | Setup fees, minimum billing, price at renewal |
Per user or seat | Monthly, per login | Offices with few payroll users | Extra seats for supervisors and self-service |
One-time licence plus AMC | Large first payment, then yearly AMC | Groups with their own IT team and server room | Hardware, upgrades not covered by AMC |
Custom build | Project fee, then per change | Unusual processes nothing standard handles | Delays, dependence on one developer |
Hidden costs that do not appear on the quote
VAT and tax, which many published prices exclude.
Installation or onboarding charged separately from the subscription.
Device integration per device or per site. Sync faults cost staff time too, as our article on ZKTeco attendance sync problems explains.
Changes when the law moves. A new wage gazette or a Labour Act amendment means formula changes. Ask who pays.
Custom reports for buyers and auditors.
Data export when you leave. Some vendors charge for it, some cannot do it.
Your own staff time during parallel runs.
Worked example: first-year cost under two models
Take a factory with 800 workers and four attendance devices. Every figure below is illustrative, chosen to show the method. None is a quote from any vendor.
Model A, cloud subscription at an assumed Tk 25 per employee per month:
Subscription: 800 x Tk 25 x 12 months = Tk 240,000
Setup fee: Tk 60,000
Data migration: Tk 25,000
Device integration: 4 x Tk 5,000 = Tk 20,000
Training: Tk 15,000
First-year total: Tk 360,000. Year two onwards: Tk 240,000.
Model B, one-time licence with AMC at an assumed 18 per cent:
Licence: Tk 400,000
Implementation: Tk 80,000
Server and backup: Tk 120,000
Data migration: Tk 25,000
Training: Tk 20,000
First-year total: Tk 645,000. Year two onwards: AMC of Tk 72,000, plus server upkeep.
Over three years Model A comes to Tk 840,000 and Model B to Tk 789,000 before server upkeep and upgrades. The cheaper first year is not the cheaper system, and the gap can close either way. Put your own quotes into the same layout before deciding.
Questions to ask a vendor
Is the price per employee, per user or per site, and what happens when headcount changes?
Are setup, migration, device integration and training included? If not, how much is each?
Is VAT included?
Who updates the software when wage or labour rules change, and is that charged?
Does it handle our overtime, attendance bonus and salary sheet format without customisation?
What are the support hours, and who answers?
Can we export all our data at any time, in a usable format?
What will the price be in year two and year three?
How long until our first live payroll?
Question five matters most in garments. If the system cannot produce your worker salary sheet correctly, the price is irrelevant.
Frequently asked questions
Is there free payroll software in Bangladesh? Some tools offer free tiers for very small teams. They rarely handle factory overtime, shifts and biometric devices, so check before relying on one.
Is cloud cheaper than on-premise? Usually in year one, because there is no licence or server to buy. Over several years it depends on headcount and AMC, as the example shows.
Why will vendors not publish a price for factories? Headcount, devices, sites and wage structures vary too much. A quote is normal. A vendor who cannot explain how the quote was built is the warning sign.
What is a fair AMC? Around 15 to 20 per cent of the licence price a year is commonly quoted. Confirm in writing what it covers.
Where Octapus fits
Octa Punch is our biometric attendance and payroll system for garment factories. We do not publish a price list. It is quoted per business by headcount, not per seat, so adding supervisors or HR users does not change the bill. Setup, device integration and training are included in the quote, and most factories run their first payroll within a month.
It works with ZKTeco devices, produces Bangla PDF pay slips, and gives you full data export and a documented API. Ask us the nine questions above. We would rather you compared us properly.
TopicPayroll
