Odoo vs Xentral – Which Cloud ERP for E-Commerce and Mid-Market?
Xentral has positioned itself since 2008 as a German cloud-ERP solution specifically for e-commerce and multichannel retailers. With mature native connectors to Shopify, Shopware, Amazon, eBay, and leading shipping carriers, Xentral serves a clear niche: online retailers that need to scale fast and cannot afford long ERP implementations.
Odoo is broader by design – a complete business platform aimed at every industry, every company size, and every kind of business process. Choosing between Xentral and Odoo today is less about cloud comfort – both are mature SaaS platforms – than about feature breadth, customisation depth, and long-term scalability.
Quick verdict: Xentral is the fastest pick for pure e-commerce retailers up to roughly 50 employees that need a clear multichannel workflow and want no customisation. Odoo is the right pick the moment you want to model business areas beyond e-commerce – manufacturing, B2B sales, CRM, marketing automation – or when you intend to keep the system flexible long-term.
The two systems at a glance
Xentral
Xentral ERP, headquartered in Augsburg, was founded in 2008 and acquired in 2022 by GHO Capital. The product has been cloud-only since 2021 and primarily targets e-commerce companies with five to fifty employees. Strengths sit in pre-built connectors to all relevant online shops and marketplaces, a clean German UI, and a focused feature set for classic retail processes.
Customisation in Xentral is primarily configuration-based. Deeper changes are limited – the platform is closed source. Extensions come from the Xentral Marketplace portal (paid modules for production, workflows, advanced reports).
Odoo Enterprise
Odoo covers every business area with 80+ native modules and is deeply extensible via open source. The platform scales from a three-person startup to a mid-market group with several hundred employees and multiple sites.
For e-commerce users, Odoo includes an integrated webshop, website builder, and B2B customer portal – capabilities Xentral does not offer, since Xentral positions itself as the ERP backend behind external shop systems.
Functional comparison
E-commerce and multichannel
Xentral: strength. Native connectors to Shopify, Shopware, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, JTL-Wawi (as data source), DPD, DHL, GLS, UPS, FedEx, and many others. Orders from multiple channels merge automatically inside Xentral, and shipping is centralised.
Odoo: own webshop and website builder in the standard. Connectors to Shopify, Shopware, and Amazon Marketplace available. The order-merge logic is somewhat more configuration work than in Xentral – but the in-house shop is immediately usable, with no separate licence and hosting cost for a Shopware or Shopify setup.
Accounting
Xentral: solid German accounting with DATEV export, GoBD compliance (certified), and SKR03/SKR04. Fixed-asset accounting is limited in the standard; for more complex scenarios an external solution (e.g. DATEV or Lexware) often runs in parallel.
Odoo Enterprise: complete German accounting with all depth functions – fixed-asset accounting with GWG thresholds, UStVA, E-Bilanz, configurable dunning, and full multi-company logic.
Inventory and logistics
Xentral: strong on e-commerce-typical requirements – pick lists, shipping labels, returns. Multi-warehouse and lot tracing are available but less configurable than Odoo for complex warehouse structures.
Odoo: very strong. Routes with pull/push rules, multi-warehouse and multi-site, consignment, cross-docking, lot and serial tracking, smartphone-based barcode scanning. For complex warehouse structures or growing logistics needs, the materially more flexible platform.
Manufacturing
Xentral: a basic production module is available and covers BOM and goods-in. Deeper MRP, work-centre scheduling, or multi-level production structures are missing or limited. Not an issue for pure trading companies; a clear gap for manufacturers.
Odoo: full MRP with unlimited BOM depth, work centres, routings, quality control, maintenance, and IoT integration. A genuine industrial platform.
CRM and marketing
Xentral: no native CRM. Connections to HubSpot, Pipedrive, or similar tools possible via connectors.
Odoo: CRM, marketing automation, lead scoring, and email marketing natively integrated. Companies building a B2B sales motion with pipeline management have a material Odoo advantage.
HR
Xentral: no HR module.
Odoo: recruiting, employee records, attendance, leave, and expense management integrated. Payroll itself in Germany typically runs at the tax adviser (DATEV LODAS); Odoo exports pre-payroll data there.
Cost comparison
Licence cost
Xentral is sold as a monthly subscription with three main tiers:
| Xentral tier | Price (approx.) | Users / orders / items |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | from €499 / month | up to 5 users, limited orders |
| Pro | from €999 / month | up to 10 users, more orders |
| Business / Enterprise | custom | from €1,500 / month upward |
Modules like production, advanced workflows, more orders, or additional connectors are charged separately.
Odoo Enterprise: ~ €25–€40 per user per month on cloud hosting; all modules included. For 10 users: ~€250–€400 / month. For 25 users: ~€625–€1,000 / month.
For mid-sized setups (15–25 users), Odoo is almost always cheaper on licensing than Xentral – while delivering a markedly broader platform.
Implementation
Xentral: self-onboarding is possible; partner-led implementations typically run €5,000 to €25,000.
Odoo: Quick Start packages from €8,900; full implementations from €22,000. More complex industrial projects €35,000–€60,000.
When is Xentral the right choice?
- You are a pure e-commerce or multichannel retailer with no manufacturing
- You have five to thirty employees and a clearly focused business model
- You already use Shopware, Shopify, or Amazon as your main channels and want an ERP backend that plugs in seamlessly
- You want to be live in two to four weeks and accept the trade-off of less customisation depth
- You do not want to build a developer team or commit long-term to an implementation partner
When should you pick Odoo?
- You manufacture your own products or configure complex BOMs
- You want to build a B2B sales motion with professional CRM and marketing automation
- You plan to use the ERP across several business areas – not just inventory and shipping
- You are expanding internationally and need multiple legal entities, currencies, and languages
- You want to remain flexible long-term and need deep customisation
- You want your own webshop and ERP on one platform rather than two separate licences
Migration from Xentral to Odoo
Migrations from Xentral are technically straightforward:
- Data export: master and transactional data via the Xentral API
- Mapping: transfer into the Odoo data model, item structure adjustment, opening inventory at cutover
- Connector rebuild: create the shop and marketplace connectors in Odoo and test the full order-to-cash flow
- Cutover: clean cutover, ideally outside peak retail seasons
Typical project length: 8 to 14 weeks for an e-commerce company with 10 to 25 users.
Final take
Xentral and Odoo are both sensible choices – for different profiles. Pure e-commerce retailers with clear focus and no manufacturing requirement find a fast, focused solution in Xentral. Companies that want more than inventory and shipping – manufacturing, B2B sales, marketing automation, international scaling, long-term customisation depth – are on the better platform with Odoo.