ERP for professional services
Requirements
Budgets vs actuals per project, time tracking and billing from timesheets. Usually a must-have.
General ledger, GST/VAT returns, bank reconciliation, financial statements. Usually a must-have.
Leads, follow-ups, customer history, loyalty and campaigns. Usually a must-have.
Employees, attendance, leave and local payroll.
Several legal entities, inter-company transactions, consolidation.
Comparison
Baseline ranking for a typical 11–50 person business with no strong budget or hosting preference. Your own answers below will change it.
Best fit
93%fit
Full Odoo suite with Studio, full accounting, quality, PLM and official support.
Low licence cost · Moderate setup · Cloud or on-premise
Strong at
#2
80%fit
Fully open-source ERP on the Frappe framework, with low-code customisation.
No licence fee · Substantial setup · Cloud or on-premise
Strong at
#3
74%fit
Cloud-only suite built for growing, multi-entity and multi-country companies.
Premium licence cost · Substantial setup · Cloud only
Strong at
Watch out for
| Capability | Odoo Enterprise93% fit | ERPNext80% fit | Oracle NetSuite74% fit | Odoo Community73% fit | Dynamics 365 Business Central73% fit | SAP Business One72% fit | PSA software61% fit | TallyPrime33% fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project costing & timesheetsmust | Strong | Good | Good | Good | Good | Basic / custom | Basic / custom | Not available |
| Full accounting & taxmust | Strong | Strong | Strong | Good — Full accounting needs Enterprise or community (OCA) modules. | Strong | Strong | Basic / custom — Usually basic; many shops still export to an accounting package. | Strong |
| CRM & customer loyaltymust | Strong | Good | Good | Good | Basic / custom | Good | Good | Not available |
| HR & payroll | Good — Payroll localisation varies by country. | Good | Good | Basic / custom | Basic / custom | Basic / custom | Basic / custom | Good |
| Multi-company & multi-currency | Strong | Good | Strong | Good | Strong | Good | Basic / custom | Basic / custom |
Strong StrongGood GoodBasic / custom Basic / customNot available Not available* see note (hover)
Personalise
Tell us your size, region and which requirements really matter. The ranking updates to match.
Buyer's checklist
Check fixed-fee, time-and-materials and milestone billing in the same demo.
FAQ
Under ~50 people, a PSA plus accounting software is fine. As you add entities, currencies and procurement, an ERP with projects avoids the integration.
Next step
We'll review your shortlist against your actual processes — and tell you if something we don't implement is the better fit.