Wayg vs Cantant: two Nigerian ways to keep the books

Most of these comparisons are easy, because the two products are not really competing. This one is not.

Cantant and Wayg are both Nigerian. Both do bookkeeping, inventory and invoicing. Both have a free tier that works. And the prices sit almost on top of each other: Cantant Pro at ₦10,000 a month against Wayg Basic at ₦15,000 a month, Cantant Team at ₦25,000 a month against Wayg Growth at ₦25,000 a month, on both companies' published pricing at the time of writing.

So the useful question is not which is better. It is which problem you are trying to solve.

Two honest one-line descriptions

Cantant is accounting software that reaches outward into operations. Its own line is "More than accounting software, your intelligent business manager." It is built by Cantant Technology Services Limited, a Nigerian company, and the site claims 10,000+ businesses across 85+ countries with support for 180+ currencies. Its Google Play listing carries a 4.5 rating from 97 reviews.

Wayg is an operations system that reaches into the books. Point of Sale, Inventory, Store Management and Bookkeeping on one set of records, with daily reconciliation and variance detection across cash, stock, transfers and books, team roles with permissions and audit trails, and the Wayg Assistant taking voice or text.

One starts from your numbers and works outwards. One starts from your shop floor and works inwards.

What Cantant does that Wayg does not

This is not a courtesy section. Some of these will decide it for you.

The free tier is a working product, not a trial. Cantant Starter is free and includes sales and expense recording, inventory, invoices and receipts, a money in and money out summary, branded invoices and 9 reports, for one user and one business. The catch: it is mobile app only, so no laptop.

The AI receipt scanner. Photograph a receipt and it becomes a record. For a business that comes back from Balogun with a fistful of paper every week, that is real time back every month, and it is the feature most likely to make someone stay.

Budgeting with overspending alerts. Pro adds budget controls and overspending alerts, a profit calculator, customer history, top customer ranking, purchase trend analysis, and best day and time to sell insights. Most software tells you what happened. That tells you when you are about to do something you will regret.

The Price Manager for inflation tracking. On Team, Cantant has a tool built for watching your prices against inflation. If your cost per carton has moved three times this year and your shelf price has moved once, that is where the margin went.

Multi-business comparison. Team covers up to 3 businesses, compared side by side. If you own the provisions shop, your sister's laundry and a small poultry, one login across all three is a real reason to choose it.

International reach. The 85+ countries and 180+ currencies Cantant publishes. If you invoice abroad or buy from outside Nigeria, that outweighs everything else here. Wayg's published material is naira and Nigeria facing, so confirm currency handling before you commit, or take Cantant and stop reading.

What Wayg does that Cantant does not

Same standard, the other way.

Point of sale. Cantant records sales. Wayg runs a till: a counter, a queue, your boy ringing things up, stock moving as it happens. POS is on every Wayg plan including the free one.

Store management with materials and production. Wayg publishes a materials count next to products: 50 on Free, 15 on Starter, 50 on Basic, 200 on Growth, 1,000 on Scale. That is what lets a baker, a tailor or a small bottler cost a batch from inputs instead of assuming a percentage. An accounting-first tool treats what you bought and what you sold as two lists. A production-aware tool treats one as becoming the other.

Daily reconciliation and variance detection. Not a report you run, a check that runs: 3 variance checks on Starter, 6 on Basic, 11 on Growth, 15 on Scale. The point is to catch a difference between cash, stock, transfers and books on the day, while someone can still remember what happened. Why your stock never matches your records is the long version.

The Wayg Assistant and the channel integrations. Voice or text, plain language, on every plan, which is a lower barrier than any form for an owner on her feet all day. And WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram, QuickBooks, Shopify, Chowdeck, Bumpa, Glovo and spreadsheets are all named as places records arrive from.

Cantant helps you understand your numbers. Wayg tries to make sure the numbers were true before you understood them.

Price, and what you get per seat

Both bill monthly, so this is a clean comparison for once.

Cantant, per its pricing page at the time of writing: Starter free, Pro ₦10,000 a month or $10 internationally, Team ₦25,000 a month or $25. Annual billing saves 35%. Pro is 1 user and 1 business; Team is up to 7 users and up to 3 businesses.

Wayg, per its pricing page: Free ₦0, Starter ₦5,000 a month, Basic ₦15,000, Growth ₦25,000, Scale ₦50,000. Annual billing saves 17%. Users are 1, 3, 5, 10 and 50.

The seat maths is where the lists diverge. Cantant Pro is ₦10,000 for one user; Wayg Basic is ₦15,000 for five, which is ₦3,000 per user if you use all five. At ₦25,000 a month, Cantant Team gives 7 users and 3 businesses, Wayg Growth 10 users, with no business count published.

Read that honestly rather than as a win. If you are one person doing your own books, Cantant Pro is cheaper and the extra seats are worth nothing to you. Seats only become value the moment a second person touches the records.

Prices were correct at the time of writing. Check Cantant's pricing page and Wayg's pricing page before you budget.

The comparison, line by line

Choose Cantant if

Plainly, with no hedge.

Choose Cantant if you are one person and your hardest problem is understanding your own numbers. Pro at ₦10,000 a month for a single user is the tighter fit, and the reporting depth, the budget controls and the overspending alerts point straight at that problem.

Choose Cantant if you sell or buy across borders. The international reach Cantant publishes is not something to work around.

Choose Cantant if you run more than one business, or if paper receipts are drowning you. Team at ₦25,000 a month covers 3 businesses and 7 users, and the AI receipt scanner is the most practical time saver either product publishes.

And if you have no budget at all, Starter is a working free product rather than a trial, as long as you accept that it is mobile only.

Choose Wayg if

Choose Wayg if the hardest problem is not understanding the numbers but getting the shop floor and the numbers to agree. A counter, staff, stock that walks, cash that will not match the day's sales, materials that become finished goods: the POS, the store management and the daily variance detection do work no reporting tool does.

Choose Wayg if more than one person touches the records. Five users at ₦15,000 a month and ten at ₦25,000, with roles and audit trails, is a different shape of product from a single-user books app. How Wayg works covers the day to day.

Frequently asked questions

Which is cheaper, Cantant or Wayg?

It depends how many people use it. Cantant Pro is ₦10,000 a month for one user against Wayg Basic at ₦15,000 for five. At ₦25,000 a month, Cantant Team gives 7 users and 3 businesses, Wayg Growth 10 users. Prices were correct at the time of writing.

Does Cantant have a point of sale?

A point of sale is not published on Cantant's plans; it records sales, invoices and inventory. Wayg includes point of sale on every plan including the free one. If you run a physical counter, that is what decides it.

Is Cantant's free plan actually usable?

Yes, within its limits. Starter covers sales and expense recording, inventory, invoices and receipts, branded invoices and 9 reports, for one user and one business. The main constraint is that it is mobile app only.

I already use Cantant. Is there a reason to move?

Only if your problem has changed shape. If you are still the only person handling the books, staying put is sensible. If you have opened a counter, hired staff who record sales, or started making things from materials, that is when an operations-first system earns its price. How to close your books in under an hour tests whether your setup is coping.

Related reading: Wayg vs Bumpa: selling online or keeping the records straight · Why your stock never matches your records · How Wayg works: one login, one set of records

Sources: Cantant: Pricing · Cantant: Home · Cantant on Google Play · Wayg: Pricing