Alternatives / SAP
Looking for an open source SAP alternative? We compared 4 open source ERP suites and frameworks by license, modules, self-hosting, customization, and pricing. They suit small and mid-sized businesses rather than large enterprises, and one is a developer framework rather than a ready-made ERP.
Written by Maxime DERAME
Last updated:
| Alternative | Best for | License |
|---|---|---|
| Odoo | Integrated business apps (Community is open core) | LGPL-3.0 (Community) |
| ERPNext | Fully open-source ERP | GPL-3.0 |
| Ever Gauzy | ERP, CRM, HR, and projects (Community Edition) | AGPL-3.0 (Community Edition) |
| Open Mercato | Developers building custom CRM/ERP | MIT |
We looked for open-source tools that overlap with SAP's core: an ERP covering accounting, inventory, sales, purchasing, HR, and operations in one system. We verified each project's license, recent activity, stars, and self-hosting in its repository. SAP serves very large enterprises, so these alternatives target small and mid-sized businesses, and we flag open-core editions and developer frameworks. See our methodology for the full criteria.
Odoo, ERPNext, and Ever Gauzy cover finance, inventory, CRM, HR, and projects for small and mid-sized companies. None matches SAP's depth for multinational consolidation, complex manufacturing, or industry-specific regulatory features, so large enterprises should evaluate carefully and plan for an integration partner.
Odoo and ERPNext are the most complete. Odoo offers a very wide catalog of integrated apps and a large partner network, and ERPNext covers accounting, manufacturing, inventory, HR, and CRM in a fully open-source codebase. Ever Gauzy focuses on business management for teams, combining ERP, CRM, HR, and project tracking.
Odoo Community is LGPL-3.0, while Odoo Enterprise adds proprietary features such as some accounting, studio, and mobile capabilities with per-user pricing. Ever Gauzy's Community Edition is AGPL-3.0, with enterprise features sold separately. ERPNext is GPL-3.0 with no paid feature tier, and Open Mercato is MIT.
Open Mercato is an MIT-licensed Next.js and TypeScript framework with ready-made CRM and ERP domain modules and an AI-assisted development workflow. It is meant for developer teams who build and own a custom business application, not for companies that want to install an ERP and start using it.
All four projects were updated within days of this update. Open Mercato is the youngest, created in September 2025, so check its maturity before relying on it.
SAP is a proprietary suite with high licensing, implementation, and consulting costs, long deployments, and heavy vendor lock-in. Open-source alternatives let you self-host, customize the code, avoid per-user license fees, and start faster, at the cost of less depth for complex global enterprises and the need for an integrator or in-house skills.
| Alternative | Type | License | Self-hosted | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Odoo | ERP suite | LGPL-3.0 (Community) | Yes | Integrated business apps |
| ERPNext | ERP suite | GPL-3.0 | Yes | Fully open-source ERP |
| Ever Gauzy | Business platform | AGPL-3.0 (Community) | Yes | ERP, CRM, HR, and projects |
| Open Mercato | CRM/ERP framework | MIT | Yes | Developer teams |
Want the widest range of business apps
Odoo covers accounting, CRM, inventory, eCommerce, HR, and projects, but some features need the paid Enterprise edition.
Want a fully open-source ERP with no paid tier
ERPNext covers accounting, manufacturing, inventory, HR, and CRM under GPL-3.0.
Want ERP, CRM, HR, and projects in one platform
Ever Gauzy combines ERP, CRM, HRM, and project management, with enterprise features outside the AGPL Community Edition.
Want to build a custom business application
Open Mercato provides MIT-licensed CRM and ERP modules on Next.js and TypeScript, but it requires developers.