Solar workflow depth
Can the product carry system details, proposal status, project milestones, and the delivery handoff without rebuilding the process in custom fields?
Quickest Solar CRM is our first pick for a small Nepali installer whose immediate problem is slow quoting and follow up that nobody owns. That placement uses a disclosed proposal-first adoption lens, and Nepal is one of the few markets on this list where Quickest's India-first orientation carries practical weight because the rupee is pegged and supply chains overlap. OpenSolar is the clearest free design-first option, Pylon pairs design with an optional CRM, and Sunbase publishes wider solar operations. We compared seven tools against NPR documents, VAT, NEA net metering, AEPC subsidy programmes, seismic mounting evidence and mountain logistics.
Direct answer
Choose Quickest when proposal speed, lead ownership, field adoption and a free pilot are the first priorities. QuickEstimate owns Quickest and its published evidence is India-first, which helps here through rupee parity and overlapping supply chains, but Nepali VAT, NEA net metering fields, AEPC subsidy tracking, Nepali language output and seismic evidence all remain unverified until a demo proves them. OpenSolar is better when free solar design leads the purchase. Anyone claiming AEPC subsidy on behalf of customers needs a system that can track a subsidy application as its own record.
7 jobs, 7 picks
A useful shortlist starts with the sales or delivery bottleneck. Each winner below reflects a different buying priority, while the overall ranking rewards a CRM that a solar sales team can adopt quickly.
Small mobile sales teams
Free: 1 user and 10 proposals monthly. Pro: INR 6,999 per user yearly, minimum 3 users. 02Best free design-first optionOpenSolarStartups combining solar design, proposals and project CRM
OpenSolar says partners fund the model; review services and connected costs. 03Best compact design and CRM trialPylonTeams wanting solar and battery proposals with optional CRM
New users receive five Standard Project credits; confirm Nepal commercial terms. 04Best broad solar operations candidateSunbaseEstablished teams evaluating a wider solar sales and project platform
Request Nepal users, modules, implementation, integrations, support and renewal pricing. 05Best configurable general CRMZoho CRMTeams with an administrator and several sales or service lines
The reviewed global page publishes USD prices and adds local taxes. 06Best configurable operations suiteOdooBusinesses joining CRM with sales, inventory, field service and accounting
Confirm current plan, apps, users, hosting, implementation, localisation and customisation. 07Best for marketing-led acquisitionHubSpot CRMTeams prioritising forms, email, meetings and pipeline
Official page states up to 2 free users and 1,000 contacts; price all required hubs.How we evaluated
We saved English and Nepali search attempts across Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Brave and Mojeek, then traced one record from an enquiry through site visit, load assessment, quotation, deposit, design, licensed electrical work, the NEA net metering application, any AEPC subsidy claim, procurement, mountain transport, installation, meter change, commissioning, invoicing, handover and service. Ranking rewards focused sales adoption first, then solar design, operational breadth, field usability, finance fit and configurable CRM depth. Nepal facts come from the Nepal Electricity Authority, the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre and the Inland Revenue Department.
Can the product carry system details, proposal status, project milestones, and the delivery handoff without rebuilding the process in custom fields?
Can managers route leads, track activity, automate follow-up, forecast revenue, and see why an opportunity stalled?
Can a rep move from site information to a credible customer proposal, and how much specialist solar design happens inside the platform?
Does the workflow support the language, currency, tax, communications, documents, and handoffs common in Nepal?
What setup, migration, training, administration, and extra software does the apparent subscription require?
At-a-glance matrix
The table separates CRM depth from proposal, design, and operations coverage. Confirm plan limits and country availability in writing before signing.
Local billing check: confirm NPR pricing, tax treatment, contract currency, and payment fees in writing.
| Platform | Best for | Public price | Solar proposals | Design | Project operations | CRM depth | Free access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Quickest Solar CRM | Small mobile sales teams | Free plan; Pro in INR | Focused branded proposals | Nepal inputs unverified | Lead stages and follow up | Focused solar sales CRM | 1 user, 10 proposals monthly |
| 2OpenSolar | Startups combining solar design, proposals and project CRM | Free core platform | Interactive and PDF proposals | Native solar and storage design | Project CRM, tasks, schedules and files | Solar project CRM | Core platform described as free |
| 3Pylon | Teams wanting solar and battery proposals with optional CRM | Dollar pricing shown; confirm currency | Web and PDF proposals | Solar and battery design | Optional solar CRM and integrations | Solar CRM available | Five Standard Project credits |
| 4Sunbase | Established teams evaluating a wider solar sales and project platform | Quote required | Solar proposal capabilities published | Connect or verify design scope | Sales and operational solar workflows | Broad solar CRM | Request demo and trial terms |
| 5Zoho CRM | Teams with an administrator and several sales or service lines | Free for 3 users; paid USD tiers | Configure CPQ or connect a proposal tool | Specialist solar tool required | Custom modules, workflow, reports, portals and APIs | Broad general CRM | Free edition for 3 users |
| 6Odoo | Businesses joining CRM with sales, inventory, field service and accounting | One app free; paid plans published | Sales quotations and signatures | Specialist solar design required | CRM, sales, inventory, accounting, field service and more | General CRM within modular ERP | One app free plan stated |
| 7HubSpot CRM | Teams prioritising forms, email, meetings and pipeline | Free CRM; paid hubs available | Connect or configure proposal software | Specialist solar tool required | Paid sales and service expansion | Broad customer platform | Up to 2 users and 1,000 contacts |
Pricing and capability labels were checked against official sources on Sep 7, 2026. Currency conversion is intentionally omitted where a vendor does not publish a local price.
Country research
Nepal gives a solar CRM three jobs that rarely appear together. The utility operates a net metering route that decides when a signed system starts offsetting a bill. A national agency administers subsidy programmes for rural and off-grid systems, each with its own claim documentation. And the country sits in a serious seismic zone, which makes the mounting and structural specification a compliance artefact rather than a supplier preference. A tool that tracks only a sales pipeline will lose the application, the claim and the structural evidence within a quarter.
The Nepal Electricity Authority is the utility counterparty for supply, net metering and metering work. Store the customer account, the tariff category taken from the actual bill, the distribution centre, the meter type, the supply phase, the requested capacity, the application route, the reference, the technical review outcome, the fees, the inspection, the bidirectional meter change, the activation and the first export reading.
Nepal Electricity Authority: Nepal Electricity Authority ↗The Alternative Energy Promotion Centre administers renewable energy programmes and subsidy arrangements, particularly for rural and off-grid systems. Treat a subsidy claim as its own record with a reference, an owner, a submission date, the eligibility criteria relied on, the document set, the verification evidence, the decision and the disbursement status. A claim tracked as a deal note will be lost when the salesperson changes.
Alternative Energy Promotion Centre: Alternative Energy Promotion Centre ↗The Inland Revenue Department administers VAT and income tax. A Nepali solar sale mixes imported equipment, local supply, design, installation, batteries, transport, civil work, maintenance and finance. Configure tax per line, show whether displayed prices include or exclude VAT, retain the tax source and effective date, and have a Nepali adviser approve deposits, staged invoices, variations, credit notes and import treatment.
Inland Revenue Department Nepal: Inland Revenue Department ↗Nepal sits in a serious seismic zone, which makes the mounting and structural specification compliance evidence. Store the seismic design assumption, the standard referenced, the mounting system and its certification, the fixing type and spacing, the roof or ground structure assessment, the approving engineer, the date and the installation photographs, and treat that as a gate on commissioning rather than a document to file later.
Nepal Electricity Authority: Nepal Electricity Authority ↗Hydropower dominance with seasonal variation shapes the commercial case. Store the seasonal output profile rather than only an annual figure, the months modelled, the irradiance source, the monsoon cloud assumption, the self-consumption assumption, the approver and the date. A proposal built on an annual average will misdescribe both the dry season and the monsoon.
Nepal Electricity Authority: Nepal Electricity Authority ↗Mountain and hill district access makes travel a real cost and a scheduling risk. Store site coordinates, the elevation, the access route, vehicle requirements, porter or manual handling needs, travel time, crew size, accommodation, monsoon road conditions and any anticipated second visit, and let those flow into the customer price and the internal job cost.
Alternative Energy Promotion Centre: Alternative Energy Promotion Centre ↗The Nepali rupee is pegged to the Indian rupee and much equipment arrives through Indian supply chains. Store the supplier, the currency, the border crossing used, the documentation required, the expected arrival and the clearance position. That proximity shortens lead times relative to most markets covered here, but it does not remove the need to record what was ordered and when it arrives.
Inland Revenue Department Nepal: Inland Revenue Department ↗Nepali is the working language for most customers. Generate the documents that carry obligations in the language the buyer reads, have a fluent reviewer approve the wording, and store the approved version, the sender, the timestamp, the purpose and the delivery status. Test Devanagari rendering in the generated PDF on a real phone rather than only in a browser preview.
Inland Revenue Department Nepal: Inland Revenue Department ↗Rural and community systems carry a long service tail with limited local technical support and monsoon access constraints. Record the battery chemistry, cycle warranty, expected replacement date, the monitoring arrangement, credential holder, the service interval, parts held locally, the trained local contact and the seasonal access window. A fault during the monsoon at a hill site is a different problem from the same fault in spring.
Alternative Energy Promotion Centre: Alternative Energy Promotion Centre ↗Full reviews
Each review explains the useful workflow, the buyer who should shortlist it, and the country-specific question that a sales demo must answer.
Quickest is first for a narrow mobile sales adoption goal, and rupee parity makes adoption easier here than in most markets.
Quickest centres the work a small team usually has to fix first: capture the enquiry, assign an owner, produce a branded proposal quickly and make the next follow up visible. A limited free plan allows an adoption pilot before a larger migration. QuickEstimate owns Quickest and publishes this ranking, so the position depends on the disclosed method rather than on independent market recognition.
Nepal is one of the few markets where the India-first orientation helps rather than hinders: parity pricing, overlapping supply chains and a nearby vendor time zone reduce real friction. That said, no public evidence confirms Nepali VAT handling, NEA net metering application fields, AEPC subsidy claim tracking, Devanagari document output or seismic approval gating, so test each of those before committing a team.
Choose it if: quoting speed is the first bottleneck and application tracking works. Choose another platform if: subsidy claim volume, seismic governance or rural service dominate.
OpenSolar is the strongest free design-first route for Nepal, and terrain shading plus seasonal output are the checks that matter.
OpenSolar publishes design, proposals, table and Kanban project views, custom workflows, actions, schedules, documents, roles, permissions and an API. Nepali sites are frequently shaded by terrain rather than by structures, and the useful output picture is seasonal, so test both before judging the product on a flat valley rooftop.
Validate Nepali imagery, irradiance at altitude, terrain shading, monsoon cloud handling, seasonal output modelling, equipment libraries, NPR display, VAT, NEA stages, field connectivity and document output. Change a design after acceptance and trace price, stock, tax, payment, structural approval and handover. Review privacy terms, transfers, support coverage and a complete account export.
Choose it if: design and customer-facing proposals lead the purchase. Choose another platform if: subsidy claims, seismic governance and rural service dominate the requirement list.
Pylon supports a compact design and CRM evaluation, with Nepali operation still unverified.
Pylon documents solar and battery design, web and PDF proposals, design history, integrations and a solar CRM add-on. It says new users receive credits for five Standard Projects and teams can add unlimited users. That supports a practical test involving sales, design and management before the buyer assumes it will replace a spreadsheet and a chat group.
Confirm the dollar currency, project rules, CRM cost, payment fees, taxes and renewal. Test Nepali locations, altitude, terrain shading, monsoon behaviour, seasonal output, NPR display, roles and support. Review data processing and export, and model several revisions because a hill site survey frequently changes the design after the first quotation was issued.
Choose it if: the team wants to trial solar design, proposals and CRM together. Choose another platform if: subsidy claims, stock and rural service dominate the requirement list.
Sunbase publishes broad solar CRM scope, and subsidy claim plus seasonal scheduling is what to test.
Sunbase positions its CRM around solar lead management, sales, communication, proposals, workflow and operational visibility. For a Nepali contractor delivering AEPC-supported rural systems alongside commercial rooftops, claim documentation and seasonal scheduling decide the operational value rather than lead volume.
Ask for comparable customer references and use a controlled demo from enquiry through survey, proposal, net metering application, subsidy claim, deposit, invoice, procurement, mountain transport, installation, commissioning and a monsoon service call. Verify NPR handling, claim and document control, seasonal scheduling, offline behaviour, roles, audit history, privacy terms, support hours and data export.
Choose it if: a contractor delivers subsidy-supported rural work alongside commercial jobs. Choose another platform if: a free design tool or a simpler proposal CRM meets the immediate need.
Zoho suits a Nepali business that needs net metering, subsidy and seismic records enforced by workflow rules.
Zoho CRM offers configurable modules, fields, pipelines, workflow, reports, mobile apps, portals and APIs. Custom objects are the reason to consider it here: a net metering application with its own status, a subsidy claim with a disbursement position and a seismic approval that gates commissioning can each be enforced rather than remembered by whoever handled the job.
Build or connect load assessment, solar design, NPR quotations with validity, VAT, payment reconciliation, stock, import documentation, NEA stages, AEPC claims, seismic approvals, seasonal access, commissioning, assets, warranty and handover. Test mobile offline needs in a hill district, processor terms, transfers, retention, API limits, support and a complete export.
Choose it if: the company has an administrator and handles subsidy claims regularly. Choose another platform if: the team expects ready-made Nepali solar workflows with little configuration.
Odoo suits a Nepali contractor whose imported stock, project accounting and field service have outgrown a sales tool.
Odoo combines CRM with quotations, sales, accounting, purchasing, inventory, projects, field service, helpdesk and other applications, including landed cost handling and project accounting for staged programme contracts. For a business importing through Indian supply routes and dispatching crews into hill districts, those modules address the real constraint.
Verify a current Nepali localisation and the VAT reporting route with the responsible implementation partner. Test NPR, VAT, landed cost with transport, stock, serial numbers, seasonal field service, approvals, NEA and AEPC evidence, warranty, stock transfers and migration. Connect a specialist design tool and review privacy roles, hosting, backups, upgrades, exit and a restorable export.
Choose it if: import costing, stock, field service and CRM should share one suite. Choose another platform if: the business wants a solar-specific proposal product with minimal implementation.
HubSpot suits Kathmandu digital acquisition and leaves applications, claims and seismic evidence outside.
HubSpot's free CRM covers contacts, lead management, forms, email, meetings and pipeline for a small user group. Kathmandu Valley residential and commercial solar is a genuinely marketing-led business for many installers, with paid leads and campaign response driving volume, so the acquisition tooling earns its place.
Price and test the complete stack: messaging, solar design, NPR quotation with validity, VAT, payment reconciliation, stock, net metering tracking, subsidy claims, seismic evidence, field delivery and service reporting. Use controlled fields for the distribution centre, the NEA reference, the subsidy claim status and the seismic approval.
Choose it if: paid leads and campaigns drive a valley residential pipeline. Choose another platform if: net metering volume, subsidy claims and seismic governance are the real problems.
Buyer guide
Choose by the most expensive broken handoff, then test that handoff using real opportunities, real users, and the documents your customers actually receive.
Start with Quickest when slow quoting and unowned follow up are the visible failures on Kathmandu Valley work. Use the free plan on real Nepali opportunities, including one net metering application. Rupee parity makes the paid tier easy to evaluate, but still prove NPR quoting, VAT, NEA stages, Nepali output and seismic evidence.
OpenSolar fits a team that needs solar design, proposals and project CRM before it can fund a wider stack. Validate Nepali imagery, irradiance inputs at altitude, terrain shading in hill districts, monsoon cloud handling, seasonal output modelling, NPR display and mobile performance outside the valley.
Pylon is worth testing when web and PDF proposals, solar and battery design and an optional solar CRM all appeal. Confirm the displayed currency, Nepali model inputs, altitude and monsoon handling, revision economics, mobile use, permissions and support hours.
Sunbase targets broader solar sales and operational workflows, which suits a contractor delivering AEPC-supported rural and community systems alongside commercial work. Ask for comparable references and test subsidy claim tracking, document control, seasonal scheduling, offline behaviour, privacy, commissioning and export.
A configurable platform can model net metering applications, subsidy claims, seismic approvals, import documentation, stock and seasonal service together. Odoo is stronger where landed cost, inventory and field service dominate; Zoho is the more familiar CRM route with strong custom objects and workflow gating.
HubSpot fits a business whose first priority is forms, campaigns, email, meetings and pipeline visibility, which suits a Kathmandu residential and commercial installer running digital campaigns. Budget the solar design, quotation, VAT, net metering, subsidy claims, seismic evidence and service tools around it.
Run the same three opportunities in every shortlisted CRM: one ordinary lead, one revision-heavy project, and one deal that already failed. This removes demo theatre and exposes repeated entry, stale documents, weak mobile adoption, and missing local support.
Capture a real lead, assign it, create the proposal, schedule follow-up, record acceptance, and hand it to delivery.
Change the system, equipment, price, payment route, and installation date. Identify every stale record.
Use a duplicate, missed follow-up, rejected proposal, or delayed job and ask the CRM to show what happens next.
Produce a taxable sale with separate lines for imported equipment, transport, structural work and services, plus a deposit, a staged invoice, a variation, a credit note, a refund and a warranty replacement in NPR. Store a validity period, the cost basis and the import assumption, and block acceptance at a stale price without approval. Have a Nepali adviser confirm VAT and customs treatment in writing.
Treat the application as its own record with a reference, an owner, a submission date, a document set and a dated outcome. Capture the technical review result, queries returned, the resubmission, the approved capacity, fees paid, the inspection, the bidirectional meter change and the first export reading, and drive customer updates from those milestones.
Treat a subsidy claim as its own record with a reference, an owner, a submission date, the eligibility criteria relied on, the document set, verification evidence, the decision and the disbursement status. Test a rejected claim, a resubmission and a partial disbursement, and confirm the customer's price and payment plan update accordingly.
Store the seismic design assumption, the standard referenced, the mounting system and its certification, the fixing type and spacing, the roof or ground structure assessment, the approving engineer, the date and installation photographs. Block commissioning sign-off when that evidence is missing, and force re-approval when a design change alters the mounting.
Store the seasonal output profile separately from the annual figure, along with the months modelled, the irradiance source, the monsoon cloud assumption, the self-consumption assumption, the approver and the date. Test a proposal that describes dry season and monsoon behaviour separately rather than presenting a single averaged number.
Store site coordinates, elevation, the access route, vehicle requirements, porter or manual handling needs, travel time, crew size, accommodation, monsoon road conditions and any anticipated second visit, and let those flow into the price and the job cost. Test a job that becomes inaccessible during the monsoon.
Generate the quotation, the acceptance, payment requests, warranty terms and handover instructions in the language the buyer reads. Have a fluent reviewer approve the Nepali wording, store the approved version, the sender, the timestamp, the purpose and the delivery status, and test Devanagari rendering in the generated PDF on a real phone.
Record the battery chemistry, cycle warranty, expected replacement date, the monitoring arrangement, credential holder, service interval, parts held locally, the trained local contact, the technician who can attend, the seasonal access window and the promised response time. Test a monsoon fault at a hill site and confirm the CRM can answer before anyone travels.
Export the accepted scope, variations, the as-built design, the seismic and structural evidence, installed equipment and serial numbers, photographs, test results, commissioning, NEA and AEPC evidence, invoices and payment status, warranties, manuals, monitoring access, training records, signatures, open defects and the service contact, plus the seasonal access window.
The real budget
Nepali pricing benefits from rupee parity with India, which removes exchange risk on equipment sourced through Indian supply chains and makes an INR-denominated subscription unusually straightforward compared with most markets on this list. Quickest publishes INR terms, OpenSolar describes its core platform as free, Pylon shows dollar prices whose billing currency should be confirmed, and Zoho publishes USD global tiers. Sunbase needs a quote for the relevant scope. Odoo and HubSpot vary by apps, seats, contacts and implementation. Ask for billing currency, taxes, payment method, bank charges, users, projects, storage, integrations, messaging, onboarding, support hours, renewal and exit.
Free: 1 user and 10 proposals monthly. Pro: INR 6,999 per user yearly, minimum 3 users.
OpenSolar says partners fund the model; review services and connected costs.
New users receive five Standard Project credits; confirm Nepal commercial terms.
Request Nepal users, modules, implementation, integrations, support and renewal pricing.
Quickest lists one free user with ten proposals monthly and Pro at INR 6,999 per user yearly with a three-user minimum. Rupee parity makes that price easy to evaluate in Nepal, though Nepali tax and contract terms remain unverified.
OpenSolar states that its core platform is free because partners fund the model. Review partner choices, paid services, data use, support coverage and connected system costs.
Pylon offers five Standard Project credits to new users and states unlimited team users. Confirm the displayed currency, the CRM add-on, payment fees, project rules and renewal.
Zoho's reviewed page offers three free users alongside paid USD tiers. HubSpot states up to two free users and 1,000 contacts. Neither free plan supplies a complete Nepali solar operating stack.
Budget accounting, VAT reporting, payment handling, messaging, design software, structural engineering input, implementation, field devices, storage, support and administration alongside the licence fee.
Compare the cost of one complete acceptance case rather than a feature checklist, and price one mishandled subsidy claim alongside it. A claim rejected on documentation grounds transfers the shortfall to either the customer or the installer, and neither outcome is cheap.
Ask what happens when a net metering application is returned or a hill site becomes inaccessible during the monsoon. The commercial proposal should identify alerting, rescheduling, customer notification, data ownership and support escalation.
Our number-one pick
Quickest concentrates on lead ownership, a mobile proposal and the next follow up, which is a practical first adoption target for a small Nepali field sales team.
Rupee parity, overlapping Indian supply chains and a vendor in a nearby time zone make its India-first orientation a practical fit here rather than the limitation it is in most markets on this list.
First place still stays conditional on proof. NPR quoting, Nepali VAT, NEA net metering fields, AEPC subsidy claim tracking, Nepali output and seismic evidence are not verified.
Your next move
Start with Quickest and the specialist closest to your largest local requirement. Use the same evidence and test deals for both.
Name the bottleneck. Pick lead response, proposal speed, design, payment, install handoff, or management visibility.
Choose two tools. Compare Quickest with the strongest specialist for that bottleneck.
Run the Three-Deal Proof. Score adoption, repeated entry, revision handling, support, and full annual cost.
Research record
These sources support the market, regulatory, product, and pricing statements on this page. Product terms can change after the checked date.
Common questions
Quickest is first under our proposal-first adoption lens, and Nepal is one of the few markets where its India-first orientation genuinely helps because of rupee parity and overlapping supply chains. OpenSolar is the better free design-first option. If you claim AEPC subsidy for customers, confirm the tool can track a claim as its own record before committing.
As its own record with a reference, an owner, a submission date, a document set and a dated outcome, plus the technical review result, queries returned, the resubmission, the approved capacity, fees paid, the inspection, the bidirectional meter change and the first export reading. Drive customer updates from those milestones.
As a distinct record rather than a note on a deal: the reference, the owner, the submission date, the eligibility criteria relied on, the document set, verification evidence, the decision and the disbursement status. Test a rejected claim and a partial disbursement, and confirm the customer's price and payment plan update accordingly.
Rupee parity simplifies the arithmetic, but we found no verified public evidence for Nepali VAT and customs handling. Require a live taxable quotation with equipment, transport and import lines and a validity period, plus a deposit, a staged invoice, a credit note, a refund and an accounting export during the demo.
Because Nepal sits in a serious seismic zone, which makes the mounting and structural specification compliance evidence rather than a supplier preference. Store the seismic design assumption, the standard referenced, the mounting certification, the fixing detail, the structure assessment, the approving engineer and installation photographs, and gate commissioning on it.
Yes. Store the seasonal output profile separately from the annual figure, along with the months modelled, the irradiance source, the monsoon cloud assumption and the self-consumption assumption. A proposal built on an annual average misdescribes both the dry season and the monsoon, and customers notice within one year.
From stored fields. Record site coordinates, elevation, the access route, vehicle requirements, porter or manual handling needs, travel time, crew size, accommodation, monsoon road conditions and any anticipated second visit, and let those flow into the price and the job cost rather than being absorbed afterwards.
For documents that carry obligations, yes: the quotation, the acceptance, payment requests, warranty terms and handover instructions. Have a fluent reviewer approve the wording, store the approved version and test Devanagari rendering in the generated PDF on a real phone rather than only in a browser preview.
Include the accepted scope, variations, the as-built design, the seismic and structural evidence, installed equipment and serial numbers, photographs, test results, commissioning, NEA and AEPC evidence, invoices, payment status, warranties, manuals, monitoring access, training records, signatures, open defects and the service contact, plus the seasonal access window.
Use the Three-Deal Proof and require every vendor to show the same lead, revision, document, and failed handoff.