ZATCA does not charge for e-invoicing: registering on the Fatoora portal and onboarding your invoicing system involve no payment to ZATCA. What you pay for is the solution that does the work. On the three published price lists we checked on 5 November 2026, the cheapest plan that includes Phase 2 costs SAR 1,430 to SAR 1,800 a year before VAT for a small business. On top of that come the costs most quotes leave out: connecting software you already use, onboarding every till or branch as a separate unit, and cleaning up your customer and item data.
This matters now because Wave 25 — every business whose VAT-liable revenue exceeded SAR 187,500 in any year from 2022 to 2025 — must be integrated by 1 February 2027. That brings in small businesses that may never have budgeted for an invoicing system before.
Does ZATCA charge anything for e-invoicing?
No. ZATCA's own guide to getting ready for Phase 2 lists what a business has to do: use a compliant e-invoicing solution that can connect to the internet, generate and store invoices as XML (or PDF/A-3 with embedded XML) with all the required fields, log in to the Fatoora portal, generate a one-time password (OTP) and enter it in the solution to onboard each unit, and confirm with the solution provider that it is integration-compliant. None of those steps involves paying ZATCA.
ZATCA also keeps a directory of e-invoicing solution providers, but states that being listed is not an approval. A higher price does not buy a 'ZATCA-approved' system, because ZATCA does not approve systems. What makes you compliant is that your unit receives a Production CSID and clears or reports real invoices.
The five costs that make up a ZATCA implementation
| Cost | What it covers | How it is usually priced |
|---|---|---|
| 1. E-invoicing software | The system that issues the invoice, builds the XML, signs it, clears standard invoices and reports simplified ones to Fatoora | Annual or monthly subscription per business, with users and branches included up to a limit |
| 2. Integration of software you keep | If you keep your own ERP, POS or in-house system, a Phase 2 layer: XML, signing, Fatoora API calls and onboarding | Quoted per project after the vendor reviews your system |
| 3. Extra units | Every till, branch system or invoicing instance is a separate unit with its own OTP, certificate (CSID), invoice counter and hash chain | Extra users and branches per plan; ask how many units a quote covers |
| 4. Devices and internet | The solution has to connect to Fatoora. ZATCA's preparation guide names no specific hardware | Only a cost if an old till cannot run compliant software or stay online |
| 5. Data clean-up and staff time | Buyer VAT numbers and addresses for standard invoices, item VAT categories, opening balances, training | Mostly your own team's time; some vendors charge for setup or training |
What does Phase 2 software cost? Published prices, checked 5 November 2026
These are the published list prices for the cheapest plan that includes Phase 2 on three cloud systems sold in Saudi Arabia. Prices change, and each provider counts users, branches and invoices differently, so check the provider's own page before you compare.
| Provider | Cheapest plan with Phase 2 | Price per year | What the plan includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| AmalERP | ZATCA Phase 2 | SAR 1,499 + VAT | 2 users, 1 branch, Fatoora onboarding and remote setup included. A Phase 1-only plan is SAR 599 a year |
| Wafeq | Plus | SAR 1,430 + VAT, paid yearly (SAR 149 a month paid monthly) | Wafeq's help centre lists Phase 2 integration on Plus and above. Starter is SAR 1,190 a year |
| Qoyod | Pro | SAR 2,070 including VAT (SAR 1,800 before VAT) | 3 users. Qoyod's knowledge base says Basic (SAR 1,380 including VAT) does not include Phase 2 |
Three questions change the real price more than the headline does: how many users and branches are included, whether onboarding each unit is done with you or left to you, and whether the price is before or after 15% VAT. Ask for the answer to all three in writing.
What if you want to keep your current ERP or POS?
Many businesses already run SAP, Oracle, Odoo, a local POS or software written for them, and do not want to change. There are two routes: buy the vendor's own ZATCA module or upgrade, if one exists for your version, or add a Phase 2 integration layer that takes the invoice from your system, builds and signs the XML, sends it to Fatoora and returns the cleared invoice and QR code.
The price of an integration depends on how your system exports invoice data, how many units must be onboarded, and how it should handle a rejected invoice. That is why integrations are quoted per project rather than listed. AmalERP's integration service starts from SAR 500, with a fixed quote after we review your system. Large ERP projects are usually quoted by the ERP's own implementation partners and have no published price.
Three examples
- A trading business in Wave 25 with 2 users, one branch and no invoicing system today: on AmalERP that is the SAR 1,499 Phase 2 plan, plus VAT. ZATCA charges nothing, onboarding is remote and included, and the main cost is a day or two of someone's time loading customers with their VAT numbers and addresses, and the item list.
- A shop that wants to keep its existing POS software: an integration project (from SAR 500, quoted after review), with each till onboarded as its own unit. Two tills means two OTPs and two certificates.
- A business with three branches, each issuing its own invoices: three units at minimum. Before you sign, get a written quote that names every branch and till, because a per-business price that covers one branch will not cover three.
What does it cost if you do not integrate?
Not integrating with Fatoora by your wave deadline is a listed violation. ZATCA's enforcement is warning-first: the first violation found draws a warning and a correction period. Repeats are fined on a rising scale that, as transcribed from ZATCA's May 2024 violations guideline, starts at SAR 10,000 and reaches SAR 50,000. Our penalties article has the full schedule and its sources.
Put simply, the first fine for a repeat is several times the yearly price of an entry Phase 2 plan.
Questions to ask before you sign
- Is Phase 2 included in this plan, or is it an add-on with its own fee?
- How many users, branches and invoicing units does the price cover?
- Will you do the Fatoora onboarding (OTP, Compliance CSID, Production CSID) with us, and is that charged?
- Are there invoice limits or per-invoice fees?
- Is the price before or after 15% VAT?
- What happens when a certificate needs renewing or a device is replaced?
- Can we export our signed XML invoices if we leave?
General information, not tax advice. ZATCA requirements are from ZATCA's Phase 2 preparation guide and e-invoicing guidelines; competitor prices are from their published pages on the date shown. Confirm current requirements on zatca.gov.sa.