Dolibarrvs
Odoo
Odoo: If you want depth, a modern interface and a real app ecosystem, and can accept that the useful modules sit behind the paid Enterprise licence.
Dolibarr
Modular open source ERP and CRM for very small businesses, installable on shared hosting
As of 31 August 2026, Dolibarr is free to use. A PHP and MySQL ERP that installs on ordinary cheap shared hosting, which no other credible ERP does. Softwr lists it under ERP. Dolibarr is made by Dolibarr Association, available on Web, Self-hosted, Docker, Windows.
Overview
What Dolibarr does
Dolibarr is a GPL-licensed ERP and CRM written in PHP, now at version 24. It is module-based: you enable only the parts you want from third-party management, quotes and orders, invoicing, purchasing, stock, projects, HR, point of sale, ticketing and double-entry accounting, and the menus for everything else disappear. Installation is a matter of unpacking files onto a web server, and there are auto-installers for Windows and macOS, Debian packages and Docker images. The distinguishing property is how low the technical floor is. Odoo and ERPNext need a Python application server and a real deployment; iDempiere needs Java, OSGi and PostgreSQL. Dolibarr runs on a five euro a month cPanel account with PHP and MySQL, which means a two-person business can self-host a real ERP for the cost of a domain name and nothing else. That is genuinely unusual, and it is why Dolibarr has a long tail of micro-business and association users who would never have installed anything else. Paid extensions are sold in the DoliStore marketplace, and a network of certified partners offers managed hosting, with DoliCloud and others generally landing between about 10 and 30 euros per user per month, and at least one partner offering a flat 10 euros a month regardless of user count. Buyers are micro-businesses, freelancers, small manufacturers, associations and the IT consultancies that serve them, heavily concentrated in France, Spain, Latin America and francophone Africa. The trade-offs are polish and depth. The interface is functional rather than designed, the core is deliberately shallow so serious requirements push you into paid DoliStore modules, and the accounting model was built for French practice.
What people use it for
- A two-person consultancy wants quotes, invoices and basic accounting self-hosted on an existing five euro a month shared hosting account with no server administration.
- A French or Spanish small business needs VAT handling and accounting exports that match local practice out of the box rather than after configuration.
- An association or nonprofit needs membership, subscription and donation tracking alongside ordinary invoicing without paying per member.
- A small distributor wants stock, purchase orders and sales orders in one system and is willing to buy a DoliStore module rather than commission bespoke development.
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Dolibarr.
- The core is deliberately shallow, so a serious requirement such as advanced manufacturing, EDI or a specific payment gateway usually means buying a DoliStore module from a third-party author, and the quality and maintenance of those modules varies widely.
- Accounting was designed around French practice, and the chart of accounts, VAT model and fiscal exports need real work to satisfy accountants in the United States, the UK or Australia.
- The interface is functional rather than designed and shows its age against Odoo, which makes internal adoption harder when staff are comparing it to consumer-grade software.
- Upgrades between major versions can break paid third-party modules, because module authors update on their own schedules and there is no guarantee your combination will work on version 24 the day it ships.
- Support is community forums unless you buy a partner contract, and the documentation is a wiki of uneven quality with substantial parts written in French, so English-only teams hit dead ends.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Dolibarr
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- DolibarrvsERPNext
ERPNext: If you want a fully open source ERP with stronger manufacturing and accounting that is not written around French practice.
- DolibarrvsMetasfresh
Metasfresh: If you need open source ERP with serious procurement and logistics depth for a larger operation than Dolibarr targets.
Pricing
What Dolibarr costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Self-hosted
Free
- Full GPL source, all core modules
- Unlimited users
- You provide PHP and MySQL hosting
- Community forum support only
Partner cloud hosting
€14 /mo
- Managed hosting from DoliCloud or a certified partner
- Backups, updates and support included
- Typically 10 to 30 euros per user per month
- At least one partner offers a flat rate irrespective of user count
Capabilities
Features
Module toggles
Enable or disable functional areas individually so the interface only shows what you use
Third-party management
Combined customers, prospects and suppliers with contacts and categories
Quotes to invoices
Proposal, order, delivery and invoice chain with recurring invoicing
Stock and warehouses
Multi-warehouse inventory with movements, lots and serial numbers
Double-entry accounting
Ledger, journals, VAT declarations and export to accountant formats
Projects and time
Project tracking with tasks, time recording and cost against budget
Point of sale
Built-in POS module for shop and counter sales
DoliStore
Marketplace of several hundred paid and free extension modules
Runs on shared hosting
PHP and MySQL only, with no application server or background worker required
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Is Dolibarr genuinely free?
Yes. The full application is GPL with no user limit and no paid edition of the core. You pay only for hosting, optional DoliStore modules and optional partner support.
Can it run on shared hosting?
Yes, that is its main practical advantage. It needs only PHP and MySQL or MariaDB, so an ordinary cPanel account is enough.
How does it compare to Odoo?
Odoo is deeper and better presented but its useful modules are in the paid Enterprise edition and it needs a proper deployment. Dolibarr is thinner but free end to end and far easier to host.
Does it handle UK or US accounting?
Not comfortably out of the box. The accounting module reflects French conventions and needs configuration and often a local module to satisfy an accountant elsewhere.
Keep looking
Where to go from Dolibarr
- Dolibarr alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Dolibarr pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Dolibarr badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All ERP softwareThe full category
- Best ERP softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best ERP software for
Compare Dolibarr with
- Odoo
- Metasfresh
- ADempiere
- Tryton
- Axelor
- iDempiere
- NetSuite
- Apache OFBiz
- TallyPrime
- Epicor
- Ivalua
- OpenBravo
- Comarch
- Dynamics AX
- Ecount
- Exact Online
- Focus Softnet
- Holded
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Dolibarr, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Dolibarr
Dolibarr alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Dolibarr pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Dolibarr
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Best ERP software alternatives
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