The first time I tried to file my crypto taxes manually in India, I had a spreadsheet with 847 rows. Three exchanges, two years of transactions, coin-to-coin swaps, staking rewards, and one accidental self-transfer I couldn't explain. It took me 11 hours over three evenings, I made at least two calculation errors, and I still wasn't confident the final number was right.

That was my introduction to crypto tax software. I've now used Koinly for two complete Indian tax seasons (FY 2023-24 and FY 2024-25), and I've also tested ClearTax Crypto and Tax2Win to compare. Here's the honest comparison.

How Koinly Works With Indian Exchanges

Koinly connects to Indian exchanges via API. For CoinDCX, WazirX, ZebPay, and Binance India, the API import is automatic — it pulls your complete transaction history, categorises each transaction (buy, sell, swap, fee, staking reward), and calculates the gain or loss on each taxable event.

The Indian tax report generates Schedule VDA entries for your ITR, applies the 30% flat rate to gains, handles the 1% TDS tracking, and flags any transactions that need manual review. In my experience, about 3-5% of transactions need manual categorisation — usually unusual transaction types or things the exchange API doesn't label clearly.

The Pricing Reality

Koinly's pricing is based on transaction count. Up to 25 transactions per year: free (useful for very casual investors). Up to 100 transactions: $49/year (~₹4,100). Up to 1,000 transactions: $99/year (~₹8,300). Unlimited: $179/year.

For context: if you trade actively — weekly SIPs, occasional rebalancing, staking rewards — 1,000 transactions per year isn't unusual. Budget ₹8,000-15,000 per year for proper crypto tax software if you're an active investor. That's not cheap, but it's significantly cheaper than getting it wrong and paying penalties.

Koinly vs ClearTax Crypto vs Tax2Win

ClearTax Crypto has the advantage of being an Indian product — the Indian CA ecosystem is very familiar with it, and if you're working with a CA, they may prefer it. The interface isn't as polished as Koinly, but the Indian exchange integration is solid and the ITR report format is correct.

Tax2Win is the most affordable option for Indian users — their crypto tax module costs ₹2,999 for unlimited transactions, which undercuts both Koinly and ClearTax significantly. The downside: fewer international exchange integrations. If all your crypto is on Indian exchanges, Tax2Win is worth considering on price.

Koinly wins on international exchange support, DeFi transaction handling, and interface quality. If you use MetaMask, Uniswap, or hold tokens across multiple wallets — Koinly handles the complexity better than the Indian alternatives.

The DeFi Problem Nobody Talks About

This is where all crypto tax software, including Koinly, struggles. Complex DeFi interactions — providing liquidity to Uniswap, yield farming, lending on Aave, receiving airdropped tokens — generate tax events that software can misclassify. Koinly handles these better than most, but plan to spend time reviewing DeFi transactions manually. The software is a starting point, not a hands-off solution, for active DeFi users.

My Honest Recommendation

For most Indian crypto investors using 1-3 Indian exchanges with standard buy/sell/SIP activity: Tax2Win gives you 80% of Koinly's value at 30% of the price. For investors with international exchange exposure, DeFi activity, or complex multi-wallet setups: Koinly is worth paying for.

Whatever you choose — use something. Manual spreadsheet calculation of Indian crypto taxes at scale is where errors happen and errors with the IT Department are expensive.

Quick Verdict

Indian Exchange Integration: 4/5 — Solid, minor manual review needed
ITR Report Quality: 4/5 — Correct format, usable by CAs
DeFi Handling: 4/5 — Best in class but still imperfect
Pricing: 3/5 — Expensive for high-transaction users
Interface: 5/5 — Best UX in the category
Overall: 4/5