ERPNext vs SAP Business ByDesign

NetSuite

Odoo 

Asana

NetSuite is an AI-powered cloud-based business management suite. It helps organizations streamline their operations and gain real-time insights into their performance. The suite caters to a range of industries such as manufacturing, retail, and professional services.

Odoo is an all-in-one, open-source business platform covering CRM, Sales, Accounting, Inventory, Manufacturing, and Projects. It’s fully integrated, customizable, and scalable for companies of any size or budget.

Asana Starter Plan provides growing teams with project management tools to track progress and meet deadlines. The plan includes workflow automation features, custom project templates, forms for standardized work requests, and rules for routine task management. It also offers visualization tools like Gantt and timeline views, plus AI-powered features for status updates and project organization.

ERPNext covers customer relations & sales, buying & inventory, manufacturing, billing & payments, projects, HR & payroll, help desk, eCommerce & reporting.

Accounting

Billing & Invoicing

Inventory Management

Purchase Order Management

Reporting/Analytics

Supply Chain Management

Order Management

Task Management

Project Management

HR Management

Open Source

ERPNext

Web-based

Windows

Linux

SAP Business One

Dynamics 365

Dynamics 365 Business Central

SAP S/4HANA Cloud

TallyPrime

Sage 100

SAP Business ByDesign

Open Source 

Managed hosting 

Enterprise

Manager 

ERPNext enables better visibility into different operations and facilitates us for informed decision-making.

Sales Manager

The software is easy to use with some awesome customizable features which help in tracking projects, managing sales, ERP among other features.

The range of available integrations might be more limited compared to some other ERP solutions.

External Software Architecture 

Generally a new version changes all the database structure, then so many different scripts have to be constructed to migrate the business data to the new version. And in general the procedures indicated by ErpNext don't work easily.

Project Engineer 

Also the customer support isn't great and also the server keeps crashing most of the times.

Manage relationships with contractors, suppliers, and service providers.

The only draw back is that's its python based might not be feasible for other companies.

To do that I has to integrate this solution with the local laws for invoices, human resources, taxes, etc.

Founder x Chief Digital Officer

It being truly open source (without hidden sudden charges) made it really appealing as it can really allow teams to have a business management platform without having to bloat their OPEX

Dirctor

Secondly, customization options are almost limitless and you don't need to be from an IT background to carry out some of the basic changes as per your business requirement.

Everything, from UI to development, practical software which full fill all the requirements of Enterprises in every domain.

Software Developer

Its ease of use, interactive UI and an overall great documentation makes it a great asset

Agile, scalable, robust, economical, customizable,

MANAGER

I love how easy and speedy we can make quotations for our customers and the professonal look of the documents they get from our company.

Director

This also doesn't allow for a leave policy for a person to be changed in the middle of the leave policy period.

Head of Operations

Since it's open source, the documentation on their website is very detailed that helped us implement and troubleshoot problems by ourselves.

Business Consultant

They need to work on building a strong partner network who can handhold the users, train and coach them.

Touches all aspects of the business needs, Wherever short have possibilities to extend and expand, Customisable.

Software Engineer

The navigation between screen should be improvised so that user can back to main screen while navigating to other screen

Leaves are also not mutable if a mistake was made during the Leave Policy Assignment which was realised only half-way through the year.

Partner

If implementation process is simplified and support is given by ur team then people will be happy to refer erpnext to others

Business Analyst

ERPNext allows for extensibility and customization.

Poorly implemented tools such as accounts reconciliation if compared to Quickbooks for example

Responsable de Production

Custom scripts can be added to perform automated tasks.

Manager

It is the only ERP system that I have use that can be easily deployed and get people trained on it in just a few days

Owner

Really, if you can think of it you can probably do it with this software; it may take some work but there is so much power in this system for what you pay.

Consultant

No-code as well as full-code(Python) customisation.

Owner Consultant 

Is ease to implement, support and customize due to the fact that it uses only open source code , python js etc

It's easy to see the status of a document at a glance and to move it to the next step of the process.

General Manager

One subscription provides you with all modules that you need.

No one can edit or delete any entry once it is submitted

The freedom to customize freely is now being eroded in v13+

Technology Manager

The ability to customize the ERP as per the need.

Just providing great tech is not enough, implementation and ongoing consulting/ coaching of users is MUST.

President

Unfortunately, they generally get paid for new features by customers, not for fixing bad code.

Sane default configs, data models for common use cases.

Another factor is the poor management of Git pull requests.  

Tables are not easily readable and the scrolling is painful.

This area of the system needs some attention from the development or documentation teams.

It’s great out of the box but customization is not as intuitive.

It took less time to report a bug and get it solved in the past......

Managing Director

Frappe framework on which ERPNext is built has lots of great features and keeps evolving

IT Officer

All modules are available to use and can work without customization.

The fact that the software is well integrated with a wide variety of modules.

Depending on the team's processes and learning abilities, the adoption could take time.

Able to integrate fairly easily with API access.

Unfortunately, open source means that some code is not high quality.  

Deputy Manager (SCM)

It is a cost-effective ERP system with all the features in place that give seamless & effective business operations.

IT Consultant

Ease of use, flexible, and highly configurable option is the key to the success of ERPNext.

Price, functionality, running environment, sync

Documentation

Integrations

Customization

Customer Support

User Interface

Community Development

Data Management

Deployment

Small Business

Freelancers

Large Enterprises

Mid-size Business

Frappé Technologies

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online is an all-in-one online business software designed to help manage business finances. The platform is built to scale businesses, unlocking insights and providing the functionality of a larger team, all on one integrated platform.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a multi-language, multi-currency enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. The solution is designed for midsize and larger companies, and is fully customizable and extensible through its rich development platform and tools.

SAP Business ByDesign is an integrated business management solution delivered on a subscription basis through the cloud. SAP Business ByDesign can be localized for 130 different countries and for several specific industries, including manufacturing, wholesale distribution, PSA, non-profit, and more.

Marketing Automation

Purchasing & Receiving

Training Management

Time & Expense Tracking

Android

iPhone

Sage X3

Self-Service User


Core User

Advanced User

Base Package

IT Technician

I really appreciate that SAP Business ByDesign offers a wide range of integrated modules, covering key business functions such as finance, supply chain, sales, project management, and human resources

Systems and Service Operation Analyst

It shines in offering real-time analytics, streamlined integration across departments, and industry-specific modules that support diverse business needs.

The platform’s robust analytics capabilities enable users to generate real-time reports and insights, which are crucial for informed decision-making.

SENIOR SAP BUSINESS ONE CONSULTANT

HANA is a powerful, fast in-memory database that allows for powerful business analytics, high level reporting  with KPIs and dashboards.

Network Administrator

Must buy SAP Business ByDesign since it's cloud-based ERP solution, offers numerous benefits for small to mid-sized businesses.

Sometimes retrieving data for analysis that has generating reports can be very time consuming.

Inventory Analyst

Price, the competition's price offers more room for developing their program and customizing the cost to reflect what is actually being used.

Being a cloud-based ERP, it reduces IT overhead and allows for scalability to accommodate business growth.

Manager CEO

It helps with the organization of our inventory and helps manage our buys before events

System Engineer and SAP ABAP Developer

Placeholder for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) to small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with cloud solution with real-time monitoring

While it's designed to be an all-in-one solution, businesses with highly specific needs may find it less flexible than larger SAP solutions.

The system is modular, allowing businesses to choose only the necessary modules and scale up as needed.

This can be a limitation for some businesses with very specific or unique processes that require tailored solutions.

account payable

I like this product because it provides processes for finance, sales, product management, and purchasing.

I appreciate the ability to customize reports to meet my specific needs.

Logistics Manager

The only con that I have found is that the product is sort of business specific, they have limited options for customizations.

It’s cloud based so you can use it anywhere.

Maintenance Sup.

I like How easy it is to create and/or find work orders and send/or find parts request or ordering it.

Service Technician

Overall, it is a great application to track inventory, but it is hard to pick up right from the get-go.

Some of the pages loaded fast and some pages loaded slowly..

Project Engineer

My overall experience with SAP has been amazing, its had various tools for estimates and billing tools

Meaning that new users don't really have a tutorial on how to use the basic functions.

helps businesses manage their core processes

Its one of the best legacy tool that organizations still use and it has vast functions as compare to other products in market

Supply Chain Specialist

I have been kicked out of screens and sent back to the home screen many times.

Engineer

It makes it easier for the company to perform its day-to-day activities with SAP's workflow processing and also when it comes to allocating bills to their respective source.

The fact that is is cloud based means that it cannot work without a stable internet connection.

Vice President Sr. Manager Operations and Technology

SAP Business ByDesign a cloud-based ERP software used mostly by small to medium size businesses.

One of the major issues is a high cost for small bussiness and also require more effort to learn

It is a useful tool but does warrant some issues that can be frustrating at times.

SAP Business ByDesign is the ultimate mid-level market ERP solution from SAP.

Older employees tend to pass down their knowledge of how to use the application.

Companies get to buy only the modules that they need without worrying about the infrastructure costs.

Overall experience was we researched different companies and we looked at reviews and the company and made the choice the committee made the choice

Area Manager

To fit that much data into that restricted network, "excellence" wasn't really important.

Staffing

I use it for HR related tasks and some financial task

It gives degree to additional options as in when your business develops.

front desk

i love using sap i advise every one to use it i think they will love it so much even my friends i asked them to use it

The system is hosted in the cloud at SAP's servers.  

Account Executive

Can be complicated unless smoothed over by someone well versed in it.

Store manager

Can be slow to process things and I had some issues with Sap cloud at the beginning

SAP Business ByDesign an affordable option for medium sized companies.

SAP decided to stop developing new features for Business by Design in 2023

It provides scalability and flexibility solutions

ERPNext vs SAP Business ByDesign Comparison (2026)

ERPNext

SAP Business ByDesign

Overview

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

User reviews

Key features

Integrations

Alternatives