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ERP · head to head

iDempiere vs Seeq

iDempiere logo

iDempiere

ERP

Community-governed open source ERP, CRM and supply chain built on Java, OSGi and PostgreSQL

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Seeq logo

Seeq

Manufacturing

Self-service analytics for process manufacturing time-series data sitting on top of existing historians

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only iDempiere has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: iDempiere there is no vendor, so there is no support contract, no service level agreement and nobody to escalate to; you either build the skills internally or you depend entirely on a local partner whose quality you must judge yourself.; Seeq named-user pricing suits a small core team but scales badly: a site wanting a hundred engineers with occasional access pays for a hundred licences that mostly sit idle, which is why deployments often stay artificially narrow.
  • They diverge on capability: iDempiere covers Application dictionary, Seeq covers Query in place.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which iDempiere and Seeq actually diverge.

Attributes where iDempiere and Seeq differ
AttributeiDempiereSeeq
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Self-hosted, Docker, Linux, WindowsWeb, Cloud, On-premise, Windows, Linux
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 iDempiere

  • Application dictionary
  • OSGi plug-in architecture
  • Multi-organisation accounting
  • Materials management
  • Manufacturing
  • Workflow engine
  • Report and print engine
  • No paid edition

Only in Seeq

  • Query in place
  • Capsules
  • Asset trees
  • Seeq Data Lab
  • Organizer
  • Multi-source joins

What people use each for

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

iDempiere

  • A distributor wants multi-organisation, multi-currency accounting and warehouse costing without a per-user ERP licence that scales with headcount.not Seeq
  • An organisation that has been caught by an open core vendor moving features into a paid tier wants an ERP with no company that can make that decision.not Seeq
  • A team needs heavy customisation of screens, fields and approval workflows that must survive version upgrades, which the application dictionary makes possible without forking.not Seeq
  • A public sector or university body in Latin America or Indonesia needs a locally supportable ERP where the source and the implementation skills are both available in-country.not Seeq

Seeq

  • A pharmaceutical plant comparing hundreds of batches against a golden batch profile without exporting historian data into spreadsheetsnot iDempiere
  • A reliability engineer investigating why a compressor trips, needing to overlay vibration, process and maintenance data across two years of historynot iDempiere
  • Refinery process engineers building a recurring shift report that pulls live values rather than being rebuilt by hand each weeknot iDempiere
  • A site whose data lake project has stalled and that needs engineers analysing plant history now, without waiting for an ingestion pipelinenot iDempiere

Where each one falls short

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

iDempiere

  • There is no vendor, so there is no support contract, no service level agreement and nobody to escalate to; you either build the skills internally or you depend entirely on a local partner whose quality you must judge yourself.
  • It demands real Java, OSGi and PostgreSQL administration, so the running cost is a systems engineer rather than a subscription, and that engineer is harder to hire than a PHP developer.
  • The ZK-based interface is dense and dated, with a data-entry feel inherited from Compiere that staff used to modern software find hostile, which drives up training cost.
  • Localisation depends on community contribution, so tax, payroll and statutory reporting for your country may be absent, out of date or maintained by one person, and you may end up funding it yourself.
  • The documentation is a community wiki with gaps and stale pages, and much of the practical knowledge sits in forum threads and partner heads rather than in anything you can hand to a new administrator.

Seeq

  • Named-user pricing suits a small core team but scales badly: a site wanting a hundred engineers with occasional access pays for a hundred licences that mostly sit idle, which is why deployments often stay artificially narrow.
  • Seeq inherits whatever quality exists in the historian, so plants with unstructured tag names and no asset model spend real effort building asset trees in Seeq that should have been fixed upstream.
  • Certain historian connectors are charged separately, so the licence quote and the actual cost of connecting your specific data sources are two different numbers.
  • It is analysis, not control or action; findings still have to be carried into a CMMS or a control change by hand, so value depends on a workflow Seeq does not provide.
  • The product assumes competent process engineers. Organisations without that skill in-house get little from it, because Seeq deliberately does not ship prebuilt failure models the way condition monitoring vendors do.

Pricing, plan by plan

iDempiere

Free
  • iDempiereFree
    • Full ERP, CRM and supply chain source
    • Unlimited users and organisations
    • No enterprise edition and no feature gating
  • Implementation partner$undefined/year
    • Local partners provide installation, configuration, training and support
    • Priced per engagement, not published
    • Realistically the only viable route for a production deployment

Seeq

On request
  • Seeq$undefined/year
    • Licensed per named user, not per tag
    • Separate charges for certain historian connectors
    • Cloud-hosted and self-hosted deployments quoted differently

Which should you pick?

Choose iDempiere if

  • You need application dictionary.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Self-hosted, Docker, Linux, Windows.
  • You also want osgi plug-in architecture.
iDempiere review

Choose Seeq if

  • You need query in place.
  • You work on Web, Cloud, On-premise, Windows, Linux.
  • You also want capsules.
Seeq review

Questions people ask

Is iDempiere or Seeq better?
Neither clearly leads. iDempiere starts at Free and Seeq at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, iDempiere or Seeq?
iDempiere has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for iDempiere and On request for Seeq.
Does iDempiere or Seeq run on more platforms?
iDempiere runs on Web, Self-hosted, Docker, Linux, Windows. Seeq runs on Web, Cloud, On-premise, Windows, Linux.
Can I use iDempiere for free?
Yes. iDempiere has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Seeq starts at On request.
What is iDempiere best used for?
iDempiere is most often used for a distributor wants multi-organisation, multi-currency accounting and warehouse costing without a per-user erp licence that scales with headcount., an organisation that has been caught by an open core vendor moving features into a paid tier wants an erp with no company that can make that decision., a team needs heavy customisation of screens, fields and approval workflows that must survive version upgrades, which the application dictionary makes possible without forking., a public sector or university body in latin america or indonesia needs a locally supportable erp where the source and the implementation skills are both available in-country.. Of those, a distributor wants multi-organisation, multi-currency accounting and warehouse costing without a per-user erp licence that scales with headcount. and an organisation that has been caught by an open core vendor moving features into a paid tier wants an erp with no company that can make that decision. are not what Seeq is typically brought in for.
What can iDempiere do that Seeq cannot?
iDempiere covers Application dictionary, OSGi plug-in architecture, Multi-organisation accounting, Materials management. Seeq covers Query in place, Capsules, Asset trees, Seeq Data Lab.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

iDempiere: Is iDempiere the same as ADempiere or Compiere?

It shares the lineage. iDempiere forked from ADempiere in 2011 to rebuild the platform on OSGi, and it is the branch that remains actively developed.

Seeq: Does Seeq store my data?

No. It queries connected historians and databases in place. Removing Seeq leaves your data exactly where it was.

iDempiere: Is there a paid or enterprise edition?

No. There is no commercial owner and no feature gating. Money is spent on implementation partners and hosting, not on licences.

Seeq: Who owns Seeq?

It is an independent private company in Seattle, most recently funded by a 2024 growth round led by Sixth Street. It has not been taken over by a private equity buyer.

iDempiere: What does it actually cost to run?

Nothing in licence fees, and a great deal in skills: expect a partner implementation and ongoing Java and PostgreSQL administration, which for a mid-sized company is comparable to a commercial subscription.

Seeq: How is it licensed?

Per named user, with some historian connectors charged separately. Nothing is published; every number comes from a quote.

iDempiere: Which database does it need?

PostgreSQL or Oracle. PostgreSQL is the mainstream community choice and the one most partners deploy.

Seeq: Do I need a data scientist?

No, and that is the point. Workbench is aimed at process engineers. Data Lab exists for the minority who want Python.

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