Why the Odoo price comes as two bills
The Odoo price in Egypt has two parts that are easy to mix up. The first is the subscription, which you pay to Odoo itself. It depends on the edition, the number of users and the hosting, and Odoo sets and publishes it. The second is the implementation, which you pay to whoever sets the system up for you: studying how you work, configuring the apps, moving your data, linking e-invoicing and training your team.
A quote that shows one figure hides what you are paying for in each part, so ask for the two on separate lines. The subscription renews every year, or every month if you choose to pay that way. The implementation is a project, priced once for a scope that is written down before work begins.
Two quotes for the same company rarely differ much on the subscription, because it follows Odoo's own price list. They differ on the implementation, because each team reads your company and its scope in its own way.
Users, apps and edition: how Odoo prices the subscription
Odoo prices its Enterprise edition by the number of users. A user is anyone with an account they work in: the accountant, the storekeeper, the salesperson who issues quotations. Customers who see their invoices through Odoo's portal, and employees with no account, are not counted. So count the people who will really work in Odoo, not everyone on the payroll.
Odoo also offers Community, its free, open-source edition. It has no subscription, but it lacks apps and features that Enterprise has, among them the full accounting app and Studio, the tool for building screens without code. Its only support comes from the team that runs it.
Odoo's plans differ in what they include, too: one covers the standard apps on Odoo's own cloud, another adds custom code and other hosting. Find out which plan your quote assumes, because the price per user follows the plan, and the plan is a large part of the Odoo price in Egypt.
- No subscription to pay
- Fewer apps and features
- Supported by its implementer only
- Upgraded by its implementer
- A subscription per user
- The full set of apps
- Supported by Odoo as well
- Standard part upgraded by Odoo
How Odoo sends your invoices and receipts to the Tax Authority
This is the part of the Odoo price in Egypt that no price list shows. A company in the e-invoicing system sends every invoice, credit note and debit note to the Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA), signed electronically. A shop, restaurant or clinic in the e-receipt system reports each receipt from its point of sale. Odoo can do both from the same records, but each one has to be set up.
Here the Odoo price in Egypt depends on your data more than on the connector. Every item you sell needs its GS1 or EGS code and its unit, every customer their tax registration number, and every tax its exact type from the authority's list. A company that has already coded its items pays less here than one that starts from nothing.
Signing adds a line of its own. Each e-invoice carries an electronic signature, held on a USB token or on a signing server (HSM), and you buy the certificate from a company that issues electronic signatures, not from Odoo. For e-receipts, each point of sale is registered as well. Then the whole cycle, from sending to acceptance, rejection and cancellation, goes through the authority's pre-production environment before go-live.
Before you sign a contract, make sure the edition and version you choose support Egyptian e-invoicing, and e-receipts if you sell to consumers. Our e-invoicing guide explains what the system asks of your business.
When data and customisation raise the price
Most companies come to Odoo from an older accounting program, from spreadsheets, or from both. Moving the opening balances, the chart of accounts, the items, the customers and the suppliers costs less when the data arrives clean, and more when one customer appears under three spellings. This line alone can raise the Odoo price in Egypt, so ask how much data the quote expects to move, and who will clean it.
Customisation is the line that grows fastest. Odoo's standard apps cover most of what a trading or service company needs. Each change beyond them, such as a report in another layout, a new approval step or a screen the standard app lacks, means development and testing, and then care at every upgrade. Ask for each one on its own line, and ask whether the standard app would do if your way of working shifted a little.
Training deserves a line in the price as well. A system your team cannot use well costs as much as one that works, and gives you less.
Where Odoo runs, and what hosting adds
Where Odoo runs affects both the Odoo price in Egypt and the work around it. Odoo Online is Odoo's own cloud: there is no server to manage, only the standard apps run on it, and Odoo handles the updates. Odoo.sh is Odoo's platform for companies that need custom code, and Odoo prices it by the resources it uses. A server of your own, in your office or with a hosting company, gives you full control, but someone has to watch it, back it up and secure it.
For a company with no custom code, Odoo Online usually costs least to run. Once customisation is needed, the choice is between Odoo.sh and your own server, and your own server only makes sense if you have someone to look after it, or hire someone who will.
What you keep paying after go-live
After go-live, the subscription renews every year for the users and apps you have at that point, so adding staff or apps raises it. Hosting renews too, unless you are on Odoo Online, where it comes with the subscription. Know this recurring part of the Odoo price in Egypt from the start.
Support is the other recurring line. Your users will ask for help when one of them is stuck, a report that stops working has to be fixed, and Odoo has to be adjusted when your business changes. Ask what the implementer's support covers and how it is priced, apart from the project.
Odoo releases new versions regularly. On Enterprise, Odoo upgrades the standard part, but each customisation has to be moved to the new version, which is one more reason to keep them few.
How to compare two Odoo quotes in Egypt
Start with a single page that describes your company to whoever will implement Odoo: what you sell, how many people will work in the system, which apps you need, how many branches and points of sale you run, and whether you are in the e-invoicing or the e-receipt system.
Then go through each quote with that page beside you. Does it name the edition, the plan and the number of users? Does it list the apps? Does it price data migration, the e-invoicing link and each customisation on its own line? Does it say what support costs after go-live, and who holds the database and the passwords?
We work the same way. We study how your company works, write down the scope, and price the implementation once before work begins, with the Odoo subscription on its own line at Odoo's own price. That way you see the whole Odoo price in Egypt before you decide.
- 01Study how you workWhat you sell, who will use the system, and your branches and points of sale.
- 02Agree the scope and priceWrite down the apps, the data and any customisation, and price the implementation before it starts.
- 03Set up and move the dataConfigure the apps, then move balances, items and customers once they are clean.
- 04Connect to the Tax AuthoritySet up e-invoicing and e-receipts, and test them in the authority's pre-production environment.
- 05Train and go liveTrain each user on their own work, then switch to live use.