ERPNext vs Odoo (formerly OpenERP)
Comparison last checked October 10, 2026. Every figure comes from the two product records, each with its own sources and check dates.
The short answer
Pick ERPNext if you want a fully open-source ERP with nothing held back for a paid edition: the software is free under GPL-3.0 and hosting is your cost. Pick Odoo if you want the vendor's hosted suite at a per-user price, from $24.90 per user a month, and accept that its Community and Enterprise editions differ.
Choose ERPNext if
- You want every feature in the open-source edition: ERPNext has no feature gating.
- You would rather pay for hosting than per user: Frappe Cloud shared hosting at $25 a month is our realistic entry, and self-hosting costs your server and time.
- You have someone technical to run a server or manage a hosting partner.
Choose Odoo if
- You want to start free with one app: One App Free gives Manufacturing alone, with unlimited users, on Odoo Online.
- You want the vendor to host it at a published price: Standard is $24.90 per user a month billed yearly for the first 12 months, then $31.10.
- You have budgeted for the API, which is on the Custom plan and not on Standard.
Key differences
The rows that separate these two. Unknown means we have not found evidence; it is not the same as No.
| Attribute | ERPNext | Odoo |
|---|---|---|
| Useful entry priceWhat you pay to get the manufacturing capability, not the cheapest nominal tier. | $25 a monthSource: frappe.io › Sites(opens in a new tab)Checked October 9, 2026 | $24.90 per user a monthSource: odoo.com › Pricing(opens in a new tab)Checked October 9, 2026 |
| Billing basis | Flat rate | Per user |
| Free plan or trial | Free plan: YesThe software itself is free under GPL-3.0 with no feature gating. Your real cost is hosting plus the time to configure it. The vendor's managed hosting on Frappe Cloud is priced separately; see the notes below.Free trial: Unknown | Free plan: YesOne App Free: one app, unlimited users, on Odoo Online only. Dependencies of the chosen app come along with it. Self-hosting the Community edition is also free, with no user limit at all.Free trial: Unknown |
| Deployment and licensing | Self-hosted, Cloud (hosted for you), On-premise (vendor-supported)Open source (GPL-3.0) | Cloud (hosted for you), Self-hosted, On-premise (vendor-supported)Open core (LGPL-3.0) |
| Produces dated buy/make suggestionsThe output is an actionable list with dates, order this much by this date, start this batch on this date. | YesThe MRP report gives dates as well as quantities: "The Material Requirements Planning (MRP) report calculates the required quantities of raw materials and components, along with the dates when they are needed, based on the demand for finished items.Source: docs.frappe.io › Material requirements planning mrp(opens in a new tab) | YesIn a 2025 vendor tutorial, the replenishment report shows a forecasted date and the request for quotation it creates carries an order deadline and an expected arrival date: "Now, when using reordering rules, ODU will remind you to order 10 days before the quantity is expected to drop below the minimum."Source: odoo.com › Manufacturing(opens in a new tab) |
| Accounting connectionSends financial data to bookkeeping software, or includes its own general ledger. | YesERPNext includes its own general ledger. This is a full ERP, not a manufacturing add-on that needs QuickBooks behind it.Source: frappe.io › Erpnext(opens in a new tab) | YesAccounting is one of the included apps on the Standard and Custom plans. Full Accounting is Enterprise only on Odoo's Compare Editions table; the Community edition has Invoicing.Source: odoo.com › Pricing(opens in a new tab) |
| APIA documented programming interface so other software can read and write your data. | YesThe Frappe framework underneath exposes a REST API across all doctypes.Source: github.com › Erpnext(opens in a new tab) | YesExternal API access is listed as a Custom-tier feature at $49/user/month, not available on Standard. Self-hosted Community installs are unrestricted.Source: odoo.com › Pricing(opens in a new tab) |
| Best-fit team sizes | 2–5 people, 6–20 people, 21–50 people, 51+ people | 2–5 people, 6–20 people, 21–50 people, 51+ people |
What it costs at your size
Entry prices leave out users, add-ons, order limits and extra locations. Put in your own numbers and both products are worked out the same way, from each vendor's published prices.
Full comparison
Every sourced field, side by side. It opens on the rows where the two differ.
Unknown means we have not found evidence. It is not the same as No.
| Attribute | ERPNextFrappe Technologies · record checked October 9, 2026 | OdooOdoo S.A. · record checked October 9, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Fit | ||
| One-line fit | A full open-source ERP with nothing held back for a paid edition, if you can carry the setup burden. | An open-core ERP covering manufacturing, stock and accounting; read the Community versus Enterprise line carefully. |
| Real cost | ||
| Pricing | From $5/mo · $25/mo usefulSource: frappe.io › Sites(opens in a new tab)Checked October 9, 2026 | From $0/user/mo · $24.90/user/mo usefulSource: odoo.com › Pricing(opens in a new tab)Checked October 9, 2026 |
| Useful entry priceWhat you pay to get the manufacturing capability, not the cheapest nominal tier. | $25/mo | $24.90/user/mo |
| Billing basis | flat | per-user |
| Openness & data | ||
| Licensing model | Open sourceGPL-3.0 | Open coreLGPL-3.0 |
| Deployment | Self-hosted, Cloud (hosted for you), On-premise (vendor-supported) | Cloud (hosted for you), Self-hosted, On-premise (vendor-supported) |
| Planning | ||
| Accepts dated demandYou can tell it what is due and when, sales orders with dates, a forecast, or a production schedule. | Yes"A Production Plan can be used for planning the manufacture of Items against Sales Orders or Material Requests."Source: docs.frappe.io › Production plan(opens in a new tab) | Yes"The MPS is perfect for your S&OP meeting, to align objectives of sales people and the manufacturing department." A master production schedule is dated demand by definition.Source: odoo.com › Manufacturing(opens in a new tab) |
| Produces dated buy/make suggestionsThe output is an actionable list with dates, order this much by this date, start this batch on this date. | YesThe MRP report gives dates as well as quantities: "The Material Requirements Planning (MRP) report calculates the required quantities of raw materials and components, along with the dates when they are needed, based on the demand for finished items." Release dates for purchase orders and work orders are worked out from Item Lead Time, and the Production Plan also raises Material Requests with a Required By date per line. The MRP report is new in version 16 (January 2026). On version 15 and older, only the Production Plan's Material Requests with a Required By date are available.Source: docs.frappe.io › Material requirements planning mrp(opens in a new tab); docs.frappe.io › Material request(opens in a new tab); docs.frappe.io › Production plan(opens in a new tab); github.com › V16.0.0(opens in a new tab) | YesIn a 2025 vendor tutorial, the replenishment report shows a forecasted date and the request for quotation it creates carries an order deadline and an expected arrival date: "Now, when using reordering rules, ODU will remind you to order 10 days before the quantity is expected to drop below the minimum."Source: odoo.com › Manufacturing(opens in a new tab); Vendor video, 2025, at 1:45(opens in a new tab) |
| Capacity planningChecks whether your people and machines can do the work in the time available. | YesThe vendor states: "The system will auto-create the Job Card with timing against each operation based upon the time required to complete that operation and Workstation's availability. The user has to set the planned start date and based on the operation time, system calculates the planned end date." The capacity planning guide also covers production capacity limits, overtime and working-day rules. Checked 2026-09-14.Source: docs.frappe.io › Production and material planning capacity planning(opens in a new tab) | Yes"Schedule manufacturing orders and plan resources with finite capacity planning", adjustable on a Gantt chart. Odoo's Compare Editions table marks the Manufacturing sub-row "Shopfloor, Control Panel, Scheduling" as Enterprise only, so Community does not include this scheduling.Source: odoo.com › Manufacturing(opens in a new tab); odoo.com › Editions(opens in a new tab) |
| Production | ||
| Multi-level BOMSub-assemblies inside assemblies, a part that is itself made from other parts, nested as deep as you need. | Yes"Include Exploded Items" pulls the raw materials of sub-assembly items into the plan, and sub-assembly items can be fetched from the BOM.Source: docs.frappe.io › Production plan(opens in a new tab) | YesThe vendor states: "Use a multilevel bill of materials (BoM) when a manufactured product is part of another assembly. This method nests BoMs within other BoMs, organizing complex products while simplifying manufacturing by defining each procurement and production step separately." From Odoo's documentation on multilevel bills of materials. Checked 2026-09-14.Source: odoo.com › Sub assemblies(opens in a new tab) |
| Shop-floor trackingOperators report progress, time, and completions as the work happens. | YesJob cards provide "detailed instructions and tracking for each step in the production process".Source: docs.frappe.io › Manufacturing(opens in a new tab) | Yes"The Shop Floor app helps streamline your manufacturing line. Through the tablet-optimized dashboard, you can organize workers, workcenters, worksheets, quality tests." Odoo's Compare Editions table marks the Manufacturing sub-row "Shopfloor, Control Panel, Scheduling" as Enterprise only, so the self-hosted Community edition does not include it.Source: odoo.com › Manufacturing(opens in a new tab); odoo.com › Editions(opens in a new tab) |
| Quality controlsChecks, tests, holds, and non-conformance records tied to production or receiving. | YesQuality inspection "ensures products meet quality standards through inspections".Source: docs.frappe.io › Manufacturing(opens in a new tab) | Yes"Get statistical analysis of quality issues, and set control point instantly available in the shop floor with instructions." Quality is an Enterprise-only app on Odoo's Compare Editions table.Source: odoo.com › Manufacturing(opens in a new tab); odoo.com › Editions(opens in a new tab) |
| Inventory & traceability | ||
| Expiry & shelf lifeBest-before dates on materials and finished goods, with warnings before they lapse. | YesBatch items can carry a shelf life and an expiry date: "Shelf Life In Days : This is for a product Batch . The number of days after which the product batch will be unusable. For example, medicines." This applies to batch-tracked items only.Source: docs.frappe.io › Item(opens in a new tab) | YesOdoo's Inventory documentation says: "In Odoo, only products that are tracked using lots and serial numbers can be assigned expiration information." Each product can set expiration, best before, removal and alert dates. This is the Products Expiration Date module in the free Community edition, not an Enterprise-only feature.Source: odoo.com › Expiration dates(opens in a new tab); github.com › Manifest .py(opens in a new tab) |
| Commerce & accounting | ||
| Accounting connectionSends financial data to bookkeeping software, or includes its own general ledger. | YesERPNext includes its own general ledger. This is a full ERP, not a manufacturing add-on that needs QuickBooks behind it.Source: frappe.io › Erpnext(opens in a new tab) | YesAccounting is one of the included apps on the Standard and Custom plans. Full Accounting is Enterprise only on Odoo's Compare Editions table; the Community edition has Invoicing.Source: odoo.com › Pricing(opens in a new tab); odoo.com › Editions(opens in a new tab) |
| Openness & your data | ||
| APIA documented programming interface so other software can read and write your data. | YesThe Frappe framework underneath exposes a REST API across all doctypes.Source: github.com › Erpnext(opens in a new tab) | YesExternal API access is listed as a Custom-tier feature at $49/user/month, not available on Standard. Self-hosted Community installs are unrestricted.Source: odoo.com › Pricing(opens in a new tab) |
| WebhooksThe system can notify other software the moment something changes. | YesOutbound webhooks come from the Frappe framework that ERPNext runs on: "Webhooks are "user-defined HTTP callbacks". For a select DocType, you can create a webhook that triggers on specific document events under certain conditions, if required."Source: docs.frappe.io › Webhooks(opens in a new tab) | YesAutomation rules have a "Send Webhook Notification" action: "This action is used to send a POST API request with the values of the selected Fields to the webhook URL specified in the URL field." Incoming webhooks are supported too. From Odoo's Studio documentation; rules are built in Studio, which is Enterprise, or in developer mode.Source: odoo.com › Automated actions(opens in a new tab) |
| MCP supportA Model Context Protocol server, letting an AI assistant read or act on this data. Useful, but it has nothing to do with whether the product plans materials. | PartialFrappe publishes its own MCP toolkit, but it is a library for building your own MCP server rather than a ready-made ERPNext server: "Frappe MCP allows your Frappe Framework app to function as a" MCP server. The README describes it as highly experimental and supporting tools only.Source: github.com › Mcp(opens in a new tab) | Unknown |
| Full data exportYou can take everything, including history and relationships, not just a few screens' worth of rows. | YesYou hold the database. Self-hosting under GPL-3.0 means a full dump is always available to you, and the manual adds that "you can manually download a database backup" from Home > Download Backups. The strongest possible answer to lock-in.Source: github.com › Erpnext(opens in a new tab); docs.frappe.io › Download backup(opens in a new tab) | YesSelf-hosting the Community edition puts the PostgreSQL database in your hands.Source: github.com › Odoo(opens in a new tab) |
Common questions
- Is ERPNext cheaper than Odoo?
- ERPNext starts at $25 a month for the plan that covers manufacturing (flat rate billing), and also has a free plan. Odoo starts at $24.90 per user a month for the plan that covers manufacturing, and also has a free plan. They are billed differently, so which is cheaper depends on your team size. Put your own users, orders and locations into the cost calculator to see what each comes to.
- Does ERPNext or Odoo have a free plan or a free trial?
- ERPNext has a free plan and we have no trial length on record. Odoo has a free plan and we have no trial length on record.
- Which has lot traceability, ERPNext or Odoo?
- ERPNext has batch and lot tracking. Odoo has batch and lot tracking.
- Does ERPNext or Odoo tell you what to order and when?
- That is the test for material requirements planning: a dated recommendation to buy or make. ERPNext does. Odoo does.
- Do ERPNext and Odoo work with QuickBooks, Xero or Shopify?
- ERPNext: an accounting integration and an e-commerce integration. Named integrations: Shopify. Odoo: an accounting integration and an e-commerce integration.
- Is ERPNext or Odoo open source, and can you host it yourself?
- ERPNext is open source (GPL-3.0), deployed as self-hosted, cloud (hosted for you) and on-premise (vendor-supported). Odoo is open core (LGPL-3.0), deployed as cloud (hosted for you), self-hosted and on-premise (vendor-supported).
Related
How this comparison was made
The short answer and the two lists were written by an editor for this pair. Every other row and answer is read from the two product records, which cite the vendor pages behind each claim. Nobody paid to appear here or to be placed first; the order is alphabetical. How we classify and verify.