Odoo Community is free and open source; Enterprise is a paid edition built on it. See how the licences, apps, hosting, upgrades and third-party modules differ, and how to move from one to the other.
Odoo Community is the free, open-source edition of Odoo. Odoo Enterprise is the paid edition built on Community, which adds more apps and features plus functional support, upgrades and Odoo's own hosting. Choosing between Odoo Community and Enterprise usually comes down to three questions: which apps you need, who will look after the system, and where it will run.
In short
Both editions come from the same code. Odoo's documentation calls Community the core upon which Enterprise is built. The Enterprise repository is only a collection of extra add-ons: to run Enterprise you start the Community server and point its add-ons path at the Enterprise folder. In practice, Enterprise is Community plus more apps and a set of services.
Odoo's licence page states the terms. What follows is a plain summary, not legal advice, so read the licence itself if a decision depends on its wording.
Odoo S.A.'s own add-ons on the Odoo Apps Store are, unless stated otherwise, published under the Odoo Proprietary License. For the licences on third-party modules, see Odoo module licences explained.
The table is based on Odoo's 19.0 documentation and on the modules published in the public Community source repository on GitHub. Odoo's editions page is the reference for the current comparison, so check it before you decide.
| Area | In Community | Only in Enterprise |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting | Invoicing: customer invoices, vendor bills, payments | The full Accounting app. Odoo's documentation lists standard financial reports, bank reconciliation, budgets and asset management as additions |
| Sales | CRM, Sales, Point of Sale, eCommerce | Subscriptions, Rental |
| Supply chain | Inventory, Purchase, Manufacturing, Maintenance, Repairs | Quality, Product Lifecycle Management |
| Websites | Website builder, Blog, Forum, eLearning, Live Chat | Some tools, such as the website import tool |
| Human resources | Employees, Recruitment, Time Off, Attendances, Expenses, Fleet | Payroll, Appraisals, Referrals, Frontdesk |
| Services | Project, Timesheets | Helpdesk, Planning, Field Service |
| Marketing | Email Marketing, Events, Surveys | Marketing Automation, WhatsApp |
| Productivity | Discuss, Calendar, To-do, spreadsheet dashboards | Documents, Sign, Knowledge, Appointments, VoIP |
| Customisation | Modules written in Python and XML | Studio, the no-code builder |
| Saudi Arabia | Saudi chart of accounts and taxes, ZATCA e-invoicing module | Saudi accounting reports |
Treat any list, including this one, as a starting point, because apps move between editions and versions. Confirm each app you depend on in a trial database. Third-party modules exist to fill some Community gaps, especially in accounting, and their quality varies, which is where a 30-minute module review helps.
| Community | Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Your own server, a VPS or Docker | Odoo Online, Odoo.sh or your own server |
| Updates | You pull new code from GitHub or install packaged builds | Odoo applies them in its cloud. Self-hosted, you install them |
| Major upgrades | You or a partner migrate the database. Community-run tools such as the OCA's OpenUpgrade exist | Odoo's upgrade platform. The pricing page lists upgrades as included |
| Support | Community channels, your own team or a partner | Functional support from Odoo (email, weekdays, per the pricing page), plus partners |
Each major version gets three years of standard support, and extended support costs extra, as the version table explains. Odoo.sh needs an Enterprise subscription that includes it, and Odoo Online cannot run custom or Apps Store modules.
Often yes, with one clear exception. Every module declares its dependencies in its manifest. A module that depends only on Community modules can run on both editions. A module that depends on an Enterprise app, such as Accounting, Documents or Studio, cannot install on Community, and Odoo stops with an error saying that the dependency is not available in your system.
A module written for Community can also misbehave on Enterprise if both extend the same screens or accounting behaviour, so test on a copy first. Odoo Online is stricter than either edition: it does not support custom modules or Odoo Apps Store modules. Before installing anything, read how to choose an Odoo module, and browse Odoo modules with the edition requirement in mind.
| Your situation | A reasonable starting point | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Small team, standard sales, stock and invoicing, someone technical on hand | Community | No licence fee, and the core apps are included |
| You need the full Accounting app and have no developers | Enterprise | The app and Odoo's support come together |
| You want Odoo to host and maintain the system | Enterprise on Odoo Online | No servers, but no custom modules |
| You need custom modules and managed hosting | Enterprise on Odoo.sh | Custom code lives in your Git repository |
| You need payroll, helpdesk, planning or signatures | Enterprise | Those apps are not in Community |
| You are prototyping or learning | Community | Free to run and easy to throw away |
| You are in Saudi Arabia and need ZATCA e-invoicing | Ask an Odoo partner | The module is in the Community repository, but reports and compliance steps depend on your setup |
The licence is only one line of the cost, and how much Odoo costs lists the others.
Odoo documents the switch on its Community to Enterprise page. The outline for a self-hosted server:
web_enterprise module with -d <database> -i web_enterprise --stop-after-init, then restart the server.The documentation covers only this direction. If you might want to return to Community later, ask a partner what that would involve first.
There is no licence fee, and you can run it on your own server. You still pay for hosting, setup, support and upgrades, either in money or in your team's time.
Community includes the Invoicing app for customer invoices, vendor bills and payments. Odoo's documentation lists extra features in the full Accounting app, such as standard financial reports and bank reconciliation, so compare them with your needs and ask your accountant what you must produce.
Not in production. The licence requires a valid subscription for the right number of users. Odoo's pricing starts from one app free on Odoo Online, so check that plan if one app is enough.
No. Odoo's documentation states that Odoo Online is incompatible with custom modules and with modules from the Odoo Apps Store. Use Odoo.sh or your own server if you need them.
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