During the Odoo Experience event in October 2022, Fabien Pinckaers announced that Odoo would make all applications available for free in enterprise edition.
The Community version is libre software, licensed under the GNU LGPLv3. The Enterprise version has proprietary extra features and services. The source code for the framework and core enterprise resource planning modules is developed by the Belgium-based Odoo S.A. Odoo is available for both on-premises and ready-to-use SaaS environments. The source code for the OpenObject framework and the core ERP modules are provided by Belgium-based Odoo S.A.
Overview
From inception, Odoo S.A (formerly OpenERP S.A) has released the core software as open source.[4] Since the V9.0 release, the company has transitioned to an open core model, which provides subscription-based proprietary enterprise software and cloud-hosted software as a service, in addition to the open source version. In 2013, the not-for-profit Odoo Community Association was formed to promote the widespread use of Odoo and to support the collaborative development of Odoo features.[5]
Odoo's extensible architecture allows a large number of freelancers and organizations to develop Odoo Apps or Modules and place them in the marketplace for sale or to be downloaded for free. The main Odoo components are the framework, about 30 core applications (also called official modules), and thousands of community modules.
Odoo has been used as a component of university courses.[6] A study on experimental learning suggested that Odoo (then known as OpenERP[7]) provides a suitable alternative to proprietary systems to supplement teaching.
Several books have been written about Odoo, some covering specific areas such as accounting or development.[8][9][10]
Version support
The last three Long Term Support versions (LTS) are supported in parallel. This means that when a new, fourth LTS version is released, the oldest version will reach the end of its useful life and will no longer be supported. As an example, 15.0 LTS is supported along with 16.0 LTS and 17.0 LTS, but 15.0 will reach End of Life when 18.0 LTS is released.[11]
History
In 2005, Fabien Pinckaers, the founder and current CEO of Odoo, started to develop his first software product, TinyERP. Three years later, the name was changed to OpenERP. The company started to grow quickly and in 2010, OpenERP had become a 100+ employee company.[12][13]
In 2013, the company won a Deloitte award for being the fastest-growing company in Belgium, with 1,549% growth over a five-year period.[14]
In 2014, the company was renamed Odoo, to differentiate itself from the term "ERP".[15] In 2015, Inc. Magazine placed Odoo in the top 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in Europe.[16]
In 2019, the company raised a $90 million investment.[17]
In 2021, Odoo products were used by more than 5 million customers.[18] Odoo expected to hire 1,000 new employees, according to CEO Fabien Pinckaers.[19][20]
In 2023, Odoo launched Odoo 17, with significantly UI changes and some new functionality, particularly within the restaurant space. The release included the integration of WhatsApp and a substantially improved the Point of Sale (POS) module by introducing features like self-ordering, a restaurant app, and a kitchen display app. Odoo also added meeting room management and front desk functionalities to modules.
Reception
Odoo has received industry recognition. Before its name change, it received awards as OpenERP including Trends Gazelle, Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Award[21] and the InfoWorld's BOSSIE Award 2013.[22] After changing its name to Odoo, it won consecutive BOSSIE Awards in 2014,[23] 2015,[24] and 2016.[25]
