How Much Does NDIS SIL Software Actually Cost? (2026 Edition)

This post exists because most NDIS SIL software vendors hide their pricing behind quote forms, and the few who publish a price still bury per-user multipliers, setup fees and add-on tiers under the headline number. Operators trying to compare options waste hours filling in lead forms and then end up on sales calls before they have any sense of the maths.

What follows is what's public as of 2026 — the dollar amounts each vendor lists on their own pricing page or in publicly-available sector documentation. Where pricing is hidden behind quote forms, we say so explicitly. Where we've cited industry estimates rather than vendor-confirmed numbers, we flag them. The point is to publish what's actually checkable today, then update this post every quarter.

The two pricing models

NDIS shift-software pricing splits cleanly into two models, with a third edge case (enterprise quote-only) sitting alongside.

Per-worker pricing charges per worker per month — typically $10–$20 depending on the tier. Per-worker is efficient at low headcounts and scales linearly with your hiring: every support worker you add lifts the bill. Most vendors in this category target the broader Australian disability and aged-care sector, not SIL specifically. ShiftCare, Deputy variants, Imploy and Teiro all run per-worker models (see our full Aura OS vs ShiftCare comparison →). Operators with five workers spend $50–$100/month; operators with twenty workers spend $200–$400/month; operators with fifty workers spend $500–$1,000/month. The vendor's revenue grows in lockstep with the operator's headcount.

Participant-based pricing charges by the participants you support, not the workers you hire. Aura OS is free for your first two participants, then steps through simple bands — $290/month for 3–10 participants, $690 for 11–30, $1,200 for 31–60 (AUD, ex GST). Hire a fifth support worker or a fiftieth and the bill doesn't move; it tracks the participants in your service, not your roster. That matters for SIL, where headcount and service size don't move together — a single participant on 24/7 support can need a rotating team of six. The vendor's revenue grows when a provider's service grows, not every time they hire.

Enterprise quote-only is the third category. Lumary, SupportAbility, Carelink+ and similar platforms target larger registered providers (Aura OS vs Lumary →); they don't publish prices and their model typically combines a per-house licence, per-user licences, and a one-off implementation fee. Industry-confirmed estimates put the all-in annual cost at $20,000–$50,000 for a mid-sized SIL provider — but the actual number varies dramatically by deal size, contract length and which modules are included. (VERIFY: Lumary, SupportAbility, Carelink+ — vendor-confirmed numbers requested but not published.)

Public pricing table

What each platform lists publicly, with the source URL. Sorted alphabetically, except Aura OS at the top because it's the page you're reading.

Prices reflect what's published as of 13 June 2026. Vendors marked VERIFY publish a pricing page; we're holding off citing the exact dollar amount in this post until we re-confirm the page hasn't changed since our last screenshot. Operators evaluating those platforms should click through to the vendor's pricing page directly.

What it costs as you hire

The clearest difference between the two public models isn't the headline number — it's what happens when you grow your team. Per-worker pricing lifts the bill with every hire; participant-based pricing doesn't move when you roster a sixth worker onto a participant who needs 24/7 cover. Here's a provider supporting eight participants (the 3–10 band, $290/month on Aura) as their support team scales. ShiftCare Premium at $15/user/month is the canonical per-worker comparison.

Read that honestly: at a small team a per-worker tool is cheaper, and somewhere around twenty workers the per-worker line crosses Aura's banded price and keeps climbing while Aura stays put. The point of the table isn't "we're always the cheapest" — we're not, at low headcounts. The point is the shape: per-worker pricing taxes every hire; participant-based pricing doesn't. For a SIL provider, where one high-needs participant can carry a rotating team of six, the bill that tracks participants is the one that reflects your actual service.

And before any of that, the number that matters most for a new or growing provider: Aura is free for your first two participants — the full app, audit-ready, no card, no time limit. You start at $0 and only move to a band when your service grows past two participants. The maths above also doesn't include setup fees, training fees, data-export fees or add-on modules — those vary by quote and we can't cite a public number. Aura OS has zero of these (we say it explicitly in the next section). The dedicated Aura OS vs ShiftCare comparison covers what each tool does best.

What Lumary and SupportAbility actually cost

Enterprise quote-only platforms aren't comparable on the same chart as per-user tools, but operators evaluating them want to know the order of magnitude. Sector-confirmed estimates put the annual cost for a mid-sized SIL provider — say four houses, twenty workers, eight participants — in the $20,000–$50,000 range, including implementation fees.

That estimate carries a meaningful caveat. It comes from sector conversations and second-hand operator reports, not from vendor-confirmed published numbers. Both Lumary and SupportAbility have legitimate reasons to negotiate per-account: their value proposition includes implementation work, custom integration with state-government systems, and high-touch support contracts that genuinely vary by provider. The number that matters for any specific operator is the quote that vendor produces for that operator's situation, which means filling in the lead form and going through their sales process.

VERIFY: Lumary and SupportAbility — pricing data is industry estimate, not vendor-confirmed. Both vendors' published pricing pages were checked 2026; neither lists a public price.

Hidden costs to watch

The headline-price comparison is incomplete without these. Each can be material at the margin.

• Setup or implementation fees. Some vendors charge $500–$5,000 for onboarding setup, data import or training. Aura OS has none — migration is free, always. ShiftCare offers free onboarding on the published tiers; some enterprise platforms charge implementation as a separate line item.
• Training fees. Live-trainer sessions for new users sometimes carry a per-session cost. Aura OS doesn't charge for training (the /docs/ site is free). Some enterprise platforms include training in the implementation fee, which is one reason that fee is so wide.
• Data-export fees. Cancellation-time data exports occasionally come with a one-off cost or require a support ticket with turnaround time attached. Aura OS provides a clean export through Settings; the pricing page covers the export workflow.
• Add-on modules. Per-user platforms sometimes price compliance, billing or rostering as separate modules. The headline per-user number covers core; modules add on top. Aura OS includes all eight compliance modules in every band — and on the free tier — with no module gating.
• Per-house licences. Some enterprise platforms charge per house in addition to per user. Aura OS never charges per house — the bands are by participant only.

The honest answer to "how much does NDIS SIL software cost" depends on which model you compare against. At ten workers supporting eight participants, ShiftCare Premium is about $1,800/year before add-ons; Aura OS is $3,480/year all-in and won't move as that team grows; Lumary is somewhere in the $20–50K range with implementation included. The correct tool isn't always the cheapest one — but the maths, and the shape of the bill as you grow, should both be on the table when you choose.

When to pick which

Three quick heuristics for picking a category:

• Sole operator or small SIL provider (1–3 houses, a handful of participants). Start on a free, audit-ready, compliance-first tool. The audit-pass requirements after 1 July 2026 are the same as for larger providers, but the cost structure of per-user tools and enterprise platforms isn't justified at this scale. Aura OS sits in this category by design — free for your first two participants.
• Mid-sized SIL provider (4–10 houses, 10–30 participants, a growing team). The choice gets nuanced. Participant-based compliance-first if the audit conversation is the dominant operating concern and you're tired of your bill climbing with every hire; per-user with strong rostering depth if rostering is the dominant concern and your team is small. The Aura OS vs ShiftCare comparison walks through the trade-off.
• Large registered SIL provider (10+ houses, dedicated quality team). Enterprise quote-only platforms (Lumary, SupportAbility, Carelink+) start to make sense. The implementation work and high-touch support are easier to justify when you're running a large operation with state-government integration needs.

Whichever category fits your operation, make the pricing model an explicit part of the buying criteria. Per-worker pricing taxes growth; participant-based tracks your service and starts free. Enterprise pricing is comprehensive but opaque. Decide in advance which trade-off you're choosing.