Paying for developer tools from Nepal, without a dollar card
The tool is rarely the problem. The payment is.
A developer in Kathmandu can evaluate every AI coding tool on the market and buy almost none of them. Not because of price. Because the checkout wants a card that most people here do not have, in a currency the bank will not release without paperwork.
What the rule actually is
Nepal Rastra Bank permits an individual a limited amount of foreign exchange per year for online purchases, and it is cumulative across every service you subscribe to. A dollar-priced editor, a dollar -priced design tool and a cloud bill all draw from the same annual allowance. People run out, and the failure arrives as a declined card in the middle of a working day rather than as a warning.
This is a summary, not advice. The limit and the paperwork change; your bank is the authority on what your account may do.
Why most tools cannot take your money
- Stripe does not operate in Nepal. A company billing through Stripe cannot hold a Nepali account, so it cannot accept rupees even if it wants to.
- Local wallets are not a Stripe checkbox. eSewa and Fonepay are separate integrations with their own signing, their own callbacks and their own settlement: weeks of work for a market most companies have not measured.
- VAT. Selling here properly means collecting 13% and showing it as its own line, because a registered business needs the split on the invoice to reclaim it.
What we did instead
AstraCode is sold in Nepal by Vanarx Tech Pvt Ltd, a Nepali company, in rupees. You pay with eSewa or from any bank app through Fonepay. No international card, nothing drawn from your forex allowance, and a receipt from a company registered here.
| Plan | Per month | VAT 13% | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hobby | Rs 0 | - | Rs 0 |
| Pro | Rs 1,999 | Rs 259.87 | Rs 2,258.87 |
| Pro+ | Rs 5,999 | Rs 779.87 | Rs 6,778.87 |
| Ultra | Rs 19,999 | Rs 2,599.87 | Rs 22,598.87 |
| Standard | Rs 2,999 | Rs 389.87 | Rs 3,388.87 |
| Premium | Rs 11,999 | Rs 1,559.87 | Rs 13,558.87 |
VAT is added at 13% and shown as its own line before you pay, not folded into the headline. Full pricing.
How the payment works
- eSewa takes you to eSewa to approve the amount, then back here. Your plan is active when eSewa confirms the payment to us directly, not when your browser returns, so closing the tab does not lose the payment.
- Fonepay shows a QR and the list of bank apps that can pay it. Scan from a desktop, or tap your bank on a phone.
- If something goes wrong mid-payment, we re-check every open payment against the gateway on a schedule and activate anything that went through. A dropped connection after you have paid is a recoverable state here.
Students
There is a student price. It needs a valid student ID, checked by a person, and it is activated once that check passes. Pricing.
Try it before you pay anything
The free tier needs no card of any kind, dollar or rupee. When you do upgrade, it is eSewa or your bank app.
Sold in Nepal by Vanarx Tech Pvt Ltd.