Odoo and ERPNext are the two business systems most often compared by growing companies. Both cover accounting, stock, sales, purchasing, manufacturing, projects, HR and more, both run in the browser, and both can be hosted in the cloud or on your own server. The differences are in how you pay, how far you can shape the system yourself, and who supports it where you are.
At a glance
- Licence
- ERPNext: no licence fee per user; you pay for implementation, and for support and hosting. Odoo: a free Community edition with fewer apps, and an Enterprise edition paid per user, per month.
- Modules
- ERPNext: every module in one system from the start. Odoo: a large set of separate apps, some only in Enterprise.
- Shaping it to you
- ERPNext: custom fields, forms, workflows, print formats and reports are set up from the screen, and survive upgrades. Odoo: Studio (Enterprise) or custom modules written by developers.
- Hosting
- ERPNext: Frappe Cloud, our cloud or your own server. Odoo: Odoo Online, Odoo.sh or your own server.
- Local taxes
- Both need setting up for your country. We set ERPNext up for eTIMS in Kenya, EFRIS in Uganda, EBM in Rwanda, TRA's fiscal receipts in Tanzania and Smart Invoice in Zambia.
- Who supports it
- ERPNext: Frappe and certified partners such as Azzir Group. Odoo: Odoo and its partners.
When Odoo is the better choice
If you rely on a particular app from Odoo's large catalogue, such as its website and online shop builder, and a good local Odoo partner already runs your system well, staying can be the right call. A working system with a team you trust is worth a lot.
When ERPNext is the better choice
- You are adding users and branches, and per-user fees grow with every hire.
- You want every module without moving to a higher edition.
- You want your own team to change forms, approvals and reports without a developer.
- Your Odoo setup depends on custom modules that make every upgrade a project.
Moving from Odoo to ERPNext
- We look at how you use Odoo today: companies, branches, the reports you rely on and the work done outside it in spreadsheets.
- We agree a written scope and a go-live date, and set up ERPNext for your processes, your taxes and your documents.
- We move your data from Odoo and you check it in a test copy before anything is final: balances, stock and open documents must match to the cent.
- Your team is trained on its own data, and we run a short parallel period where your closing figures are compared side by side.
- You go live on ERPNext. Odoo stays available read-only for as long as you need it for history and audits.
What moves across
- Chart of accounts, opening balances and fiscal years
- Customers, suppliers and contacts
- Items, units, price lists and stock balances per warehouse
- Open sales and purchase invoices, orders and payments
- Bills of materials and work centres, if you manufacture
- Employees and their details for HR and payroll
Full transaction history can be moved too, but most businesses choose opening balances and open documents, with Odoo kept for the years before. It is faster, cheaper and avoids carrying old mistakes into the new system. Read what to clean before you migrate.
How long it takes and what it costs
A single company with simple stock usually moves in a few weeks; groups with branches, manufacturing or integrations take longer. The cost depends on your users, locations and modules, not on the system you leave. Get a price estimate in two minutes, or book a demo to see your own processes in ERPNext.