Free Madrasa Management Software: What You Get and What You Take On
Searching for free madrasa management software returns three different things: spreadsheet templates, open source projects you host yourself, and free demos of paid products. Only the first is free in the sense most people mean. Sabaq has no free edition; it has a free demo, and the software itself starts at 500 BDT per month for the whole madrasa.
| What it is | An honest account of what free madrasa software means in practice, and when paying for software is and is not worth it. |
|---|---|
| Who it is for | A madrasa with a small budget deciding between paper, spreadsheets, a self hosted project and a paid system. |
| Languages | The interface runs in Bangla, English and Arabic. Support is given in Bangla. |
| Where it runs | Runs in a web browser on any device. The companion app is Android only, through the Play Store. |
| Price | 500 BDT per month, 5,000 BDT per year or 20,000 BDT one time, per madrasa. Installation is 2,000 BDT under 200 students and 5,000 BDT above that. |
| In use by | 728 institutions in 62 districts of Bangladesh. |
Prices and figures on this page were checked on 10 September 2026.
What does free actually return?
Three kinds of thing, and they are not comparable to each other.
- Spreadsheet templates. A workbook for fees, admissions or results. Genuinely free, genuinely useful, and not software in the sense of a system with users and permissions.
- Open source projects. The code costs nothing. Running it costs a server, someone to install and update it, and someone to call when it breaks at the end of the month.
- Free trials and demos. A paid product shown to you at no cost. Useful for judging, not a way to run a madrasa for free.
Most people typing the phrase want the first or the third. Knowing which one you want makes the decision much shorter.
How far can paper and a spreadsheet actually take you?
Further than software vendors like to admit, and it is worth saying so. A madrasa with a modest number of students, one person keeping the books, one fund and roughly the same fee for everyone can run accurately on paper for years.
In that situation the daily collection list, the month’s income and expenditure, the admission record and the exam marks can all be kept without error. The person who writes them remembers them, so retrieval is fast too. Two conditions carry it: the way things are written stays the same every day, and every taka has a receipt behind it.
Where do free arrangements break?
Not gradually. They break at specific points, and if two or more of these describe your madrasa, paper and spreadsheets have stopped being cheaper.
- More than one person collecting money. Two people editing one file produce two versions and no way to tell which is right.
- Arrears carried month to month. Working out who owes how many months, by hand, every month.
- Receipt numbers that must reconcile. Finding the missing or duplicated number in a stack of books.
- One copy of the file. One damaged computer and the year is gone.
- A year change. Promoting classes, renumbering rolls, carrying balances forward.
- A committee asking for a year on one page. Two days of work each time it is asked for.
What does a free system cost to run?
Free usually refers to the licence, not to the running. Before choosing a self hosted project, price these honestly, because they do not disappear by being ignored.
| Cost | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Server and hosting | Somewhere for it to run, every month or every year |
| Setup and configuration | Classes, departments, fee structure and users |
| Getting old records in | Current students, arrears and last year’s closing balances |
| Training | Until staff are fluent you are running both systems at once |
| Having nobody to call | The cost of a week lost when something breaks in fee week |
| Backups and security | Who takes them, where they are kept, who tests them |
When does spreadsheet or software make sense?
| Your situation | Reasonable choice |
|---|---|
| One person keeps the books, one fund, similar fees | Paper or a spreadsheet template |
| Several staff collect, more than one receipt book | Software |
| Lillah, general and boarding kept as separate funds | Software |
| Guardians expect attendance, dues or results | Software |
| A boarding department with daily bazar and meals | Software |
| One result a year, everything else by word of mouth | Start with a spreadsheet |
| More than one campus or department | Software |
Is there a free version of Sabaq?
No, and it is better to say so plainly than to let anyone find out later. There is no free edition and no free tier.
What is free is the demo: the whole system, set up with your madrasa’s own departments and fee structure, shown to you at no cost and with nothing hidden. The Android app is free for guardians and teachers, permanently, though it only carries data while the institution’s subscription is active. Only after you have seen it do you decide.
Why is the software itself charged for?
Because it runs in the cloud rather than on a computer in the office. Each madrasa gets its own subdomain and server space, the data is backed up, updates are made regularly, and support is answered in Bangla by people who know madrasas. Those are recurring costs, so the price is recurring: 500 BDT per month, 5,000 BDT per year, or 20,000 BDT one time, per madrasa, with installation at 2,000 BDT below 200 students and 5,000 BDT above it.
What about a cracked or full version download?
There is no such thing for Sabaq, and taking one for any product is a bad trade for a madrasa. Student, guardian and financial records end up on a server nobody can account for, updates stop arriving, there is nobody to call when it fails, and the institution’s reputation is exposed for the sake of a small saving. If the budget is tight, the honest route is a monthly plan, and the demo costs nothing.
Six questions to ask any vendor before paying
These work on any supplier, not only this one. Write the answers down; comparing them later is easier than remembering.
- Where is our data kept, and how often is it backed up?
- If we stop, how do we get our data out, in what format?
- When is support available, in which language, and how fast is a reply?
- What is charged on top of the headline price?
- Do you bring our existing records in, or do we type them?
- How often is training given, and what happens when our clerk leaves?
See the whole thing before deciding
The demo uses your own departments and fee structure, and costs nothing.