How much does Odoo ERP cost? This is a question often asked by managers and e-commerce business owners considering the implementation of this system. Odoo is renowned for its flexibility and richness of functions (from CRM and sales, through e-commerce, inventory, to accounting and HR), but an equally important advantage is its affordable and predictable cost model. In the article below, we present a comprehensive analysis of the costs of using Odoo ERP - from the structure of licenses, through different deployment models (Odoo Online, Odoo.sh, on-premise), hidden costs and expenditure scalability, to a comparison with other popular ERP systems on the Polish market (such as BaseLinker, Comarch ERP, SAP, or enova365). The goal is to help understand how Odoo is priced and why it can be a more advantageous solution for e-commerce companies at different stages of growth.
Odoo offers a unique licensing model, different from many traditional ERP systems. The basis of fees is the number of users, not the number of transactions or the size of data. Moreover, under a single fee, the user gets access to all modules and applications of Odoo, without the need to purchase separate licenses for individual functions. This means that the price increases mainly with the number of employees using the system, not with the size of the company or the complexity of processes.
Odoo Community vs Enterprise: It is worth noting that Odoo comes in two editions: Community and Enterprise. The Community edition is open-source under the LGPL license and available completely free of charge - there are no license fees, but it comes with a limited range of functionalities (lack of some modules like advanced accounting, limited support, no automatic updates, etc.). In turn, Odoo Enterprise is the commercial version, paid per user, containing the full set of functions and support. Although Enterprise is paid, its cost is relatively low compared to traditional ERP - rates start already at about 11.90 € per user per month in promotional plans, and standard prices are around 20-30 € per user per month depending on the chosen plan and hosting option. There are no additional fees for further modules - you pay per user, not per function.
One application for free: For the smallest companies, Odoo offers a unique possibility to start working without costs - the One Free Application plan (Jednej Bezpłatnej Aplikacji). It allows the use of one selected module completely free of charge, for an unlimited number of users, hosted in the Odoo Online cloud. If a company needs, for example, only the CRM module or only the eCommerce module, it can use it free of charge for as long as it wants. It is worth adding that if the chosen application requires others to function (e.g., the eCommerce module requires the Website and Invoicing modules), then those dependent modules are also provided free of charge in this plan. This is an attractive option for startups and micro businesses - they can start with one area (e.g., sales, inventory, or website) without incurring costs, and only as the system expands switch to the paid edition.
What does the Odoo Enterprise fee include? In the Enterprise license price, we get not only access to all applications but also technical support, cloud hosting, and system service/maintenance. Odoo emphasizes that it does not apply any limits on transactions, records, or database size - no functional limits and no hidden costs are part of the company’s philosophy. In other words, you don’t have to worry that exceeding a certain threshold (e.g., number of invoices or products) will generate extra charges - the price depends solely on the number of users and, if applicable, the hosting option. Such price transparency makes budget planning easier and distinguishes Odoo from many competitors.
The cost of using Odoo depends not only on the number of users, but also on the deployment and hosting model. Odoo ERP can be launched in several ways: in the vendor’s cloud (Odoo Online), on a cloud platform dedicated to Odoo (Odoo.sh), or on own infrastructure (On-Premise). Each of these options has its own cost, functional, and operational specifics.
Odoo Online is a SaaS model hosted directly on Odoo’s servers. In practice, this means the least complicated deployment - the company sets up an instance in the Odoo cloud, and the vendor takes care of all infrastructure, updates, and backup. The cost of Odoo Online is included in the price of the Enterprise license - we do not pay anything extra for servers or system maintenance. Thanks to this, hosting is de facto free within the user subscription.
It is worth emphasizing that Odoo Online is available both for the Standard and Custom plans, however there are certain limitations. On Odoo Online we cannot install custom modules or extensions outside the official package - the environment is closed to ensure stability and easy updates. This means that there is no possibility of customizing code, using community modules (Community), or integrating via API with external tools, unless they fall within the standard functions. For many companies, especially smaller ones, this is not a problem - the standard functionality of Odoo is very rich. But if you plan deeper customizations, you must consider another hosting model.
Advantages of Odoo Online: no additional costs for infrastructure, automatic updates (Odoo ensures annual upgrades to newer versions), full support, and the highest cost predictability - we pay a fixed subscription for users and nothing more. The disadvantage is the aforementioned lower flexibility: the company must stick to Odoo standards. Many e-commerce companies in the early stages of growth choose Odoo Online, using ready-made modules (e.g., sales, inventory, eCommerce) without investing in servers or developers.
Odoo.sh is a proprietary cloud platform (PaaS) created by Odoo, allowing you to host a dedicated Odoo Enterprise instance with the possibility of customization. By choosing Odoo.sh, we still pay for the Enterprise licenses (and we must be on the Custom plan, since the Standard plan does not allow hosting outside Odoo Online), but additionally we bear the cost of the Odoo.sh service for maintaining the environment.
The cost of Odoo.sh is fixed, independent of the number of users, and typically amounts to about 60-80 € per month per instance (depending on the chosen package of computing power, storage, etc.). This fee covers infrastructure (cloud servers), CI/CD tools, automatic backups, and other platform conveniences. It should be emphasized that the cost of Odoo.sh hosting is not included in the standard license price - it is an additional subscription beyond the user fee.
What does Odoo.sh provide? Above all, full flexibility, comparable to your own server, with minimal administrative effort. On Odoo.sh we can install custom modules, own customizations, external integrations, and even applications from the Odoo App Store that are not available in Odoo Online. The platform provides development and testing environments, which facilitates the introduction of changes. For e-commerce companies that need, for example, specific integrations (with couriers, marketplaces, BI systems) or additional tailor-made functionalities, Odoo.sh is often an ideal compromise - we get managed hosting but with control over the code.
In cost comparison, Odoo.sh means an additional ~300-400 PLN per month (at the euro exchange rate) for hosting compared to Odoo Online. This is still quite a predictable, fixed cost. In return, the organization avoids expenses on its own system administrators or external servers, while maintaining the freedom of personalization. Medium-sized companies often choose Odoo.sh when they expand Odoo with non-standard functions but do not want to build their own infrastructure from scratch.
The third model is the traditional On-Premise installation, i.e., on your own server or cloud (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, or a server in the company’s headquarters). On-Premise may apply to both Odoo Community (free) and Odoo Enterprise (Custom plan). It is worth emphasizing that Enterprise in the Standard variant does not allow self-hosting, so if we want to have Odoo Enterprise on our own servers, we must purchase the Custom plan. The Odoo software itself is the same - the difference is only that we take on the administrative duties.
The costs of On-Premise are divided into two parts: first, the license cost (if we use Enterprise Custom - per-user fee as above), and second, the cost of infrastructure and its maintenance. The latter depends on the scale of the implementation - for a small company it may be, for example, a VPS server for several hundred PLN per month, for a large e-commerce with hundreds of thousands of transactions a distributed infrastructure for thousands of PLN per month may be needed. Own hosting also means the necessity of taking care of backups, updates, system security, etc. (unless we outsource this to a partner). It can therefore be said that On-Premise gives the most control (e.g., full access to the database, any modifications, keeping data in your own server room), but it comes with additional hidden operational costs - sometimes a full-time administrator or external company support will be required.
It is worth mentioning that between full On-Premise and Odoo.sh there is also an intermediate option: you can install Odoo yourself on the chosen cloud (e.g., AWS, OVH) or use the services of an Odoo partner offering hosting. Many partners in Poland offer hosting Odoo for Enterprise or Community customers - this can be advantageous if we want someone to take care of the server but at the same time we need, for example, data to be stored in the country or the EU, or we have unusual hardware requirements. Partners usually settle such hosting monthly or annually, depending on resources (this is a similar order of costs as Odoo.sh). Odoo Online is free, but functionally limited - paid own hosting or Odoo.sh provides flexibility at the cost of an additional fee.
When planning an ERP implementation, one should take into account not only the official license or hosting price list, but also potential hidden costs. Although Odoo advertises itself with the slogan “no hidden costs” (in the context of system usage), as with any ERP system, adapting it to the specific needs of the business and maintaining it in the long term may generate additional expenses. Below we discuss the most important of them:
In summary, hidden costs of Odoo - such as customization, integrations, infrastructure, migrations, and support - do not differ in principle from what we must reckon with when implementing any ERP system. The advantage of Odoo, however, is that many basic needs are covered in the license price, without extra charges for modules (e.g., the WMS warehouse module or online store does not require purchasing a separate license, as is the case in other systems). As a result, with a well-planned implementation, the total cost of owning Odoo is often lower than competing ERPs, even after taking these additional elements into account.
One of the key strengths of Odoo, often emphasized by users, is cost predictability and transparency. The “pay per user, use everything” model significantly simplifies IT budgeting. In practice, this means that companies can easily forecast system costs along with their growth - if we plan to hire 5 new employees, we know that the Odoo cost will increase by 5 × the per-user monthly rate, and that’s it. We don’t have to worry that a sudden spike in the number of store orders or expanding the product range will result in a higher fee charged by the ERP vendor (which happens in models priced based on the scale of operations).
For comparison, some e-commerce and ERP solutions have pricing tied to the scale of operations - e.g., sales commissions, payments per number of documents, or revenues. Such a model can be less predictable. For example, the popular integration platform in Poland BaseLinker charges fees depending on the number of orders and product listings (above the free limit) - with very large sales, BaseLinker subscription costs increase, and for the largest stores they even introduced a revenue-based commission model. In Odoo, there are no such variable fees - you can issue hundreds of thousands of invoices or serve any number of products and customers without worrying about additional license costs. This fixed per-user fee is particularly beneficial for companies with seasonally changing transaction volumes (e.g., fashion or electronics stores that have sales peaks during holidays) - the infrastructure must handle the load, but the Odoo license cost itself does not change.
Another aspect of predictability is the functional completeness of Odoo. Having one integrated solution often avoids the need to purchase separate systems for accounting, warehouse, or marketing. This not only simplifies IT architecture but also eliminates many small subscriptions that together could add up to a significant amount. For example, a company using Odoo gets the email marketing module in the package - the alternative would be to pay for an external mailing service. Of course, Odoo may not replace all specialized tools, but the more we do “under one roof” with Odoo, the better we control costs (as well as data and processes).
Finally, a fixed price provides a stronger negotiating position in planning company development. With a predictable ERP cost, the company can more easily compare growth scenarios or calculate ROI on investments in new functions. For many of our e-commerce interviewees, the price transparency of Odoo was one of the reasons for choosing this system - they appreciated that Odoo does not try to charge fees for every additional cash register, warehouse, or online store, but treats everything as one system. The Odoo vendor directly boasts about the “lack of hidden costs and data limits” as an advantage over the competition.
Of course, predictability does not mean that Odoo will always be the cheapest in every situation - if a company employs a very large number of users, the total subscription cost may be significant. However, even then, as we will see below, compared to other ERP solutions this looks favorable. The key point is that in Odoo we pay for employees who actually use the system, and not, for example, for every contractor or transaction. This is a fair and understandable approach that makes financial decisions easier.
The Polish market offers a wide selection of ERP systems and related solutions for e-commerce. Each of them has a different cost model. Below we compare Odoo with several popular options - BaseLinker, Comarch ERP, SAP and enova365 - focusing on the method of licensing and the potential costs that an e-commerce company has to incur.
BaseLinker is often used by online stores as a platform for integrating many sales channels (Allegro, Amazon, web stores) and automating orders. However, it is worth noting that BaseLinker is not a full ERP but rather a specialized integration/order system - it does not offer, for example, accounting or a broad CRM. Its pricing model is based on a monthly subscription dependent on the number of orders and listings. There is a Freemium plan (free) for very small sellers, a Business from PLN 99 net per month (with higher limits), and an Enterprise plan with individually set pricing for the largest entities. Importantly, the highest BaseLinker plan is sometimes settled as a percentage of turnover (GMV) - e.g., from 1.3% to 1.5% of monthly sales value. This means that for a dynamically growing store, the cost of BaseLinker can increase significantly along with sales.
Comparison with Odoo: Odoo Enterprise does not charge any sales commissions - the fee is fixed regardless of whether the store processes 100 orders or 100 thousand. For a small e-commerce relying mainly on marketplaces, BaseLinker may be a cheaper and simpler solution (PLN 99 vs. several hundred PLN per month for Odoo). However, as the business grows and turnover increases, the cost of BaseLinker becomes less predictable, while Odoo remains linear (it only increases when the team grows, not the turnover). Additionally, Odoo offers broad ERP functionality, so it can replace the need to use many other systems simultaneously. In practice, a common scenario is integration: larger e-commerce companies use Odoo as the main ERP and BaseLinker as the integration tool with auctions/marketplaces (then you have to include the costs of both). It is also worth knowing that modules are being developed that integrate Odoo directly with Allegro or Amazon - it is possible that in the future Odoo itself will take over the role of such integrators, which would allow subscription costs in this area to be reduced.
Comarch ERP (e.g., Comarch ERP Optima for SMEs or Comarch ERP XL for larger companies) has been a popular choice in Poland for years. Comarch’s cost model differs significantly from Odoo. Traditionally, Comarch offers licenses into modules and seats: the client buys modules (e.g., Sales, Warehouse, General Ledger, CRM, etc.) separately, paying for each seat (user) of a given module. The Comarch ERP Optima price list shows that the prices of individual modules can range from several hundred to several thousand PLN for a license for one seat, plus possible annual update fees or a subscription if we choose the subscription model. For example, the Sales (sales/warehouse) module is an expense of around PLN 1,535 (perpetual license for one seat) in Optima, the invoicing module is about PLN 195, etc., and more advanced modules can cost more (e.g., HR/Payroll can cost several thousand). Importantly, to the sum of licenses you often have to add an annual service subscription (updates), usually ~20% of the license value per year, to have access to new legal and technical versions.
Comarch has also introduced the possibility of a monthly subscription instead of purchasing licenses - then the client pays monthly for access to modules. According to partners’ price lists, the monthly cost is calculated as a certain percentage of the license price. For example, the enova365 HR module (a similar licensing model) costs PLN 4,950 when purchased outright or PLN 252 per month in a subscription for 1 user - this shows the scale of fees. It is easy to calculate that a complete ERP system with several modules and several users can, in Comarch, generate an expenditure of several tens of thousands of PLN at the start (licenses) or correspondingly several hundred to several thousand PLN per month in the subscription model.
Comparison with Odoo: The biggest difference is that Odoo does not make you choose modules - you get everything in the package. In Comarch, for each additional functional extension you have to pay extra (whether it is a CRM module or an online store, etc.). As a result, when we calculate the full functional coverage that Odoo provides, the cost of traditional ERPs often comes out higher. For example, having 5 users who need the modules: Sales, Warehouse, Accounting, and CRM - in Odoo we will pay 5 × about PLN 120 = ~PLN 600 per month (assuming ~€25 per user). In Comarch Optima: the Invoicing module ~PLN 200 + Sales ~PLN 1,500 + General Ledger ~PLN 1,000 + CRM ~? + 5 seats of all this, plus the annual subscription - as a one-off it may be a neat several dozen thousand PLN, and in addition 20% annually for maintenance. In the subscription model probably several hundred PLN per month, comparable to Odoo, but with functional limitation to those specific modules. Odoo offers greater flexibility - even if today we don’t need a certain function, we have it at hand without additional fees, which makes it easier to scale the business and add new processes.
It should be noted, however, that Comarch has a strong position thanks to local specific functions (e.g., Polish accounting, integrations with ZUS, Tax Office, etc. are well refined in Comarch). Odoo in the standard version may require installing modules adjusting to Polish regulations (available under the LGPL license or commercial from partners, but usually without additional high fees). From a cost standpoint: Odoo has an advantage with the flat rate per user, and Comarch is a typical à la carte model - you pay for each dish separately. With broad needs Odoo is often cheaper and simpler in settlements; with a very narrow scope (e.g., only sales and warehouse, without other modules) Comarch at small scale can compete on price, although then we lose many potential benefits of process integration.
SAP is a global ERP giant, and in the Polish market large companies sometimes implement SAP Business One (for SMEs) or full SAP S/4HANA (for corporations). The costs of SAP systems are known as among the highest - both licenses and implementation. SAP’s licensing model can be complex (user licenses, module licenses, service fees, often individual quotes). Example estimates show that for 50 users, the annual cost of just using SAP Business One can reach ~USD 282k, while for the same number of users Odoo is about USD 75k. This huge difference results from pricing policy - SAP, as an enterprise brand, positions itself high, charging among other things for the brand, support, and rich but also complex functionality.
Comparison with Odoo: In terms of cost model these are almost two poles. Odoo is known for a low price barrier to entry - even the Enterprise version is available for small companies, whereas SAP is practically absent in small companies due to cost. For medium and large organizations that could consider both, Odoo tempts with flexibility and a lower TCO, while SAP offers a wealth of “out-of-the-box” functions (especially in specific areas, e.g., advanced production or financial modules) at the cost of large investments. E-commerce companies rarely decide on SAP unless we are talking about truly large entities (e.g., international retail chains). In the context of e-commerce costs, it is also worth mentioning that SAP has Hybris/SAP Commerce-type solutions for e-commerce, which are also extremely expensive. Often even large online stores choose Odoo at least as a backend for order and warehouse management, because a full SAP implementation would not pay off at retail margins.
To sum up, Odoo wins on price over SAP in almost every category - both licenses and customization (Odoo developers are easier to find and cheaper than SAP consultants), implementation time (shorter, i.e., cheaper), and maintenance. SAP can be an advantage for very large companies in terms of ultra-scalability and certain industry functions, but these are already decisions more strategic than purely economic. For a typical medium-sized e-commerce company, the cost difference between Odoo vs SAP is so large that Odoo is simply in a completely different price league - a league accessible to medium-sized business.
enova365 (a product of Soneta) is a modern Polish ERP system, popular in the mid-market segment. In the cost model, enova resembles Comarch - we have a choice of purchasing a license outright (one-off) or a monthly subscription, and we pay for each module separately. Odoo, on the other hand, has the approach “one subscription = everything.” The enova price lists are extensive, but for illustration: the HR and Payroll module in the silver edition is about PLN 4,950 when purchased outright or PLN 252 per month in a subscription for 1 user. And that’s just one module - similar fees apply to sales, accounting, CRM modules, etc., with different “colors” of licenses (silver, gold, platinum) with different scopes of functions. In total, implementing full enova365 across several areas may mean purchasing a dozen or more module licenses. The advantage is that enova allows you to start from a small scope (e.g., accounting only) and expand, but the disadvantage is that full integration of all departments can be costly because each added piece is another expense.
Comparison with Odoo: enova365 is sometimes called a “system tailored to Polish regulations” - it has great local support, which is a substantive advantage, but in cost terms it looks similar to Comarch: we pay for each module separately. For an e-commerce company that needs, for example, an online store, CRM, warehouse, invoicing, and integration with Allegro - Odoo offers this as standard (eCommerce module, warehouse, invoices, CRM, plus you can install free Allegro modules from the community). In enova you would need the Sales module (invoices, warehouse), the CRM module, for e-commerce probably an integration with PrestaShop/Shopify (external, additionally paid), the accounting module, etc. In total, enova license costs can exceed the cost of Odoo, especially as the number of users using many modules grows.
It should be added that enova, similarly to Comarch, is often sold and implemented by partners who add their margin for implementation services - with Odoo we also usually have partners, so here the service costs depend on the scope of work, not on the system itself. Odoo Enterprise licenses for, e.g., 10 users are about €1,000 per month, i.e., ~PLN 56k per year. For this amount in enova we might have maybe 5-6 modules on subscription for 10 users each (for example: Sales, Warehouse, Ledger, CRM, HR), but each additional module or user above the assumed number pushes the price up. In enova, costs rise stepwise - e.g., the next module is a jump in expenses. For companies that dynamically broaden their scope of operations, Odoo may be financially safer, because it will not surprise you with the need to suddenly buy an expensive module when a new need arises - most needs are already “waiting” in the package.
Odoo comes out cost-advantageous against competitors in many scenarios, especially when a company wants to integrate many areas of activity in one system. BaseLinker is cheap to start but limited in scope and cost scalability; Comarch and enova have rather complex module price lists, which with full use of ERP functions often make them more expensive or as costly as Odoo, and less flexible. SAP is in a class of its own - it costs many times more and is usually out of reach for medium-sized e-commerce. When choosing a system, of course, you cannot look only at price - functions, support, and fit to the company are important - but in the category “how much will this cost us in total,” Odoo often wins as a more predictable and cost-effective solution.
Every ERP implementation is different, but let’s try to illustrate the orders of magnitude of costs of implementing and maintaining Odoo ERP for e-commerce companies of different sizes. The ranges below are indicative - the actual cost depends on the complexity of processes, the number of integrations, and individual requirements.
Characteristics: An online store or a company selling on marketplaces, employing a few people. Needs: basic handling of orders, inventory levels, invoicing, simple CRM.
Odoo license: Such a company can even start from the free one-app plan - e.g., the eCommerce or CRM for PLN 0, with the rest of the processes handled manually. However, if it wants a full ERP, then e.g., 5 Enterprise users × about PLN 100 per month (with annual discounts) = ~PLN 500 per month, i.e., ~PLN 6,000 per year net. Alternatively, it could use Odoo Community for PLN 0 in licenses, at the cost of lacking certain functions and support.
Implementation cost: A small company often opts for self-implementation or minimal assistance. Odoo offers a Starter package for 500 € (with consultant support for 4 hours), which may be enough to very simply launch out-of-the-box modules. If a partner is needed, then implementing a limited scope (sales, warehouse, invoices) can close in the a dozen-several dozen thousand PLN one-off. A simple project (standard configuration, basic training) is often priced at 20-40 hours of consultant work, which at a rate of ~PLN 200-300/hour gives about PLN 4-12k. The upper bound for a small company is usually up to PLN 50k, if minor customizations and integrations are included (e.g., with a PrestaShop store or Allegro via ready-made modules). It’s worth adding that some small companies implement Odoo almost costlessly, using documentation and their own resources - the cost then is the entrepreneur’s time.
Maintenance cost: With Odoo Online - PLN 0 (included in the license). With own hosting - a small instance can run on a server for ~PLN 100-200 per month. The annual cost of owning Odoo for a small company can therefore be PLN 0 (Community variant + own resources) to, say, ~PLN 10-20k (licenses + any minimal support). This is an amount comparable to the costs of single subscriptions to various SaaS tools, and here we are talking about a full ERP.
Characteristics: A company selling omnichannel, has its own warehouse, handles thousands of orders per month. It has dedicated teams (sales, logistics, accounting).
Odoo license: Assuming e.g., 30 Enterprise users, the cost is 30 × PLN 120 = PLN 3,600 per month, i.e., approx. PLN 43k per year, (with annual settlement, Standard plan) - that’s indicative, depending on the euro exchange rate. In the Custom plan (if the company needs Odoo.sh or own hosting) the cost would be higher - about 30 × PLN 150 = PLN 54k per year. Still, at the scale of a medium trading company with several dozen employees, this is a relatively small budget item for a critical system.
Implementation cost: Medium companies usually already require professional implementation by a partner and tailoring the system to many processes (e.g., integration with couriers, with a wholesaler, with an e-commerce platform, data migration from previous systems). The pricing of the implementation can vary greatly - typically from PLN 50k to PLN 200k one-off, depending on scope. If the company requires a large number of modifications, integrations with several external systems and extensive trainings, costs can go to the upper part of the range or exceed it. On the other hand, largely using Odoo standard and avoiding unnecessary bells and whistles, you can even fit below PLN 50k with your own IT involved. Many medium companies also decide to spread the implementation over stages (critical modules first, the rest later), which allows expenses to be phased.
Maintenance cost: For this scale, Odoo.sh or a dedicated server. The cost of Odoo.sh, as mentioned, is ~70 € (PLN 330) per month. Alternatively, own server (cluster) - perhaps 2-3 machines in the cloud, e.g., PLN 1,000-2,000 per month. In addition, a service agreement with a partner: many companies decide to purchase a package of 5-10 hours of support per month for ongoing needs and oversight (which can cost PLN 1,000-3,000 per month). Updates every few years - you should budget a dozen or so thousand PLN every 2 years for migration, depending on the number of changes. In total, the annual maintenance cost (licenses + hosting + support) for a medium company can be PLN 50-100k. For comparison, this is often a fraction of the annual personnel costs of an IT department, and it can replace several different systems (savings on integration between them and on subscriptions).
Characteristics: An extensive online store operating in many markets or an omnichannel sales network, a large volume of orders, extensive warehouse operations, own logistics solutions, perhaps elements of production or advanced omnichannel (brick-and-mortar + online).
Odoo license: 100 users - 100 × PLN 150 = PLN 15k per month, i.e., ~PLN 180k per year for licenses. Even with 200 users we’re talking about ~PLN 360k per year. A lot? On the one hand, it’s a serious amount; on the other - still very competitive in the world of ERP for large enterprises. By contrast, 200 users in SAP Business One could generate a license cost counted in millions of PLN, and in cloud models of other vendors (Oracle Netsuite, MS Dynamics 365) - hundreds of thousands per year with a significantly smaller scope of functions in the base.
Implementation cost: The cost of implementing Odoo on such a scale can range from several hundred thousand to even over a million PLN, if the project is global. Still, it is often less than analogous SAP/Microsoft projects, mainly thanks to faster development (Odoo is modular and open source - many things can be adapted instead of built from scratch). In Poland to date there have been few Odoo implementations on a very large scale (most are SMEs), but globally there are known examples of companies employing thousands of people that have moved to Odoo. An integrator-type partner (Odoo Gold Partner) is usually engaged, and the project lasts many months. A budget >PLN 1m is then not a surprise, although a significant portion may be data migration and process tailoring services, not the licenses themselves.
Maintenance cost: For large implementations, infrastructure requirements increase - you need to design architecture for high availability (HA), separate database servers, caching, perhaps containerization, etc. The company may choose hosting in its own data center or a professional cloud. Roughly, infrastructure is several - a dozen or so thousand PLN per month (depending on the load and required SLA). It also becomes necessary to have a dedicated support team - either internal (administrators, developers to maintain customizations) or external (24/7 outsourcing). That’s several hundred thousand PLN per year to maintain Odoo. Sounds high, but - again - compared to maintaining, for example, a SAP system (where the annual service fee for licenses alone is 22% of the license price, easily several hundred thousand PLN, plus the costs of more expensive specialists) - Odoo comes out favorably.
ERP system costs can look different depending on the stage of a company’s development. Let’s look at what cost advantages and disadvantages Odoo brings for companies in the phase of start, dynamic growth and mature, large business, and how these costs translate into the profitability of the investment.
Pluses: For newly established businesses and small e-commerce companies, it’s crucial that costs don’t choke the venture at the start. In this area, Odoo offers major benefits: you can start practically free of charge (Community or free module) and gradually add paid elements as needed. This is a much lower entry threshold than with traditional ERPs, where the mere purchase of licenses is often a barrier. Moreover, young companies often change their business model - Odoo gives freedom to experiment with functions (you have modules in the package that you can use whenever the need arises, without buying additional software). Fast implementation time and the availability of many ready-made integrations (e.g., with e-commerce platforms) mean the company can start deriving value from the system quickly, which translates into fast ROI. In short, the initial investment in Odoo can be minimal, and the gains from streamlining work (process automation, better inventory control, professional customer service) appear right away.
Minuses: For very small entities (e.g., one-person shops), even a few hundred PLN per month for a system can be a considerable expense relative to revenues. Sometimes, therefore, Odoo is sometimes “too professional” at the very beginning, when the business is only validating its model. In that case, it’s not so much the license cost that’s the problem (because you can use Community) as the time and resources needed for implementation - a micro-company may not have the IT skills and time to configure an ERP on its own. If it outsources this to a partner, it may spend, say, PLN 20k - the question is whether at this stage it’s not better to operate for a while on simpler tools (e.g., invoicing SaaS + marketplace panel) and enter ERP only once the business has stabilized. Thus, at the startup stage, a certain downside may be the necessity of having at least minimal knowledge or a budget for implementation - Odoo isn’t as plug-and-play as, say, a subscription online store like Shopify. However, much depends on the owner’s profile - if someone has a technical bent, Odoo will give them enormous possibilities to grow the company with little financial outlay.
Pluses: When an e-commerce company starts growing quickly (more customers, sales channels, products), the problem of multiplying costs of various services and infrastructure needs often appears. Here Odoo shines, because it scales linearly and centralizes many functions. We don’t have to buy a new system for each new department - we add a (already possessed) module and more users. The cost grows in proportion to the team, i.e., to the company’s actual operating capacity (if we can afford to hire new people, we can likely afford their ERP licenses, because that’s a fraction of their salaries). The lack of surprises like “you reached 10k orders, move to a more expensive plan” means that financially, you can focus on investing the growth generated from sales rather than on transaction fees. Odoo also helps control operating costs thanks to analytical modules - which is indirectly a financial benefit (better business control).
For a growing company, flexibility of customizations is also important - Odoo allows changes to be introduced relatively cheaply (e.g., a new way of calculating discounts, an integration with a new marketplace). Thanks to this, the company can react quickly to the market without needing to replace the entire system - which potentially saves hundreds of thousands of PLN that a migration to another ERP would cost once a certain scale is exceeded. In other words, Odoo grows together with the company, and the costs of this growth are under control.
Minuses: In a phase of very rapid growth, the bottleneck can become performance and architecture. Although Odoo is scalable, at some point it requires optimization (e.g., separating the database server, introducing load balancing). This means additional investments in infrastructure and specialists - i.e., stepwise technical costs. The company may reach a point where simple solutions are no longer sufficient (e.g., backups run too slowly because the database has grown to 200 GB; you then need to implement better practices). These are, of course, “first-world problems” - resulting from success - but they involve expenditures that need to be anticipated in the budget. Business growth entails investments in stronger IT. The alternative would be moving to a more expensive enterprise-class system, which would cost even more, so staying with Odoo is still cost-effective; but you must be aware of the IT investments that come with growth. Fortunately, these investments are largely under the company’s control (e.g., it decides whether to buy a better server now or in three months), and not suddenly forced by the software vendor.
Pluses: For large e-commerce organizations that have grown on Odoo, the biggest cost-related plus is that they did not have to replace the system along the way. Many companies start with simpler tools and, once they exceed a certain mass, face a costly migration to a “more serious” system - which means a large one-off cost and risk. If Odoo is well maintained, it can serve both small and very large companies. This potentially saves millions of PLN (as comparisons with SAP show, Odoo can deliver similar functions for a fraction of the cost). A large company also benefits from being able to negotiate terms - e.g., with several hundred users, you can often get additional discounts from Odoo or better service agreements from partners. In addition, having an internal IT team, the enterprise can develop Odoo in-house, avoiding the costs of purchasing further modules from external suppliers. The system’s openness favors investing in your own developers rather than paying high licenses. Over a long time horizon and at large operational scale, the total cost of ownership of Odoo (TCO) is very competitive. We don’t pay, for example, hundreds of thousands of euros per year in maintenance fees, as with some corporate ERPs - instead, we can allocate part of those funds to continuously improving the system for our unique processes.
Minuses: As the organization grows in size, the complexity of managing the system increases. Costs start appearing in places that didn’t exist before - e.g., the need to meet stringent security standards, audits, efficient test environments, automated deployment. All this generates a need for specialized knowledge (DevOps, SecOps) - i.e., higher spending on personnel or services. True, the same applies to any system in a large company, but, for example, with SAP, part of these issues is included (SAP provides certain corporate mechanisms out of the box). In Odoo, you sometimes have to additionally implement or purchase as a module - e.g., a permissions audit, integration with an Identity Management system, etc. From a cost perspective, this means a very large company may start investing significant sums in maintaining Odoo compliance and security. Another potential minus is the limited availability of companies with experience in ultra-large Odoo implementations - in Poland, these are still niche cases. This may mean the need to work with foreign partners or hire experts from the market - and thus a higher advisory budget. However, this is more an operational issue than one of the license itself.
Overall, at the large-company stage, Odoo still maintains a cost advantage, provided it is deliberately developed. Cost challenges will mainly be tied to the professionalization of system maintenance, not to the software’s pricing model. From the bird’s-eye view: a company that developed on Odoo from start-up to corporation has likely saved huge sums by avoiding cost spikes when switching systems and by paying relatively little for licenses in the initial and middle periods of growth. It is precisely this long-term profitability that is one of the reasons why Odoo is gaining increasing popularity - entrepreneurs see in it a solution for years that grows financially in step with the business rather than exponentially.
How much does Odoo cost? - as we have shown, the answer depends on many factors: number of users, chosen hosting method, scope of customizations, and the stage of company development. However, compared to competing ERP systems, Odoo stands out with the simplicity and transparency of pricing and the attractive total cost of ownership. By paying mainly for the number of users, e-commerce companies can use a complete ecosystem of applications without worrying about buying additional modules or transaction fees. This often translates into real savings, especially as the business grows and costs would normally also grow - in Odoo, cost growth is linear and predictable, which constitutes a significant competitive advantage in financial planning.
Comparison with other popular solutions on the Polish market has shown that Odoo is cost-competitive both against local systems (such as Comarch or enova365) - eliminating the need to buy each function separately - and against large international players (such as SAP), offering a comparable functional scope at a fraction of the price. Of course, the choice of ERP should not be based solely on price. Nevertheless, for e-commerce companies, where margins are often tight and flexibility and quick action are a matter of survival, Odoo appears to be a very reasonable investment. It allows starting with inexpensive solutions (or even for free), and then smooth scaling without costly revolutions along the way.
In conclusion, it is worth emphasizing: the cost of ERP should be considered in the context of benefits. A cheap system that does not properly support our business is, in reality, very expensive (because we lose opportunities, time, and money due to its limitations). On the other hand, an investment in a system that streamlines operations, increases sales, and improves customer satisfaction usually pays off many times over. Odoo, thanks to its open-source model and wide functionality, allows many companies to get a return on investment faster than with classic ERPs. Therefore, when asking “how much does Odoo cost?”, it is also worth asking “how much can you gain with Odoo?” In the case of e-commerce companies, the answer often is: gain more than it seems, precisely thanks to the reasonable cost model and scalability of this system.
