SUNAGO Matrix vs Tally and Spreadsheets: Recording vs Forecasting
TallyPrime is more capable than a comparison page usually admits: it documents job costing per project, budget-versus-actual variance, business forecasting scenarios, GST invoicing, and it publishes its prices, including a perpetual license you own outright. The boundary worth arguing is not capability but time direction: Tally records what has happened to the money, and does it well. SUNAGO Matrix forecasts where a project is heading while you can still change it.
Tally tells you what a project cost after it closed. SUNAGO Matrix tells you where it will land while you can still act, costing every hour after utilization and overhead and planning the people alongside the pipeline. The two work together: keep Tally for the ledger and GST, and add the forecast on top.
Key Differences
A Cost Rate That Is Actually True
For a consulting firm the cost of an hour is not the salary divided by a standard year. SUNAGO Matrix computes each person's cost per hour as annual salary divided by their billable hours, after part-time capacity, vacation entitlement and their real utilization, then adds that person's share of company overhead, with non-billable colleagues' salaries rolled into the overhead pool. Every margin, EAC and FAC here is built on that rate. A tool that costs hours at a number you typed in will report a project margin that is wrong in your favor.
Forward, Not Backward
Tally documents job costing and budget-versus-actual, which tell you where the money went. SUNAGO Matrix calculates Estimate at Completion and Forecast at Completion from logged hours, which tells you where the project will end up while there is still time to act.
People and Capacity
SUNAGO Matrix plans allocations with vacation and absence netted out of availability, alongside the deal pipeline. That is resourcing, which is not what an accounting package is for.
Beside the Ledger, Not Instead of It
SUNAGO Matrix does not keep books and does not file GST. It produces invoices with approval routing, VAT and multiple currencies and syncs to accounting. Tally stays where it is.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Tally with spreadsheets | SUNAGO Matrix |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per hour | Not documented | Salary divided by that person's own billable hours, after part-time capacity, holiday entitlement and actual utilization, plus their share of company overhead |
| Cost at completion (EAC / FAC) | Budget-versus-actual and scenario forecasting | EAC and FAC on every project from logged hours |
| Resource and capacity planning | Not an accounting function | Allocations with vacation and absence netted out |
| Sales pipeline | Not an accounting function | Deals, win probability and revenue forecasting |
| Working across the team live | Spreadsheets alongside Tally, versioned by hand | One shared record updating as hours are logged |
| Price and license model | A license you own outright: TallyPrime Silver, single user, is "₹ 22,500" plus 18% GST once, listed with TSS included; or rent from "₹ 750" a month (tallysolutions.com/buy-tally, read 6 August 2026) | A subscription: EUR 3 per seat per month billed yearly, nothing bought outright |
| General ledger and statutory filing | Yes, including GST invoicing and e-invoicing | No; invoices and syncs to accounting |
| Job costing per project | Documented: cost and revenue tracked per job | Project budgets by category with live spend |
Who Should Choose What?
Choose Tally with spreadsheets if:
- You need the ledger and Indian statutory compliance: Tally documents GST invoicing and e-invoicing, which SUNAGO Matrix does not support at all
- You want to own the software: Tally sells a perpetual license, "one-time payment" with "no renewals", which SUNAGO Matrix does not offer
- Your project reporting needs are cost and revenue per job, which Tally documents through its job costing feature
Choose SUNAGO Matrix if:
- Your project margins are only as good as your cost rate: SUNAGO Matrix derives each hour's cost from salary, real utilization, vacation and company overhead rather than a number someone typed in
- You want to know where a project will land before it lands, not what it cost after it closed
- You want resourcing and capacity with absence netted out, which no accounting package does
- You want the deal pipeline connected to delivery, so staffing can be planned against work you have not won yet
- You want one shared, live record instead of a spreadsheet that is versioned by hand
SUNAGO Matrix and Tally with spreadsheets: three years of license cost
One question: how many people. The totals below are three years of license cost at each vendor's own published price. Where a vendor puts the capability SUNAGO Matrix includes in a higher package, that is shown too - and where that package has no published price, that is shown as well, because it is the part a buyer cannot work out alone.
Three years, the horizon buyers budget in.
SUNAGO Matrix
one plan, everything included€4,320 over 3 years
€3 per seat/month, billed yearly · no seat minimum · no tier above this one
Tally with spreadsheets
tallysolutions.com/buy-tally · read 2026-08-06A perpetual license for one PC, not a per-seat subscription. Rental from Rs 750 a month.
Each figure is in the currency that vendor publishes in. Nothing is converted, and no combined saving is shown across two currencies, because an exchange rate is a number we cannot document for you. License cost only: implementation, training and support are priced separately by most of these vendors.
See the full price page for what is in the plan.