Odoo research · Updated October 2026
Top platforms businesses migrate to Odoo from
Most UK companies arrive at Odoo from entry-level accounts such as Sage, Xero or QuickBooks, from a mid-market ERP such as SAP Business One or NetSuite, or from a tangle of spreadsheets. Here is the evidence for each route, how Odoo's import tools work, and what to bring with you.
- Sources cited
- Updated October 2026
- Official Odoo Partner
- No invented rankings
Typical starting points for an Odoo migration
Evidence found for each route, October 2026
| Migrating from | Evidence | Usual trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Sage 50 or 200 | App Store connectors, Odoo forum | Outgrown desktop accounts |
| Xero | App Store connectors | Stock or production added |
| QuickBooks | Odoo guide, App Store importers | Stock or production added |
| SAP Business One | Odoo case study (2017) | Cost and rigidity |
| NetSuite | Partner claims | Licence cost |
| Salesforce (CRM) | Odoo event talk (2025) | One system for CRM and ERP |
| Spreadsheets | Odoo import templates | Errors at scale |
Evidence from Odoo docs, Odoo Apps Store and case studies. Triggers are Thoughtlogik experience. Not a ranking.
Key takeaways
Key findings
- No ranked data exists. Odoo publishes no breakdown of the systems its customers replace, and we found no independent survey. This page uses Odoo's own documentation, case studies, events and App Store listings as evidence.
- Odoo has no named-competitor migration wizards. Its official route is a generic spreadsheet import (CSV or XLSX) with templates and External IDs, so mapping and cleansing is where migrations succeed or fail.
- Entry-level accounting is the most common UK starting point in our experience, backed by third-party Odoo App Store connectors for Sage, Xero and QuickBooks.
- Mid-market ERP switches are documented but dated or vendor-reported: Odoo's FGY case study replacing SAP Business One is from 2017, and NetSuite savings figures come from an Odoo partner.
- Competition runs both ways. Zoho's UK Books migration page lists Odoo as a source system, so finance teams also leave Odoo for lighter tools.
- Odoo's upgrade service does not cover migration from another ERP. Plan it as its own workstream with test loads and a reconciled cut-over.
Methodology
How we built this list
Unlike Zoho, Odoo does not build migration tools named after competitors, so the evidence is more scattered. We graded each source by how strong and how independent it is.
We searched Odoo's documentation, blog, event programmes and forum, and the Odoo Apps Store, for evidence of migrations from each platform. We then added partner-published case studies, labelled as vendor claims, and Thoughtlogik's own experience as an Official Odoo Partner, labelled as such. Odoo says it runs more than 600 new implementations a year on an older About page [18], but it publishes no data on what those customers used before.
How strong is the evidence for each route?
Official Odoo material versus third-party material
| Source platform | Official Odoo evidence | Third-party evidence | Strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sage | Forum migration threads | ✓ App Store connectors | Moderate |
| Xero | ✕ | ✓ Several App Store connectors for Odoo 19 | Moderate |
| QuickBooks | QuickBooks alternative guide | ✓ App Store importers | Moderate |
| SAP Business One | Case study (2017) | ✕ | Moderate, dated |
| NetSuite | ✕ | ✓ Partner claims | Weak, vendor |
| Salesforce (CRM) | Event talk (2025) | ✕ | Weak |
| Spreadsheets and legacy | Import templates and docs | ✕ | Strong (tooling) |
Sources: Odoo Apps Store, Odoo FGY case study, Bista Solutions. Strength rating is Thoughtlogik judgement.
Entry-level accounting
Migrating to Odoo from Sage, Xero and QuickBooks
The most common UK pattern we see: a business that ran happily on desktop or cloud accounts adds stock, manufacturing, eCommerce or multiple companies, and the accounts package becomes the bottleneck.
Odoo publishes an accountant's guide positioning it as a QuickBooks alternative [5], and the Odoo Apps Store lists third-party QuickBooks importers [6], Sage and Sage 200 connectors [7] and several Xero connectors for Odoo 19 [9]. Odoo's forum also has threads on migrating from Sage [8], and Odoo Experience 2021 ran a session on finance migrations [11]. These are third-party modules: check the publisher, version support and reviews before relying on one.
UK specifics to plan for
- VAT and MTD: Odoo's UK localisation includes a CT600-ready chart of accounts, VAT100-ready taxes, MTD VAT submission, CIS and BACS files [15]. Map your old VAT codes to Odoo taxes before importing anything.
- Payroll: Odoo has no native UK payroll localisation [16]. Keep your HMRC-recognised payroll and post journals, or use a connector.
- Bank feeds: bank synchronisation needs an Odoo Enterprise subscription and some banks return only three months of history [17].
Per-source notes: accounting
What to migrate, how much history, and the gotchas we plan for
| From | What to migrate | History strategy | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sage 50 | Chart of accounts, contacts, products, open items, opening balances | Opening balances at a year or VAT quarter end; archive Sage read-only | Nominal codes and departments need remapping |
| Sage 200 | As Sage 50, plus stock and open orders | Open orders and stock at cut-over; summary history | Multi-company and analysis codes |
| Xero | Contacts, items, open invoices and bills, balances | Opening balances; keep Xero read-only for history | Tracking categories map to analytic accounts |
| QuickBooks | Contacts, items, open items, balances | Opening balances; summarised prior periods | US-style item and tax setups need UK clean-up |
Practical notes from Thoughtlogik migration projects. Not vendor statements.
Mid-market ERP and CRM
Migrating to Odoo from SAP Business One, NetSuite and Salesforce
Larger switches are less frequent but better documented in case studies, though most of that material is old or published by vendors.
SAP Business One
Odoo's best-known switching story is FGY (Frew, Gasco and AB Young), which left SAP Business One in 2017 because its black-box design could not be adapted to the business. The migration was completed in months, and the group went on to add eCommerce, GIS and reporting tools around Odoo [3][4]. It is a 2017 case, so treat it as illustrative.
NetSuite
Bista Solutions, an Odoo Gold Partner, reports an average 40% licensing reduction across its NetSuite-to-Odoo migrations and a 42-day go-live for a 47-user client [12]. These are a partner's unaudited marketing claims, not independent data.
Salesforce (CRM)
Companies consolidating CRM into their ERP sometimes move Salesforce data into Odoo CRM. Odoo Community Days India 2025 included a talk on exactly this migration [10].
Per-source notes: ERP and CRM
What to migrate, how much history, and the gotchas
| From | What to migrate | History strategy | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAP Business One | Masters, open documents, stock, balances | Open items plus summarised history; keep SAP access for audit | User-defined fields and add-ons need a home in Odoo |
| NetSuite | Masters, open transactions, balances | Year-end balances; export saved searches for reference | Subsidiaries and custom records map to multi-company and custom models |
| Salesforce | Accounts, contacts, opportunities, activities | Open pipeline plus recent activity | Automation and reports are rebuilt, not imported |
| Spreadsheets or bespoke | Clean master data first | Start fresh with opening positions | Duplicates and inconsistent codes |
Case evidence: Odoo FGY case (2017), Bista Solutions (vendor claims). Notes are Thoughtlogik experience.
How it works
How Odoo's import framework works
Whatever you migrate from, data enters Odoo the same way: spreadsheets, templates and External IDs. Getting the order and the identifiers right is most of the job.
Odoo imports Excel (.xlsx) or CSV files and provides import templates, such as one for customers, that map columns in one click [1][2]. Its documentation makes four points that matter in every migration:
- Keep an External ID from the old system on every record. It lets related records point to each other, and re-importing a file with the same IDs updates records instead of duplicating them.
- Import related records first, for example companies before the people linked to them, and product categories before products.
- Imports cannot be undone, and large files can time out, so work in batches and test on a copy of the database.
- Use ISO dates (YYYY-MM-DD) to avoid day and month being swapped.
Odoo's upgrade service explicitly excludes migration from another ERP [14], so plan this as a separate workstream with its own test loads.
A typical Odoo migration import order
Each step depends on the one before it
| Step | What to import | Why at this point |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Company settings, chart of accounts, taxes | Everything else references them |
| 2 | Contacts: companies, then people | People link to their company |
| 3 | Product categories, products, units | Orders and stock reference products |
| 4 | Vendor pricelists and customer pricelists | Depend on products and contacts |
| 5 | Opening balances and stock levels | Set the financial and stock position at cut-over |
| 6 | Open sales orders, purchase orders, invoices and bills | Depend on all of the above |
| 7 | Reconcile against the old system | Trial balance and stock value must match |
Order follows the dependency rule in Odoo's import documentation. Step detail is Thoughtlogik practice.
Our approach: in the Assemble phase of our SCALE method we run at least one full test migration, reconcile it with your finance team, and only then fix the cut-over date.
FAQs
Migrating to Odoo FAQs
Cannot see your question? Our UK consultants are happy to talk it through.
Which systems do businesses most often migrate to Odoo from?
No ranked data exists. Based on Odoo's documentation, case studies and App Store connectors, and our UK projects, common routes are Sage 50 and Sage 200, Xero and QuickBooks for accounting, SAP Business One and NetSuite for mid-market ERP, Salesforce for CRM, and spreadsheets or bespoke systems.
Does Odoo have a migration tool for Sage or Xero?
Odoo S.A. does not provide named migration wizards. Its official route is spreadsheet import with templates and External IDs. Third-party modules for Sage, Xero and QuickBooks are listed on the Odoo Apps Store; quality varies, so we test any module before relying on it.
How much history should we bring into Odoo?
Usually opening balances at a year or VAT quarter end, open invoices, bills and orders, and current stock. Keep the old system read-only for audit and history. Importing years of transactions adds cost and risk, and rarely changes decisions.
Is migration included in the Odoo subscription?
No. The subscription covers functional support, hosting on Odoo Online and upgrades of standard features. Odoo's upgrade documentation states that migration from another ERP is not covered. Implementation and data migration are delivered by you or a partner.
Can Odoo replace SAP Business One or NetSuite?
For many SMEs, yes. Odoo's FGY case study (2017) describes a move from SAP Business One, and Odoo partners report NetSuite migrations. Check fit for your processes, especially multi-company, manufacturing and reporting, before you commit. See Odoo vs SAP and Odoo vs NetSuite.
What about UK payroll when moving to Odoo?
Odoo has no native UK payroll localisation. Most UK firms keep their existing HMRC-recognised payroll and post journals into Odoo, or use a payroll connector. Plan this early so cut-over does not disrupt pay runs.
Should we move to Odoo or Zoho?
It depends on your centre of gravity. Odoo suits operations-heavy businesses with stock, manufacturing or eCommerce; Zoho suits customer-facing teams. Zoho's UK Books page even lists Odoo as a migration source. As a partner for both, we will tell you which fits. See Zoho vs Odoo use cases.
Sources
- Odoo, Export and import data (16.0 documentation) odoo.com/documentation/16.0/applications/essentials/export_import_data
- Odoo, Export and import data (19.0 documentation) odoo.com/documentation/19.0/applications/essentials/export_import_data
- Odoo blog, FGY replaces SAP Business One with Odoo (2017) odoo.com/blog/6/post/310
- Odoo, FGY case study (PDF, 2017) odoo.com/files/press/SAP_replaced_Frew_Case_Study.pdf
- Odoo blog, QuickBooks Alternative: An Accountant's Guide to Odoo odoo.com/blog/business-hacks-1/quickbooks-alternative-2323
- Odoo Apps Store, QuickBooks migration importer (19.0) apps.odoo.com/apps/modules/19.0/us_quickbooks_migration_importer
- Odoo Apps Store, Sage 200 connector (18.0) apps.odoo.com/apps/modules/18.0/tl_sage_200
- Odoo forum, Migrating from Sage 100 to Odoo odoo.com/forum/help-1/migrating-from-sage-100-to-odoo-201067
- Odoo Apps Store, Xero connector example (19.0) apps.odoo.com/apps/modules/19.0/bi_xero_connector
- Odoo Community Days India 2025, Moving from Salesforce to Odoo odoo.com/event/odoo-community-days-india-2025-7571/track/moving-from-s
- Odoo Experience 2021, Finance migration with Odoo odoo.com/event/odoo-experience-2021-2847/track/finance-migration-with-
- Bista Solutions (Odoo partner), NetSuite to Odoo (vendor claims) bistasolutions.com/transition-from-netsuite-to-odoo-erp-in-the-usa
- Zoho Books UK, migration sources including Odoo zoho.com/uk/books/migration.html
- Odoo, upgrade documentation (19.0) odoo.com/documentation/19.0/administration/upgrade.html
- Odoo, United Kingdom localisation (19.0) odoo.com/documentation/19.0/applications/finance/fiscal_localizations/
- Odoo, payroll localisations (19.0) odoo.com/documentation/19.0/applications/hr/payroll/payroll_localizati
- Odoo, bank synchronisation odoo.com/documentation/master/applications/finance/accounting/bank/ban
- Odoo, About us (older figures) odoo.com/aboutus
Sources checked 18 October 2026. Odoo publishes no data on the systems its customers replace. Partner claims are unaudited. Practical notes are Thoughtlogik experience.
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