Skip to content
Start free

Compare · reviewed 21 Oct 2026

Hesafi vs Excel bookkeeping templates: Both can be free. Only one has to balance.

A spreadsheet is free and does anything you build. That's also the risk: nothing stops a broken formula or a missing line.

Start freeWhat moving takesAsk us on WhatsApp

Where a sheet slips

One row outside the SUM, and the profit is wrong.

A spreadsheet accepts any number and any range. Here's a week of sample figures where the total stops one row short.

Sample figures
Sample spreadsheet. The money-in total, =SUM(C2:C7), leaves out row 8, so the week's profit shows KES 2,715 instead of KES 5,115.
DateDetailsMoney inMoney out
DateDetailsMoney inMoney out
01 OctSales3,200
02 OctKPLC tokens1,000
03 OctSales4,150
04 OctStock, Gikomba6,500
05 OctSales2,900
06 OctM-PESA charges35
07 OctSales2,400
Total10,2507,535

The same week in Hesafi

Money in
KES 12,650
Money out
KES 7,535
Profit
KES 5,115
  • Each line comes from your M-PESA statement.
  • Every entry balances before it's saved, and Verify books shows if anything changed.

Sample figures

Work over time

Count the lines you'd type.

Pick how many M-PESA lines you get in a month. In a template, each one is pasted and sorted by hand. Hesafi Standard reads them from the statement, and you confirm the ones its rules don't recognise.

Time span
M-PESA lines a month
fig. 02A beam balance with one large coin in the left pan and monthly coins dropping into the right pan one by one, until their weight tips the beam toward them.

After 3 years: 5,400 lines to paste and sort by hand in a template. In Hesafi Standard you import the statement instead.

OptionTyped by hand after 3 yearsMoney
Excel or Google Sheets template5,400 linesFree with Google Sheets
Hesafi Standard0: read from the statementKES 3,500 once

Money: a Google Sheets template is free. Hesafi Free is KES 0, and you enter lines by hand, as in a template. Reading statements is Standard, KES 3,500 once.

Start free, pay once when you're ready

Side by side

Where each one is stronger

Excel's strengths come first.

Where Excel is stronger, where Hesafi is stronger, and where it's close. Sources are listed under the table.
ComparedHesafiFree, or Standard KES 3,500 onceExcel templateFree with Google Sheets
Where Excel is stronger
Any layout you likeNo: it follows bookkeeping rulesYes
Formulas you can changeNoYes
One file you can send anyoneA backup file (encrypted) or an Excel exportYes
Where Hesafi is stronger
Every entry must balanceYesOnly if your formulas are right
Reads an M-PESA statement PDFYes, StandardCopy and paste by hand
Real invoices to share on WhatsAppYes, FreeA template you fill in
Profit and loss, balance sheetBuilt in, FreeFormulas you build and check
Record of every change, with Verify booksYes, FreeNo
Supplier PIN and eTIMS number, missing ones flaggedYes, StandardExtra columns, no checks
Where it's close
PriceFree plan KES 0; imports KES 3,500 onceFree with Google Sheets
Works offlineYesYes, in Excel on a computer
Export to ExcelYesIt is Excel

Features change: check each product's site before you decide. We make Hesafi, so we've put the other product's strengths first. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.

Which fits

Keep the sheet, or move to books?

Moving over

Moving from Excel takes a start date and your statements.

Older years can stay in your spreadsheet. Sheets laid out like a statement import today; other layouts need a wizard that's coming.

  1. Pick a start dateThe 1st of a month is easiest. Statement lines from before it are left out when you import.
  2. Enter what you had that dayHesafi asks how much was in the bank and cash at the end of the day before.
  3. Import from that dateYour M-PESA statement and any statement-style sheet.
  4. Check one month against your sheetIf the profit differs, look for a line that's missing or counted twice.

Importing statements and sheets is part of Standard, KES 3,500 once.

Start free and pick a start dateRead the full guide
A desk adding machine: the M-PESA statement feeds in from a paper roll at the back, the side crank is pulled, the number wheels turn and the printed total tape curls out of the top into a tray.

Questions

Questions before you switch

Ask us anything on WhatsApp.

Monday to Saturday, 8am to 8pm EAT. We reply within 1 hour during those hours.

Ask on WhatsApp

Keep reading

Close the spreadsheet. Open proper books.

Hesafi Free costs nothing, like a template, and every entry balances. Standard reads your M-PESA statement for KES 3,500 once.

Start freeChat on WhatsApp