Short answer: KRA eTIMS Lite is a free official option for eligible non-VAT taxpayers. Its eCitizen web guide includes saved customers, item registration and invoice downloads. Risiti App is a paid browser workflow with reusable records, visible submission states and accepted-receipt sharing. Choose by taxpayer eligibility and a complete invoice test, not an arbitrary number of invoices per month.
Compare the Specific Lite Channel You Would Use
KRA lists Lite Web through eCitizen, Lite USSD through *222#, and the eTIMS Non VAT mobile app. These are separate interfaces. A feature documented for the web route should not automatically be attributed to every Lite interface, or marked absent from all of them.
Risiti is published by PesaStack Limited, which also publishes this comparison. The KRA column below reflects official documentation; the Risiti column describes its implemented workflow. This is not a hands-on speed, uptime or support benchmark.
What the Available Evidence Shows
| Task | KRA Lite Web / eCitizen | Risiti App |
|---|---|---|
| Create and reuse a customer | The official guide shows adding customers with or without a PIN, and saving contact details (pages 8–10). | Saved client records can be reused when preparing an invoice. |
| Set up an item or service | The guide documents item registration with name, price and quantity (pages 10–11). | Reusable item records support invoice preparation; confirm the item and tax setup. |
| Obtain an invoice copy | The guide includes an invoice download step (page 12). | Receipt PDF download and sharing follow KRA acceptance. |
| Correct an accepted sale | The guide shows creating and downloading a credit note (pages 13–15). | Use the credit-note workflow for an invoice originally issued in Risiti. |
| Investigate an interrupted submission | Check the originating channel's record and current KRA guidance; no comparative recovery test is reported here. | Submission states keep unresolved invoices visible; temporary failures can be retried, while other failures require action. |
| Work with an unreliable connection | Confirm behavior in the exact Lite interface you select; offline parity is not established by this review. | The offline queue preserves supported work for later submission. A queued record is not an accepted KRA receipt. |
| Pay for the software | KRA provides its eTIMS software free of charge. | Choose the published Risiti App billing option; review the current terms before subscribing. |
When the Free KRA Route Fits
There is no invoice-count threshold in this comparison that makes a free route unsuitable. A busy business with a suitable process may make a different choice from a lower-volume business with complicated coordination needs.
- ✓Your taxpayer profile and required transactions are supported by the selected channel.
- ✓You can create an accurate invoice, retrieve its accepted record and give the buyer a usable copy.
- ✓The customer, item, correction and record-access workflow fits the people doing the work.
- ✓You have a workable process for uncertain submissions and know which KRA support route to use.
When to Assess Risiti App
Assess Risiti if preparing invoices in a phone browser, finding saved records, following KRA submission states and sharing accepted receipts would help your daily work. Test those tasks before treating them as a reason to pay.
If your POS, ERP or billing software already creates the sale, assess Direct API for one business or Platform API for multiple merchant businesses. Those are separate products and cost models; they are not needed merely to use Risiti App.
Test the Outcome After a Timeout
KRA remains an external dependency. Lite is a set of official taxpayer channels; Risiti uses an OSCU-based workflow. That does not establish that they use the same internal API or have identical outage behavior.
If a connection drops, find the original invoice before creating another. Separate a saved draft, an unresolved submission and an accepted receipt. In Risiti, temporary submission failures can retry automatically; data errors or exhausted retries need an operator or support response. This guide promises neither a fixed retry interval nor uninterrupted KRA availability.
Run the Same Evaluation on Each Option
| Test | Keep as evidence |
|---|---|
| Prepare a realistic buyer and two items | A review screen showing the intended buyer, units, tax treatment and total |
| Complete the invoice workflow | An accepted record and the copy you can provide to the buyer |
| Find the record again | The available search, history and export steps |
| Rehearse a correction and uncertain submission safely | The originating invoice, linked correction and documented recovery path |
| Check the full cost | Current subscription or usage terms plus any equipment, connectivity and support quote |
Switch Without Losing the Original Records
KRA says taxpayers can use more than one solution, with a unique invoice sequence for each. Keep the earlier records accessible, complete onboarding for the new solution and retain the relationship between an invoice and any correction. KRA requires the credit note to come from the solution that issued the original invoice.
Official sources
Official guidance and legislation used to prepare this guide.
Frequently asked questions
Open a question to read the answer.
Is KRA eTIMS Lite free?
KRA provides its eTIMS software free of charge. Lite includes web, USSD and mobile channels for eligible taxpayers; select the route that supports your taxpayer profile and transactions.
Can eTIMS Lite Web save customers and download invoices?
Yes. KRA's eCitizen guide documents saving customer details, registering items and downloading invoices. Check the specific interface and output you intend to use.
Do I need paid software after ten invoices a month?
There is no such cutoff in this comparison. Choose using eligibility, transaction types, records, corrections, connectivity, support and the actual cost of your workflow.
Does the offline queue provide an accepted receipt while disconnected?
No. Preserving work for later submission is different from KRA acceptance. Check the invoice outcome before presenting an accepted receipt.
Can I switch from eTIMS Lite to Risiti?
Complete the applicable onboarding for Risiti and retain earlier records. KRA allows multiple solutions with separate invoice sequences; corrections stay with the solution that created the original invoice.
Updated: 14 Sept 2026. Source-check scope and limitations, where recorded, appear below. This guide is not tax or legal advice. Confirm unusual cases with KRA or a qualified tax professional.
Keep reading
Selected from the same guide librarySource check: . KRA's documented Lite interfaces, saved eCitizen customers/items, invoice downloads and originating-solution corrections.
No independent timed product comparison or authenticated test of every Lite interface was performed.
What changed in this review
- Removed blanket feature denials, arbitrary invoice-count thresholds and shared-API assumptions.
- Compared documented channels with actual workflow needs instead of invented speed or reliability tests.