Pricing is a somewhat controversial subject because OpenERP (the earlier version of Odoo) was completely free, but now there are two versions:

Odoo Community

This continues to be free for unlimited applications and unlimited users. Unsurprisingly, it does not have all the same functionality as Odoo Enterprise

Most notably, Accounting has been removed from Odoo Community. However, the Invoicing app provides basic accounting functionality (you can post invoices, create journals, etc).

Also, the user interface is different, and Enterprise has responsive displays (for mobile phones and tablets) and apps for Android and iOS.

But with each release of Odoo there are changes to what is available in Enterprise and Community. Some apps / modules/ features are moved from Community to Enterprise, others are moved in the opposite direction.

Fortunately, there are third-party apps that can be installed in Odoo Community to provide some of the missing functionality. You can find free apps from the Odoo Community Association and both free and chargeable apps in the Odoo app store.

Note that it’s not possible to install Enterprise app(s) along with Community, so if you need one Enterprise app you have to switch and pay for all the apps.

Odoo Enterprise

This is almost always chargeable, based on users and applications, but it can be free (see below).

In Odoo 10 and earlier, the price was based on the number of users. In Odoo 11 the price per user was reduced, but a price per application was introduced. This made Odoo cheaper for anyone with a large number of users, but more expensive if you had a small number of users and many applications.

Pricing is:

• per user (for all apps)
• per app (for all users, regardless of how many you have)

So if you pay for 15 users and 5 apps and then add 2 more users you only pay for the extra users. Likewise if you add another app there’s a fixed price regardless of how many users. 

Check the pricing page for how much you will have to pay.

Pricing does vary by country. The Odoo website should automatically display the price for your location.

How to get Enterprise free

The following is taken from a posting on the Odoo Help Forum by Alexandre Demeyer (27 May 2020).

You can have an unlimited number of users (on Odoo Online only) for:

• One application (e.g. Inventory) OR
• One application and its dependent applications

Dependent applications

Certain applications cannot work independently, for example:

• Manufacturing cannot be used without Inventory (the opposite is not true).
  • So if you select Manufacturing as your free app, you also get Inventory for free.
  • But if you select PLM you will get both Manufacturing and Inventory for free.
• Sales and Purchasing each need the Invoicing app. So if you select one of these (but not both) you will get the Invoicing app for free.
• Accounting also needs Invoicing so if you select Accounting as your free app, you also get Invoicing for free, but that’s a bit like saying that a car includes an engine
• eCommerce needs Invoicing and Website so these are included for free (as long as you don’t need any other apps).

You check dependencies on the Odoo pricing page by clicking on the small i symbol:

If you select the eCommerce app, those two other apps are added and the price is still zero, even for 10 users:

Note that many apps are closely linked but not dependent, and may not be very useful running standalone, so it’s probably a good idea to set up a trial database and check the functionality that is available.

If you add more applications, you will have to pay for all the apps, including the one(s) that were previously free!

You also have to be very careful because some Odoo apps or modules are installed from Settings – and once you have added them there is no way to go back to Free

If you’re wondering why this offer is for Odoo Online only, it’s because Odoo believes support costs are lower when they have full control over the instance and do not allow third-party apps or development.