Buying guide
Best Software for Solar Companies in Nigeria (2026): 7 Options Compared
OpenSolar, Aurora, HubSpot, Kostomer, field service tools, a spreadsheet and WhatsApp, and GrowUp Business. Which one designs the system, which one closes the quote and collects the instalments, and why almost no solar company in Nigeria needs both from one tool.
What is the best software for a solar company in Nigeria?
Two different jobs hide inside 'solar software'. The engineering job is sizing the system, laying out panels and producing the technical proposal: OpenSolar does that free, Aurora does it for a per-user dollar fee. The sales and money job is the WhatsApp enquiry that asked 'how much for a 5kVA', the quote that went stale while the dollar moved, the site survey that nobody confirmed, the deposit, the instalments over the next twelve months, and the battery that needs replacing in year three. GrowUp Business is built for that job, in Naira, on WhatsApp. Most Nigerian installers need a design tool and a sales system, not one tool pretending to be both.
Everybody in Nigeria wants solar this year. The grid is what it is, a 5kVA hybrid with lithium is the new generator, and a solar company’s WhatsApp fills up every week without an ad. So the problem is not demand. The problem is that a solar sale is a slow, expensive decision made by a customer who is comparing three companies, waiting for salary, watching the dollar, and asking his brother-in-law, and most of those customers go quiet in the gap between the quote and the deposit.
“Solar software” hides two products. The design tool, which sizes the system and produces the proposal, and which OpenSolar now does free. And the sales and money system, which captures the enquiry, chases the quote, books the survey, collects the deposit and the twelve instalments after it, and remembers the customer when the battery dies. Most international lists review the first. Most Nigerian installers bleed on the second.
This page compares the real options a Nigerian solar company meets, including the free ones, including where GrowUp Business does not fit. Put your own numbers into the quote leak calculator first if you want to know the size of the gap.
Who this page is for
Read this if
- You send quotes on WhatsApp and most of them go quiet
- Your quotes are in Naira but your costs move with the dollar, so a two-week-old quote is a loss
- You sell on deposit plus instalments and chase the balance by memory
- Site surveys and installations get booked in chats and half of them need rescheduling
- You have installed hundreds of systems and have no list of whose battery is due
This is not your problem yet if
- Your main need is 3D system design, shading analysis and panel layout
- You are a large EPC with procurement, BOQ and crew dispatch needs
- You are a lender or a pay-as-you-go platform, not an installer
- You install a few systems a year and know every customer by name
What actually matters when you choose
- 01
Design or sales? Decide which leak costs more
A design tool makes a beautiful proposal for a customer who has already gone quiet. A sales system chases the customer but cannot size the system. Buying one to fix the other is the most common mistake Nigerian solar companies make. Most need a free design tool and a proper sales and collection system.
- 02
Does it live on WhatsApp?
Nigerian solar enquiries arrive as 'how much for 5kVA with lithium' on WhatsApp, from a flyer, an estate group or a referral. If the software treats WhatsApp as an add-on, your sales team keeps quoting from personal phones and the system becomes an expensive address book.
- 03
Can it run a deposit and instalment plan without chasing?
Pay small small is how a large share of Nigerian solar gets sold. If the software only records the plan and someone still has to remember instalment seven, you have a spreadsheet with a login. Look for invoices that go out on their dates in Naira with reminders and a view of who is behind.
- 04
Does it remember the customer after the install?
A lead-acid bank dies in three to five years. A hybrid inverter wants a service. The customer who installed in 2023 is a battery replacement in 2026 and a referral every year in between. Software that forgets the customer at commissioning leaves that revenue to whoever they find on Instagram.
- 05
What does it cost, and does the price move with the dollar?
Your panels already move with the exchange rate. Your software should not. Dollar per-user billing on a five-person sales team is a line item that grows every time the Naira slips.
Side by side
| Option | Billing | System design | WhatsApp inbox | Quote follow-up sequences | Deposit and instalments in Naira | Maintenance and battery reminders |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheet and WhatsApp | Free | No | On personal phones | Memory | Manual | No |
| OpenSolar | Free core | Yes | No | Lightweight pipeline only | No | No |
| Aurora Solar | Dollars, $159 to $259 per user | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| HubSpot | Dollars after free tier | No | Via integration | Yes, paid tiers | Not in Naira | Via workflows |
| Kostomer | Not advertised | No | Not advertised | Not advertised | Not advertised | Not advertised |
| Field service tools | Mostly dollars | No | Rarely | No | Rarely | Job-based |
| GrowUp Business | Naira, start free | No, by design | Native, same number as your phone | Yes | Yes, with reminders | Yes, from the install date |
So which one should you pick?
A spreadsheet and WhatsApp
You install a few systems a month and nobody has gone quiet on an instalment yet.
OpenSolar
You need system design and a technical proposal. Everyone should have this. It is free.
Aurora Solar
You have a dedicated design team, a dollar budget, and OpenSolar does not go far enough.
HubSpot or Kostomer
You want a general CRM and are willing to build the solar-specific parts yourself, or do without them.
GrowUp Business
Your leak is between the quote and the money: enquiries that wait, quotes that go quiet, surveys that reschedule, instalments chased from memory, and hundreds of past customers whose batteries are due. You want it in Naira on the WhatsApp number you already use, and you already have a design tool.
Questions buyers ask
Can GrowUp Business design or size a solar system?
No, and it is not trying to. Sizing, shading and layout are OpenSolar's job, free, or Aurora's for a fee. GrowUp Business runs everything around the engineering: the enquiry, the survey booking, the quote follow-up, the deposit, the instalments and the after-sales reminders. Attach the technical proposal to the customer's deal and the two tools work together.
How does it handle a quote that goes stale when the dollar moves?
Quotes carry their date. A follow-up sequence runs for days after each quote, and the customer who comes back after three weeks is flagged so the sales team re-prices before confirming. It does not fix the exchange rate. It stops a stale quote being honoured by accident, and it stops the customer being forgotten while the rate settles.
Can it run pay small small?
Yes. The plan is set up for how you sell: deposit, then monthly instalments over the tenor. Each invoice goes out on its date in Naira, a reminder goes out before it is due, and who is behind sits on one screen. It is your own instalment plan, run without chasing. If a bank or fintech is financing the customer, that is arranged with them and recorded on the deal.
What about customers who installed three years ago?
They are your best customers and the ones every installer forgets. Every installed system sits on the customer's record with its date and battery type. A service check-in at six months, an annual reminder, and a battery replacement conversation at year three for lead-acid, fire on their own. The install becomes a relationship instead of a receipt.
Do I pay per WhatsApp message?
No. There is no per-message or per-conversation WhatsApp charge on top of the subscription, and up to 10 staff logins are included, so sales, engineers and the owner all work from one system.
Is this different for residential and commercial customers?
Yes, and they should not share a pipeline. A homeowner decides in days on price and load. A factory or estate needs a site assessment, a formal proposal and a procurement cycle over weeks. Separate pipelines with different follow-up timing, so a facility manager is never getting a one-day-discount nudge. [The solar software page](/solar-company-software-nigeria/) shows both journeys.
Why owners choose GrowUp Business
- Try it in your business first
- One month free on a full system built for your industry. 14 days free on the quick setup. No card upfront.
- Set up for you
- We build your inbox, bookings, payments, follow-up and staff lanes around how you already work. You are not handed a blank tool.
- Naira, not dollars
- Naira pricing and Paystack payments. Your subscription does not move with the exchange rate.
- No per-message WhatsApp fees
- Your WhatsApp stays on your phone and connects to the business panel. No per-message or per-conversation charge on top.
- Your whole team included
- Up to 10 staff logins included, each with their own lane and permissions.
- Honest about what it does not do
- Every page says plainly where GrowUp Business stops, and which specialist tool does that job instead.
- Built inside working businesses
- These systems were built and proven inside working Nigerian businesses in Abuja before they were offered to anyone else.
See a quote follow-up and an instalment plan run on your own customers.
Book a free 15-minute walk-through. We connect your actual WhatsApp, set up one instalment plan the way you sell, and show you the follow-up going out after a real quote. If a design tool is what you are missing, we will say so. No card, no pressure.
Book your free walk-throughOr send a message and we will reply right away.