Contents7
On Odoo’s pricing page, the maths looks like something you could do on the back of an envelope: a price per user per month, multiplied by the number of people who log in. That is the figure people remember. It is not the bill.
The licence is just one of four items in an Odoo project, alongside hosting, setup and ongoing operations. This guide goes through them one by one, based on what the vendor itself publishes (its pricing page, its implementation packs and its licensing documentation), for teams of 20 to 500 people weighing their options before they sign. It builds on our framework for choosing between Twenty, Dolibarr and Odoo, which explains when Odoo is worth it.
A word on where we stand: the CRM we have run in production since early 2025 is Twenty, and we contribute to the project. On Odoo, we report what the vendor publishes, without claiming experience we do not have.
In short
Odoo Community is licensed under LGPL v3, with no licence fee; the paid plans of Odoo Enterprise are billed per user per month.
The Custom plan costs roughly twice as much per user as Standard, and you need it for multiple companies, Odoo Studio, the external API or your own server.
Hosting is included on Odoo Online; anywhere else, it is on you.
Setup is not included: the vendor sells it in blocks of hours, and generally points companies with more than 50 employees to an integrator.
To compare options, price three years, without the first-year discount, setup and operations included.
Do you have to pay a licence to use Odoo?
That depends on the edition. According to Odoo’s licensing documentation, the Community edition is released under the LGPL version 3: you install it on your server with no licence fee. The Enterprise edition can only be used with a valid subscription covering the right number of users.
Odoo’s pricing page, checked on 14 October 2026, offers three options:
- a single application with no licence fee, for unlimited users, hosted on Odoo Online;
- the Standard plan: all applications, a price per user per month, on Odoo Online;
- the Custom plan: Standard, plus Odoo Studio and agentic AI, multi-company management, the external API and a choice of hosting.
On the day we checked, the page showed prices in US dollars, including in its French version, and you may see a different currency. So this guide copies no amounts, only the gaps between plans, which you can apply to the prices shown to you:
the Standard price, roughly, for each user on the Custom plan
more, approximately, when paying monthly rather than yearly
off, approximately, in the first year, on the users in the initial order only
For a multi-year budget, start from the undiscounted price, and count every person added after the initial order at full price.
Who counts as a paying user?
The pricing page FAQ defines a paying user as “someone who has access to the Odoo backend to create, view, or edit documents”, or an employee “(record in hr application) who has no linked user”. An employee who enters expense reports or timesheets therefore counts, as does an external accountant who logs in. Customers and suppliers using the portal do not count, nor do visitors to your website who place an order or track a delivery.
The page also mentions “Light User” accounts, shown at a lower price, for people who stick to everyday tasks: time off, expenses, appraisals, attendance, planning, reading the knowledge base. They are available on request, after a meeting with an Odoo advisor: worth asking about before you sign if a large share of your staff only does that.
Watch out
The plan that changes without you choosing it
According to the pricing page FAQ, “If you install Studio or add companies to your database, you will automatically switch to the Custom plan”, which costs roughly twice as much per user. The same logic applies to the external API: an outside application calling Odoo requires the Custom plan, whereas integrations triggered from within Odoo (payment providers, shipping carriers, telephony, bank synchronisation) stay within Standard. As we read it, an automation tool connected from outside, such as n8n, falls under that definition. List these needs before choosing your plan, not after.
Where to host Odoo, and what difference it makes
The Standard plan runs on Odoo Online, the vendor’s hosting, designed for databases without custom modules. With the Custom plan you have a choice: stay on Odoo Online at no extra cost, download Odoo Enterprise and install it on your own server, or use Odoo.sh, the vendor’s platform for custom modules, whose hosting is “not included” in the subscription price.
On Odoo Online, the subscription covers hosting, daily backups on two continents, security, round-the-clock monitoring and upgrades. On your own server, all of that becomes your job, or your provider’s. The same FAQ states that the software is identical online and on-premise, and that an on-premise installation must run the latest stable version of Odoo: keeping up with every new version is then up to you.
The Community edition, finally, sits outside all of these plans: with no subscription, its entire cost lies in setup, hosting and operations.
From the field
What a server you run yourself really costs
Our own server runs a dozen services, including Twenty, n8n, Matomo and Ollama. Its updates, backups and monitoring take time every month, and that time shows up on no subscription invoice. Before comparing Odoo Online with your own server, put a figure on those hours: it is the easiest line to forget.
How many hours does it take to set up Odoo?
Setup is not included in the subscription. The vendor sells it as implementation packs, called “Success Packs”, counted in consultant hours. Their names overlap with those of the subscription plans, with no connection between them:
Odoo implementation packs, in hours
According to the vendor, the smallest pack suits simple apps and one to five users; it recommends the 50-hour pack as soon as data has to be imported, and the 100-hour pack as soon as customisations are needed (forms, reports, workflows). According to its price configurator, these hours expire after one year.
These packs come with extras: travel time is billed and travel expenses are charged separately, maintaining added modules or lines of code incurs monthly charges, and the vendor’s development work is billed per consulting day, as integrators generally do too. A performance problem is not covered by the support included in the subscription: it requires a pack of at least 50 hours.
According to the pricing page FAQ, a small business usually goes through these packs; beyond 50 employees, the vendor generally points to a local integrator, and beyond 250, it asks you to contact it directly.
What the subscription does not cover
The pricing page promises a price “with no hidden costs”, and that holds for the subscription: the page itself lists what it includes and what it leaves out.
Included in the subscription
Hosting on Odoo Online, with daily backups on two continents
Round-the-clock monitoring and email integration
Email support, Monday to Friday
Upgrades
Billed separately
Implementation and access to an Odoo expert
Hosting on Odoo.sh, for your custom modules
Usage credits: SMS, contact enrichment, lead generation, AI reading of supplier bills and expense receipts
Maintenance of custom code
The last line counts twice: a custom module is paid for once to write it, then every month to maintain it. Before ordering one, check that a standard setting will not do the job.
Estimating the cost of Odoo over three years
An ERP stays in place for years: comparing over one year always favours the option that is cheapest to get into. We follow the same method as for working out the real three-year cost of leaving SaaS, in five steps:
- Count the paying users.
Using the vendor’s definition: self-service employees and the external accountant included.
- Pick the plan based on your actual needs.
Multiple companies, Odoo Studio, an external API or your own server mean Custom.
- Start from the undiscounted price.
The first-year discount only applies to the users in the initial order.
- Add setup and hosting.
Blocks of hours or an integrator’s quote, then Odoo.sh or your own server if you leave Odoo Online.
- Add what recurs.
Maintenance of custom code, usage credits, keeping up with versions on your own server, and training time.
Finally, set the total against the other options: with us, Twenty is set up for €4,500 and Dolibarr from €6,500, with no per-user licence in either case. And if you are leaving a subscription CRM, our method for migrating from HubSpot to an open source CRM explains what moves across easily and what takes work.
Our Odoo tiers, at a fixed price
When Odoo is the right tool, our CRM and ERP offer sets it up at a fixed price, in three tiers: START at €15,000 for up to 30 users, live within 90 days; SCALE at €35,000 for 30 to 150 users; TRANSFORM on quotation from €80,000 for multi-company groups. Ongoing operations are optional, from €800 to €3,500 per month. If your needs require Odoo Enterprise, its per-user licence is priced before work starts, using the gaps above.
The first step compares Twenty, Dolibarr and Odoo against your processes, and we recommend the smallest tool that genuinely covers the need. If you do not yet know which processes to hand over to an ERP, our digital and AI maturity audit reviews them with your team.
Frequently asked questions
Can you use Odoo without paying for a licence?
Yes, in two ways. The Community edition is released under the LGPL version 3: you install it on your server with no licence fee, but setup, hosting and operations remain your responsibility. Odoo also offers a plan limited to a single application, with no licence fee, for unlimited users, on Odoo Online. From the second application onwards, you need a paid plan.
How many hours does it take to set up Odoo?
The vendor sells setup in packs of 4, 25, 50, 100 or 200 hours, which expire after one year. It recommends the smallest for simple apps and one to five users, 50 hours as soon as data has to be imported, and 100 as soon as customisations are needed. Beyond 50 employees, it generally points you to an integrator, who prices the project separately.
Does adding a second company change the price of Odoo?
Yes. According to the pricing page FAQ, adding a company to your database automatically switches you to the Custom plan, whose per-user price is roughly double that of Standard. Installing Odoo Studio or connecting an outside application to Odoo’s API has the same effect. Better to list these needs before choosing your plan than after the first invoice.
Odoo Online or your own server: which costs less?
The software is the same, according to the vendor, but the price is not. The Standard plan only runs on Odoo Online, with hosting, backups and upgrades included, for databases without custom modules. Installing Odoo Enterprise on your own server requires the Custom plan, roughly double per user, and hosting and administration come on top. The Community edition installs with no subscription at all.
Who counts as a paying user in Odoo?
Anyone who logs into the backend to create, view or edit documents, and any employee recorded in the HR app with no linked user. An employee who enters expense reports therefore counts, and so does an external accountant. Customers and suppliers using the portal, like website visitors, do not count. Cheaper “Light User” accounts are available on request.
Sources
- Odoo 19 licenses, official documentation (new tab)odoo.com
- Odoo pricing, official page (new tab)odoo.com
- Odoo Success Packs, official page (new tab)odoo.com
Jim · founder of Brain Plus AI
Also in crm and customer data
Choose and price7 min
Twenty, Dolibarr or Odoo: which one for your team?
Twenty, Dolibarr and Odoo are not in the same category: a pure CRM, a light ERP, a full ERP. Rather than a feature table, here is a decision grid by team size and by process, with what moves you from one level to the next.
Choose and price8 min
Leaving SaaS: the real three-year cost for an SME
Before you drop a single subscription, you need to compare two full costs over three years, human hours included. Here is the method, line by line, and what the calculation does not see.
Practical guide9 min
Migrating from HubSpot to an open source CRM in seven steps
Leaving HubSpot for Twenty, Dolibarr or Odoo can be done without losing your customers, provided you deal with the model, export, cleaning, import and history in order. Here is our seven-step method, and the honest list of what does not come across by itself.