Every NDIS software pricing page leads with a small, friendly number. $8 a user. $44.90 a month. $16 a user. Then the real bill turns up: the tier you needed for NDIS claiming, the minimum number of seats, the SMS charges, the add-on modules and an annual invoice due up front. The sticker price is not the bill, and the gap between the two is where most providers get caught.
This guide explains the four ways NDIS software is priced, shows what each one does to your budget as you grow, and works the numbers for a team of 10. Every competitor price below is as published on 15 October 2026, and each is labelled as GST inclusive or exclusive so you can compare like with like.
The four pricing models in NDIS software
Almost every platform falls into one of four models. Each is fair in the right situation and painful in the wrong one.
Per user
You pay a set amount for every person with a login, every month. ShiftCare works this way: Basic is $8 or $9, Professional $13 or $15 and Premium $20 or $25 per user per month, excluding GST, depending on whether you bill annually or monthly. CareMaster is also per user, from $16 on Essential to $36 on Premium, excluding GST. Astalty prices by role instead: $64 per standard user and $30 per support worker a month, GST inclusive, with unlimited participants.
Pros: easy to understand, and the bill tracks your headcount. Cons: every extra login adds cost, tiers decide which features you can actually use, and minimum seats can apply. Best for: teams with a stable headcount that know exactly who needs access.
Per client
You pay for each participant on your books. Brevity charges per client per month, excluding GST: Lite is $44.90 a month ($4.49 per client) and Business is $64.90 a month ($6.49 per client), with a setup fee on Business (the amount is not stated) and Enterprise on application.
Pros: a low starting point when your client list is small, and NDIS bulk claims are on all plans. Cons: the bill rises every time you win a participant, which is the growth you want to celebrate, not budget around. Modules such as SIL, plan management and Group Rostering sit on Business. Best for: small client lists supported by a large team.
Per staff allowance
Here the plan is sized to the number of staff you roster, and the price does not move when your client list does. BondiByte is built this way: plans are priced by staff allowance, every feature is on every plan, and staff numbers are an allowance, never a cap. For a team of 10, the Starter plan works out at about $9.90 per staff member a month. SupportAbility also uses staff, in brackets of active staff, with the smallest bracket at 30 staff and unlimited client records.
Pros: one number to budget, no climbing a tier ladder to reach the feature you need, and client growth is free of surprises. Cons: you need to know roughly how many staff you roster. Best for: providers who expect their client list to grow and want the bill to stay predictable while it does.
Quoted or custom
No price on the page, just a demo and a quote. Flowlogic says pricing is quoted based on organisation size and modules. Lumary and VisualCare do not publish pricing, and SupportAbility does not publish its bracket prices. At the bespoke end, one custom-software vendor publicly puts running costs at $15,000 to $30,000 a year for organisations with 100 or more staff (GST basis not stated).
Pros: tailored scope for large or complex organisations. Cons: you cannot compare until you have sat through sales calls, and the final figure depends on negotiation. Best for: large organisations with unusual requirements and the time to run a procurement.
What counts as a user?
This is the question most pricing pages bury, and it changes the maths more than the headline rate. Ask it of every vendor before you build a budget.
- ShiftCare: everyone with a login counts as a user. Your office team, coordinators and managers all count alongside support workers, and the minimum is 5 staff.
- CareMaster: admin users and managers count as licences. Essential has a 5 user minimum, and Standard covers 5 to 50 users.
- SupportAbility: there is no different rate for admin staff. You are placed in a bracket by active staff, and the smallest bracket is 30 staff.
- Astalty: a standard user is $64 a month and a support worker is $30 a month, GST inclusive, so your mix of office and frontline staff drives the total.
- BondiByte: pricing is a staff allowance, and the allowance is not a cap, so growing past it is a conversation about a larger allowance, not a locked door.
Here is why it matters. Take 10 support workers plus 3 office staff on ShiftCare Professional. That is 13 users, so $169 to $195 a month excluding GST, not the $130 to $150 you would get from counting frontline staff alone.
Hidden costs to check
Run this checklist against every quote before you sign anything.
- Minimum seats. ShiftCare has a 5 staff minimum, CareMaster Essential a 5 user minimum, and SupportAbility starts at a 30 staff bracket. A smaller team can end up paying for seats it does not have. SupportAbility also states that fees cannot be reduced if you use only a portion of what is available.
- Setup fees. Brevity applies a setup fee on Business and Enterprise. Astalty and Brevity Lite state no setup fee. Ask every vendor for the amount in writing.
- Add-ons. ShiftCare charges $2 per user for HR and $3 per user for Certifications, and $5 per client for Support at Home on Premium and Enterprise. CareMaster charges $155 a month for Payroll Award Interpretation, $135 for Platform Hosting and $155 for DSS DEX API Reporting. Take all three and that is $445 a month on top of the licences.
- Features locked to higher tiers. At ShiftCare, bulk invoicing and NDIS claim file uploads start on Professional, and direct NDIA claims with PRODA need Premium. At Brevity, SIL, plan management and Group Rostering sit on Business.
- Training. ShiftCare includes onboarding, training and webinars at no extra cost. CareMaster prices training packages by business size and does not publish them. SupportAbility lists training installation as an add-on.
- Annual pay up front. ShiftCare is paid annually up front, and SupportAbility bills annually at the start of the year. For a 10 person team on ShiftCare Professional at the annual rate, that is $1,560 excluding GST in one payment, and $2,400 on Premium.
- SMS and e-signature charges. ShiftCare SMS is 10 cents each, so 1,000 reminders a month is $100. Astalty charges $1 per eSignature, and two-way SMS is $15 a month per number plus 10 cents each.
What 10 staff actually costs
Here is a team of 10 across the main platforms, using published prices only. Client-based and role-based products are shown with their stated examples.
| Product | Pricing model | What you need for NDIS claiming | Monthly cost for a team of 10 | GST basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BondiByte | Staff allowance, every feature on every plan | Included on every plan: invoices drafted from rostered shifts and a bulk payment request CSV in the NDIS layout | Starter plan: about $9.90 per staff member a month | Tax treatment confirmed at onboarding |
| ShiftCare Professional | Per user | Professional for bulk invoicing and NDIS claim file uploads | $130 to $150 | Excluding GST |
| ShiftCare Premium | Per user | Premium for direct NDIA claims with PRODA | $200 to $250 | Excluding GST |
| Brevity (20 clients) | Per client | NDIS bulk claims on all plans | Lite about $89.80. Business about $129.80 plus setup fee | Excluding GST |
| Brevity (40 clients) | Per client | NDIS bulk claims on all plans | Lite about $179.60. Business about $259.60 plus setup fee | Excluding GST |
| Astalty | Per user by role | Not stated on its pricing page | $364 for 10 support workers plus 1 standard user | GST inclusive (about $331 excluding GST) |
| CareMaster | Per user | Not stated on its pricing page | Essential $160 before add-ons | Excluding GST |
| SupportAbility | Active staff brackets (smallest is 30 staff) | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Lumary | Not public, demo only | Not published | Not public | Not published |
| Flowlogic | Quoted by organisation size and modules | Quoted | Quoted | Not published |
Now watch what happens when the business changes. Grow that ShiftCare Professional team from 10 to 15 staff and the bill moves by $65 to $75 a month. Double a Brevity client list from 20 to 40 and the Business plan doubles from about $129.80 to about $259.60, with no change in your staff. Add office logins on CareMaster and each one is a full licence. These are not errors on anyone's part. They are the natural behaviour of the model, and it pays to know which one your growth plans will push against.
Why per staff with every feature included is easier to budget
Most providers are not trying to find the lowest number on a page. They are trying to find a number they can trust in March when the board asks what next year looks like. That is where a staff allowance with everything included earns its place.
- No tier ladder. Every feature is on every plan. You never discover that the thing you bought software for sits one tier up.
- Client numbers do not change the bill. Win ten new participants and your software cost stays put.
- An allowance, not a cap. Staff numbers are an allowance. Larger organisations get larger allowances, and Enterprise is available by arrangement.
- One simple figure. For a team of 10, the Starter plan works out at about $9.90 per staff member a month, with tax treatment confirmed at onboarding.
- A 28-day free trial. Starter, Foundation and Growth all start with 28 days to run your real roster before you pay.
And what sits inside every plan is the part that tends to cost extra elsewhere. Smart Rostering drafts your whole roster from your pattern, hard blocks first, with the reasons shown and approval before publishing by default. SIL support covers primary, secondary and relief teams, with sleepovers split for pay. The Audit Centre gives you a live readiness score with evidence mapped to the NDIS Practice Standards. Service agreements come with e-signature and NDIS catalogue line items, and invoices are drafted from rostered shifts, with a bulk payment request CSV in the NDIS layout. To be clear on claiming, BondiByte prepares claim-ready data and does not lodge claims with the NDIA directly. Timesheets and pay levels connect to Xero Payroll, and there is a support coordination workspace for your coordinators.
Which should you choose?
- BondiByte if you want one predictable staff-based price with every feature on every plan, a bill that ignores client growth, and rostering, SIL, audit readiness, agreements and claim-ready invoicing under one roof.
- ShiftCare if you want a per user model with a low entry rate and a short trial, and you are happy to move up to Professional or Premium for claiming features.
- Brevity if your client list is small and steady and your team is large, so billing by client works in your favour.
- Astalty if you prefer role-based pricing with unlimited participants, no minimum seats and no lock-in, and your team is mostly support workers.
- CareMaster if you want a per user model with published tiers and apps on every tier, and you have budgeted for add-ons and a demo-led process.
- SupportAbility, Lumary or Flowlogic if you are a larger organisation with the time for a quoted, demo-led procurement.
Frequently asked questions
How much does NDIS software cost per month?
For a team of 10, published per user prices run from about $130 to $250 a month excluding GST at ShiftCare, and $160 a month before add-ons at CareMaster Essential. Client-based pricing at Brevity runs from about $89.80 to $259.60 for 20 to 40 clients, excluding GST. Several vendors publish nothing. On BondiByte, for a team of 10, the Starter plan works out at about $9.90 per staff member a month.
Is NDIS software priced per user or per client?
Both exist, plus per staff allowance and quoted models. ShiftCare and CareMaster charge per user, Brevity charges per client, and BondiByte prices by staff allowance. Pick the model that matches how your organisation grows. If you expect more participants, avoid a model that bills per participant.
Are NDIS software prices GST inclusive?
It varies, and you should check. ShiftCare, Brevity and CareMaster publish prices excluding GST. Astalty publishes GST inclusive prices. For BondiByte, tax treatment is confirmed at onboarding.
Are there setup fees for NDIS software?
Some have them. Brevity applies a setup fee on Business and Enterprise but not on Lite, and Astalty states no setup fees. ShiftCare includes onboarding, training and webinars at no extra cost. CareMaster prices training packages by business size. Always get setup and training in writing.
Do admin staff count as users?
Often yes. Everyone with a login counts at ShiftCare, and admin users and managers count as licences at CareMaster. SupportAbility has no different rate for admin staff, and Astalty charges a higher standard user rate than its support worker rate.
Which NDIS software includes NDIS claiming on its entry plan?
At ShiftCare, bulk invoicing and NDIS claim file uploads start on Professional, one step above Basic, with direct NDIA claims with PRODA on Premium. Brevity includes NDIS bulk claims on all plans. On BondiByte, every feature is on every plan, including invoices drafted from rostered shifts and a bulk payment request CSV in the NDIS layout.
Is there a free trial?
Yes, at several vendors. ShiftCare offers 7 days and Astalty 14 days. BondiByte offers 28 days free on Starter, Foundation and Growth, which is long enough to run a full roster cycle on your real team. Brevity offers a free trial on Lite. CareMaster is demo only.
How do I compare NDIS software quotes fairly?
Price the same team of 10 across every product. Count everyone who needs a login, add the add-ons and charges you will really use, confirm GST treatment, and include annual up front payments and setup. Then check which tier your must-have features sit on.
See the cost in action
A price tells you what you pay. The roster tells you what you get. Watch the Smart Rostering video on this page to see a roster build itself, then start your 28-day free trial and test it on your own team.
How we compared
We compared published pricing pages on 15 October 2026 and used only prices vendors make public. Where a vendor does not publish a price, we say so rather than guess. Prices change, so confirm current figures with each vendor before you budget.