Optical Shop Software Free Trial India: What to Test Before Paying

Choosing optical shop software is easier when you test it during real shop work, not just through a product demonstration. The first month should answer practical questions: Can your counter bill quickly? Can staff find a customer’s old power? Can you track a lens job promised for Friday? What happens when the internet stops? This guide gives Indian optical shop owners a four-week test plan for Optical Mart. The first month is free with no card. Use it on real customers, stock and lab orders, then decide whether Basic, Standard or Hospital suits your work.

What “first month free” means: no card, then paid plans

Optical Mart gives a shop one month to use the software before paying. No card is needed to start. Treat this as a working trial: enter actual frames and lenses, create genuine customer records, raise bills and check the reports your owner or accountant needs.

After the first month, choose a paid plan based on how your shop operates. Basic costs Rs. 299 per month, Standard Rs. 599 per month and Hospital Rs. 999 per month. Yearly billing has lower monthly pricing and saves 10%. The aim is not simply to test whether the screen opens; it is to see whether the software reduces missed follow-ups, billing errors and time spent searching for records.

• Test with normal counter work, not sample data only.
• Check the features your shop needs every day.
• Review the plan limits before the trial ends.

Day 1: register the shop with shop name, GST details and phone

Start by creating the shop account with your shop name, GST details and phone number. Check these details carefully because they are used in your shop records and GST invoices. Decide who will be responsible for the first setup and keep the login details safely.

Open the web app in an up-to-date browser. It works on Windows, Mac and Linux computers, Android phones, and iPhone or iPad. If billing will happen on a Windows counter computer, plan to install the offline desktop app as well. It works on Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit.

Before moving ahead, make a short list of your current counter process. Note how you record a prescription, reserve a frame, send a lab job, collect an advance and mark a delivery. This gives you a clear comparison during the month.

• Confirm shop name, GST details and phone number.
• Choose the main counter computer and printer.
• Write down two or three current problems to test against.

Days 2-5: add frames, lenses, customers and refractions

Add a useful sample of your real stock rather than entering every item immediately. Include different frame types, lens options, prices and a few items that are close to running out. Optical Mart supports stock movements, barcode labels and a low-stock floor, so check whether the entries match how your team identifies products.

Create customer records and add refractions as customers visit. Eye powers can be recorded in 0.25 steps, and duplicate readings are caught. Test the complete record: customer details, prescription, frame and lens selection, order history and any amount already collected.

This is also the right time to check whether staff can find old records without asking the owner. A customer’s previous order and refraction should be available when they return for a repeat purchase or a follow-up.

• Enter frames and lenses with the names used at your counter.
• Test a new customer and a returning customer.
• Check a prescription in 0.25 steps and review the order history.

Week 2: test billing, part payments, returns and receipt printing

Create a complete bill with the customer, refraction, frame and lens on one order. Check that the invoice carries the GSTIN, HSN/SAC codes, CGST and SGST. You can print on A4 or an 80 mm receipt roll, so test the format used by your counter.

Take a part payment and print or view the balance due. Then test a reversal and a return of part of a bill. These situations matter when a customer changes a lens, pays in stages or returns one item while keeping another. Confirm that the payment, due amount and shop cash book reflect what actually happened.

Try billing quickly from the keyboard and ask the person who normally sits at the counter to repeat the process. The useful test is not whether an experienced owner can complete one bill, but whether the daily operator can do it consistently.

• Raise one frame-and-lens bill from start to finish.
• Test an advance, balance payment, reversal and partial return.
• Print both an A4 invoice and a receipt-roll invoice if you use both.

Week 3: test lab stages, promised dates, stock alerts and barcode labels

Create a lab order and move it through the available job stages from booking to delivery. Add the lab name, job number and promised date. During the week, check the overdue-job view and see whether the team can quickly identify what is ready for pickup and what still needs action.

Use a few stock movements with clear reasons, such as a sale, adjustment or received item. Set a low-stock floor for fast-moving frames or lenses and check whether the alert appears before the item runs out. Print frame tags and packet labels from stock and attach them to a real or test job.

This week should reveal where manual registers are still being used. If a staff member has to check three notebooks to answer a customer’s delivery question, repeat the same question in Optical Mart and compare the time taken.

• Create lab jobs with different promised dates.
• Check booking, progress, overdue and delivery stages.
• Print frame tags and packet labels and test a low-stock alert.

Week 4: review sales, collections, dues and the cash book

Use the dashboard to review billed and collected amounts for the day, outstanding dues, overdue jobs and monthly sales. Compare the figures with your existing counter records. Differences often point to an unrecorded payment, an incorrectly closed bill or a return that was not entered properly.

Review the cash book and part payments at the end of a busy day. Ask whether the owner can see who owes money without calling the counter staff. Customer follow-up lists can show people to contact for payment due, ready for pickup or no-shows, along with words to send and the customer’s full history.

If your accountant handles monthly filing, test the GST return export. Optical Mart provides the month’s GSTR-1 tables—B2B, B2CS, HSN and documents—as one Excel workbook for your CA. Use the trial to confirm that your billing entries are being recorded in a consistent way.

• Compare dashboard totals with your current register.
• Check dues, returns, collections and the cash book.
• Export the month’s GSTR-1 workbook for your CA.

Test the Windows offline desktop app and sync after an outage

Install the offline desktop app on the counter computer running Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit, and sign in once. Disconnect the internet for a controlled test. The app can continue billing, taking payments, booking appointments and printing labels for up to three days offline. Records are kept encrypted on that computer.

Create a test bill, payment or appointment while offline. When the connection returns, check the website and confirm that the work reaches the same account. The desktop uploads work every hour and whenever the internet comes back. A daily backup is kept on the computer and in the cloud.

The web app remains the better choice for working from other devices, while the desktop app is useful at a counter where billing cannot stop during an internet outage. On Mac or Linux, use the web app.

• Test a bill and payment with the internet disconnected.
• Reconnect and confirm the record appears online.
• Check that staff know which counter computer uses the offline app.

Choose Basic, Standard or Hospital based on users and workflows

Choose Basic at Rs. 299 per month if you run a single-counter store and need full billing on the web and offline. It suits a shop where one person manages the main account and counter work does not require several staff logins.

Choose Standard at Rs. 599 per month if more than one person needs to log in. It supports up to ten logins with roles and adds WhatsApp follow-up and campaigns. This is useful when staff handle billing, appointments, collections and customer reminders separately. WhatsApp campaigns run on the website; an offline reminder goes out when the counter syncs.

Choose Hospital at Rs. 999 per month if you run an eye hospital or chain and need clinical workflows, branches, stock transfers and a guided rollout. It supports up to twenty-five logins with roles. Before choosing, write down how many users, counters, branches and clinical processes you actually need.

At the end of the test, keep a short scorecard: billing speed, record accuracy, lab visibility, stock control, outage handling and report usefulness. If the results fit your shop, start the paid plan that matches your workflow—or begin the free first month now and download the Windows offline app for the counter.

• Basic: single-counter shop and one main user.
• Standard: staff logins, roles and WhatsApp follow-up.
• Hospital: eye hospitals and chains needing clinical workflows and branches.