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ERP · head to head

ADempiere vs Epicor

ADempiere logo

ADempiere

ERP

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Epicor logo

Epicor

ERP

A portfolio of separately acquired ERP products, not one system

From
$750/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only ADempiere has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Epicor epicor is a portfolio of separately acquired products rather than one system, so reviews, references and analyst coverage about Epicor as a brand can be misleading about the specific product you are being sold.
  • They diverge on capability: ADempiere covers Application dictionary, Epicor covers Kinetic.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which ADempiere and Epicor actually diverge.

Attributes where ADempiere and Epicor differ
AttributeADempiereEpicor
Starting priceFree$750/month
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feesubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hostedCloud, On-premise, Hybrid
FoundedUnknown1972

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

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 ADempiere

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

Only in Epicor

  • Kinetic
  • Prophet 21
  • Eclipse
  • BisTrack
  • Cloud deployment
  • Extensibility tooling
  • Manufacturing execution
  • Industry compliance

What people use each for

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

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 Epicor
  • A company that wants to modify ERP screens and document workflows without a vendor change request, using the application dictionary rather than codenot Epicor
  • An organisation with a hard requirement to keep financial data on its own servers under its own control with no cloud dependencynot Epicor
  • A systems integrator building a vertical ERP product on a permissive base it can fork and ship without paying a licence feenot Epicor

Epicor

  • A discrete manufacturer moving off spreadsheets and an accounting package onto a system that models routings and job costsnot ADempiere
  • A wholesale distributor whose pricing, rebate and purchasing rules exceed what a general ERP handles without customisationnot ADempiere
  • An electrical or plumbing distributor needing counter sales and trade-specific workflow out of the boxnot ADempiere
  • A building materials dealer needing yard operations, delivery scheduling and configured product ordering in one systemnot ADempiere

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Epicor

  • Epicor is a portfolio of separately acquired products rather than one system, so reviews, references and analyst coverage about Epicor as a brand can be misleading about the specific product you are being sold.
  • The products are highly customisable and are routinely customised, and heavily customised installations become expensive to upgrade, which is why long-standing customers frequently run versions several releases behind current.
  • Cloud delivery is single-tenant hosting rather than multi-tenant SaaS, so you still own an upgrade decision and the regression testing that comes with it, and buyers who expected the SaaS model of no upgrades are surprised.
  • Sales and delivery run through a mix of direct staff and partners depending on product and region, so accountability for a failed implementation can be genuinely ambiguous unless it is fixed in the contract before signature.
  • The strongest coverage is in North American manufacturing and distribution, so an international group needing statutory compliance and local support across many countries has to test that coverage carefully rather than assume it.

Pricing, plan by plan

ADempiere

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

Epicor

$750/month
  • Starter$750/month
    • Core ERP
    • Manufacturing
    • Financial management
  • Professional$1500/month
    • Advanced ERP
    • Advanced CRM
    • Analytics

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Epicor if

  • You need kinetic.
  • You work on Cloud, On-premise, Hybrid.
  • You also want prophet 21.
Epicor review

Questions people ask

Is ADempiere or Epicor better?
Neither clearly leads. ADempiere starts at Free and Epicor at $750/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, ADempiere or Epicor?
ADempiere has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for ADempiere and $750/month for Epicor.
Does ADempiere or Epicor run on more platforms?
ADempiere runs on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hosted. Epicor runs on Cloud, On-premise, Hybrid.
Can I use ADempiere for free?
Yes. ADempiere has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Epicor starts at $750/month.
What is ADempiere best used for?
ADempiere is most often used for a manufacturer in latin america with an existing adempiere consulting partner that needs localised tax and accounting behaviour a global vendor will not build, a company that wants to modify erp screens and document workflows without a vendor change request, using the application dictionary rather than code, an organisation with a hard requirement to keep financial data on its own servers under its own control with no cloud dependency, a systems integrator building a vertical erp product on a permissive base it can fork and ship without paying a licence fee. Of those, a manufacturer in latin america with an existing adempiere consulting partner that needs localised tax and accounting behaviour a global vendor will not build and a company that wants to modify erp screens and document workflows without a vendor change request, using the application dictionary rather than code are not what Epicor is typically brought in for.
What can ADempiere do that Epicor cannot?
ADempiere covers Application dictionary, Financial accounting, Order to cash and procure to pay, Inventory and warehouse. Epicor covers Kinetic, Prophet 21, Eclipse, BisTrack.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Epicor: Which Epicor product am I actually being sold?

Ask explicitly, by name. Kinetic, Prophet 21, Eclipse and BisTrack are different systems with different roadmaps. Then ask for references on that specific product, in your industry, at your size.

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.

Epicor: Is Epicor Kinetic a true SaaS product?

It is delivered as a hosted single-tenant service on Azure. You get vendor-managed infrastructure, but you do not get the multi-tenant model where the vendor upgrades everyone at once and no upgrade project exists.

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.

Epicor: How much should I customise?

Less than you will want to. Every modification is something to retest and potentially rework at each upgrade, and the accumulation of them is the main reason customers get stranded on old versions. Push hard on whether a requirement is genuinely a differentiator before building for it.

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.

Epicor: Direct or partner implementation?

Both exist. The partner's track record on your product and industry matters more than the vendor's, so ask who will staff the project, request their references, and put named staff into the statement of work.

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