Eight families of apps, one database underneath.
Odoo is a suite of business apps that share one database. Accounting, sales, inventory, manufacturing, websites, HR, marketing and service work are separate apps you add as you need them, and they all read and write the same records.
App names and icons on these pages are Odoo's own, as published on odoo.com. Odoo's current version is Odoo 20, released in September 2026.
Start with the part of the business that hurts most.
Odoo groups its apps into eight families. Each has its own page here, and every app inside it is a tab you can open.
- 01AccountFinanceBooks, invoices, expenses and signatures on one set of records.Accounting, Invoicing, Expenses, Sign, Spreadsheet and ESG draw on the same records as the rest of Odoo, so a sale or a purchase reaches the books without being typed twice.Bank reconciliation · E-invoicing · Expense reports · E-signatures
- 02SellSalesFrom the first lead to the renewal, and the till in between.CRM, Sales, Subscriptions, Point of Sale and Rental cover the whole way a customer buys, from a lead on a pipeline to a quotation, an order, a shop receipt or a renewal.Pipeline · Quotations · Recurring billing · Shop and restaurant POS
- 03PublishWebsitesA website, a shop and a community that share your data.Website, eCommerce, Events, eLearning, Blog and Forum let you publish and sell online from the same database that holds your stock, customers and orders.Drag-and-drop pages · Online shop · Event tickets · Courses
- 04Make and moveSupply ChainStock, production and purchasing that keep each other honest.Inventory, Manufacturing, Purchase, PLM, Quality and Maintenance cover what you buy, make, store and ship, with replenishment and traceability running through all of it.Replenishment · Barcodes and lots · Bills of materials · Quality checks
- 05EmployHuman ResourcesPeople, time, pay and performance in one place.Employees, Recruitment, Time Off, Appraisals, Payroll and Fleet follow a person from the job posting to the payslip, using the same records for every step.Applicant pipeline · Leave and approvals · Payslips · Appraisals
- 06ReachMarketingEmail, SMS, social and WhatsApp, tied to the customer record.Email Marketing, SMS Marketing, Social Marketing, Marketing Automation, WhatsApp and Surveys reach people and report back what each message earned.Segments · Journeys · WhatsApp · Campaign results
- 07DeliverService DeliveryProjects, time, tickets and fieldwork, billed from the same place.Project, Timesheets, Planning, Appointments, Helpdesk, Field Service and Live Chat run the delivery side of a service business and hand time and materials straight to invoicing.Kanban and Gantt · Timesheets · SLAs · Field visits
- 08ConnectProductivityConversations, files and knowledge that live beside the work.Discuss, Documents, Knowledge, VoIP, IoT and Approvals keep messages, files, phone calls, devices and sign-offs attached to the records they are about.One inbox · Document hub · Knowledge pages · Connected devices
51 apps, each with its own icon.
The apps these pages cover, grouped as Odoo groups them. Filter by family, then choose an app to open its tab.
Add the next app when you need it.
Odoo's apps are separate, but they share one database. That is the idea underneath everything on these pages.
- 01One database
- Every app reads and writes the same records. A customer, a product or an order is one thing in Odoo, not a copy in each app.
- 02Start small
- Odoo's pricing describes a plan with one app free and unlimited users, and other apps added as you need them. If an app depends on others, you get the required ones with it.
- 03Hand-offs without re-keying
- A confirmed sales order drives the delivery and the invoice, a low-stock product drafts a purchase order, an approved expense posts to the books.
- 04An open-source core
- Odoo Community is free and open-source, licensed under the GNU LGPLv3, and Enterprise is built on it with more functionality and support.
- 05Change it to fit
- Odoo Studio lets you change fields, screens, reports and approvals without code, and custom modules cover the rest.
- 06AI inside the apps
- Odoo AI puts agents and AI tools into the apps your team already uses, with the limits you set.
- EnquiryA lead arrives on the pipeline.
- QuotationA quote is made and sent.
- DeliveryThe confirmed order drives the delivery.
- InvoiceThe invoice comes from the order.
- The booksPayment is matched to the bank line.
Illustrative: one order followed through five apps, built from what Odoo’s pages say each does. Which steps are automatic is decided in a project.
Find the gap that costs you most.
Pick the problem closest to yours. We will show which family usually comes first, and what to look at next.
Odoo works with the systems around it.
What Odoo's own material says about connecting to other things, including what it does not say.
Local tax and payroll rules, stated plainly.
Odoo handles each country's rules through localisation packages. This is what its documentation, app pages and Odoo 20 release notes say about our two markets, as we last read them in November 2026.
Two editions, three places to run it.
The choice shapes what you can add and how you upgrade. It is the hardest to undo, so make it early.
What an Odoo project involves.
Odoo's plans cover the software, not the project. Its pricing page describes what an implementation service covers and who usually delivers it.
- 01Business needs analysis
- Working out which apps you need first, and how your process maps onto them.
- 02Configuration and data import
- Setting up the apps and loading your customers, products, balances and open items.
- 03Customisation and development
- Changes through Studio, and custom modules where Studio is not enough.
- 04Training
- Getting the people who will use it comfortable with it.
- 05Project management
- Keeping a plan, and the people on it, moving.
- 06Who delivers it
- Odoo says small companies can use its Success Packs, mid-size and larger companies (over 50 employees) usually work with a partner offering local project management, and companies over 250 employees can contact Odoo directly.
Decisions to settle before you start
- Which family comes first: begin with the area that costs you most, and add the next when the first is running.
- Where it will run, and whether you will ever need custom modules, which rules out Odoo Online.
- Which countries you operate in, and whether each has a fiscal localisation package.
- How many people count as paying users, and who could be Light Users.
- The budget outside the plans: implementation, credits for SMS and AI, Odoo.sh hosting and custom-code maintenance.
© 2026 Mawkish Technologies. This guide, its diagrams and illustrations are protected by copyright. You’re welcome to learn from it and to quote it with credit and a link. Reproducing it, by hand or through AI, and publishing it as your own is not allowed. Read our copyright notice
Straight answers.
What is Odoo?
Odoo's own repository describes it as a suite of web-based open-source business apps, which can run standalone or together. On its website Odoo groups its apps into eight families: Finance, Sales, Websites, Supply Chain, Human Resources, Marketing, Services and Productivity. Its current version is Odoo 20, released in September 2026.
Do I have to buy every app?
No. You add apps as you need them. Odoo's pricing page describes a One App Free plan with one app and unlimited users, a Standard plan with all apps on Odoo Online, and a Custom plan that adds Odoo.sh or on-premise hosting, Studio, agentic AI, multi-company and the external API. If an app depends on others, such as eCommerce on Website and Invoicing, you get the required ones with it.
What is the difference between Community and Enterprise?
Odoo describes Community as the free and open-source edition, licensed under the GNU LGPLv3, and the core on which Enterprise is built. Enterprise is the shared-source edition, with more functionality including functional support, upgrades and hosting. You can switch from Community to Enterprise at any time, except from a source install.
Where can Odoo run?
On Odoo Online, where Odoo hosts and manages your database, on Odoo.sh, Odoo's cloud platform for developers, or on your own servers. Odoo Online is incompatible with custom modules and Apps Store modules, so custom code needs Odoo.sh or on-premise. Our editions and hosting page sets out the differences.
Does Odoo support our country's tax and payroll rules?
India: Odoo's documentation lists a fiscal localisation package covering GST e-invoicing, the e-way bill, GST returns and TDS and TCS alerts, and Odoo's Payroll page lists India among its localisations. Sri Lanka: Odoo 20's release notes say a new localisation package is available, with the chart of accounts, taxes, balance sheet, profit and loss reports and the VAT 001 and WHT 001 reports. It is new, and Odoo's documentation did not yet list Sri Lanka among its packages, nor its Payroll page mention it, when we read them in November 2026. We would test the Sri Lankan package against your statutory returns, and scope payroll, before you commit.
Can Odoo be customised?
Yes, in two ways. Odoo Studio lets you change fields, views, automation, reports and approvals without coding, and build apps from scratch. Custom modules written in code are hosted on Odoo.sh or on-premise, and Odoo's pricing page says their maintenance is not included in its plans.
Does Odoo have AI?
Yes. Odoo AI offers configurable agents, AI fields, AI in email templates, voice transcription and AI in Live Chat, and an Odoo database can act as an MCP server for outside agents. Odoo's pages do not name the models behind it or give a data privacy position, and AI use spends in-app purchase credits. Our Odoo AI page covers this in detail.
How do I connect Odoo to other systems?
Odoo's documentation describes an external JSON-2 API for outside software, which its pricing page lists with the Custom plan. The pages we read describe no ready-made connector to SAP or Salesforce, so such a connection would be built on that API.
Who implements Odoo?
Odoo's pricing page says small companies can use its Success Packs, mid-size and larger companies (over 50 employees) usually work with a partner who offers local project management, and companies over 250 employees can contact Odoo directly. Implementation is not part of Odoo's plans. We implement Odoo for companies in Sri Lanka and India: talk to us about your project.
Checked against Odoo’s own pages and documentation in November 2026.
Not sure where to start with Odoo?
Tell us how the business runs today. We will help you work out which family comes first, where Odoo should run and what can wait.
- Your goals and the systems involved
- Which family fits first
- A sensible first step
Odoo, its app names and its app icons belong to Odoo S.A. The icons are shown as Odoo publishes them on its brand-assets page. Other names are the property of their owners. Screens shown are our own illustrations with sample data, not Odoo screenshots. Product descriptions follow Odoo's own published material and may change; check odoo.com for current details.
The Straight-Through Odoo is our shorthand for looking after the details nobody sees in Odoo.