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ERP · head to head

ADempiere vs QAD Adaptive ERP

ADempiere logo

ADempiere

ERP

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
QAD Adaptive ERP logo

QAD Adaptive ERP

ERP

ERP for regulated and supply-chain-heavy manufacturers, strongest in automotive and life sciences

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.; QAD Adaptive ERP no pricing is published and licensing splits across user types and separately sold modules, so first quotes routinely come in well above the number buyers had in their heads.
  • They diverge on capability: ADempiere covers Application dictionary, QAD Adaptive ERP covers Automotive EDI.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which ADempiere and QAD Adaptive ERP actually diverge.

Attributes where ADempiere and QAD Adaptive ERP differ
AttributeADempiereQAD Adaptive ERP
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hostedWeb, Windows, iOS, Android

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 QAD Adaptive ERP

  • Automotive EDI
  • Manufacturing execution
  • Supply chain planning
  • Quality management
  • Global financials
  • Traceability and recall
  • Connected workforce
  • Adaptive UX

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

QAD Adaptive ERP

  • An automotive tier supplier that must accept OEM EDI releases and ship to AIAG or Odette labelling without building it themselvesnot ADempiere
  • A multi-plant manufacturer consolidating several plant-level ERPs onto one ledger with local statutory reporting per countrynot ADempiere
  • A food or pharmaceutical maker that needs lot genealogy fast enough to scope a recall in hoursnot ADempiere
  • A manufacturer replacing an ageing QAD MFG/PRO installation and wanting continuity of process rather than a rewritenot 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.

QAD Adaptive ERP

  • No pricing is published and licensing splits across user types and separately sold modules, so first quotes routinely come in well above the number buyers had in their heads.
  • QAD has been owned by Thoma Bravo since the 2021 take-private, so roadmap and pricing decisions answer to an investment thesis rather than to public product commitments, and buyers should ask about contract terms at renewal.
  • The implementation partner network is small next to SAP, Oracle or Microsoft, which limits competitive tendering on services and makes regional coverage patchy.
  • Outside its target industries the vertical depth is dead weight, and a general distributor or services firm pays for automotive and life sciences function it will never switch on.
  • Long-standing QAD customers still run heavily customised MFG/PRO estates, and migrating those customisations to Adaptive ERP is a re-implementation, not an upgrade, which is why some sites have stayed on old versions for years.

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

QAD Adaptive ERP

On request
  • QAD Adaptive ERP$undefined/year
    • Subscription priced by user type, modules and deployment
    • Cloud or on-premise deployment
    • Implementation delivered by QAD or a partner and billed separately

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 QAD Adaptive ERP if

  • You need automotive edi.
  • You work on Web, Windows, iOS, Android.
  • You also want manufacturing execution.
QAD Adaptive ERP review

Questions people ask

Is ADempiere or QAD Adaptive ERP better?
Neither clearly leads. ADempiere starts at Free and QAD Adaptive ERP at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, ADempiere or QAD Adaptive ERP?
ADempiere has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for ADempiere and On request for QAD Adaptive ERP.
Does ADempiere or QAD Adaptive ERP run on more platforms?
ADempiere runs on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hosted. QAD Adaptive ERP runs on Web, Windows, iOS, Android.
Can I use ADempiere for free?
Yes. ADempiere has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. QAD Adaptive ERP 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 QAD Adaptive ERP is typically brought in for.
What can ADempiere do that QAD Adaptive ERP cannot?
ADempiere covers Application dictionary, Financial accounting, Order to cash and procure to pay, Inventory and warehouse. QAD Adaptive ERP covers Automotive EDI, Manufacturing execution, Supply chain planning, Quality management.

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.

QAD Adaptive ERP: Who owns QAD?

Thoma Bravo, which took the company private in 2021. It is no longer publicly listed, so financials and roadmap commitments are not disclosed the way they once were.

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.

QAD Adaptive ERP: Is QAD only for automotive?

No, but automotive supplier compliance is its deepest area, alongside life sciences, food and beverage and industrial manufacturing. Non-manufacturers are not the target.

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.

QAD Adaptive ERP: Can it run on-premise?

Yes, both cloud and on-premise deployments are supported, which matters to manufacturers with plant-floor systems that cannot tolerate a WAN dependency.

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.

QAD Adaptive ERP: Is Adaptive ERP an upgrade from MFG/PRO?

Not in practice for a customised site. Moving heavily modified MFG/PRO installations is a re-implementation project, and that cost should be in the business case from the start.

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