Odoo vs ERPNext – An Impartial Comparison

Odoo? ERPnext? Confused? Don’t worry, this happens all the time. Businesses hoping to harmonise and streamline their operations often look into adopting an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, and its associated software. But nightmare stories abound, about how complex, expensive, and frustrating such installations can be.

In this guide, we’ll offer some recommendations on choosing an ERP solution for your business. Majorly, we are going to pitch Odoo vs ERPnext.

Odoo vs ERPnext seem to be very close competitors because of their open source “off-the-shelf” features.

Actually, Odoo vs ERPnext battle is actually not a battle to start with. There is not much to compare between the two because both the software serve their own specific purposes. And like any other software, have their downsides too. The only reason why people want to compare Odoo vs ERPnext is because both of them have an open source base.

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Odoo vs ERPnext – What to Look For in Good Open Source ERP Software

An enterprise-worthy ERP platform, not just Odoo vs ERPnext debate, should provide certain modules as standard, typically for Accounting, Finance, Purchase, Inventory, Human Resources (HR), Sales, Marketing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Supply Chain Management (SCM), and Production or Engineering.

Being open source, the software should allow you to tweak and customise the underlying source code (yourself, or via a third party) to better suit your preferred practices and working conditions.

Options to host the entire system in the cloud, or to pick and choose cloud-based modules to augment an on-premises installation can be a useful way of rounding out your ERP functionality.

By its very nature, open source software relies on the activities and contributions of developers and the user community at large, and this should extend to the handling of user feedback, documentation, and technical support.

Odoo vs ERPnext – Features Comparison

Unlike Odoo, ERPNext is an Open Source ERP application that helps business manage their organizations efficiently by including inventory management, financial accounting, human resource management, manufacturing, and much more. It is a web based application, easy and user friendly.
If a light ERP system works for you, ERPNext is awesome.
If you require the power of Odoo, then you must choose Odoo. If you have complex requirements, then Odoo development is right.

ERPNext – ERPNext helps businesses with processes such as financial accounting, project management, human resources and inventory management.

List of Features –

Cross-compatibility
Flexibility
Comprehensive user interface
Calendar
Social network and messaging service
Built-in to-do lists and projects
Time log entries
Embedded reporting system
Multi-currency support
Accounting with tax calculations
Sales, quotations, support requests and management and communication reporting
Inventory warehouse management
Production planning tool
Leave and attendance management
Expense claim submission
Employee appraisal
Website creation and design

Odoo – Odoo covers all sorts of business operations, from project management, CRM, and HR to inventory control and omnichannel sales.

List of Features –

Website Edition
Accounting
CRM
MRP
E-Commerce
eSignature
Inventory Management
Marketing
Point of Sale
Project Management
Sales Management
Automated Stock Update
Automated Calendar
Automated Invoicing
Leave Management
Timesheets
Reporting
Efficient Integrations
Customer Support

– Odoo is a extensive package of business application including ERP, CRM, sales, project management, manufacturing, warehouse management, human resource, financial management etc.

– Odoo is flexible and has dynamic community and can be adapted to your need. It can be used in production expeditiously because of its easy to use modularity.

– Odoo works out of the box though it is not free. Odoo is preferred over ERPNext because ERPNext isn’t suitable for mission-critical purposes. Odoo can easily meet complex ERP requirements.

– Odoo “Works out of the box” and is fully supported.

ERPNext looks more like a subset of Odoo ENTERPRISE and is much, much simpler to configure.

Version upgrades are included in Odoo Enterprise payment plan. So you can freely upgrade without downtime.
The monthly payment to keep Odoo chugging is much lower than what anyone would pay an I.T. and dev team to keep a community-supported product fully functional.

If you have simple requirements and an in-house dev team then ERPNext may be what you need.

If you have complex requirements and an in-house dev team to dedicate to your ERP, then Odoo is right.

If you need full inventory control with integrated crm and accounting and everything under the sun, but you do not wish to dedicate staff to managing it full time then you must choose Odoo Enterprise.

Odoo has many options in their cloud as well which we have not even mentioned. But you can have low payments in their hosted solution if you do not require all modules or have few users.

Downside to Odoo is that it is very hard to customize and the total cost of ownership is huge compared to the benefits it brings.

ERPNext is your classic old-world cloud-based ERP which is good for small companies who probably don’t need ERP. If you are a growth focus and growing companies with international ambitions Odoo is probably best.

Odoo vs ERPNext is good to know, but the best approach is to match your requirements to the product and not let the product limit your business potential.