Free Cash on Delivery Order Management Software: What to Choose?
When you start selling with cash on delivery, you don't want to pay for a subscription before your first orders come in. Good news: you can start for free. But every free tool has its limits, and it is better to know them before you lose orders.
This guide reviews the free options for managing your orders and deliveries, what each one really does, and the point where moving to a paid plan pays off.
What a tool needs to let you do
Free or not, a COD order management tool has to cover four needs:
gathering your orders in one place, without losing any;
confirming each order before shipping it;
shipping: creating the parcel with your shipping company;
tracking the parcel through to delivery and cash collection.
Here is how the free options handle each of these points.
The free options, one by one
Google Sheets
A shared, free spreadsheet that everyone knows how to use. You paste in your orders, add a "status" column, and the whole team sees the same list.
Its limits: everything is done by hand. No automatic confirmation message, no link with the shipping company, and a typing error easily goes unnoticed. See managing COD orders with Google Sheets.
Your store's order page
Shopify, YouCan and the other platforms show your orders in their interface, already included in your store subscription.
Its limits: it only sees that store's orders, and it is not built for COD: without an extra app, there is no WhatsApp confirmation, no call queue and no parcel creation with a Moroccan shipping company.
The WhatsApp Business app
Free, it lets you message your customers from a business number, with quick replies and labels to sort conversations.
Its limits: every message goes out by hand, one at a time. Customers' replies don't update your orders, and there are no "Confirm" and "Cancel" buttons that move the order forward. See WhatsApp order confirmation.
Your shipping company's portal
Your shipping company gives you access to create parcels, print labels and track deliveries.
Its limits: every parcel is entered by hand, and each shipping company has its own website. With two companies, you follow two separate dashboards.
Sendocki's free plan
It brings the four needs together in a single tool, with no credit card and no commitment:
30 shipped parcels free every month, and unlimited orders;
one connected store (Shopify, YouCan or Google Sheets);
one WhatsApp number, through Meta's official API, with one automation and 50 automatic messages a month;
one connected shipping company (Sendit, Ameex, Cathedis or Livo);
parcel tracking and a customer file of up to 100 contacts.
Its limits: a single user, and the team, call queue and commissions are kept for paid plans. WhatsApp messages are still billed by Meta, as everywhere.
The comparison
Option | What is free | What is missing |
|---|---|---|
Google Sheets | A shared list of orders | Automatic confirmation, shipping and tracking |
Store order page | That store's orders | WhatsApp confirmation, Moroccan shipping companies |
WhatsApp Business app | Messages, one at a time | The link with orders, buttons, automation |
Shipping company portal | Creating and tracking parcels | The link with your orders, confirmation |
Sendocki free plan | All four needs, up to 30 parcels a month | Team, call queue, commissions |
When free is no longer enough
You spend more than an hour a day copying information from one tool to another: that time costs more than a subscription.
You are no longer alone: as soon as a confirmation agent joins you, you need a call queue and roles.
You work with several shipping companies and want to compare them.
Your volumes go beyond the free plan.
At that point, compare paid plans on what they actually count: orders received or parcels shipped. See COD software pricing.
A tool that follows your seasons
In COD in Morocco, activity is not the same every month: a peak during Ramadan and before Eid, another during the end-of-year sales, and quieter months in summer. With fixed-price software, you pay the same amount whether you sell or not. With billing per shipped parcel, the bill follows your activity: it goes up when you sell, and down when things are quiet.
An example on Sendocki's Growth plan, with volumes made up for illustration:
Month | Parcels shipped | Sendocki bill |
|---|---|---|
Quiet month (summer) | 300 | 149 + 300 × 0.80 = 389 MAD |
Normal month | 800 | 149 + 800 × 0.80 = 789 MAD |
Peak month (Ramadan) | 1,400 | 149 + 1,400 × 0.80 = 1,269 MAD |
The monthly base stays low, and most of the bill depends on what you actually shipped. A slow month costs you little more than the subscription. On the other hand, a fixed price can work out cheaper during your biggest months: do the maths over a whole year, with your strong months and your weak ones.
Frequently asked questions
Is there completely free COD software, with no limits?
No. Free tools are either manual (spreadsheet, separate apps) or limited in volume or features. A free plan is there to get started and to test with your real orders.
Do you need a credit card for Sendocki's free plan?
No. The free plan requires no credit card and no commitment.
Are WhatsApp messages free?
The WhatsApp Business app is free for messages sent by hand. Automatic messages go through Meta's official API, which bills them directly on your account, whatever the tool.
Can you keep Google Sheets with Sendocki?
Yes. Sendocki imports orders from your Google Sheets file: you keep your habit, and confirmation, shipping and tracking happen in the tool.
Key takeaways
You can manage your first cash-on-delivery orders without paying: a spreadsheet, the store's order page, the WhatsApp Business app and the shipping company's website do the job, at the cost of a lot of copy and paste. A free plan like Sendocki's brings everything into a single tool, up to 30 parcels a month. As your team and volumes grow, move to a paid plan by comparing what is really billed.
