Odoo: Self-Hosted Business Management Suite

Odoo is a comprehensive suite of open-source business applications covering CRM, e-commerce, accounting, inventory, project management, HR, manufacturing, and more. With over 48,000 GitHub stars and 31,000+ forks, it is one of the most actively developed open-source ERP platforms in the world. Odoo's modular architecture lets you start with one app and expand as your business grows.

Self-hosting Odoo means your entire business operates on infrastructure you control — customer records, financial data, inventory systems, and employee information stay on your own server.

Key Features

• 30+ integrated business modules including CRM, sales, accounting, and inventory
• E-commerce platform with a website builder and online payment processing
• Manufacturing and supply chain management with MRP and work orders
• Human resources suite covering recruitment, attendance, expenses, and payroll
• Project management with Kanban boards, Gantt charts, and time tracking
• Point of Sale (POS) system for retail and restaurant businesses
• Customizable with Odoo Studio for building custom modules and workflows
• REST and XML-RPC APIs for integration with external systems

Why Self-Host Odoo?

Complete business platform. Instead of paying separate subscriptions for CRM, accounting, inventory, and e-commerce, Odoo integrates all these functions in one platform. Self-hosting the Community Edition gives you access to core business modules at no per-user license cost.

Sensitive data protection. Business systems contain your most confidential data — customer records, financial statements, employee information, and trade secrets. Self-hosting ensures none of this leaves your infrastructure, simplifying compliance and reducing breach exposure.

Unlimited users and customization. Odoo's cloud pricing scales per user and per app. Self-hosting the Community Edition removes user limits and gives you the freedom to install custom modules, modify source code, and tailor the system to your exact business processes.

Integration flexibility. A self-hosted Odoo instance can connect directly to your internal databases, custom scripts, and private APIs. You have full access to the underlying PostgreSQL database and can build integrations that cloud-hosted instances cannot support.

System Requirements

Resource	Minimum	Recommended
CPU	2 vCPUs	4+ vCPUs
RAM	2 GB	8 GB
Storage	20 GB SSD	50 GB SSD
OS	Ubuntu 22.04+	Ubuntu 24.04

Odoo's resource requirements grow with the number of active users and installed modules. A small business with under 20 users runs well on 4 GB RAM. Larger installations with many concurrent users and modules like manufacturing or e-commerce benefit from more generous specs.

Getting Started

The fastest way to deploy Odoo on your VPS is with Docker Compose through Dokploy. Our step-by-step deployment guide walks you through the full setup, including persistent storage, environment configuration, and SSL.

Deploy Odoo with Dokploy →

Alternatives

• ERPNext — Full-featured open-source ERP built on the Frappe framework
• Dolibarr — Modular ERP and CRM for small to medium businesses
• Invoice Ninja — Invoicing and payment platform with time tracking and project management
• Crater — Open-source invoicing application for freelancers and small businesses

FAQ

What is the difference between Odoo Community and Enterprise? Odoo Community Edition is open-source and free to self-host with core modules like CRM, sales, accounting, and inventory. The Enterprise Edition adds advanced features like marketing automation, studio customization, and IoT integration, and requires a paid license.

Can Odoo replace multiple SaaS tools? Yes. Many businesses use Odoo to consolidate separate tools for CRM (Salesforce), accounting (QuickBooks), e-commerce (Shopify), and project management (Asana) into a single integrated platform. This eliminates data silos and reduces total software costs.

Is Odoo suitable for small businesses? Absolutely. Odoo's modular design lets you start with just the modules you need — even a single CRM or invoicing module. You can add accounting, inventory, or e-commerce as your business grows, without migrating to a new platform.

How do I back up my Odoo instance? Back up the PostgreSQL database and the Odoo filestore directory (which contains attachments and documents). With Docker, these are typically mounted volumes that you can snapshot or copy. Schedule regular automated backups to prevent data loss.

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App data sourced from selfh.st open-source directory.