Sticker prices rarely tell the story. Microfinance and lending platforms are priced as subscriptions, per‑portfolio fees, per‑seat models, or hybrid packages—and the expensive part is often implementation: chart of accounts mapping, product configuration, migration, training, and integration with payments or core banking.

Cost buckets to model honestly

1. Software fees (recurring) + any transaction or SMS surcharges.
2. Implementation: discovery, configuration, UAT, cutover support.
3. Data migration: loan tape hygiene, historic balances, write‑off policy alignment.
4. Integrations: payment gateways, credit bureaus, accounting, KYC providers.
5. Operations: support tier, DR expectations, periodic upgrades.

Capricon recommends comparing vendors on three‑year total cost and governance depth—not only monthly SaaS. Cheap software that cannot enforce policy becomes expensive the first time recoveries or audits go wrong.