This is always a question for those who would rather keep their costs lower. In this post, we will list out the pros and cons of each edition and guide you for a better decision.
Odoo Community Edition
Pros:
- for free and open-source
- the code is available and anyone can download and use it.
- suitable for very small companies
Cons:
- technical knowledge required (only on-premise)
- because in order to use it, you need to install it on a server (or a computer) and since you do not have all the features of Enterprise, you may need to install 3rd party modules and you may need to do some adjustments to make it working very well.
- not containing all the features of Enterprise, like Accounting, Barcode, Rental, etc.
- Feature Comparison List
- some of these modules are available in the OCA (Odoo Community Association) github, but usually for older versions; because it requires contributions of Odoo developers around the world to migrate each module to the upper version. It is to be noted that these community modules are not the same as Enterprise, but has some of the features.
- no support from Odoo
- you need to take care of it on your own or find a company who does this for you.
- hidden costs in the development and maintenance
- if you would like to have some features of the enterprise and there is no suitable module available in the market, then you need to develop the feature; either on your own or by an Odoo development company. Besides, the bug fixing won't be done automatically and requires expertise.
- no free version upgrade
- if you want to migrate your database from version X to Y, you must do it on your own or find an Odoo development company.
- visually less user-friendly
Odoo Enterprise Edition
Pros:
- easy to setup and install
- because of good hosting options by Odoo (Odoo online, Odoo.sh, On-Premise)
- Hosting Comparison
- appropriate for companies of any size
- free version upgrade
- you can ask Odoo to migrate your database from version X to Y for free; this service is offered by Odoo for all the standard modules in Odoo.
- all the modules accessible with one subscription fee (min 19,99€/user/month).
- continuous updates
- each version has some bug fixing version, which is available for every Enterprise accounts (no matter Odoo online or Odoo.sh).
- Odoo online accounts can get the subversions upgrades, too. e.g. if they start using Odoo 17.0, they can upgrade to 17.1 and 17.2 and further, when the versions are available.
- visually more user-friendly
Cons:
- not free
- you need to sign a subscription (monthly or yearly) in order to have the Odoo Enterprise Code.
- Odoo online: not possible to add 3rd party modules or customize
- it is always recommended to use odoo.sh, simply because it is much easier to have access to the database and to the code and you can monitor your server. Besides, you can add new modules and apps as many as you wish, and you can customize the features as required. However, these are not possible in Odoo online.
Summary
If you are a very small business with less processes and you are a techie, Odoo Community edition can be a good choice for you.
Although the Odoo Community edition is free, which is a very important factor, there are many points that you should consider in the cost analysis of your project in a time period more than a year, in order to uncover the hidden costs.
In our experience these costs are not just limited to the development and maintenance, but also in the administrative part of the project and/or system. We have seen companies who are using Odoo Community, thinking that they are saving money, but are using other systems to handle e.g. Appointments; in another example, a company wanted to have a version upgrade and did a massive data export and import manually, which took a month or two of a resource. Moreover, in community edition, if you are using OCA modules, you will always be minimum one version behind the latest version, simply because of modules availability.
Be aware, that adding only one Enterprise feature into a Community edition is usually more costly than one year of Odoo Enterprise edition with just 5 users, if the feature is not available in the market as an extra module.
On the contrary, although the Odoo Enterprise edition costs a little bit, it outperforms in all the other factors in comparison with Odoo Community edition.