Odoo vs Zoho Books
We give Odoo a 3.2 GPA and Zoho Books a 3.4, out of 4.0. Odoo grades higher on value for money and the free plan. Zoho Books grades higher on ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Odoo
Business app suite whose Accounting app is free when used on its own
Zoho Books
Online accounting from Zoho, with a free plan and six paid tiers
How we grade them
| 3.2GPAOdooVery good | 3.4GPAZoho BooksVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AThe Accounting app is free on its own, hosted by Odoo, for unlimited users and several companies. You pay only once you add a second app, and then it's per user: Standard is $24.90 a month for the first year, then $31.10, billed yearly. | BStandard is $15 a month billed yearly ($20 monthly) for the whole business with 3 users, right at the cheaper quarter of this category. It already has bank feeds, sales tax, 1099 e-filing and API access. |
| Free plan and trial | AOne App Free gives you Accounting for unlimited users with no time limit, so no normal business hits a cap. The limit is one app: adding Expenses, Inventory or anything else moves everyone to a paid plan. | BFree for businesses under $50K revenue a year: 1 user plus an accountant, 1,000 invoices a year, bank reconciliation, 1099s and 50+ reports. One person could live on it, though automatic bank feeds need Standard. |
| Features | BBank sync with 28,000+ banks, AI matching, bill and receipt capture, invoices, late-payment follow-ups, deferrals, real-time reports and taxes and e-invoicing set up by country. That's the whole job, though bill scanning runs on credits bought separately. | BInvoices, bills, bank feeds, sales tax, 1099s, projects, multiple currencies, inventory up to warehouses and batch tracking, budgets, custom modules and AI that answers questions about the books. That covers the whole job. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. Charts of accounts and taxes come set up for your country, which helps, but it's a big system, and implementation help is sold separately. | A4.81 from 5,247 App Store ratings, the top band for accounting apps. Receipt autoscans work on every plan, the free one included, which saves typing. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with Stripe, PayPal and Adyen, plus bank sync worldwide. There's no desktop app, and the API needs the Custom plan. | AWeb, Windows, iPhone and Android, with an API from Standard up and links to Shopify, Amazon, eBay, Etsy and the rest of Zoho. That's the full spread. |
| Best for | full accounting free for any number of users | a real free plan with room to grow |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Odoo and Zoho Books. How we grade
Price against what you get
Odoo starts at $2.07 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Zoho Books starts at $15 a month and scores 3.7.
Zoho Books scores higher, and starts $12.93 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other accounting and invoicing tools on the chart, 1 scores higher than Odoo for less, and none scores higher than Zoho Books for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Odoo starts at $31.10 per user / month, billed annually, after $24.90 for the first 12 months. Zoho Books starts at $15 per organization / month, billed annually.
- Only Zoho Books lists a Windows app.
- Odoo is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
At a glance
| Odoo | Zoho Books | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $31.10 per user / month, billed annually, after $24.90 for the first 12 months | $15 per organization / month, billed annually |
| Free plan | One App Free: any one app, such as Accounting or Invoicing, plus the apps it depends on, for unlimited users on Odoo Online, free with no time limit. | Free plan for businesses with under $50K revenue a year: 1 user plus 1 accountant, invoices, quotes, expenses, bank reconciliation, 1099s and 50+ reports, with email support. |
| Free trial | Free trial of the paid plans, no credit card required | 14-day free trial of the paid plans |
| Web | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Odoo | Zoho |
| Price read from | odoo.com | zoho.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Odoo
- Businesses that want full double-entry accounting free for any number of users
- Companies that expect to add inventory, sales or HR apps on the same system
- Businesses that need their country's charts of accounts, taxes and e-invoicing
Zoho Books
- Very small businesses that want a free plan with real double-entry books
- Companies already using other Zoho apps
- Growing product businesses that will need inventory and warehouses later
Worth knowing
Odoo
- Odoo is a wider suite: a second app moves you to a paid plan priced per user for every app, and on paid plans Studio or several companies mean Custom.
- The advertised prices are a 12-month discount for the users first ordered; plans then renew at $31.10 or $61 a user a month, billed yearly.
- Every backend user pays, including an outside accountant and staff who log expenses; limited-access employees can be $8.90 Light Users via an advisor.
- Not included: implementation services, Odoo.sh hosting, and in-app credits for text messages and AI bill scanning.
Zoho Books
- The free plan stays free only while revenue is under $50K a financial year, and paid add-ons other than autoscans cannot be added to it.
- Each plan caps users at 3, 5, 10, 10 or 15; more cost $3 per user a month, or $2.50 billed annually.
- Every plan caps invoices and bills a year: 1,000 on Free, 5,000 on Standard, 10,000 on Professional and 25,000 on Premium.
- These are US prices; Zoho lists separate editions for 18 countries plus a global one, including the UK, Canada, India and Australia.
Key features
Odoo
- Bank synchronization
- Connects to more than 28,000 banks worldwide, and Odoo says AI matching reconciles about 95% of transactions automatically.
- Bill and receipt capture
- AI reads vendor bills and expense photos taken on the mobile app. The scanning uses in-app purchase credits sold apart from the plans.
- Invoices and follow-ups
- Unlimited invoices and bills, with scheduled reminders for late payers by email, post or text message.
- Country setups and e-invoicing
- Charts of accounts, taxes, reports and electronic invoicing formats such as Peppol are preconfigured by country.
- Reports and deferrals
- Real-time financial reports that can be annotated and exported, plus deferred revenue and expense entries.
- Rest of the suite
- Paid plans add every other Odoo app, including sales, purchase, expenses, inventory, CRM, HR and point of sale.
Zoho Books
- Invoicing and online payments
- Quotes, invoices, recurring invoices, retention payments and automatic reminders, with a customer portal for paying online.
- Banking and reconciliation
- Reconcile accounts on every plan. Automatic bank feeds start on Standard, along with recurring expenses and period locking.
- US tax and 1099s
- Track sales and use tax, manage W-9s and 1099 contractors, and e-file 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC forms from Standard up.
- Projects and inventory
- Professional adds timesheets, project profitability and basic inventory. Elite adds warehouses, serial and batch tracking and shipping labels.
- Automation and customization
- Workflows, approvals and custom roles from Professional; custom modules, buttons and functions from Premium; Blueprints on Elite.
- AI in accounting
- Ask questions about the books in plain English, spot anomalies and automate collections, plus receipt autoscans on every plan.
Plans
Odoo
One App Free$0
One app, such as Accounting, for unlimited users and several companies, hosted on Odoo Online.
Odoo Community$0
The open-source edition, which you host yourself. It includes Invoicing and payments but not the full Accounting app.
Standard$31.10
per user / month, billed annually ($38.90 billed monthly)
Advertised at $24.90 a user a month billed yearly, or $31.10 monthly, for the first 12 months. Every Odoo app on Odoo Online.
Custom$61
per user / month, billed annually ($76.20 billed monthly)
Advertised at $49 billed yearly, or $61.10 monthly, for the first 12 months. Adds multi-company, Studio, agentic AI, the API and self-hosting.
Zoho Books
Free$0
Revenue under $50K a year. 1 user and 1 accountant, up to 1,000 invoices a year, recurring invoices, payment reminders and 1099 filing.
Standard$15
per organization / month, billed annually
$20 billed monthly. 3 users, bank feeds, sales and use tax, 1099 e-filing, custom reports, API access and 5,000 invoices a year.
Professional$40
per organization / month, billed annually
$50 billed monthly. 5 users, sales and purchase orders, multiple currencies, timesheets, project profitability, retainers and inventory.
Premium$60
per organization / month, billed annually
$70 billed monthly. 10 users, fixed assets, budgets, cash flow forecasting, a vendor portal and custom modules.
Elite$120
per organization / month, billed annually
$150 billed monthly. 10 users, advanced inventory with warehouses and batch tracking, Etsy, eBay and Amazon channels, and up to 2 Shopify stores.
Ultimate$240
per organization / month, billed annually
$275 billed monthly. 15 users and built-in business intelligence with 50+ prebuilt visualizations, KPI tracking and embeddable reports.
Ways to pay less
Odoo
- Other savings
First-year discount on Standard and Custom
For 12 months, Standard costs $24.90 a user a month billed yearly ($31.10 monthly) and Custom $49 ($61.10 monthly), for the users first ordered.
- Annual discount
Save with yearly billing
Yearly billing lists Standard at $31.10 a user a month instead of $38.90, and Custom at $61 instead of $76.20.
Zoho Books
- Annual discount
Save up to 25% with yearly billing
Yearly billing cuts Standard from $20 to $15 a month, Professional from $50 to $40, Premium from $70 to $60, Elite from $150 to $120 and Ultimate from $275 to $240.
