Odoo licensing is the set of terms under which Odoo S.A. and its affiliates distribute and sell Odoo, a suite of business applications that includes apps such as Sales, Accounting, CRM, Inventory, Project and Point of Sale.[1] Odoo is offered in two editions: Odoo Community, which Odoo describes as open source, and Odoo Enterprise, which it describes as licensed; Odoo states that Community is the core upon which Enterprise is built and that a customer can switch editions at any time.[2] Community Edition is licensed under the GNU LGPL version 3, and Enterprise Edition under the Odoo Enterprise Edition License v1.0, which allows execution and modification only with a valid Odoo Enterprise Subscription for the correct number of users.[3] Catalog proof: Community Edition is licensed under LGPL v3; Enterprise Edition needs a valid subscription for the correct number of users.
The Enterprise subscription is governed by the Odoo Enterprise Subscription Agreement, which applies to self-hosting, Odoo.sh and Odoo Cloud.[4] The version reviewed is headed “Version 13 - 2026-09-24”.[5] It covers services (bug fixing, security updates, upgrades, hosting and support), charges based on the number of Users, Light Users and the Subscription Plan, and a usage-verification mechanism built into the Software.[5]
Editions
| Edition | Licence | Hosting | Price basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Odoo Community | LGPL v3 | Self-managed | No subscription |
| Odoo Enterprise, One App Free plan | Not stated on the pricing page | Odoo Online | One app, unlimited users |
| Odoo Enterprise, Standard plan | Enterprise Edition License v1.0 | Odoo Online | Per user per month, all apps |
| Odoo Enterprise, Custom plan | Enterprise Edition License v1.0 | Odoo Online, Odoo.sh or on-premise | Per user per month, all apps, with Studio, Multi-Company and External API |
The pricing page lists the One App Free plan (one app, unlimited users), the Standard plan and the Custom plan, each with an Odoo Online option, and the Custom plan with Odoo.sh or on-premise hosting as well.[1] Odoo Apps published by Odoo S.A. are, unless otherwise stated, under the Odoo Proprietary License v1.0.[3] Catalog proof: Odoo Community; Odoo Standard plan; Odoo Custom plan.
Metrics
The Agreement counts two kinds of user. A User is any user account indicated as active in the Software that is not a Light User; deactivated accounts and portal accounts used by external people or systems are not counted.[5] A Light User is an active account designated as such, or any active employee record from the Human Resources app that is not linked to an active non-portal user account, where the version supports it.[5] The pricing page describes Light User capabilities, such as time off, expenses, attendances and use of Point of Sale or the Manufacturing Shop floor, and says a Light User licence is obtained through a customised quote from an Odoo Advisor.[1] Services for custom modules (Covered Extra Modules) are charged per 100 lines of code counted with the cloc command.[5] Catalog proof: User; Light User; Covered Extra Module lines of code.
Counting and floors
The numbers of Users and Light Users are specified in writing when the Agreement is concluded. If the customer later has more Users or Light Users, or uses features that require another Subscription Plan, it pays the list price in effect at the time of the deviation for the remainder of the Term, and it must immediately notify Odoo S.A. of the excess.[5] For on-premise databases, the software itself shows a message when a database has more users than the subscription provides, and the database expires after a 30-day countdown unless users are added by an upsell quotation or deactivated.[6] Catalog proof: Extra Users, Light Users or plan are charged at list price; Too many users starts a 30-day expiry countdown.
Virtualization and partitioning
The documents reviewed contain no virtualization, core or server-based metric. Licensing follows users, plan and database: an on-premise subscription can link only one database, and test or development databases are created by duplicating a database into a neutralized copy.[6][7] Catalog proof: Only one database can be linked per subscription.
Cloud and BYOL
Odoo Enterprise can run on the Odoo Cloud Platform (Odoo Online and Odoo.sh) or be self-hosted. On the cloud platform Odoo S.A. hosts and manages the Software; with self-hosting the customer runs it on systems of its choice.[5] The Standard plan is hosted only on Odoo Online and cannot carry custom modules; the Custom plan can be hosted on Odoo Online, on Odoo.sh or by the customer, and the cost of Odoo.sh hosting is not included in the plan price.[1] A Community installation can be converted to Enterprise by installing the web_enterprise module and entering the subscription code.[8] Catalog proof: Standard plan is hosted on Odoo Online only; Community converts to Enterprise by entering a subscription code.
Programs
The pricing page shows discounted prices for the initial users ordered, valid for 12 months.[1] The Partnership Agreement lets partners use Enterprise Edition in testing and development and gives free Odoo.sh access for that purpose.[9][3] Each major version receives three years of standard support, followed by extended support for an additional fee.[10] Catalog proof: First-year discount on initial users; Standard and extended support phases.
Audit and compliance
The Agreement does not describe an audit schedule. It instead requires the customer to guarantee the unmodified execution of the Software’s validity-checking code, which collects the running of an instance, the numbers of Users and Light Users, the installed Apps and the lines of code of Covered Extra Modules; Odoo S.A. commits not to disclose individual or named figures to third parties without consent. Breach of that section costs an extra fee equal to 300 per cent of the applicable list price for the actual number of Users and Light Users.[5] Self-hosting customers must also grant access to verify usage on request, for example if automatic validation is inoperant.[5] On-premise databases send an update notification weekly to Odoo’s subscription validation servers.[6] Catalog proof: Breach of the verification section costs 300% of list price; Self-hosting customers grant verification access on request.
Out of scope
This article does not cover the contents of third-party apps on the Odoo Apps Store, implementation services, Success Packs or the commercial terms of individual Odoo Partners, which are separate agreements. No court case about Odoo’s software licensing was identified from primary court records, so there are no case articles for this vendor.