Opportunities › Self-hosted payment gateway for Indian merchants › Proposed app
Tillbox
UPI and COD checkout you run yourself, with no per-transaction platform fee
- Score
- 49
- confidence 61
- Evidence
- 8
- items on the page
- Rivals
- 3
- named in sources
- First version
- 35 d
- estimate
- Type
- Desktop and mobile
- PWA: on computers and phones alike
- Market since
- 2010
- Mature market · AI estimate
ScreensConcept
Desktop and mobile: Merchants set up and configure the checkout system at a desk, but must monitor orders, payments, and resolutions in real time from anywhere as transactions arrive. Sample screens on a computer and a phone, in the proposed brand. Their numbers are sample data.
Pay for order #1042
Waiting for payment₹1,499
About this appAI proposal
Tillbox is a payment checkout that you run yourself. Add one JavaScript snippet to your shop or app and customers can pay by dynamic UPI QR code, confirm with a WhatsApp OTP, or choose cash on delivery. Orders and payments live in your own database.
It is made for small and mid-sized Indian merchants selling goods, services or digital products, and for developers building payments into platforms and marketplaces. Tillbox checks each payment automatically and marks the order paid, so nobody matches payments to orders by hand.
Tillbox adds no per-transaction platform fee. You run the free self-hosted version, or pay a flat subscription for the managed one. Banks and UPI apps may have their own charges.
- Tagline
- Your till, your server, your rupees.
- Voice
- PlainPracticalTrustworthy
- Why this name
- A till is where a shop takes money, and a box is something you own and keep. Tillbox is short, easy to say and describes a checkout you hold yourself.
In the first version
Members say which features they would use. It tells PWAS what people want; it changes no score.
One-snippet checkout
Paste a single JavaScript snippet into any site or app. The same checkout works on plain HTML, React or a marketplace backend.
No member yet
Dynamic UPI QR per order
Each order gets its own QR code with the exact amount and a reference, so payments can be matched to orders.
No member yet
Automatic payment verification
Incoming payments are matched to open orders and marked paid. Unmatched ones go to a short review list.
No member yet
WhatsApp OTP confirmation
Confirm the buyer's phone with a one-time code on WhatsApp. Useful for COD orders and returning customers.
No member yet
Brand identityAI proposal
Check the name against trademark registers before using it.
Palette
#14332BDeep Teal · primary, icon background#F6F1E7Paper · surface#1B1B18Ink · text#E8A33DSaffron · accent#2F7D6BLeaf · data, success#B5412BBrick · alert
Typography
Aa
Tillbox
PricingAI proposal
Instamojo's pricing page (verified) lists four paid plans from INR 4,999 to INR 14,999 a year, plus a free plan. These tiers are a starting point to test against that range; the material gives no USD price.
Self-hosted
Free
- Run on your own server
- UPI QR, COD and WhatsApp OTP
- Automatic payment matching
- Community support
Managed
$25 a month
- We host and update it
- One store, daily backups
- Email support
- Order and payment export
Business
$70 a month
- Multiple stores
- Reports and reconciliation exports
- Priority support
What it could be worthEstimate
What a software business making this much sells for today, from real deals. Pick a monthly revenue.
If it makes
Worth about
$194,000
Sale range $132,000 to $263,000
$120,000 a year in revenue
From 87 software businesses listed and sold on Empire Flippers in the last year, revenue vetted by the broker: they sell for about 19× their monthly revenue, most between 13× and 26×.
Measured on profit, the middle deal is 32× monthly net profit: about 2.7 years of profit.
An estimate, not an offer or financial advice. A real price depends on profit, growth, churn, how much of the work is the owner's, and the buyer.
How it would growAI proposal
How the product would reach new customers through its own use, and how the first ones would be found. A plan to test, not a result.
- Built-in loop
- Shared outputs. Each checkout page and QR shows a small 'Powered by Tillbox' mark, and payment receipts sent to buyers carry the same mark. Buyers who run shops themselves can follow it.
- Do they become customers?
- Buyers are mostly consumers, so conversion will be low. Test whether the receipt mark leads any shop-owning buyers to start a trial, and whether developers find the open install guide.
- First customers
- Small Indian online sellers of digital goods or courses, run by one to five people, with a developer or freelancer who can paste a snippet and who pay gateway fees today.
- Where to reach them
- Developer communities: Post the self-hosting guide and demo on GitHub, Indian developer forums and indie maker groups.
- Freelancer agencies: Offer web agencies that build Indian shops a free setup for their first client and a referral share.
- WhatsApp seller groups: Share a fee-savings calculator in seller and creator groups, then offer a managed trial.
- First milestone
- Ten merchants live with real orders in one niche, and three of them paying for the managed plan within 60 days.
Why people already pay for this
- VerifiedGitHub repository gained 2369 stars in 34 days
- Public claimThe product offers zero per-transaction platform fees, addressing merchant cost concerns with third-party gateways.
- Public claimUniversal JavaScript checkout integration reduces developer friction and integration complexity.
- Public claimDynamic QR payments and WhatsApp OTP authentication represent modern payment methods for Indian users.
- Public claim
Tech stack
Every proposal builds on the same PWA base, installable from the browser on any phone or computer. Dashed boxes are what this app adds.
- AppNext.js and TypeScript
- PWAManifest and service worker
- UITailwind CSS
- Data and authSupabase Postgres
- PaymentsStripe
- EmailResend
- HostingVercel
- This app · WhatsApp messagingWhatsApp Business messaging providerSends one-time codes to buyers on WhatsApp, which needs an approved business sender.
- This app · Payment matchingBank or UPI provider notifications, with a review listPayments must be detected and matched to orders without holding the merchant's money.
RisksAI inference
- RegulatoryTaking payments in India is regulated. The design must keep money going straight to the merchant's own account, and a lawyer must confirm that this avoids needing a payment aggregator licence.
- TechnicalReliably detecting UPI payments without a licensed gateway API is hard. Mismatches, delays and duplicate payments could erode merchant trust.
- PlatformWhatsApp business messaging needs approved templates and has per-message costs and rules that may change.
- CommercialMerchants may pay for gateways to get settlement, refunds, cards and support. The free self-hosted version could compete with the paid managed one.
- DataSelf-hosting puts security, backups and customer phone data in merchants' hands. A poorly run install could leak data and damage the product's name.
Everything marked AI proposal or AI inference was written by a model from the evidence on the opportunity page. The proposed name must be checked against trademark registers before it is used.