Pick Odoo if you want an official Egypt e-invoicing module, the vendor's own payroll localization and a large partner network, and you accept a per-user subscription for Enterprise features. Pick ERPNext if you want the whole product open source with no per-user fee, and you can budget for an ETA app and Arabic print formats. Pick a custom ERP only when your process itself is unusual and neither product covers it without deep changes.
Our position, stated up front. We implement ERPNext, build custom systems and run ERPNext for our own business, so we have a side. We do not implement Odoo. We wrote this to be useful even if you choose Odoo, and if Odoo is the better fit for you we will say so in the first meeting. Every product fact below comes from Frappe's or Odoo's own documentation, reviewed in September and October 2026.
The short version
| ERPNext | Odoo | Custom ERP | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licence | GNU GPL v3, for the whole product | Community: LGPL v3. Enterprise: a proprietary licence that needs a subscription | You own the code, as the contract states |
| Licence cost | None, and no per-user fee | Community: none. Enterprise: a monthly subscription per user (One App Free, Standard, Custom plans) | None; you pay for the whole build |
| Hosting | Your own server or cloud, or Frappe Cloud (priced per site or server, not per user) | Odoo Online, Odoo.sh or on-premise. For Enterprise, Odoo.sh and on-premise need the Custom plan; Community runs on your own server | Your own server or cloud account |
| Egypt ETA e-invoicing | Not in the core product. A community app exists, or an implementer builds one | Official module "Egyptian E-invoice Integration", documented from Odoo 15.0 | Built from scratch on the ETA documentation |
| Egyptian payroll | Frappe HR (GPL v3); Egyptian rules set up in salary structures | Official "Egypt - Payroll" localization; the Payroll app is an Enterprise app | Built to order |
| Customisation without code | Custom fields, form layouts and scripts in every install | Odoo Studio, an Enterprise feature | None; every change is development |
| API | A REST API generated for every document type, in every install | External API; on Odoo's hosted plans, only with the Custom plan | Built as needed |
| Version support | v16 (January 2026) planned to the end of 2029; v15 to the end of 2027 | A major version a year, each with 3 years of standard support. Odoo 20 (September 2026) planned to September 2029 | No versions; maintenance is yours or your builder's |
Licences and what you actually pay
ERPNext is published by Frappe under the GNU GPL v3. Frappe's own product page puts the model plainly: no per-user pricing, you pay for hosting. You can run it on your own server or cloud account, or on Frappe Cloud, which charges per site or per server rather than per user.
Odoo comes in two editions. Community is open source under LGPL v3 and free to use. Enterprise adds apps and services under a proprietary licence and needs a subscription for the right number of users. Odoo sells it in three plans: One App Free (a single app with unlimited users, on Odoo Online), Standard (all apps, on Odoo Online) and Custom (adds Odoo.sh or on-premise hosting, Studio, multi-company and the external API). Prices are per user per month and depend on your country and billing period, so read the current figure for Egypt on odoo.com/pricing rather than a number copied into an article.
A way to compare over three years (20 users):
- Odoo Enterprise: 20 users x your plan's monthly price per user x 36 months, plus Odoo.sh if you choose it on the Custom plan.
- Odoo Community: nothing in licences, without the Enterprise apps (for example Payroll and Studio).
- ERPNext: nothing in licences; hosting is priced by server capacity, not by the number of users.
- Custom ERP: nothing in licences, but a higher build cost, because you pay to rebuild the accounting and stock logic that the other two ship ready.
On all of them, implementation, data migration, training and support cost real money, and in the first year they are usually the larger share. Our own ERPNext price ranges are on the ERPNext implementation page and in the ERP cost guide for Egypt.
Egyptian compliance: ETA e-invoicing and payroll
This is where the options differ most for a company registered in Egypt.
Odoo ships an official Egypt localization: "Egypt - Accounting" and "Egyptian E-invoice Integration". Odoo documents the e-invoicing integration from version 15.0, and the module is published under LGPL-3 in Odoo's main code base. Odoo also publishes an "Egypt - Payroll" localization; Payroll itself is listed as an Enterprise app. Ask your implementer to confirm the full signing setup for your edition and hosting before you commit, because the signing details depend on how you host.
ERPNext has no Egypt module in its core product. On the version-16 source, its regional code covers Australia, Italy, South Africa, Türkiye, the UAE and the US. ETA integration therefore comes from an app: for example the "Egypt Compliance" app on the Frappe Cloud Marketplace (free, GPL v3, for ERPNext v15 and v16, covering e-invoices and e-receipts), or an app an implementer builds and maintains for you. Egyptian payroll runs in Frappe HR, with income tax brackets and social insurance set up in the salary structures.
A custom ERP builds the integration from scratch on the ETA documentation: CAdES-BES signing, submission, status tracking and cancellation. It is well-defined work, but you pay for all of it and inherit nothing.
On all three, the ETA side is the same: your company needs an eSeal certificate and token from an approved issuer, every item needs a GS1 or EGS code, and the ERP has to be registered on your ETA taxpayer profile, with testing on the pre-production portal first. The full picture is on our ETA e-invoicing integration page and in the Egypt e-invoicing guide.
Arabic and right-to-left
ERPNext and Odoo both ship Arabic translations and right-to-left layouts, and in both each user can pick a language. Two things decide whether Arabic works in practice: printouts (tax invoices, credit notes, statements) designed for Arabic, and the translation of every custom field your implementer adds. On ERPNext, community members have reported Arabic display problems in some versions (one v15 report describes Arabic letters shown unjoined), which is why Arabic screens and printouts belong in acceptance testing on either system. A custom ERP is built in Arabic from day one, which is one of its few clear advantages on this point.
Customisation and integrations
ERPNext is built on the Frappe framework, where custom fields, form layouts, workflows and server or client scripts are part of every install. Deeper changes go into a separate custom app in Python, so upgrades do not overwrite them. Frappe generates a REST API for every document type out of the box.
Odoo is customised through modules in Python and XML. Its no-code tool, Studio, is an Enterprise feature. Odoo 19 introduced an external JSON-2 API; Odoo's documentation states that access to data through the external API is only available on Custom pricing plans, not on One App Free or Standard.
If your ERP must talk to a store, a delivery app, a bank or a payment gateway such as Paymob, count the API as part of the plan you are pricing.
Versions, upgrades and support
Odoo releases a major version once a year and gives each one 3 years of standard support. The current release is Odoo 20, released in September 2026 and planned to September 2029 on Odoo's support table; Odoo 19 is planned to September 2028. Odoo Online customers also get intermediate SaaS versions every two to three months. Odoo's editions page lists version upgrades as an Enterprise service; on Community, upgrades are yours or your partner's to run.
ERPNext support dates come from Frappe: v14 ended on 31 January 2026, v15 is planned to the end of 2027 and v16 to the end of 2029. Upgrades are run with Frappe's tooling on your own server, or by Frappe Cloud if you host there. Custom apps have to be tested against each new version, whoever runs the upgrade.
A custom ERP has no versions to upgrade to, but its framework and libraries still need patching, and if the company that built it disappears, so does its maintenance. Ask about code ownership and whether another team could take it over before you go this way.
Partners and local support
Both vendors run partner programmes with public directories. Odoo's partner directory listed 202 partners in Egypt on 24 September 2026 (16 Gold, 61 Silver, 125 Ready). Frappe's partner directory is worth checking for Egypt too. Before you choose, find out who will implement and support the system in Egypt, in Arabic, after go-live. For a mid-size company that matters more than any row in the table above.
When a custom ERP is the right answer
In some cases neither product fits, because your process is not "a company that buys, stocks and sells". Examples we have seen: a marketplace sitting between sellers and buyers with its own settlement rules, a multi-entity group with cost allocation rules no packaged product knows, or a subscription service with dynamic pricing. Bending a packaged product to that shape costs more than building a system that matches the process from the start.
Our working rule: if more than a third of your requirements are "not in the product, needs development", a custom system is usually cheaper over three years. If less, start with a packaged product and put what you need in a separate custom app. Our custom system work starts at EGP 165,000 (about $3,000) and is priced module by module; see ERP systems.
Which one fits your company
Odoo is usually the better fit when:
- you want the ETA module and Egyptian payroll maintained by the vendor, and accept per-user pricing;
- you want a hosted service where the vendor runs servers and upgrades (Odoo Online);
- you want website, e-commerce and marketing apps from the same vendor, in the same interface as the ERP;
- a capable Odoo partner is available to you locally.
ERPNext is usually the better fit when:
- your user count will grow and per-user fees would dominate the budget;
- you want the whole product open source, on your own server or cloud account, with the API and customisation tools in every install;
- your operation is close to standard trading, distribution, services or manufacturing;
- you can budget for an ETA app and Arabic print formats, and you have an implementer who owns the Egyptian details.
A custom ERP is usually the better fit when: your process is your competitive edge and no packaged product covers it, and you accept a higher build cost in return for full ownership. Send us a description of your process through the technical estimate form and we will tell you which of the three we think fits, even when it is not our route.
