Hosting Guide
Odoo Hosting: Online, Odoo.sh or Self-Hosted?
How to host Odoo: cloud, platform and self-hosted options compared
Get Hosting AdviceThe short answer
Odoo can be hosted three ways. Odoo Online is a zero-maintenance SaaS built for standard apps. Odoo.sh is Odoo's own cloud platform, meant for databases that carry custom modules, staging branches and git-based deployment. Self-hosting means running Odoo on a server or VPS you control and handling everything yourself. Which one fits comes down to a single question: how much custom code and infrastructure control does your business actually need?
What is Odoo Online?
Odoo Online is Odoo's fully managed SaaS. Your database lives on Odoo's own infrastructure, upgrades happen automatically, and backups and uptime become Odoo's responsibility rather than yours, so no server knowledge is required. The catch: custom or community modules are off the table. You get the standard apps, plus whatever Studio tweaks you add, and that is the full extent of what you can touch.
This suits teams running standard workflows who would rather not touch infrastructure at all. When an implementation needs no third-party modules, Odoo Online is about as low-effort a home as it gets.
What is Odoo.sh?
Odoo.sh is Odoo's platform-as-a-service, built for projects that have outgrown Online. Your database still runs in the cloud, but now custom and community modules can be deployed through git, complete with development, staging and production branches, automated tests and one-click backups. It gives you a real engineering workflow, minus the burden of owning servers.
This fits businesses running partner-built customizations or community apps. When Octura projects involve custom code, Odoo.sh is where most of them end up.
How do you self-host Odoo, and is it free?
Self-hosting puts Odoo on infrastructure you control, whether that's an on-premise server or any Linux VPS (the same category of hosting people look up under Hostinger, OVH, DigitalOcean or AWS). Odoo Community, run this way, is genuinely free software; what you pay for is the server itself and the time you spend administering it, covering installs, upgrades, backups, security patches and performance tuning. Odoo Enterprise can be self-hosted too, provided you hold a license.
This works best for teams that have genuine DevOps capacity, strict data-residency requirements, or heavy integration needs. The software itself may cost nothing, but the responsibility for running it certainly does.
How to choose in six checks
- Need custom or community modules? That rules out Online, leaving Odoo.sh or self-hosting
- Have no IT team? Odoo Online works, or Odoo.sh with a partner handling deployments
- Must the data stay on your own infrastructure? Self-hosting is the only option that gives full control
- Want staging environments and safe releases? Odoo.sh comes with those built in
- Working out the total cost? Factor server fees and admin hours into any self-hosting quote
- Still unsure? Start on Online, since moving to Odoo.sh later is a routine migration
Get a hosting recommendation in one call
Octura is an Odoo Partner serving the US and Canada. Share your modules, integrations and IT reality with us, and we will recommend Online, Odoo.sh or self-hosting, complete with a realistic cost picture, at no charge.
Get Hosting AdviceOdoo hosting: frequently asked questions
What is Odoo hosting?
Odoo hosting refers to where your database and code physically run. Three options exist: Odoo Online (Odoo's managed SaaS), Odoo.sh (Odoo's cloud platform that accepts custom code), and self-hosting on a server or VPS you control. The underlying software is identical across all three; what changes is who manages the infrastructure and whether custom modules are permitted.
Is self-hosted Odoo free?
Odoo Community is free, open-source software, so self-hosting it costs nothing beyond the server and the time spent administering it. Self-hosted Odoo Enterprise, by contrast, requires a per-user license. And free software is not the same as free operation: real hours still need to go toward installation, upgrades, backups, monitoring and security, unless a partner takes that on for you.
How do I self-host Odoo?
The usual path looks like this: provision a Linux server (Ubuntu tends to be the default choice), install PostgreSQL and Odoo from packages, source or Docker, configure a reverse proxy with HTTPS, set up automated backups, and settle on an upgrade strategy. An experienced admin can handle this in an afternoon; without one, it becomes a genuine liability.
Can I host Odoo on Hostinger or a generic VPS?
Yes, it can. Odoo Community will install on any capable Linux VPS, including the budget providers people often search for, provided you have root access, enough RAM for your user count, and PostgreSQL available. The provider itself matters less than the discipline behind it: backups, security patching and tested upgrades are what actually keep a self-hosted Odoo healthy.
What is the difference between Odoo Online and Odoo.sh?
Both are cloud offerings managed by Odoo. Odoo Online is the simpler of the two, automatic in every respect, but limited to standard apps with no custom modules allowed. Odoo.sh, on the other hand, is a development platform: git-based deployment, staging branches, and full support for custom and community modules, priced by workers and storage on top of the underlying Odoo subscription. As a rule of thumb, no custom code points to Online, and custom code points to Odoo.sh.
Which Odoo hosting does Octura recommend?
It depends on the situation. We point clients toward Online for standard-app implementations, Odoo.sh for anything involving custom modules (which describes most of our projects), and self-hosting when residency requirements are strict or internal DevOps is strong. Because we handle migrations between all three, the first choice never turns into a trap.