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Inventory · head to head

Acumatica vs ADempiere

Acumatica logo

Acumatica

Inventory

Cloud ERP for modern distributed businesses

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
ADempiere logo

ADempiere

ERP

Community-run open source ERP forked from Compiere, with no vendor behind it

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only ADempiere has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Acumatica pricing is not published; the vendor directs buyers to a pricing review or an industry calculator instead; ADempiere there is no company behind it, so there is no support contract to buy, no SLA, no escalation path and no roadmap commitment; if your implementation partner leaves the market you own the problem entirely.
  • They diverge on capability: Acumatica covers Financial management, ADempiere covers Application dictionary.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Acumatica and ADempiere actually diverge.

Attributes where Acumatica and ADempiere differ
AttributeAcumaticaADempiere
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebWeb, Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hosted
CategoryInventoryERP
Founded2005Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Acumatica

  • Financial management
  • Inventory
  • Order management
  • CRM
  • Acumatica mobile
  • Business intelligence
  • Custom integrations
  • Third-party apps

Only in ADempiere

  • Application dictionary
  • Financial accounting
  • Order to cash and procure to pay
  • Inventory and warehouse
  • Point of sale
  • Workflow engine
  • Java and PostgreSQL stack
  • gRPC and REST services

Both cover

  • Manufacturing

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Acumatica

  • Construction industry ERPnot ADempiere
  • Manufacturing business managementnot ADempiere
  • Distribution operationsnot ADempiere

ADempiere

  • A manufacturer in Latin America with an existing ADempiere consulting partner that needs localised tax and accounting behaviour a global vendor will not buildnot Acumatica
  • A company that wants to modify ERP screens and document workflows without a vendor change request, using the application dictionary rather than codenot Acumatica
  • An organisation with a hard requirement to keep financial data on its own servers under its own control with no cloud dependencynot Acumatica
  • A systems integrator building a vertical ERP product on a permissive base it can fork and ship without paying a licence feenot Acumatica

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Acumatica

  • Pricing is not published; the vendor directs buyers to a pricing review or an industry calculator instead
  • Cost is driven by transaction volume, data storage and resource levels, so spend rises with business activity rather than staying fixed
  • Charged per application implemented, so adding a module changes the price

ADempiere

  • There is no company behind it, so there is no support contract to buy, no SLA, no escalation path and no roadmap commitment; if your implementation partner leaves the market you own the problem entirely.
  • The official website adempiere.net does not resolve, which strands most of the historic documentation and tutorials that search engines still point at and makes onboarding a new developer considerably harder.
  • The last conventional stable release, 3.9.4, is from January 2023, so despite ongoing GitHub activity a buyer evaluating on release cadence sees a project moving slowly.
  • iDempiere, a later fork of the same codebase, absorbed much of the developer community, so ADempiere competes for contributors with its own descendant and is the smaller of the two ecosystems.
  • The interface and the Java Swing heritage feel dated, and staff coming from a modern cloud ERP will need training and will complain; expect resistance from finance and warehouse users during rollout.

Pricing, plan by plan

Acumatica

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Acumatica review.

ADempiere

Free
  • Community editionFree
    • GPL v2 licensed, no licence fee
    • Full ERP, CRM, supply chain and POS modules
    • Self-hosted on your own infrastructure

Which should you pick?

Choose Acumatica if

  • You need financial management.
  • You also want inventory.
Acumatica review

Choose ADempiere if

  • You need application dictionary.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hosted.
  • You also want financial accounting.
ADempiere review

Questions people ask

Is Acumatica or ADempiere better?
Neither clearly leads. Acumatica starts at On request and ADempiere at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Acumatica or ADempiere?
ADempiere has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Acumatica and Free for ADempiere.
Does Acumatica or ADempiere run on more platforms?
Acumatica runs on Web. ADempiere runs on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hosted.
Can I use ADempiere for free?
Yes. ADempiere has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Acumatica starts at On request.
What is Acumatica best used for?
Acumatica is most often used for construction industry erp, manufacturing business management, distribution operations. Of those, construction industry erp and manufacturing business management are not what ADempiere is typically brought in for.
What can Acumatica do that ADempiere cannot?
Acumatica covers Financial management, Inventory, Order management, CRM. ADempiere covers Application dictionary, Financial accounting, Order to cash and procure to pay, Inventory and warehouse. Both handle Manufacturing.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Acumatica: How does Acumatica's pricing model work compared to traditional per-seat ERP systems?

Acumatica charges based primarily on the number of applications you implement, not user seats. Pricing adjusts based on business usage and resources (transaction volumes, user count, data storage needs) plus your chosen deployment license type. Unlimited users are included; you only pay for the functionality you need.

Source
ADempiere: Should I choose ADempiere or iDempiere?

Look at iDempiere first. It is a later fork of the same codebase with a more active community and a modular OSGi architecture. Choose ADempiere if a specific partner or localisation you need only exists there.

Acumatica: Are there separate pricing calculators for different industries?

Yes, Acumatica offers industry-specific pricing calculators for Construction, Manufacturing, and Distribution to help estimate costs. You can also schedule a custom pricing review with an Acumatica partner for a tailored assessment.

Source
ADempiere: Is ADempiere free?

The software is GPL licensed with no licence fee. The cost is implementation, customisation and permanent in-house maintenance, which for a real deployment is substantial.

Acumatica: What happens if my business usage and data storage needs grow over time?

Acumatica allows you to adjust resource levels and data storage as you add users or expand usage. The transparent pricing model ensures you always know your costs, and you do not pay overages for unused features or unnecessary functionality.

Source
ADempiere: Is the project still alive?

Development continues on GitHub with commits into 2026, but the official website is down and the last stable release is from January 2023. Treat it as maintained rather than actively advancing.

ADempiere: What is the application dictionary?

It is the metadata layer inherited from Compiere that stores the definition of every window, field and validation rule as data, so you can change the application without touching source code.

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