Exact Online vs Odoo: which package fits your business?

Exact Online vs Odoo is not a choice between a good and a bad package. It is a choice between two starting points. Exact Online grew out of accounting: you pick a package for what your business does, such as invoicing, accounting, wholesale or projects, and you pay a monthly price for that package with one or two users included. Odoo grew out of separate apps on one database: you switch on what you need, from CRM to inventory and accounting, and you pay per user. That is why the bills drift far apart once five or more people work in the system.

Below you see what each costs in October 2026, where they differ on accounting, inventory, e-invoicing and integrations, and when to pick which. The prices are the Belgian ones, with a note on the UK further down. VBS sells neither package and is a partner of neither. Both are SaaS: you rent the software, the vendor hosts and updates it. And both are called an ERP, although an Exact package covers less ground than the full Odoo suite.

Two packages, two starting points

In Belgium, Exact Online sells packages per type of business. If you only send invoices, you take the invoicing package at 7.50 euro a month. If you keep your own books, you take Accounting from 49 euro. A wholesaler takes Wholesale from 269 euro, with purchasing, sales, inventory and the accounting inside. A services firm that works on projects and hours takes Project Management from 199 euro. Each package has four tiers: Essentials, Plus, Professional and Premium. The higher the tier, the more features, such as several warehouses from Plus or production planning (MRP) from Professional.

Odoo works the other way round. There is one database with dozens of apps: CRM, sales, inventory, purchasing, manufacturing, projects, accounting, website and HR. With one app you work for free, for as many users as you like. From two apps on, you pay per user for all apps: 19.90 euro a month on Standard and 35.90 euro on Custom, billed yearly, for the first twelve months. What Odoo costs after that discount, and with onboarding help added, is worked out in Odoo pricing.

The result: with Exact you pay for a package plus what you add on top, such as extra users and extra companies. With Odoo you pay per person, and the setup is often the biggest cost of the first year. The full Exact price list per package and per tier is in Exact Online pricing.

The prices side by side

Exact lists all its prices excluding VAT. With Odoo, ask whether a figure includes VAT before you do the sum, especially when you buy through a partner.

Outside Belgium the packages and prices differ. On its UK price page, Exact lists Accounting at £25 to £38 a month, Wholesale Distribution at £145 to £329 and Manufacturing at £251 to £435, excluding VAT, without tying each amount to a named tier. Check your own country's page before you compare.

Worked example: five users over three years

This is an example, not a quote. The assumptions: a Belgian wholesaler with five people who all work in the system, inventory in one warehouse, no manufacturing and one company. On Exact that is Wholesale Essentials with four extra users. On Odoo that is Standard billed yearly, plus the Basic Success Pack of 25 hours at 2,635 euro, the price with 15 percent off the first pack, to set up inventory and accounting. We count no setup for Exact: Exact partners publish no fixed price, and teams that already know Exact sometimes start on their own.

In this example Odoo costs about half after three years. Two things can tip that picture. If you want to connect Odoo to a web shop or your own planning tool through the API, you need Custom. The licence then becomes 2,154 euro in year 1 and 2,694 euro in years 2 and 3, and you land at 10,177 euro over three years with the same Success Pack. And an Odoo setup often runs past 25 hours, certainly with your own rules for customer prices or partial deliveries. How such a project runs and where it overruns is in Odoo implementation. How long it takes in general is in how long does an ERP implementation take.

For a services firm of five people without inventory, the numbers sit closer together. Exact Accounting Plus costs 99 euro with two users, plus three times 23 euro: 168 euro a month, or 2,016 euro a year, with 100 sales invoices a month. Odoo Standard stays at 1,194 euro in year 1 and 1,494 euro after that. With a Starter Pack of 499 euro that is 4,681 euro over three years, against 6,048 euro on Exact. If only two of the five work in the books, you pay 99 euro a month on Exact and 39.80 euro a month on Odoo in year 1. Odoo stays cheaper on licences, but the gap is small enough to decide on something else.

What the bill leaves out

A monthly price says little about what a package costs you in time. Four things often weigh more than the licence difference.

• Your accountantExact builds working with your accountant into the package and has a separate package for accounting firms. Ask your accountant which package they use and how they want your figures before you choose.
• The setupAn Exact package is narrower, so it is set up faster. Odoo asks for more choices at the start: which apps, which steps, who sees what. That is also its strength, but it takes weeks.
• CustomisationIn Odoo you build your own fields and screens with Studio or with your own modules, both on Custom. Every custom module has to move along when Odoo ships a new version, and you pay for that work. With Exact you change less and look for an app in the App Store sooner.
• Your dataAgree up front how you take customers, products and history with you if you ever switch. You have to keep your books for years, also after a move.

For a wider view of what an ERP costs over three years, with Business Central added, read ERP cost.

Connecting the rest of your software

Few businesses run on one package alone. There is a web shop, a planning tool, a bank, a carrier or a platform of your own. How easy an integration is differs a lot between the two.

Exact Online has a public REST API and an App Store with ready-made integrations, from bank feeds to cash flow planning. If you push a lot of data through the API, you buy extra API traffic on Premium with a Volume Pack. You build your own API integration with an app registration in your company's name. What such an integration does with Exact is on Exact Online integration.

On Odoo, the external API is only available on Custom, not on the free app and not on Standard. If you want Odoo to talk to other software, you are on the more expensive plan from day one. More on Odoo integration. Both send and receive Peppol e-invoices, which every Belgian VAT-registered business needs since 1 January 2026; whether your own business is reachable, you see with the Peppol check. If you want inventory tied to a web shop or a warehouse scanner, inventory management software helps you choose between a package and your own build.

When to choose Exact Online

• Accounting is the heart of the business, and you want your accountant to work in it without a detour.
• One or two people work in the system, or you only need invoicing and accounting.
• You want a fixed package per type of business, with few choices at the start.
• You want to cancel monthly and prefer a fixed amount over a price that rises after a year.

When Odoo fits better

• Five or more people work in one system, and you want CRM, sales, inventory and accounting on the same data.
• You have manufacturing, projects or a web shop that you want in the same package.
• You have time and budget for the setup, with Odoo itself or with a partner.
• You want to add your own fields and steps later, and you pay for the Custom plan to do it.

Still weighing Odoo against a CRM package like Teamleader? Read Odoo or Teamleader. Considering Microsoft? See Odoo vs Business Central.

When neither fits

Sometimes the problem is not the accounting but the work before it: a planning tool with your own rules, a portal for customers, prices calculated differently per project. Then you force that work into a package not made for it, or you keep it in Excel. Another route: keep Exact or Odoo for the books, and have custom software built for the rest, connected through the API. When that pays off against yet another package is in Odoo alternatives and custom ERP development.