Odoo 20, Artificial Intelligence, and New Pricing: Five Takeaways from Odoo Experience 2026

In September, Odoo introduced the new Odoo 20 version and a new pricing model in Brussels. We compiled the key lessons from the Odoo Experience event for companies using Odoo or considering its implementation.

Odoo Experience is Odoo's annual main conference that brings together Odoo users, partners, and developers from around the world in Brussels. Together with Ville, we attended this year's event from September 24 to 26, 2026, and listened to about twenty presentations over three days.

Odoo 20 was released during Thursday's opening keynote

The event announced Odoo 20, and at the same time, it showcased the new features and functionalities that come with it. Odoo releases a new major version once a year in conjunction with the Odoo Experience. The source code and installation packages for Odoo 20 are already available for download, and we have had the chance to test the new version in our own development environments. However, existing Odoo.sh and Enterprise systems cannot yet be upgraded to Odoo 20: Odoo's update service currently supports updates only up to version 19, and Odoo 20 is not yet on the list of supported versions. When the update eventually becomes available, it is advisable to time it carefully and test the company's own add-ons with the new version before making the transition.

The event started Thursday morning with the opening keynote by Odoo's founder and CEO Fabien Pinckaers where Odoo 20 was presented for the first time.Due to flight schedules, we arrived only towards the end of the keynote, so we reviewed the beginning part later from the recording..

The keynote introduced the new version through the growth story of a fictional family business, a furniture store. The business expanded from e-commerce to corporate sales, manufacturing, and recruitment, and at each stage, it was demonstrated how Odoo 20 supports the work. Highlights from the presentation:

• In sales, new customers can be searched directly from Odoo's company database, and company phone numbers can be obtained and used directly in Odoo.
• An AI assistant will be added to time entries, suggesting entries based on what the user has done in Odoo throughout the day.
• In procurement, AI will look for opportunities for price negotiations based on previous purchases, and manufacturing will include, for example, a product structure comparison tool.
• The cash register system has been revamped for restaurant needs, and customers can also order from a self-service kiosk or via the table's QR code. (We also got to try this ourselves at the event's drink and catering counters.)
• Odoo can also be used without an internet connection: data can be edited, and changes will be saved when the connection is restored.

Fabien explained Odoo's strength in artificial intelligence with open source. According to him, about two percent of the world's public Python code is Odoo, so AI models are already quite familiar with Odoo. Additionally, all company data is in one database, which facilitates the use of artificial intelligence.

At the end of the keynote, a new pricing structure was announced. According to Fabien, the current pricing was implemented in 2022, and prices have not been raised since then, despite inflation being 26 percent and the costs of artificial intelligence and server environments increasing. The changes are as follows:

• The free One App Free package and the Standard package will remain unchanged.
• The price of the Custom package will increase by 20 percent.
• New cheaper light users will be introduced, priced at 7.90 euros per user per month. Light users will only have access to limited functions, such as managing their own vacations, expenses, attendance, and development discussions, as well as for example, work shift planning, field service, and inventory barcode scanning.

Light users require Odoo 20, as the limited user roles will only be available in this version. They make Odoo more affordable, especially in companies where a large part of the staff only needs the system for a few tasks. Prices vary by country, and up-to-date prices can be found in Odoo's pricing list..

Industry packages and artificial intelligence in everyday work.

Friday's main speech. focused on Odoo's industry packages. These are pre-defined bundles that include the applications and basic settings needed for a specific industry. Industry packages have been available in Odoo since version 17, and their number has grown rapidly: there are about 35 packages for Odoo 17 and over a hundred for Odoo 19. The main presentation showcased packages for sectors such as hospitality and leisure services, accounting firms, and other professional companies, as well as cultural and educational organizations. With the foundation in place, the implementation speeds up, allowing the project to focus on the company's specific needs.

Artificial intelligence was primarily showcased in presentations as features that facilitate everyday work:

• In website building, artificial intelligence creates a page based solely on a description. In the presentation, AI was asked to create a page for the café of a padel center, which included a cover image, menu, customer reviews, and answers to frequently asked questions, and it first clarified what kind of visual style was desired for the page.
• Product images for online stores can be created using artificial intelligence. In the presentation, a product image for a logo-branded t-shirt was generated based solely on the logo and a short description: the image showed a player on a padel court wearing the logo shirt.
• In accounting, artificial intelligence reviews the month's entries and suggests corrections to incorrect account and tax codes, along with justifications.
• For VAT reporting and financial statements, Odoo provides a clear task list, and the accounting firm can connect its own Odoo directly to its client's Odoo.

Payroll particularly interested us, so we discussed it with the people responsible for Odoo's payroll. According to them, Odoo's payroll does not yet support Finnish payroll. Odoo wanted to first implement what it considers the most challenging market, namely Belgium, and then expand support to other countries in order of need. Finland may also be supported in due time. It is always worth investigating the suitability of other new features, such as the accounting module, for the operations of a Finnish company separately.

The benefit of artificial intelligence depends on the quality of the data.

"Connecting Claude to the database takes an hour. The difficult part is everything that comes before that."

There was a lot of discussion about artificial intelligence at the event, and several presentations echoed the same observation: artificial intelligence is only as good as the data it operates on.

Belgian Odoo partner Nalios stated. In their presentation on the shared use of Claude and Odoo that it has been connecting Anthropics' Claude AI to its customers' Odoo systems for over a year. The main message was that connecting AI to Odoo happens instantly, but the benefits only arise when the data in Odoo is in good shape. AI cannot distinguish between incomplete information and correct data; it interprets empty fields, partially completed tasks, and the same customer's name written in five different ways as true.

Therefore, it is advisable to implement Odoo carefully at first. It is recommended to use as many of Odoo's standard features as possible, and to make customizations only where there is a real need and a justified reason. Nalios' example client has about 20,000 lines of customized code, while according to Nalios, the average amount is 300,000 lines. When there is little customization, the information is consistent and understandable for both people and artificial intelligence.

"Building on artificial intelligence is like building on quicksand."

Odoo's founder and CEO Fabien Pinckaers raised. in his keynote speech on Saturday he sees the same issue from another perspective. According to him, the most common mistake seen in the market is treating artificial intelligence as an end in itself. The starting point should be a real business need, and only after that should it be assessed whether artificial intelligence is the right way to address it.

Artificial intelligence is also changing cybersecurity.

The development of artificial intelligence also affects how security vulnerabilities are discovered. Denis Ledoux, who works in Odoo's security team, demonstrated in his presentation on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, how an AI agent reviewed the 20 least downloaded add-ons from the Odoo app store in about 20 minutes and found four potential vulnerabilities, none of which were critical. Anyone can do the same, including an attacker.

The conclusion of the presentation was that searching for vulnerabilities is faster and cheaper than ever, so the response to them must also speed up. In our view, this practically means two things. Odoo's security updates should be installed as soon as they are released, and your custom add-ons should be checked with similar tools before someone else gets to it.

Odoo 20 also features a revamped access management system, which Odoo developers presented in their own presentation. Previously, permissions were defined by two separate mechanisms: one regulated access to data types, such as sales orders, and the other limited which individual records a user could see. Now these have been combined into a single model. This change clarifies access management, but during the version update, custom permissions must be carefully reviewed to ensure that no one's permissions change unnoticed.

A successful implementation starts with the right questions.

Several presentations addressed what distinguishes a successful Odoo implementation from an unsuccessful one. Odoo's business analyst Coline Geury emphasized the importance of challenging requirements in her presentation, stating that projects rarely fail due to a lack of requirements. More often, the reason is that customer wishes are accepted as they are without asking what needs they actually address. In several presentations, it became clear that requirements should be implemented as much as possible using Odoo's standard functionalities, as this reduces maintenance burden and makes usage and support smoother. Customized solutions and modules have their place, but they should always be considered very carefully and on a case-by-case basis.

"The analyst's job is not to fulfill the customer's Christmas wish list, but to solve the problem."

In the example presented, the customer requested a customized approval process for orders. When the analyst asked the reason with enough why-questions, it became clear that according to the company's policy, a supervisor must always approve discounts over 20 percent, and this is currently handled via email. The actual need turned out to be simpler and cheaper to implement with Odoo's standard functionalities than with a customized solution.

These lessons sounded useful for speeding up our own Odoo implementations:

• The customer has one clear contact person who has decision-making authority and good connections to different parts of the organization.
• Each change request is evaluated based on the benefit it brings and the work required for implementation. Less important wishes can be postponed to a later stage.
• After the implementation, a few weeks of enhanced support is reserved., so that users can quickly get up to speed in the new system.

According to Odoo, the system is used by over 28 million users, and there are over 23,000 partners.

What does this mean for your business?

If you are considering implementing Odoo or planning an upgrade to the new version, now is a good time to look at the big picture: which processes can be handled with Odoo's standard features, where artificial intelligence brings real benefits, and how the system's security is ensured. We would be happy to provide more information.

What stage are you at?

• You are considering Odoo: let's discuss your needs, info@softagram.com
• You are already using Odoo and are thinking about Odoo 20: evaluation of the upgrade
• You want to incorporate artificial intelligence into your operations: artificial intelligence services
• You want to ensure the security of your system: security services

Or contact us directly: info@softagram.com