metasfresh
by metas GmbH
A GPL-2.0 ERP aimed at wholesale and food businesses, with production, warehouse logistics, procurement and batch tracking, offered either self-hosted or as a cloud subscription priced per user plus a separate hosting fee.
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 metasfresh does on each (1 of 6)
- YesIt represents a bill of materials, recipe, or formula.Evidence: raw.githubusercontent.com › Create BOM.md(opens in a new tab); raw.githubusercontent.com › Add bom components.md(opens in a new tab); metasfresh.com › Preise(opens in a new tab)
- PartialIt accepts dated demand, sales orders, a forecast, or a master production schedule.Not established. Backed only by a limited source (a vendor video from before 2023, source code, an old blog post or a single marketing line), which can fill the table but cannot pass this test.
- PartialIt nets that demand against stock on hand and orders already incoming.Not established. Backed only by a limited source (a vendor video from before 2023, source code, an old blog post or a single marketing line), which can fill the table but cannot pass this test.
- UnknownIt explodes requirements through at least one level of the bill of materials.Not established. No evidence found yet.
- PartialIt uses lead times or required dates.Not established. Backed only by a limited source (a vendor video from before 2023, source code, an old blog post or a single marketing line), which can fill the table but cannot pass this test.
- PartialIt produces dated buy, make, transfer, release, or reschedule recommendations.Not established. Backed only by a limited source (a vendor video from before 2023, source code, an old blog post or a single marketing line), which can fill the table but cannot pass this test.
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
- European wholesale and food businesses wanting an open-source ERP with a commercial cloud option
- Teams that want the option to move between self-hosting and vendor hosting without changing product
- Buyers who prefer a published price to a quote, even in a category where quotes are the norm
Not a fit when
- Small makers. The entry cloud cost is €398 a month for one user
- English-first teams; much of the vendor's material is in German
- Anyone who needs material planning documented in English before committing; those how-tos exist only in German
Pricing facts
What it costs to do manufacturing in this product.
Free to self-host
Self-hosting is free under GPL-2.0. The vendor states you may "install and use metasfresh wherever and as often as you like". The cloud service is the paid product.
Free to self-host
€0/month
Advertised from
€99/month
Useful entry price
€398/month
Billing basis
Mixed
Why the useful price is higher
The €99 figure is one user. The cloud offer also carries a separate hosting fee of €299 a month, so a single-user cloud deployment is €398 before anything else. Self-hosting removes the hosting fee and the user fee entirely, at the cost of running it yourself.
What moves the real bill
- Required add-ons. The manufacturing capability needs: Cloud hosting €299/month.
- Onboarding fee. A one-off starter package in sizes StartUp, S, M and L is offered on request; the price is not published.
Plans
| Plan | Price | Add-ons and setup |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hostedmetasfresh (GPL-2.0) | Free | — |
| You install, host, back up and upgrade it yourself. Starter package on request, price not published. | ||
| CloudBilled monthly | €299/mo · €99 per user/mo | — |
| €299 a month is the hosting fee; €99 is per user. Prices exclude VAT. Starter package on request, price not published. | ||
| Cloud, annualBilled yearly, shown per month | €249/mo · €79 per user/mo | — |
| Only above a minimum user count set by company size, with the first 12 months paid in advance. Starter package on request, price not published. | ||
Cheapest paid plan that manufactures, by paid users
- 1 user: Cloud, annual, €328 a month (billed yearly, shown per month); first year €3,936.
- 5 users: Cloud, annual, €644 a month (billed yearly, shown per month); first year €7,728.
- 10 users: Cloud, annual, €1,039 a month (billed yearly, shown per month); first year €12,468.
Pricing detail
Cloud pricing: from €99 per user per month and from €299 a month for hosting on monthly payment. The annual rates of €79 per user and €249 for hosting apply only above a minimum number of users, set by company size, with the first 12 months paid in advance. All prices exclude VAT. Splitting the user fee from the hosting fee is more transparent than most, but it means the entry cost is the sum of the two, not the headline user rate. The figures come from the German pricing page; the English site shows no current prices, and its old English pricing page still listed a flat €24 per user in early 2025. The one-off starter package covers implementation, initial setup and configuration, customized windows and documents, project management, train-the-trainer sessions and an online meeting room, with an optional video of the training. Its price is not published: "Die Preise für unser Starterpaket (Größe: StartUp, S, M, L) richten sich nach Ihren individuellen Anforderungen und sind auf Anfrage erhältlich." (Starter package prices depend on your requirements and are available on request.)
Price history
- English pricing page: Premium plan at EUR 24 per user per month. Archived page, January 12, 2018(opens in a new tab)
- German pricing page (metasfresh.com/preise/): user packages from EUR 79 or EUR 99 per user per month and hosting packages from EUR 299 a month. Archived page, May 17, 2024(opens in a new tab)
- English pricing page still showed the Cloud-Hosted plan at EUR 24 per user per month, its last archived capture. Archived page, February 14, 2025(opens in a new tab)
- German pricing page: user fee from EUR 99 per user per month paid monthly or EUR 79 with annual prepayment, and cloud hosting from EUR 299 a month or EUR 249 with annual prepayment. Archived page, March 11, 2026(opens in a new tab)
From copies of the vendor's pricing page kept by the Internet Archive.
Checked on October 9, 2026. Source: metasfresh.com(opens in a new tab). Prices change. Check before you buy.
Manufacturing capability
20 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. | Yes | The planning framework records each customer order's promised date as a dated demand: "timestamp=the shipmentschedule's DatePromised" (from the vendor's source code, read 2026-09-18; no customer-facing page states it, so it does not count toward the Full MRP label).Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: Source code, read 2026(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Nets against stock on handIt subtracts what you already have before telling you to buy more. | Yes | Projected stock is kept per date, and a shortfall raises new supply: "if the projected quantity sinks below zero, the system will trigger a "material demand event" that should lead to a new supply candidate" (from the vendor's source code, read 2026-09-18; no customer-facing page states it, so it does not count toward the Full MRP label).Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: Source code, read 2026(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Counts incoming ordersIt knows about purchase orders and production orders already placed, so it does not tell you to order twice. | Yes | Incoming receipts, distribution orders and production orders all count as supply: "A supply record can directly relate e.g. to a receipt schedule or to the "destination" part of a distribution order or to the "receive" part of a production order." (from the vendor's source code, read 2026-09-18; no customer-facing page states it, so it does not count toward the Full MRP label).Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: Source code, read 2026(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Uses lead timesIt works backwards from when you need something to when you must order or start it, using supplier and production lead times. | Yes | A proposed production order's start date is the promised date minus the planned duration: "final Instant dateStartSchedule = datePromised.minus(durationDays, ChronoUnit.DAYS);" Verified for production orders only (from the vendor's source code, read 2026-09-18; no customer-facing page states it, so it does not count toward the Full MRP label).Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: Source code, read 2026(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Produces dated buy/make suggestionsThe output is an actionable list with dates, order this much by this date, start this batch on this date. | Yes | The planning records exist "so they know what to order for which date", per the developer documentation (from the vendor's source code, read 2026-09-18; no customer-facing page states it, so it does not count toward the Full MRP label).Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: Source code, read 2026(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| 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: "Add the BOM components required for production." From the project's documentation source on GitHub. Checked 2026-09-14.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: raw.githubusercontent.com › Create BOM.md(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. | Yes | BOMs are called "BOM & Formula" and a component can be entered as a share of the whole: "To record the quantity as a percentage, tick the checkbox **Is %** and enter the amount in the field **% Qty** that then appears." The same page covers scrap percentages and co-products, and component quantities are multiplied by the quantity ordered. The German pricing page lists recipe management as standard.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: raw.githubusercontent.com › Add bom components.md(opens in a new tab); metasfresh.com › Preise(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Work / manufacturing ordersA record authorising and tracking the making of a specific quantity. | Yes | The English user guide walks through creating a manufacturing order with a BOM version, resource, workflow and quantity, then issuing materials and receiving output against it. It includes: "In the field **Date Promised**, set the date and time of product completion."Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: raw.githubusercontent.com › NewManufacturingOrder.md(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Routings & operationsThe ordered steps a product goes through, and which machine or station does each one. | Yes | Each manufacturing order carries a workflow of work steps, each tied to a production resource. The user guide says: "In the field **Workflow**, set the required manufacturing work steps."Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: raw.githubusercontent.com › NewManufacturingOrder.md(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Shop-floor trackingOperators report progress, time, and completions as the work happens. | Partial | The German production page says "erkennt metasfresh Materialbedarfe automatisch, stellt Chargen bereit und verbucht Rückmeldungen digital" (metasfresh detects material needs, provides batches and books confirmations digitally). Partial because the only documented way to record work time per activity is for service and repair orders, and we found no operator terminal documentation.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: metasfresh.com › Produktion lagerlogistik(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Quality controlsChecks, tests, holds, and non-conformance records tied to production or receiving. | Yes | The German billing and traceability page lists "Qualitätsprüfungen in Beschaffung, Lager & Produktion" (quality inspections in procurement, warehouse and production). The English docs cover quarantine warehouses for quality problems, but we found no how-to for running an inspection.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: metasfresh.com › Abrechnung nachverfolgung(opens in a new tab)Question this |
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. | Yes | The vendor's German production and warehouse page promises "Vollständige Chargenverwaltung von Eingang bis Produktion" (complete batch management from receipt to production), and its billing and traceability page says you can trace every batch to the end customer. This is a vendor feature page; the user guide has no page on lot tracking.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: metasfresh.com › Produktion lagerlogistik(opens in a new tab); metasfresh.com › Abrechnung nachverfolgung(opens in a new tab); metasfresh.com › En(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Expiry & shelf lifeBest-before dates on materials and finished goods, with warnings before they lapse. | Yes | The German planning page says: "Ja – MHD, Lagerdauer, Charge und Verfallsdaten können vollständig in die Planung integriert werden." (Yes, best-before dates, storage time, batch and expiry dates can be fully built into planning.) The English docs add a picking-terminal setting that shows the expiry date. Warnings before a date passes are not documented, and this is a vendor feature page rather than the user guide.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: metasfresh.com › Planung bedarfsermittlung(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Serial numbersUnique identifiers on individual units, for warranty or field service. | Yes | When receiving finished goods from production, the user guide says: "in the field **S/N** (SerialNo), enter the serial number of the HU." A serial number is recorded per handling unit, which for single items means per unit, and BOM versions can carry a serial number sequence.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: raw.githubusercontent.com › ProductionCompletion.md(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. | Unknown | Not yet researched. We would need: documentation of landed, manufactured, or unit cost calculation and cogs reporting.Know the answer? |
| PurchasingRaising and tracking purchase orders to suppliers from inside the system. | Yes | Procurement and goods receipt are named supply-chain phases.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: metasfresh.com › En(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Accounting connectionSends financial data to bookkeeping software, or includes its own general ledger. | Yes | metasfresh keeps its own postings and general ledger accounts: "With metasfresh you can export postings and master data (general ledger/personal accounts) via the DATEV accounting interface with ease." DATEV is the accounting format most German accountants use.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: raw.githubusercontent.com › DATEV accounting export minimum requirements.md(opens in a new tab)Question this |
| Ecommerce connectionPulls orders and pushes stock levels to a storefront or marketplace. | Yes | The vendor's e-commerce interfaces page names Amazon, Shopware, "Woo Commerce", Shopify and eBay. It gives names only, and we found no integration documentation, so ask what each connector syncs.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: metasfresh.com › E commerce(opens in a new tab)Question this |
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 | There is a documented REST API with Swagger and token authentication: "By means of the metasfresh web service (REST API) you can transfer external data to metasfresh and retrieve, update or delete existing data entries from the system." The published endpoints cover business partners, products, sales orders, order candidates, invoices and data import.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: raw.githubusercontent.com › General info REST API.md(opens in a new tab); Vendor video, 2019, at 0:32(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 user guide says: "In metasfresh, you can export any selected data from any list view, download them to your computer and save them in an XLS file." The file is a spreadsheet rather than CSV; the vendor's data-integration page lists CSV among its interfaces.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: raw.githubusercontent.com › Data export metasfresh.md(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-hosting under GPL-2.0 puts the database in your hands.Reviewed October 9, 2026. Source: github.com › Metasfresh(opens in a new tab)Question this |
Deployment, licensing and your data
- Deployment
- Cloud (hosted for you), Self-hosted, On-premise (vendor-supported)
- Licensing
- Open sourceGPL-2.0
- Team sizes
- 6–20 people, 21–50 people, 51+ people
- Manufacturing styles
- Batch & recipe products, Countable assembled products, Continuous process
About the licence
GPL-2.0 confirmed by reading the repository license file on 13 August 2026. The vendor's website does not name the license, and the German-language site presents the product primarily as a cloud subscription. The open-source basis is real but is not the headline offer.
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.
- The €99 user fee and the €299 hosting fee are separate line items. Publishing both is more honest than most vendors manage, but the number that matters is €398.
- The vendor's own site never names the license. We read GPL-2.0 from the repository, which is what our methodology requires before printing "open source".
- Batch tracking and expiry evidence comes from the vendor's German feature pages rather than the user guide, which has no page on lot tracking. That is thinner support than we would like for a product aimed at food producers, so ask to see lot tracing in a demo.
Alternatives to metasfresh
An alternative is always an alternative for a reason. There is no universal replacement.
- ERPNextOpen source or self-hostable
Both are fully open ERPs; ERPNext has broader English documentation, while metasfresh is shaped around wholesale and food distribution in Europe.
Evidence and verification
License read from the repository; pricing read from the vendor site. Manufacturing orders, workflows, formulas, serial numbers, the REST API and export are sourced from the English user guide in the project's documentation repository. Batch tracking, expiry, quality and e-commerce rest on the vendor's German feature pages. The English user guide is largely but not fully complete: 328 English pages against 343 German ones, with the material planning how-tos for purchasing and production only in German, and some English pages still marked "<!-- NEEDS UPDATING/TRANSLATION FROM DE:". Bedarfsermittlung is a genuine time-phased calculation: the developer README and planning code (read 2026-09-18) keep dated demand, supply and projected stock and back-schedule production from the demand date. That is source-code evidence, so those fields fill the table without counting toward the Full MRP label.
Sources we checked (17)
metasfresh.com
github.com
raw.githubusercontent.com
- Create BOM.md(opens in a new tab)
- NewManufacturingOrder.md(opens in a new tab)
- Add bom components.md(opens in a new tab)
- ProductionCompletion.md(opens in a new tab)
- DATEV accounting export minimum requirements.md(opens in a new tab)
- General info REST API.md(opens in a new tab)
- Data export metasfresh.md(opens in a new tab)
- Source code, read 2026(opens in a new tab)
- Source code, read 2026(opens in a new tab)
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.
- Source lot tracking and expiry evidence from the user documentation. Production orders are now documented in the English user guide, but lot and best-before handling rest on the vendor's German feature pages; no user-guide page covers them.
- Still open: what the starter package costs. The German pricing page lists what it includes but says the price depends on your requirements and is on request, so it needs a sales contact.
Still unknown: capacity planning, multi-level bom, product costing & cogs, webhooks, mcp support.