Odoo Partner vs Independent Odoo Consultant

If you've decided on Odoo, the next question is who should implement it. You'll find three kinds of provider: official Odoo partners, independent Odoo firms, and freelance consultants. Each can be the right choice.

For transparency: we're an independent Odoo firm, not an official partner. We'll try to be fair anyway.

Official Odoo partners

Firms with a formal partnership with Odoo S.A. Partners are tiered by how many Enterprise subscriptions they sell, along with certification requirements.

Pros

• Direct relationship with Odoo
• Certified staff (they've passed Odoo's functional certification)
• Can resell Enterprise subscriptions, sometimes at bundled prices

Cons

• Commercial incentive to sell Enterprise, whether or not you need it
• Partner level reflects sales volume more than delivery quality
• Large partners may assign junior staff after the sale

Independent Odoo firms

Companies that implement Odoo without a formal partnership.

Pros

• No licence quota, so they can recommend Community, Enterprise or something else entirely
• Often more involved in the open-source community (OCA modules, Community deployments)
• Often senior people on your project

Cons

• No direct escalation channel to Odoo
• Quality varies widely, as it does with partners
• You'll buy Enterprise subscriptions directly from Odoo if you need them

Freelance consultants

Individual consultants or developers.

Pros

• Lower day rates
• Direct access to the person doing the work
• Great for well-defined pieces: a module, a report, an integration

Cons

• Capacity: one person can't cover functional, technical and project management on a bigger project
• Continuity: holidays, illness or a better offer stop your project
• Limited support coverage

What actually matters

Whatever the label, ask:

1. Who will do the work? Meet them.
2. What's similar that you've done? Industry, size, country.
3. How do you handle data migration? Specific answers only.
4. Community or Enterprise for us, and why? Watch for a reflexive answer.
5. Who owns the code? It should be you.
6. What happens after go-live? Support terms, response times, upgrades.
7. Can I speak to two clients? Without them on the call.

These questions tell you more than any partner badge. Our guide to choosing an ERP consultant goes into more detail.

A note on mixing

It's common to combine: a firm for implementation, a freelancer for small follow-up changes, Odoo directly for Enterprise subscriptions. That works fine as long as code ownership and documentation are clear.

Talk to us

We're happy to be compared. Book a consultation, ask us the same seven questions, and see how the answers stack up. Or start with our Odoo consulting page.