ERPNext vs Odoo

ERPNext User Forum
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@rmetha, I tried to look at the contribution to docs but I am not that much of a developer yet and did not know how so started focusing on learning erpnext first. Would love to contribute if we can get some basic how-tos.

as for contributing code - im learning to use and customise erpnext without tinkering under the hood - I believe that is the way to test the magic of an erp system. Right now I have not got to a point where I need to go beyond custom scripts.

I had a quick squiz at odoo and felt complicated to install, I found erpnext simple to get started, even with a linux learning curve. Although dashboards would be nice or some kind of overview - but then we can do that with the rest api that erpnext provides.

regards
Hemant

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@System19 good luck with your first implementation and hope you have a good vacation :smile:

@Peter, you can contribute via the Wiki and we will implement in the product here is the repo https://github.com/frappe/erpnext/tree/develop/erpnext/docs

@hpema108 Thanks for the feedback :slight_smile: I am surprised that Odoo is such a pain to install.

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Just for comparison I checked out how to contribute to odoo user docs, It is also git based. GitHub - odoo/documentation: Odoo documentation sources.

I feel ERPNext user docs contribution is simpler than odoo. Editing md files is simple.

For ERPNext developer docs I feel, the existing code is a very comprehensive and raw form of manual.
e.g How to pass a journal entry from your doctype form? checkout code of existing doctype forms passing journal entry!

+1 for ERPNext. This kind of integration with account/finance gives small business better decision making ability. I couldn’t even imagine this on odoo.

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We tried to work with Odoo for a year and switched to ERPNext in july because the code is easier to work with and ERPNext is easier to customize.

Also, the communication with ERPNext and the community is much better.

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i reported some issues in github manual

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One thing I did like about Odoo is that I can set the system language (for example to Spanish) and then even if the users change their UI language, by default the system will print invoices, quotations and other reports in Spanish. For me that was a plus — default report and UI languages being separate.

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I think instead of comparing & bench-marking with Oddo (which is more or less similar to erpNext …openbravo also belongs to this group), You guys should look ahead. Oddo is in market for 10-12 years and if a product can’t grow to a real ERP in 10-12 years, I don’t think it will ever do so.

If you guys are looking for serious business and good VC then look for below points and have a road-map.

The Basics:

  1. A good chart of account . A single segment account structure is good for companies with less than $1m revenue. Beyond that you need a good accounting structure.
  2. The organization structure (understand how & why it’s done in SAP, Oracle or Peoplesoft)
  3. Single workflow and approval system
  4. Support RFID and EDI.
  5. Better Supplier/Customer structure

Costing Method:
What are the different costing methods available: Standard, Average, LIFO, FIFO
How many cost elements can be used for cost tracking : Material, Over Head, Expense, Labor, Supplier Expense

Planning:
What are the different planning methods available : Kanban, MRP, Min Max, Re Order Point, Anything else

Purchasing:
What kind of purchase order/documents available : Standard, Long Term Blanket, Contract, VMI, Consigned Inventory

Sales :
Which types of business processes can be mapped out of the box : Standard sales, drop ship, Business to Business,

Organization Environment:
In what kind of business environment we can use it : Make to Stock, Assembly to Order, Configure to Order, Kits

Inventory:
What kind of inventory & planning categorization is available : ABC, XYZ,
Inventory accuracy management : Cycle count

Receivable:
All kind of transactions: Invoice, Debit Memo, Credit Memo, Deposit, Guarantee,
Different Type of receipts . Auto applying receipts to invoice

Payable:
Integration with expense . All payment options.

GL:
Consolidation
Intercompany and Intracompany

Project:
You just have a project functionality…but it does nothing…no cost tracking. No revenue generation)

Have a 3-5 years plan…Do some serious work and people will consider your product as an ERP. Till now it’s still a simple business application.

Hope you guys take it positively

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@Inquiry_gbowen Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I think there is no end to the number of features you can add. It depends on how does the community want to take this forward. Currently this is clearly focused towards SMB and not “enterprise”.

The beauty of open source is that people who really feel the need for these features will either build them or pay for them. We hope they will contribute too.

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20

Depends how you define SMB.
I put all in less than $30-50 m in the SMB category

Most of Oracle and SAP users are big multi billion $ companies ex : GE, Google, Facebook, Emerson all US based companies use Oracle
Where as EU based companies uses such as Siemens, etc uses SAP.

Below that comes second level of ERPs - MFGPro, Microsoft…
Most of the users are $50m to $500m

Below that there are many ERP systems but none of them is actually ERP. I mean the difference is just huge.

So if you guys are looking to trap that market segment $1m to $50m then you have a good chance but you have to come with a good product.

But if plan to be a small player serving companies with revenue in few thousand dollars then I guess you have already achieved that.

For last 2 months I have been researching on ERPs as part of my company project (in fact I had posted something on that in this forum) and this is simply my observation.

You guys have the good base to move up but it 'll depend how you learn and what path you take.

There is always a new company/person joining the race. (In fact there are couple of newer products which are already quite ahead in the game)

Best of luck!

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21

@Inquiry_gbowen

Thanks for your feedback. We have been around in the industry too for 7+ years. There is a big gap between pure accounting apps like Quickbooks etc v/s an SAP or Oracle. Most apps that cover that this gap, would be ERPs in my view, but of a different variety.

ERP is a very fragmented industry and in the mid to low segment, Sage is the biggest player. but no single player owns more than 15% of the market.

The reason in my view is that even though ERPs are expensive they are not that expensive when you consider all expenses of a company so there is no real incentive to disrupt this market.

IMO you are wrong about the features. The real problem is “selling”. Selling to the $5MM + market would require “Sales” and that implies long cycles of 6 months to a year that will add on cost to the product + require huge investment. And again it becomes a self-defeating game.

We have figured that the only market that is interested is the new age / startup / SMB market that wants control + open source.

You are right in saying its a long painful path staying low. But I guess we are doing good work and having fun and I think everyday the community grows. As long as that keeps happening, we are happy with what we are doing. Even though we may not make as much money immediately.

Have not seen good new entrants in a while. Please indicate who those would be?

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ERPNext +
I think ERPNext is more simpler in looks and understanding.
Easier customisations for people not familiar with coding and programming.

ERPNext -
Manuals are not updated.

Odoo +
-I find the POS module in Odoo pretty good.
-Also E-commerce integrations and hardware integrations in Odoo is better in Odoo.
-Barcodes to identify Product, Packages, Boxes, Pallets, Quantity based barcodes. Overall good for Stock maintaining and stock movement.

I also suggest that we should have better Warehouse Management features and also a better POS Screen.

Also I feel that ERPNext team has be doing good work. But it get much much better.

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23

Odoo was in the Bossie Award 2015 … not ERPNext :cry:

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Yes, not being a developer per se …Github and their push and pull is a bit daunting. A wiki would be a lot easier for me.

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Definitely. And moving issue tracking to JIRA would give users a way to vote for what’s most important

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Options for free & open source ERPnext self-hosted documentation Wiki:

DokuWiki (GPL), MediaWiki (GPL) and some alternatives

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I was on odoo and I switched to ERPnext.

Much cleaner look
Muck easier to understand

Documentation is not perfect, but look at odoo doc and you’ll find that the erpnext doc is way better.

Customisation is also way easier that odoo.
Everything you try in odoo, simply never work the first time. There is a lot of customs apps but none is supported on the online 2 users free version.

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Odoo is a good platform and the only real perk they have over ERPNext is the ability for customers to pay through a payment gateway.

Both of you are aiming for the same market. You both have for the most part the same modules. The execution is what makes you different.

Your platform comes off as friendly and open source. They request user information to get the their files which feels less so.

Your platform feels more organized and user friendly. They have a lot modules that overlap which makes things feel disorganized and redundant.

Your platform is way faster than theirs on the same exact machines.

The way they organize information for contacts and related entries is very disorganized and doesn’t flow. It’s harder to drill down for the right information.

Lastly, and my favourite. The smart search bar. :smile:

These are just a few differences I’ve seen in the last week.

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Correct. Shows also the relativeness of these award. The reviewer changed. Less Erpnext minded, or may the verdict are correct. Cannot judge…

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@becht_robert @Francois_Ifitwala Yeah too bad about the BOSSIEs I think they lose their credibility. esp when they include xTuple (which is one of the most “commercial” open source ERPs out there).

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Reading the comments on the Bossie’s page, quite a few are related to that same issue with xtulpe. Weird!