Free alternatives · Industry and professional
CABookkeeper
Turns each client's bank statements and GST invoices into checked Tally vouchers, and prepares GST and TDS working from the same books.
A free alternative to Contalink, built by Surge Software. Free. You pay only what third-party services cost us, at cost.
Live at cabookkeeper.com
Walkthrough
See CABookkeeper in action
The problem
What it solves for a business
For: Chartered accountant firms in India that keep books for many small business clients in Tally Prime.
- Staff spend hours typing bank statement lines and invoices into Tally for every client.
- GSTR-2B mismatches, missed TDS and cash-limit breaches are found late, often when a notice arrives.
- Chasing clients for documents over WhatsApp and email is manual and easy to lose track of.
How it works
CABookkeeper, step by step
- 01
Drop a statement
Upload a bank statement as PDF, Excel or CSV; every row is checked against the running balance.
- 02
Map to ledgers
Lines are mapped using the client's learned rules, Indian narration patterns, party matching, and AI only for what is left.
- 03
Review and approve
Staff approve confident lines in one click and correct the rest; each correction teaches the client's rules.
- 04
Send to Tally
Download Tally XML (masters, then vouchers) and import into Tally Prime.
- 05
GST, TDS and flags
Reconcile GSTR-2B with books, prepare GSTR-1 JSON and 3B working, check TDS, and review risk flags.
Comparison
CABookkeeper vs Contalink
| CABookkeeper | Contalink | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free. You pay only what third-party services cost us, at cost. | MXN 590-990 a month per user (about Rs 2,700-4,600, estimate) |
| Client limit | Unlimited clients and staff | 5, 10 or 100 clients per user by plan; extra clients MXN 50 |
| Tax system | Indian GST and TDS | Mexico (SAT/CFDI), no GST |
| Push to Tally Prime | Yes (XML) | Not listed |
| GSTR-2B reconciliation and GSTR-1/3B | Yes | Not applicable |
| TDS, 26Q and 26AS | Yes | Not applicable |
| Plain-words questions over books | Per client and firm-wide | Not listed |
| Notice-reply drafting | 13 GST and IT notice types, drafts for CA review | Not applicable |
Contalink details are taken from its public website and may have changed since (MXN 590-990/month per accountant user for 5 to 100 client RFCs (checked 24 Oct 2026)).
Why switch
Advantages over Contalink
Built for Indian compliance
GST, TDS, 26AS and Tally Prime are core, where Contalink is built for Mexico's tax system.
No per-client pricing
Unlimited clients and staff free; only opt-in third-party costs such as cloud AI fallback are passed on at cost.
Rows not found elsewhere
Notice-reply drafting, plain-words questions and anomaly flags had no rival against them in the competitive research.
AI cost shown per client
Every AI call is logged against the client, so the firm sees what AI cost for each client.
Features
What it does today
- Bank statement import from PDF, Excel and CSV with balance proof and duplicate-safe re-import
- Ledger mapping that learns each client (party name and UPI id), using AI only for leftover lines and only to ledgers that exist
- GST invoice reading: text PDFs without AI, photos via vision AI, with GSTIN check-digit and totals checks
- Tally Prime XML export of masters and vouchers, with Dr = Cr enforced on every voucher
- GSTR-2B vs books reconciliation with ITC at risk and unclaimed in rupees; GSTR-1 JSON and GSTR-3B working
- TDS detection (194C/J/I/H/A/Q), one-click TDS journals, 26Q working CSV and 26AS vs books
- Risk flags (duplicate payments, 269ST cash, 40A(3), TDS splits, invalid GSTIN), plain-words questions per client and firm-wide, and draft notice replies for 13 GST/IT notice types
- Multi-client dashboard, compliance calendar, client upload links with reminder messages, staff roles, append-only audit trail and per-client AI cost meter
Use cases
How teams use CABookkeeper
Month-end entry
An article assistant imports a client's HDFC statement, approves the mapped lines and imports the vouchers into Tally.
ITC check before 3B
A manager reconciles GSTR-2B with books and sees the ITC at risk for each supplier mismatch.
Notice reply
A partner pastes a DRC-01C and gets a draft reply with the client's 2B vs books figures to review and edit.
Firm-wide risk
The owner asks which clients have ITC at risk above a set amount and opens each one from the dashboard.
Under the hood
Where AI is used, and where it is not
The model
Deterministic parsers and rules first; Qwen on Surge's own GPU server for what is left; Claude Sonnet fallback only if the local model errors, times out or fails a check, billed at cost.
Rules and code
Code proves statement balances, checks GSTIN check digits and invoice totals, enforces Dr = Cr, rejects AI ledgers not in the client's chart, and runs questions only as whitelisted query plans, never raw SQL.
People in the loop
Staff approve vouchers before they go to Tally; notice replies are drafts marked for CA review; GST and TDS working is prepared for the CA to check and file.
Book a working session
A working session with our architects on one of your use cases. You bring a process and sample documents; we leave you with a scoped plan: model, hosting, integrations, timeline and cost range.