r/Odoo • u/throwawayldr08 • 8d ago
Which Odoo implementation would you choose?
I’m starting a small import/distribution company in South America. We’re pre-operational, have no legacy data to migrate, and will start with about 5 users.
I have two Odoo proposals:
Gold Partner
Odoo Enterprise v19
Purchases
Imports
Inventory
Sales
Invoicing
Accounting
Accounts receivable/payable
Localized e-invoicing
CRM
Sales commissions
Training and post-implementation support
252+ quoted implementation hours
Partner-managed AWS: 30 GB, 1 worker, 1 environment
Total first-year cost: about US$15.5k
Ready Partner
Purchases/imports
Inventory
Sales/quotations
Localized e-invoicing
CRM
Accounts receivable
Accounting
Sales commissions
Simplified monthly remuneration calculation
Maker-checker supplier payment approval
Training/UAT + 3 months support
Odoo.sh: 10 GB, 1 worker, 1 staging branch
Total first-year cost: about US$8.2k
Version not yet confirmed, possibly v18 or v19
Both proposals seem to rely mostly on standard Odoo functionality, with a few custom/localized features.
The Gold Partner’s proposal specifies many more individual features and accounting/import functions in detail, while the Ready Partner’s proposal is much more high-level. I’m not sure whether those additional functions simply aren’t listed by the Ready Partner but would still be configured/included as they are standard, or whether the cheaper proposal is actually shallower.
I’ve seen Odoo.sh discouraged quite a bit in this subreddit. For a 5-user company with localization and some custom modules, would you prefer Odoo.sh or partner-managed AWS?
Would you pay almost double for the Gold Partner, or does the Ready Partner approach sound more sensible?
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u/codeagency 8d ago
How can both be different in content and context? Didn't any of them do a fitgap analysis first? If not, then how do you even know if any of those offers include what your business really need? That's the same as asking 2 different companies "how much does it cost to build a house" and one gives you a house and the other one a flat. Both keep you dry and warm, but they are different.
Imho, if there is no fit gap analysis done, then both are 100% wrong to begin with. Because both don't resemble any of your real requirements and could be very wrong and incomplete or over-estimated.
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u/Calibre_Odoo_Partner 4d ago
On whether the cheaper proposal is shallower: the license includes every standard feature. A feature only helps you once the partner has configured it, and that setup is what the hours pay for. The Gold proposal states 252 hours, so ask the Ready partner for the same breakdown before comparing prices.
The Ready proposal also contains two items that are not standard Odoo 19:
Simplified monthly remuneration. Odoo 19 Payroll has no South American localization, so this is custom work.
Maker-checker supplier payment approval. Purchase orders have a native approval step, but I could not find a native two-person approval on vendor payments in 19.
Both are reasonable requests. However, custom modules need maintenance and have to be upgraded with each Odoo version. Ask how many hours each one takes and who maintains it. For the rest, Sales commissions is a standard Enterprise app. Localized e-invoicing exists for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay, but not for Bolivia, Paraguay or Venezuela, so confirm your country is covered.
On hosting: for 5 users, either option is technically sufficient. The bigger difference is control. On Odoo.sh you can hold the project and subscription in your own name, so changing partner later means adding new collaborators. On partner-managed AWS, often the partner holds the server, so make sure the contract gives you admin access and regular database and file backups you can move elsewhere.
On partner level: Gold reflects new Enterprise users sold, the number of certified staff and customer retention. It does not measure delivery quality on projects like yours. I would decide based on who has delivered import and distribution projects in your country, and whose fit-gap analysis matches your processes.
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u/JustSomeOdooGuy 8d ago
Most important question in my eyes: what are the approaches/estimations based on?
I personally avoid big partners as from experience the bigger a company the more cost without benefit and the higher the chances of shifting responsibles and low experienced implementers.
Also hosting provided by a partner directly makes switching harder if you are not happy (compared to Odoo.sh).
That does not mean a small partner can't have the same issues or low experience.
Odoo.sh in general is totally fine in my eyes. It is not perfect and if you need/want much control about the details of the hosting on your end, it might be not the best choice, but for "normal" cases it is sufficient. At least in the last 6 years (30+ projects) there was no point at which I regret using it.
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u/throwawayldr08 8d ago
Thank you! I’m sorry if this is a stupid question as I don’t really understand about software development, but if standard modules are included does that mean that all native features within that module are included by default?
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u/JustSomeOdooGuy 8d ago
No worries :) In Odoo all features in all modules are included in the license costs*
*there are some features where you have to pay extra actually like OCR. These are usually features which are connected to some sort of cost that Odoo themselves has to cover
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u/Boojotim 7d ago
All standard features are included, does not mean they are configured or setup in your workflows.
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u/Hungry_Lavishness907 7d ago
I’m about to go live with Odoo in my company next week. I have considered three partners from India. Two offered fixed-priced projects, on was fine with Time and Material. I chose the last one, since I preferred to have more control. I also have experience in the whole software lifecycle. And I had a rather good idea what I needed since I’ve done quite extensive research and experiments on odoo trial DBs, followed a lot of their online courses and so on.
So if you don’t know much about it, don’t focus on the bells and whistles they offer. Ultimately it may turn out that you don’t need half of them. Think about how the software should support your business processes, what is an absolute must, what is more of a nice to have, what is negotiable and you’re willing to be flexible on the execution.
Your partner should for sure propose to understand the processes and your requirements, instead of going directly to implementation. Despite me having rather detailed documentation before I even engaged the partner, I spent like 5 weeks going through all of the processes, requirements, implementation options for various areas. While the setup and development took 4 weeks…
I went with Cloudpepper. Partially because of all of the options I read here on sh, partially because of the cost.
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u/Standard_Victory_305 7d ago
As others have said partner levels don’t mean much. What helped me was finding a developer that knows Odoo, and was willing to work with me long term.
So find a developer you trust that knows Odoo.
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u/JustSomeOdooGuy 7d ago
Only having a developer comes too short in my eyes. The real value of implementing an ERP is changing/optimizing processes and having someone who knows the right configurations and challenges requirements etc to get the most out of the ERP.
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u/commoncents1 7d ago
One thing on partners, even if gold/larger, make sure they don't stick newbie juniors on your account for actual work. That cost me months and thousands until I yelled
1
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u/nikoxr 1d ago
One thing to take into account, now everyone can be a partner. So on the ready partner you risk that they know shit about Odoo. I’m a developer and been talking with that kind of partner in Arg and I can tell they are learning on the go. But on the other hand, gold partners might give you junior consultants, just ensure that there’s a senior properly checking on them
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u/Poo786 8d ago
We run a 10 user import and distribution company in the UAE on Odoo.sh.
Going from new implementation V14 >> 16 >> 17 >> 19 my only advise would be to limit the scope of your first go live.
What you need is Purchase, Sales, Inventory and Accounting. This would be the starting point.
One bucket: Purchase has Imports One bucket: Sales has Invoicing One bucket: Accounting has Aged Payables / Receivables/Tax reporting
Get that up and running + Masters information for customers, Vendors and products + localized e-invoicing + permissions.
UAT that and then add the other stuff. Trying to do too much adds scope and unnecessary time to get the MVP out.
Partner selection: Ask them to show you the work they've done for other companies and pick who is most relevant because Gold or Ready partner just means the Gold partner has more new users/year and doesn't necessarily tell on competency.