What makes ERPNext a great Odoo alternative

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There comes a time when every business needs to move past excel sheets and accounting apps and get acquainted with its new best friend—an ERP system. But which one do you go with?

There’s a long line of options to choose from, each more enticing than the last, but you’ve finally spruced your list down to two—Odoo and ERPNext. If you ask us, you can’t go wrong with either. They’re both excellent choices, but in our (entirely biased) opinion, you should go with ERPNext. Here’s why.

Odoo isn’t open-source and we’re not lying to you

We know, we know, it’s a big accusation, but it had to be said. If your list has whittled down to ERPNext and Odoo, you probably already know that they’re the two best open source ERP systems out there. That means that you can inspect, modify and distribute the code used to build them. And why should you care about this? Because it gives you all the control. You can examine the code, make sure it’s not doing anything you don’t want it to be doing, change the parts you don’t like, add any features you wish it had, you get the gist. Odoo positions its ERP system as open source, but really, it’s not. Only some of the core modules are available for the public to do with as they like, the rest of it is still shrouded in mystery. ERPNext, on the other hand, is and always will be 100% open source.

Odoo divides features between its Community (free) and Enterprise (paid) editions, with many advanced capabilities locked behind their hefty paid version.

Features	Odoo Community (Free)	Odoo Enterprise (Paid)	ERPNext (Free)
Accounts	Basic invoicing and payments	Ledgers, CoA, Financial statements, Bank reconciliation, global compliance	Everything Odoo’s Enterprise edition offers and more!
Procurement	Basic supplier management and POs	Supplier pricelists, purchase agreements, and automated RFQs
Stock	Basic inventory management	Barcode scanning, batch/serial number tracking, and automated replenishment
Manufacturing	Basic BOM and operations only	Advanced (Work centers, Quality checks)
Projects	Basic task tracking and timelines	Forecasting and Timesheet linking
Support/Helpdesk	Not available	SLAs, multi-channel support
HR and Payroll	Employee directory, leaves	Payroll integration, recruitment tools
Customizations	Not available	Odoo Studio for custom app creation

You get to save a ton of money

Another great thing about being open source is that you can even use ERPNext for free if you want to. You only have to pay if you need hosting, and even then, it’s significantly cheaper than alternatives like Odoo which make you pay per user. Say your company has 50 users. That’s going to cost you less than $50 a month on ERPNext, whereas Odoo would charge you at least $450 per month.

You can try it out for as long as you like

Picking an ERP system is serious business. It’s a decision that shouldn’t be rushed. While Odoo does offer a community edition that you can use for free for as long as you like, it’s extremely limited. It doesn’t come with version upgrades nor does it let you use critical modules like accounting, payroll and so much more. But can you even call it an ERP system if it doesn’t even have accounting?

It's simpler and easier to use

You get access to all its features right out of the box. Odoo’s modular structure sounds great on paper—you get to start with the modules you like, and add more as the need arises—but wouldn’t it be simpler to just use a unified platform that already has everything you need?

It’s not just easy to use, it’s also a breeze to customize

Even if you don’t know a lick of code. Create new forms, customize existing ones, build custom reports, set up workflows, change user permissions based on roles—ERPNext’s super intuitive UI lets you do all that and more without writing a single line of code. And if you do know how to code, you can create custom scripts in a jiffy right from the interface, or play around with the code on your favourite code editor to tailor it to your specific needs and truly make it your own. Odoo also lets you customize applications without coding through Odoo Studio, but it’s only available on its most expensive plan.

Don’t want to pay for support? Then don’t.

We should probably not be telling you this, but the ERPNext community is so passionate and active that you’ll probably find the answers to all your queries just by asking on our discuss forum.

On ERPNext, scaling is a good thing

As your business grows, so will your team size. On applications that charge per user like Odoo, that also means your bills will start skyrocketing. But with ERPNext, you can add as many users as you want without getting charged more. You only pay for the resources you use, not for every extra addition to your team.

Still not convinced? Hear it from others

Read this blog written by one of our German partners. Or this article comparing ERPNext with Odoo. Here is another heartfelt story on how a customer (MH Notebook Factory) switched from Odoo to ERPNext. Make the best choice for your morals and your wallet and get ERPNext today.

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