iDempiere
by iDempiere community
A GPL-2.0 enterprise ERP, CRM and supply-chain platform descended from the Compiere lineage, community-governed since 2011 and designed to scale to hundreds of users with no license cost.
Why it is classified this way
We call this a Manufacturing ERP product. A broad business system (accounting, sales, purchasing) with a substantial manufacturing or planning module attached.
It is not labeled Full MRP because we have not verified that it accepts dated demand, sales orders, a forecast, or a master production schedule; nets that demand against stock on hand and orders already incoming; explodes requirements through at least one level of the bill of materials; uses lead times or required dates; and produces dated buy, make, transfer, release, or reschedule recommendations. That is a statement about the evidence we found, not a claim that the product is weak, see the capability table and the sources below.
The six Full MRP tests, and how iDempiere does on each (1 of 6)
- YesIt represents a bill of materials, recipe, or formula.Evidence: wiki.idempiere.org › Parts and BOMs (Window ID 53128)(opens in a new tab); docs.idempiere.org › Multiple bom support for mfg light(opens in a new tab)
- UnknownIt accepts dated demand, sales orders, a forecast, or a master production schedule.Not established. No evidence found yet.
- UnknownIt nets that demand against stock on hand and orders already incoming.Not established. No evidence found yet.
- UnknownIt explodes requirements through at least one level of the bill of materials.Not established. No evidence found yet.
- UnknownIt uses lead times or required dates.Not established. No evidence found yet.
- UnknownIt produces dated buy, make, transfer, release, or reschedule recommendations.Not established. No evidence found yet.
These rules are applied identically to every product and enforced at build time, a record cannot be published as Full MRP unless all six pass with a source attached. Read the methodology.
Best for
- Larger organizations with development capacity that want an ERP with no per-seat cost at all
- Teams valuing community governance over a single vendor's roadmap
- Businesses already familiar with the Compiere and ADempiere lineage
Not a fit when
- Small shops. This scales up rather than down, and the setup cost is real
- Anyone without a technical team or an implementation partner
- Buyers who need MRP or capacity planning from the core product, which the project scopes out of its Manufacturing Light module
Pricing facts
What it costs to do manufacturing in this product.
Free to self-host
Free under GPL-2.0 with no feature gating and no user limits. Implementation and hosting are your costs.
Free to self-host
$0/month
No published price
This vendor does not publish pricing, so you cannot compare it against anything here without contacting them. We will not estimate a figure.
What moves the real bill
- No published price. You have to contact the vendor, which usually means a sales call.
Plans
| Plan | Price | Add-ons and setup |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hostediDempiere (GPL-2.0) | Free | — |
| You install, host, back up and upgrade it yourself. | ||
Pricing detail
No license fee. The project describes costing "a fraction of proprietary ERP" with "no licensing cost". As with every self-hosted ERP here, the real spend is implementation, and for a platform this size it is substantial. The project points buyers to its list of providers ("we encourage you to contact companies that are listed beneath"), which names Trek Global (USA), BX Service GmbH (Germany), Adaxa (Australia), dev&Co (Brazil), Cloudempiere (Slovakia), Logilite (India) and Chuck Boecking Academy (USA), among others. None publishes indicative costs on the project site.
Checked on September 18, 2026. Source: github.com(opens in a new tab). Prices change. Check before you buy.
Manufacturing capability
10 of 25 fields resolved. "Unknown" means we have not found first-party evidence. It is not a No.
Planning
Working out what to buy or make, and when.
| Capability | Finding | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| Accepts dated demandYou can tell it what is due and when, sales orders with dates, a forecast, or a production schedule. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation showing demand records that carry a required or due date.Know the answer? |
| Nets against stock on handIt subtracts what you already have before telling you to buy more. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation describing a requirement calculation that deducts available stock.Know the answer? |
| Counts incoming ordersIt knows about purchase orders and production orders already placed, so it does not tell you to order twice. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation showing open purchase or production orders included in the supply picture.Know the answer? |
| Uses lead timesIt works backwards from when you need something to when you must order or start it, using supplier and production lead times. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation showing lead time fields that shift a suggested order or start date.Know the answer? |
| Produces dated buy/make suggestionsThe output is an actionable list with dates, order this much by this date, start this batch on this date. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation or a screenshot of replenishment or planning suggestions carrying dates.Know the answer? |
| Capacity planningChecks whether your people and machines can do the work in the time available. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation of work-center or resource capacity being compared against load.Know the answer? |
Production
Recipes, bills of materials, and running the work.
| Capability | Finding | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| Bill of materialsA list of the parts and quantities needed to make one of something. | Yes | The vendor states: "The BOM Quantity indicates the quantity of the product in its Unit of Measure (multiplication)" The Parts and BOMs window records each component product and its quantity. Checked 2026-09-14. Since version 9 core has used Libero's BOM tables for multiple BOMs per product: "Use Libero BOM (PP_Product_BOM and PP_Product_BOMLine) for multi BOM support". Libero's MRP did not come with it.Reviewed September 14, 2026. Source: wiki.idempiere.org › Parts and BOMs (Window ID 53128)(opens in a new tab); docs.idempiere.org › Multiple bom support for mfg light(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Multi-level BOMSub-assemblies inside assemblies, a part that is itself made from other parts, nested as deep as you need. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation of nested or multi-level bom structures, not just a flat component list.Know the answer? |
| Recipes & formulasBatch-style production by weight, volume, or percentage, including scaling a batch up or down. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation of recipe or formula records, ideally with batch scaling.Know the answer? |
| Work / manufacturing ordersA record authorising and tracking the making of a specific quantity. | Yes | Core iDempiere builds products with Production documents against a BOM, in its Manufacturing Light module. The vendor states: "When auto produce flag is check, the system will auto create and complete a Production document after user completes a Shipment document for the product (with a validated BOM)." This is a feature page about automatic production, not a guide to the Production window. Checked 2026-09-18.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: docs.idempiere.org › Auto produce for mfg light(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Routings & operationsThe ordered steps a product goes through, and which machine or station does each one. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation of operation sequences or routings attached to production.Know the answer? |
| Shop-floor trackingOperators report progress, time, and completions as the work happens. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation of a shop-floor, operator, or terminal interface for reporting production.Know the answer? |
| Quality controlsChecks, tests, holds, and non-conformance records tied to production or receiving. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation of quality inspections, checks, or non-conformance handling.Know the answer? |
Inventory & traceability
Knowing what you hold and being able to trace it.
| Capability | Finding | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| Batch & lot traceabilityWhich incoming material lots went into which finished batch, and where those finished goods went. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation of lot or batch numbers tracked through consumption into finished goods.Know the answer? |
| Expiry & shelf lifeBest-before dates on materials and finished goods, with warnings before they lapse. | Partial | The attribute set instance carries a warranty (guarantee) date that can drive first-expiry-first-out picking: "Also, a field "Use Warranty Date for Material Policy" was added to the ASI definition in order to support FEFO". Warnings before a date lapses are not documented. This is a release feature page, not a user guide.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: docs.idempiere.org › Improve asi fifo(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Serial numbersUnique identifiers on individual units, for warranty or field service. | Yes | The vendor states: "You need to define a Attribute Set if you want to enable Serial and Lot Number tracking." Serial and lot tracking are switched on through a product attribute set. The wiki screenshots show version 1.0.0. Checked 2026-09-14.Reviewed September 14, 2026. Source: wiki.idempiere.org › Parts and BOMs (Window ID 53128)(opens in a new tab)Question this |
Commerce & accounting
Costs, purchasing, storefronts, and the books.
| Capability | Finding | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| Product costing & COGSWhat it costs you to make one, and the cost of the goods you sold. | Partial | The vendor states: "The Landed Cost is added to the product cost." Product cost is calculated, including landed cost. What is missing is any description of cost of goods sold reporting on the pages we read. Checked 2026-09-18.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: docs.idempiere.org › Estimated landed cost(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| PurchasingRaising and tracking purchase orders to suppliers from inside the system. | Yes | The vendor's landed-cost page walks through a purchase order and a material receipt against it: "Material Receipt Posting will calculate the estimated landed cost using the allocation from Purchase Order." It is a feature page about landed cost rather than a purchasing guide. Checked 2026-09-18.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: docs.idempiere.org › Estimated landed cost(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Accounting connectionSends financial data to bookkeeping software, or includes its own general ledger. | Yes | The vendor states: "You can now populate a GL Journal without using a batch (Batch Journal Window is still in use and not removed)." A built-in general ledger with journals and posting. Checked 2026-09-18.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: docs.idempiere.org › Gljournal(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Ecommerce connectionPulls orders and pushes stock levels to a storefront or marketplace. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation of a named storefront or marketplace integration.Know the answer? |
Openness & your data
Getting data in, out, and away if you leave.
| Capability | Finding | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| APIA documented programming interface so other software can read and write your data. | Yes | The vendor states: "Over time, the REST API became the recommended and widely-adopted approach for integrating with iDempiere, making the SOAP bundle optional for most implementations." In a 2023 vendor video, the plugin's maintainers explain that the REST API is a plugin rather than part of core: "the REST plugin was initially contributed by Heng Sin". The project's official extension repository lists it as com.trekglobal.idempiere.rest.api 1.0.0, developed by BX Service, for "**iDempiere Version:** 12.0+" and Java 11 or later, with endpoint documentation at bxservice.github.io/idempiere-rest-docs. Plan to install it alongside core. Checked 2026-09-18.Reviewed September 18, 2026. Source: raw.githubusercontent.com › Info.md(opens in a new tab); docs.idempiere.org › Soap web services plugin(opens in a new tab); Vendor video, 2023, at 2:13(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| WebhooksThe system can notify other software the moment something changes. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation of outbound webhooks or event subscriptions.Know the answer? |
| 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. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: a first-party mcp server, or documentation of one.Know the answer? |
| CSV exportYou can get your lists out as spreadsheet files. | Yes | The vendor states: "Now you can define the detail tabs to be included when exporting a CSV file" Window data exports to CSV, and you choose which detail tabs go with it. Core feature since version 2.1. Checked 2026-09-18.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: docs.idempiere.org › Tab selection when exporting csv(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Full data exportYou can take everything, including history and relationships, not just a few screens' worth of rows. | Yes | Self-hosted under GPL-2.0 with your own database, no restriction on taking your data anywhere.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: github.com › Idempiere(opens in a new tab)Question this |
Deployment, licensing and your data
- Deployment
- Self-hosted, On-premise (vendor-supported)
- Licensing
- Open sourceGPL-2.0
- Team sizes
- 21–50 people, 51+ people
- Manufacturing styles
- Countable assembled products, Batch & recipe products, Continuous process
About the licence
GPL-2.0 confirmed by reading the repository license file on 13 August 2026. The project's own website says only that there is "no licensing cost" without naming the license, so we took it from the source.
Licence: github.com(opens in a new tab)
Jobs this product qualifies for
Derived from the capability table above, not hand-assigned.
Editorial notes and cautions
Things we would want a friend to know before buying.
- Many capabilities here are still unknown. The project's public website is a short overview, and the substance lives in the community wiki and the feature pages on docs.idempiere.org, which we have only partly worked through. Treat the unknowns as gaps in our reading, not as missing features.
- The repository is active, with 647 stars and commits within days of our check. Longevity is not the concern; documentation accessibility is.
- Do not expect MRP from the core manufacturing module. The project describes it this way: "iDempiere Manufacturing Light is a module developed by Adaxa to meet the needs of manufacturing organizations that do not have the present need for MRP and CRP functionalities." The project's Plugins page says MRP comes as a plugin ("Whether you need MRP or TOC Buffer Management as a systematic approach in material planning for your enterprise"), but the official extension repository lists no MRP or Libero extension, so we could not confirm a maintained one.
Alternatives to iDempiere
An alternative is always an alternative for a reason. There is no universal replacement.
- ERPNextSimpler for makers
ERPNext is aimed at small manufacturers configuring it themselves, while iDempiere aims at larger and more customized deployments.
Evidence and verification
License verified from the repository. The public site carries little capability detail; evidence comes from the community wiki and the release feature pages on docs.idempiere.org. The wiki now answers with a Cloudflare bot check, so several of its pages could not be read on 2026-09-18.
Sources we checked (15)
idempiere.org
github.com
wiki.idempiere.org
docs.idempiere.org
- Tab selection when exporting csv(opens in a new tab)
- Estimated landed cost(opens in a new tab)
- Gljournal(opens in a new tab)
- Soap web services plugin(opens in a new tab)
- Auto produce for mfg light(opens in a new tab)
- Manufacturing light(opens in a new tab)
- Improve asi fifo(opens in a new tab)
- Multiple bom support for mfg light(opens in a new tab)
raw.githubusercontent.com
What we still want to confirm
We publish our gaps rather than hiding them. If you can point us at a first-party page for any of these, we will update the record and credit the correction.
- Record multi-level BOM, routing and lot capabilities from wiki.idempiere.org. The wiki returns a Cloudflare bot check to scripts and browsers alike, and docs.idempiere.org has nothing on multi-level BOMs or routings, so a person has to read the wiki in a browser.
- Establish whether the Libero MRP/CRP plugin is still maintained. The Plugins page says MRP comes as a plugin, but the Libero pages are on the Cloudflare-blocked wiki and the official extension repository does not list Libero, which on its own does not show it is unmaintained.
- Get indicative implementation costs from one or two of the named providers. Neither idempiere.org nor the docs publish any, and each provider quotes separately.
Still unknown: accepts dated demand, nets against stock on hand, counts incoming orders, uses lead times, produces dated buy/make suggestions, capacity planning, multi-level bom, recipes & formulas, routings & operations, shop-floor tracking, quality controls, batch & lot traceability, ecommerce connection, webhooks, mcp support.