Comparison

Odoo Community or Enterprise: how we decide for a client

Community is free and open source. Enterprise is paid per user and adds apps, the mobile app, Studio and Odoo's own support and upgrades. We run Community in production for clients and recommend Enterprise when it is the cheaper answer overall.

What each gives you

No.PointWhat it means in practice

01LicenceCommunity: no licence fee. Enterprise: a subscription per user from Odoo.

02AccountingEnterprise has the full Accounting app. Community has Invoicing, and full accounting needs community modules on top, set up by someone who knows them.

03Extra appsEnterprise adds apps such as Studio, Documents, Sign, Helpdesk, Quality and PLM. Community covers sales, purchase, stock, manufacturing basics, CRM, projects and website.

04HostingCommunity is self-hosted. Enterprise can run on Odoo's cloud, on Odoo.sh or on your own server.

05UpgradesEnterprise includes Odoo's upgrade service. Community upgrades are done by your partner, module by module.

06SupportEnterprise includes Odoo's functional support. Community relies on your implementer.

How we choose

Few users, simple accounting and someone to look after the server: Community is usually right. Many users, need for Studio or the full Accounting app, and no wish to run servers: Enterprise usually costs less over three years than building the same on Community.

We write the comparison down for your business, with the cost of each over three years, before you commit to either.

Questions people ask

Can we start on Community and move to Enterprise later?

Yes. Enterprise is installed on top of the same database, so data is kept.

Is Community safe for our accounts?

Yes, when it is backed up, kept updated and set up by someone who knows accounting. We self-host it in production for clients.

Which edition do you run yourselves?

Community, self-hosted on Docker, for a publisher's day-to-day business. See the case study.