From a team that has worked with SAP for more than 30 years and now implements Odoo too.
If you run SAP ECC, you’ve been told the next step is S/4HANA. ECC mainstream maintenance ends on 31 December 2027, so the decision is getting close. Most comparisons you’ll find are written by people who sell only one of the two. We work with both, as an SAP partner and an Odoo Silver partner, so here’s how they compare for an Australian mid-market business, including where SAP is the better choice.
First: which S/4HANA?
“S/4HANA” now covers three quite different things, and SAP renamed its cloud offerings in 2025:
- SAP Cloud ERP (formerly S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition): multi-tenant SaaS with standardised processes and limited room to change them.
- SAP Cloud ERP Private (formerly S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, sold through RISE with SAP): your own S/4HANA system hosted and managed by SAP, on a subscription priced in full-use equivalents (FUEs).
- S/4HANA on-premise: licensed and run by you or your host, with SAP committed to supporting it until at least 2040.
For most ECC customers, the real options are Cloud ERP Private or on-premise. Below, “S/4HANA” means those two unless we say otherwise.
Side by side
| SAP S/4HANA | Odoo Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Negotiated and unpublished. RISE / Cloud ERP Private is priced per FUE; on-premise has licence plus annual maintenance (typically around 22% of licence value) | Published per user. Custom plan (all apps, Studio, multi-company, API) is AUD $80/user/month, list price at the time of writing (October 2026) |
| Developer licences | On RISE, each developer counts as 2 FUE, twice your most expensive business user | None. Developers are ordinary users |
| What’s included | Core ERP. CRM, ecommerce, field service, helpdesk and planning are mostly separate SAP products with separate licences | One platform: finance, sales, purchasing, inventory, MRP, CRM, website, ecommerce, helpdesk, field service, HR, projects |
| Changing the system | “Clean core”: key-user tools for simple changes; anything more goes into ABAP extensions or SAP BTP, needing ABAP, Fiori/UI5 or BTP developers | Studio for no-code changes; Python modules for anything more. One skill set, a much larger talent pool |
| Cost of a typical change | Functional consultant plus ABAP developer plus Fiori developer, at roughly $900–$1,200/day each in Australia (Hudson, Feb 2026) | Often a power user in Studio, or one Odoo developer |
| Implementation | Mid-market S/4HANA projects often run well over a year | Mid-market SAP-to-Odoo moves typically take 5–9 months |
| Upgrades | Cloud ERP Private and on-premise upgrade on SAP’s release cycle, often as a project | Annual versions. Cheap when customisation stays lean |
| User experience | Fiori has improved the front end; SAP GUI is still common for power users | One modern web interface across every app, on desktop and phone |
| Depth | Very deep in finance, controlling, complex supply chain and dozens of industry solutions | Broad and strong for mid-market. Less depth in some specialist industries |
| Australian localisation | Mature: GST, BAS, STP via payroll partners | Australian localisation covers GST and the BAS report, with an Australian payroll module; check its current STP scope for your needs |
| Skills in Australia | Large but expensive SAP market | Smaller, growing Odoo market, plus Python developers generally |
| Source code | Closed | Open core: the Community edition is open source, and Enterprise source is available to partners |
Where Odoo is the stronger choice
- You want to know what you’ll pay. Odoo’s price is on its website. Nothing about the licence is negotiated, and there’s no audit risk from counting users the wrong way.
- You change your processes often. A new field, approval or report is configuration, not a project. Over a year that’s the biggest difference in running cost. In our SAP to Odoo cost guide we illustrate one ordinary change costing about $6,000 in services on S/4HANA and a fraction of that on Odoo.
- You need more than core ERP. CRM, ecommerce, helpdesk and field service are in the same system with the same data, not separate products to buy and integrate.
- You’re mid-market. For businesses of roughly 30–500 users, Odoo covers what you need without the overhead of a system built for global multinationals.
- You want the project done in months, not years. A focused Odoo implementation needs fewer specialists and less custom development.
Where S/4HANA is the stronger choice
We’ll say this in any assessment if it applies to you:
- You’re part of a global group on an SAP template. If your parent company mandates SAP and consolidates on it, fighting that rarely pays.
- You rely on a deep SAP industry solution. Utilities, oil and gas, complex OEM automotive, defence and some regulated industries have SAP functionality that Odoo doesn’t match.
- You run very high volumes with complex finance. Large-scale controlling, transfer pricing across many entities and in-memory analytics on huge datasets play to SAP’s strengths.
- You’ve just invested in S/4HANA and it works. Then the cost of moving again outweighs the savings.
The real decision: it’s a re-implementation either way
Most ECC customers assume that moving to S/4HANA is an upgrade. In practice it’s a new implementation: a new data model, new finance structures and, if you go to the cloud, a new commercial model. Your Z-code has to be rewritten or retired either way.
So the honest question isn’t “stay with SAP or leave?” It’s “if we’re re-implementing anyway, which system should we re-implement on?” Five questions decide it:
- Are we bound to a group-wide SAP template?
- Which of our processes genuinely need SAP-level industry depth, and which are standard?
- How often do we change our processes, and what do those changes cost us today?
- What will S/4HANA cost us over five years (subscription or licence plus maintenance, developers, change requests, upgrades) compared with Odoo?
- Who in our team will run the system day to day, and what skills will they need?
If the answers to 1 and 2 point to SAP, S/4HANA is probably right. If they don’t, Odoo deserves a serious look before you sign. Some groups land in between and keep SAP at head office while moving smaller entities to Odoo; see running SAP and Odoo side by side.
What we’ve seen
- A New Zealand automotive distributor was heading to SAP. After comparing the two side by side, they chose Odoo, with EnCollab’s vehicle and warranty capability covering the automotive-specific processes.
- An Australian corporate group is moving its businesses off SAP to Odoo, one entity at a time.
Get both numbers before you decide
Our free SAP Exit Assessment puts the two paths side by side for your business: what moves to standard Odoo, what would need building, the indicative cost and timeline, and how it compares with your current SAP run cost and an S/4HANA quote. If S/4HANA is the better answer for you, the assessment will say so.
For the numbers behind a move, read what it really costs to leave SAP for Odoo. For the deadlines, see SAP ECC end of support 2027.
Book a free SAP Exit Assessment
FAQ
Is Odoo a real alternative to SAP S/4HANA?
For most mid-market businesses, yes. It covers finance, supply chain, manufacturing, sales, service and HR in one system. Large enterprises on global SAP templates, and businesses that depend on deep SAP industry solutions, are usually better staying on SAP.
Is Odoo cheaper than S/4HANA?
Usually, across licences, implementation and the ongoing cost of change, but it depends on your scope. Odoo publishes its prices; SAP’s are negotiated. Our assessment compares both for your business.
How long does it take to move from SAP ECC to Odoo?
Typically 5–9 months for a mid-market ECC business, and 3–5 months from SAP Business One. Complex multi-entity estates move in phases.
Can we keep SAP for some things and use Odoo for the rest?
Yes. Some businesses keep SAP at group level and run subsidiaries on Odoo, or move in phases with both systems running for a while.
Sources
- SAP Community: Maintenance timelines for SAP ERP 6.0 (ECC)
- SAP cloud ERP renaming: Protera, Walldorf Consulting
- S/4HANA support until at least 2040: SAP News
- SAP: RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Service Use Descriptions
- Hudson SAP Salary Guide Australia 2026
- Odoo pricing
- Odoo documentation: Australia fiscal localisation