Biogas, the end product of anaerobic digestion of cattle dung, can successfully supplement the cooking fuels in the countryside areas of India, where the raw material needed for its production is plentifully available. Because of the lack of awareness regarding selection of a suitable model and size of biogas plant, the full potential of the biogas producing material is not harnessed, and the economic viability of biogas technology is rendered doubtful. To facilitate this decision makings the economics of family size biogas plants.. i.e. with capacity from 1 to 6 m(3), was studied, and three prevalent models, viz. KVIC, Janta and Deenbandu, were compared. Calculations for installation cost and annual operational cost were made for the state of Punjab, India, where the hydraulic retention time is 40 days, and current market prices were taken into account. Comparison of the economics revealed that the cost of installation and annual operational cost of each capacity were higher for the KVIC model, followed by the Janta and then the Deenbandhu model. irrespective of the model, as the capacity of the biogas plant increases, the installation, as well as the annual operational cost increase proportionately. With increase in capacity, the payback period decreased exponentially with the exponential character being highest for the KVIC model, followed by the Janta and then the Deenbandhu model. However, on the basis of comparative economics, the Deenbandhu model was found to be the cheapest and most viable model of biogas plant. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.