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ERP · head to head

ADempiere vs JobBOSS²

ADempiere logo

ADempiere

ERP

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
JobBOSS² logo

JobBOSS²

Manufacturing

ECI shop control system formed by merging JobBOSS and E2 Shop System into one product line

From
On request
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.; JobBOSS² the product is a merger of two legacy systems, so existing JobBOSS and E2 customers face a migration and retraining project whose cost is negotiated case by case and is easy to underestimate.
  • They diverge on capability: ADempiere covers Application dictionary, JobBOSS² covers Estimating and quoting.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which ADempiere and JobBOSS² actually diverge.

Attributes where ADempiere and JobBOSS² differ
AttributeADempiereJobBOSS²
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hostedWindows, Web
CategoryERPManufacturing

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 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 JobBOSS²

  • Estimating and quoting
  • Order and job management
  • Shop floor data collection
  • Scheduling
  • Job costing
  • Integrated accounting

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 JobBOSS²
  • A company that wants to modify ERP screens and document workflows without a vendor change request, using the application dictionary rather than codenot JobBOSS²
  • An organisation with a hard requirement to keep financial data on its own servers under its own control with no cloud dependencynot JobBOSS²
  • A systems integrator building a vertical ERP product on a permissive base it can fork and ship without paying a licence feenot JobBOSS²

JobBOSS²

  • A job shop quoting from spreadsheets that wants estimating, routing and costing in one systemnot ADempiere
  • An existing JobBOSS or E2 Shop System customer evaluating whether to migrate or replacenot ADempiere
  • A make to order fabricator that needs accounting inside the manufacturing system rather than alongside itnot ADempiere
  • A shop that wants operator time capture at work centres to make job costing reflect what actually happenednot 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.

JobBOSS²

  • The product is a merger of two legacy systems, so existing JobBOSS and E2 customers face a migration and retraining project whose cost is negotiated case by case and is easy to underestimate.
  • ECI is a private equity owned portfolio company with many vertical products, and buyers should read renewal, uplift and support tier terms carefully because the commercial model is built around long term contracted revenue.
  • Machine connectivity is limited, so shop floor data comes from operators clocking in and out rather than from controllers, and any automatic utilisation measurement needs a separate monitoring product.
  • Reporting is rigid compared with a modern system and most shops end up exporting to Excel for anything beyond the supplied reports, which reintroduces the spreadsheets the system was bought to eliminate.
  • The user interface carries its lineage and takes longer to learn than a current generation web application, which matters most for occasional users such as estimators and purchasing staff.

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

JobBOSS²

On request
  • JobBOSS²$undefined/year
    • Quoting through invoicing for job shops
    • Shop floor data collection and scheduling
    • Hosted or on premises deployment

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 JobBOSS² if

  • You need estimating and quoting.
  • You work on Windows, Web.
  • You also want order and job management.
JobBOSS² review

Questions people ask

Is ADempiere or JobBOSS² better?
Neither clearly leads. ADempiere starts at Free and JobBOSS² at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, ADempiere or JobBOSS²?
ADempiere has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for ADempiere and On request for JobBOSS².
Does ADempiere or JobBOSS² run on more platforms?
ADempiere runs on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hosted. JobBOSS² runs on Windows, Web.
Can I use ADempiere for free?
Yes. ADempiere has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. JobBOSS² starts at On request.
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 JobBOSS² is typically brought in for.
What can ADempiere do that JobBOSS² cannot?
ADempiere covers Application dictionary, Financial accounting, Order to cash and procure to pay, Inventory and warehouse. JobBOSS² covers Estimating and quoting, Order and job management, Shop floor data collection, Scheduling.

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.

JobBOSS²: What happened to E2 Shop System?

ECI acquired it and merged it with JobBOSS into the combined JobBOSS² line. Legacy customers are directed towards migration.

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.

JobBOSS²: Is it cloud based?

It is offered hosted and on premises. Hosted is not the same as a cloud native architecture, and performance expectations should be set accordingly.

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.

JobBOSS²: Does it include accounting?

Yes, accounting is part of the product, which is one of the main reasons small shops choose it over an ERP plus separate finance package.

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.

JobBOSS²: Can it read data from my CNC machines?

Not natively in any meaningful way. Data collection is operator driven, so shops wanting spindle level data buy a monitoring platform alongside it.

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