What your AI tools actually cost in India

Most AI tools are priced in US dollars by companies with no Indian entity, and the sticker price is only the start of what you pay. Pick the subscriptions in your stack below and this adds them up in rupees, per month and per year, with GST.

Why the real cost runs higher than the sticker. A tool that lists “$20/month” is about ₹1,760 at the conversion rate shown in the estimate — but the amount that leaves your account is usually more. Card networks add a foreign- exchange markup of roughly 2–3.5% on international charges, and some banks add a flat cross-border fee. If the vendor has no Indian entity, an 18% GST liability also arises under the reverse-charge mechanism: you pay it to the government directly and claim input credit if you are GST-registered.

Vendors’ own rupee prices differ. Tools that do bill in India — Zoho, Freshworks, most WhatsApp platforms — set a rupee price directly, usually a little above the dollar equivalent because it already bakes in local tax and support. Where a tool publishes an INR price we use that; otherwise we convert the dollar price at a fixed rate.

Per-seat pricing scales fast. A ₹1,700-per-seat tool is ₹17,000 a month across a ten-person team before GST, so the calculator multiplies per-seat tools by your headcount — the team number is visible up front, not a surprise at renewal.