What does an offline till change?
A till that stops when the Internet drops is not a till: it is a till waiting for the network. Here is what “offline” really means, what free solutions actually cost, and how to decide for your shop.
What “offline” means
An offline till does the work on the device : the sale is recorded, stock drops, the customer is found, the receipt prints. All of that without a single request going to a server. The network only comes in afterwards, for backup and to synchronise several tablets with each other.
Conversely, a “cloud” till needs a connection at every step. It is convenient as long as the network holds — and unusable as soon as it fails. The difference does not show in a well-connected demo: it shows on a day of outage, with a queue at the counter.
The practical detail of that organisation is described in our guide to running your till without Internet.
The real cost of free solutions
Let's start with what is true: free point-of-sale software exists, and for a shop starting out with a single seller and few items, it can be enough for a while. Claiming otherwise would be dishonest.
But “free” does not remove the cost: it moves it. Here is where it reappears.
| What is advertised as free | What it costs in practice |
|---|---|
| The software itself | Data-entry time: what is not automated falls back on the seller, several times a day. |
| Data storage | No backup: a broken, stolen or reset device wipes the history of sales and customer credit. |
| Support | No one to call. A blockage on a market day sorts itself out, or does not. |
| Getting out | Data that is hard to export. Changing tools becomes an abandonment, not a transfer. |
| The features you need | The paid version comes quickly: multi-shop, several tablets, reports, credit tracking. |
The right question is therefore not “is it free?” but “what am I paying, and what do I get in return?”. A $15 per month subscription is measured against the cost of an hour of daily data entry, or a day of lost sales after a broken device.
When free is enough — and when it is not
Free can be enough if you sell few items, if you keep your stock in your head, if you ring up sales alone, and if you accept re-entering everything if the device is lost.
It is no longer enough as soon as you sell on credit (you have to remember who owes what, and since when), as soon as you have several sellers or several tablets, as soon as you want to know what sells without counting receipts, or as soon as you cannot afford to lose the history. These are exactly the situations MerchantHQ exists for.
What MerchantHQ does, and what it does not
What it does. The till, stock, customers and credit work without a connection on an Android tablet. The backup goes out as soon as the network returns, and your data is encrypted. Several tablets can share the same shop.
What it costs. From 15 $ per month depending on the plan. MerchantHQ is not free, and we would rather write it here than let you discover it after installing. The plan details are on the pricing page.
What it does not do. MerchantHQ does not issue a standardised invoice within the meaning of Congolese tax regulations: it produces sales receipts and internal accounting tracking. The official framework and our position are detailed on our page on invoicing and accounting in the DRC.
To see what a Congolese shop actually changes with an offline till, read our overview of point-of-sale software in the DRC.
Frequently asked questions
What exactly is an offline till?
An offline till records the sale, the stock and the customer on the device itself, without going through the Internet at the moment of checkout. The network is only used for backup and for sharing between several tablets. That is the difference from a “cloud” till, which stops when the connection drops.
Why do shops need an offline till?
Because outages are the norm, not the exception: unstable mobile networks, power cuts, poorly covered areas. A till that depends on the network stops selling at every incident — and it is the customer who walks away.
Does free offline point-of-sale software exist?
Yes, it does — and it is a legitimate option for a very small shop. But “free” moves the cost rather than removing it: you pay for it in data-entry time, in the absence of a backup, in non-existent support, or in data you cannot get back the day you change tools. The real criterion is not the advertised price, it is the total cost.
What should I check before choosing?
Four things: what keeps working without a connection, what happens when the device breaks or is stolen, how you get your data back if you leave, and who answers when something does not work.
Install MerchantHQ on your tablet
MerchantHQ installs right now from an APK file: message us on WhatsApp, we send you the app and activate your account. No app store is needed to get started.
The Play Store release is planned once the testing phase is over. You will be told at the time — in the meantime, the APK version is the same app.
The guides that complete this page
- Running your till without Internet — What to prepare before you open, what keeps working during the day, and how to lose nothing when the network comes back.
- Tablet point of sale: the hardware — An Android tablet is enough to run a till. Here is what really matters when choosing.
- Tracking customer credit — Unrecorded credit is forgotten credit. A simple method for tracking what customers still owe.