The Short Answer
OpenERP is the original name of what is now called Odoo. The product began in 2005 as TinyERP, founded by Belgian engineer Fabien Pinckaers, was renamed OpenERP in 2009, and was rebranded to Odoo in May 2014. Everything you read online about "OpenERP" from before 2014 is the same software — just earlier versions.
If you searched for "what is OpenERP" because you found that name in a competitor's website, an old contract, an Odoo App Store URL, or a job listing — yes, it is the same thing. OpenERP and Odoo refer to the same code base, the same company (Odoo SA, headquartered in Belgium), and the same partner program. The rebrand was a marketing decision, not a fork or a new product.
Why Did OpenERP Become Odoo?
The 2014 rebrand was driven by three concrete reasons:
- Scope creep beyond ERP. By 2014 the platform included a full website builder, e-commerce storefront, point-of-sale, marketing automation, and project management. None of that fits under "ERP". The "Odoo" name (a play on "On Demand Open Object") covered the broader business-platform reality.
- Brand confusion with the "open" prefix. "OpenERP" suggested the product was identical to its open-source community edition, when in reality there were already paid Enterprise modules. The rebrand let Odoo SA more clearly market the commercial Enterprise tier without the contradiction.
- Differentiation from "open source ERP" as a generic category. Hundreds of small open-source ERP projects exist. The "OpenERP" name was a category-tag rather than a brand, and it ranked the company alongside competitors instead of distinguishing it.
The technical product did not fork. OpenERP 7 became Odoo 8 in 2014. Modules and code paths are continuous. If you have ever maintained an OpenERP 6 or 7 deployment, the modern Odoo 19 codebase is recognizable — same Python/XML structure, same ORM, same QWeb templating, same modular architecture.
What Is Still Called "OpenERP" in 2026?
A surprising amount, even twelve years after the rebrand:
- Community module repositories — the OCA (Odoo Community Association) maintains thousands of free modules at github.com/OCA. Some still carry the "openerp-" or "openerp-community" prefix in their repo names.
- Old documentation and books. Most "OpenERP for Manufacturing" or "OpenERP Accounting" books are about Odoo 7 and 8. The concepts are still mostly correct; the screenshots are dated.
- Stack Overflow and forum tags. The `openerp` tag still gets active questions, almost always about modern Odoo.
- Legacy installations on OpenERP 7, 8, or 9. Many SMBs have not upgraded since 2014–2016. Those systems are still running but receive no security patches and no community support.
- Recruiting language. "OpenERP developer" still gets posted in job listings — it almost always means "Odoo developer".
Legacy OpenERP Versions and Their End-of-Life Status
If you are running one of these, here is the situation in May 2026:
- OpenERP 6.x / 7.x — released 2011–2013. End-of-life since 2018. Not safe to run on production for any internet-exposed deployment. Migration to Odoo 19 is the only sensible path.
- OpenERP 8 / Odoo 8 — released 2014. End-of-life since 2018. Same situation. The first version with the "Odoo" branding.
- Odoo 9–14 — released 2015–2020. All end-of-life. Odoo SA only provides commercial support for the three latest releases (currently 17, 18, and 19).
- Odoo 15 — end-of-life late 2024. Migration recommended within the next 6 months.
- Odoo 16, 17, 18, 19 — supported. Odoo 19 is the current release.
The cost of staying on a legacy OpenERP version compounds: third-party modules stop being maintained, your hosting provider eventually drops PostgreSQL/Python combinations that old versions need, and security patches stop. The longest "we will do it next year" delay we have seen ended in a forced 4-week emergency migration after a security audit failed.
Migration Path: Legacy OpenERP → Modern Odoo
Migrations from OpenERP 7, 8, or 9 to Odoo 19 are straightforward in concept and complex in detail. The straightforward part: data structure has been broadly compatible since OpenERP 6. The complex part: every custom module written between 2011 and 2020 needs to be rewritten or replaced because the API, ORM, JavaScript framework, and reporting engine have all changed multiple times.
The right migration approach for legacy OpenERP:
- Module audit (week 1). Catalogue every installed module, separate first-party Odoo from third-party from custom. Most legacy installs have 10–30 custom modules, half of which are no longer used.
- Data migration plan (weeks 1–2). Decide what data to bring forward (typically: customers, vendors, products, open invoices, opening balances) and what to archive (closed orders, paid invoices, historical timesheets).
- Standard configuration (weeks 3–6). Build the new Odoo 19 environment from scratch with current best practices. Do not copy the legacy chart of accounts blindly.
- Custom-module rewrite (weeks 4–10, parallel). Only rewrite custom modules that still serve a real business need. Most legacy customizations turn out to be unnecessary in modern Odoo.
- Test migration (weeks 8–10). Migrate a copy of production data into the new environment for user testing.
- Cutover (weekend). Final data migration, freeze old system, point users to new system Monday morning. Keep legacy read-only available for 90 days.
For a structured walk-through of what migration costs and how long it takes, see our migration services page. For OpenERP-to-Odoo specifically, we have done this enough times to give you a fixed-price quote in 48 hours after a 30-minute audit.