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ERP · head to head

ADempiere vs GEP SMART

ADempiere logo

ADempiere

ERP

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
GEP SMART logo

GEP SMART

ERP

Enterprise source-to-pay from a vendor that also sells the consulting and the outsourced procurement team

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.; GEP SMART gEP sells the software, the consulting and the outsourced procurement team, so the vendor measuring the savings is often the vendor delivering them, which makes independent verification difficult.
  • They diverge on capability: ADempiere covers Application dictionary, GEP SMART covers Unified source-to-pay.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which ADempiere and GEP SMART actually diverge.

Attributes where ADempiere and GEP SMART differ
AttributeADempiereGEP SMART
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hostedWeb, 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 GEP SMART

  • Unified source-to-pay
  • Spend and category analytics
  • Savings tracking
  • Supplier risk management
  • GEP QUANTUM
  • Managed services attachment

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

GEP SMART

  • An enterprise that needs category expertise as well as software and would otherwise run two procurement processesnot ADempiere
  • A company outsourcing tactical sourcing while retaining strategic categories, using one platform across bothnot ADempiere
  • A multinational consolidating regional procurement systems onto one spend taxonomynot ADempiere
  • An organisation that needs savings tracked and reconciled against realised spend rather than claimed in a spreadsheetnot 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.

GEP SMART

  • GEP sells the software, the consulting and the outsourced procurement team, so the vendor measuring the savings is often the vendor delivering them, which makes independent verification difficult.
  • Nothing is published and reported entry points around half a million US dollars a year exclude implementation, which GEP typically delivers itself rather than through a competing integrator.
  • Implementation being delivered by the vendor limits the pool of independent consultants who can advise you during the project or take over afterwards.
  • Combined software and services engagements are difficult to unwind, because replacing the platform also means rebuilding procurement capability the outsourcer was providing.
  • The platform is scoped for very large enterprises, so mid-market organisations face both a price and a complexity floor that no module selection brings down.

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

GEP SMART

On request
  • GEP SMART$undefined/year
    • Scaled by managed spend volume, modules and user count
    • Third parties report deployments starting around 500,000 USD per year
    • Frequently bundled with GEP consulting or managed services

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 GEP SMART if

  • You need unified source-to-pay.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want spend and category analytics.
GEP SMART review

Questions people ask

Is ADempiere or GEP SMART better?
Neither clearly leads. ADempiere starts at Free and GEP SMART at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, ADempiere or GEP SMART?
ADempiere has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for ADempiere and On request for GEP SMART.
Does ADempiere or GEP SMART run on more platforms?
ADempiere runs on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hosted. GEP SMART runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use ADempiere for free?
Yes. ADempiere has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. GEP SMART 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 GEP SMART is typically brought in for.
What can ADempiere do that GEP SMART cannot?
ADempiere covers Application dictionary, Financial accounting, Order to cash and procure to pay, Inventory and warehouse. GEP SMART covers Unified source-to-pay, Spend and category analytics, Savings tracking, Supplier risk 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.

GEP SMART: Is GEP just a software company?

No. It sells procurement software, procurement consulting and outsourced procurement operations, and deals often combine all three.

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.

GEP SMART: What does GEP SMART cost?

Not published. Third parties report deployments from around 500,000 USD a year, scaled by managed spend, modules and users.

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.

GEP SMART: Who implements it?

GEP typically does, which shortens the project but reduces independent advice during and after 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.

GEP SMART: How does it compare with Ivalua?

Both are single-platform enterprise source-to-pay. GEP adds consulting and managed services; Ivalua is software only and stronger on direct materials.

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