How Much Does an

ERP System Cost?

2020 PRICING GUIDE
How Much Does an
ERP System Cost?
2020 PRICING GUIDE

For any business investing in an enterprise resource

planning (ERP) system, pricing is an important factor.

ERP software isn’t cheap, and prices vary depending

prospects and customer pipelines. Users can also
on the type of deployment, number of users and level
manage marketing tasks, including advertising and
of customizations.
lead generation campaigns.

Some vendors publicly display pricing on their

Supply Chain – The supply chain module tracks
website, especially for cloud ERP solutions, while
products from manufacturing to warehouse to
others only provide a quote after finding out a
distributors to customers. Features include supplier
company’s business requirements.
scheduling, purchasing, inventory, claim processing,
shipping, tracking and product returns.
We’ve put together this detailed guide on the various
ERP pricing models, implementation costs and
Inventory Management – Using the inventory
examples of popular ERP vendor pricing.
management module, businesses can monitor
materials and supplies through inventory
What Is an ERP? control, purchase orders, automatic ordering and
inventory scanning.
An enterprise resource planning system helps
organizations manage business functions and Manufacturing – Manufacturers and other production-
streamline operations with a centralized database and oriented facilities can use the manufacturing module
a user-friendly interface. Companies use ERP software to manage their shop floors, looking at elements
to standardize business processes, collect operational such as work orders, bill of materials, quality control,
data, improve supply-chain efficiency, promote engineering, manufacturing process and planning,
data-driven strategies and increase collaboration and product lifecycle management.
between departments.
Human Resources – The human resources module
ERP systems are comprehensive solutions that helps organizations manage their hiring cycles
typically include the following modules: from recruitment to succession. Companies can
take advantage of the following features: applicant
Accounting and Finance – The accounting and finance tracking, payroll, time and attendance, performance
module tracks the company’s finances, including management and learning management.
budget and expense planning, core accounting,
revenue management and tax management. Business Intelligence – A business intelligence module
collects and analyzes data from multiple sources
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) – and helps users make better business decisions.
With the CRM module, businesses can manage their Some features include customizable dashboards and
client-facing operations, such as sales, marketing visualization tools, ad-hoc and scheduled reporting,
and customer service. Employees can track sales and real-time data access.
ERP System Pricing Models Consultants – Many vendors, especially
larger ones like Oracle, SAP and Microsoft, use
third-party consultants for implementation.
Depending on the type of deployment, ERP vendors Costs can vary significantly for services like
use two pricing models: perpetual licensing and change management and data migration.
subscription plans. Here’s how they work:
Hardware – Companies that want an on-
Perpetual licensing – Companies that premise deployment will need to purchase
choose to host ERP software using their own data servers and hardware infrastructure to
servers (on-premise deployment) generally host their ERP system.
pay a perpetual licensing fee. This one-time
cost is paid up-front and is based on the Training – Some vendors may include
number of users and level of customization. basic training services for free during
implementation, but others may offer them
Perpetual licenses usually don’t include at an additional cost, especially if the training
recurring costs like maintenance, support is done at the client’s site.
and upgrades.
Small to medium-sized businesses can expect to pay
Subscription plans – Companies can also pay between $75,000 and $750,000 for implementation.
subscription fee to access cloud ERP software, Costs for large businesses range from $1 million to
which the vendor maintains and hosts on a $10 million.
third-party data server. The software-as-a-
service (SaaS) pricing model means fees are Companies that can’t afford large up-front
paid per user monthly or annually. implementation costs should choose a cloud
deployment, which doesn’t require hardware
Subscription plans often require companies installation and may not offer as many customizations.
to have a minimum contract length and come
in various tiers with increasing functionality
and modules.

Implementation Costs

ERP implementation is famous for being a long and

expensive process. Costs include:

Modules or features not included in base price – Some

solutions may charge additional fees for individual
modules or advanced features, including payroll,
manufacturing and e-commerce. There are also
industry-specific solutions that offer features for a
particular market.

Customizations – Many companies require

customizations for their specific business
processes, and costs can add up quickly.
Businesses should make sure they focus on
adding only the features they need.
Ongoing Costs to Consider Open-Source ERP Software

ERP systems often require additional resources that Most ERP solutions are proprietary or closed source,
aren’t generally included in the base price, such as: and customers can’t access the source code.

IT staff – ERP systems can be complex to On the other hand, an open-source ERP system
manage. Companies that choose an on- has publicly available source code. Companies can
premise deployment will need internal IT access the open-source code for free and customize
staff to handle any technical difficulties the software themselves, rather than relying on
that arise. the vendor.

Customer support – Basic support (e.g., Consequently, open-source ERP software can be less
knowledge base, email support) is typically costly than proprietary ERP solutions, as companies
included in the price of an ERP solution. don’t have to pay a licensing fee to access the source
However, vendors may offer plans that code. The drawback, however, is that companies
include advanced support, such as priority need to have knowledgeable IT staff to implement
support or access to a dedicated customer and maintain the software, especially because there’s
service manager. often a lack of support and documentation.

Maintenance and upgrading – Most

on-premise ERP deployments charge an
additional fee for annual maintenance and
software upgrades. However, maintenance
and upgrades are typically included with
subscription pricing for cloud deployments.
ERP System Vendor Pricing

We’ve researched pricing for several popular ERP

systems. Note that many vendors in the market don’t
offer pricing details publicly, so you’ll need to contact
them directly for a quote.

BizAutomation Cloud ERP costs $79.95 per user,

per month and requires three users minimum. The
subscription price includes all ERP modules, except
for e-commerce, which costs an additional $99.95
per month.

ECOUNT ERP’s pricing is straightforward: $55 per

month or $600 per year. This subscription includes all
functions, unlimited user IDs and groupware access
for 10 users. The solution also includes iOS and
Android apps, a barcode app, multilingual support
and an e-commerce module.

ERPNext is an open-source ERP solution that’s free

for on-premise and self-hosted deployments, up to
five users. Cloud deployments are offered through
two pricing plans.

The Standard plan costs $20 per user, per month

and includes 10 GB storage, 5,000 emails per month,
tracking of three companies, 30 custom fields, 10
custom forms and integration to payment processors.
module costs $65 per user, per month, while the sales
The Pro plan costs $50 per user, per month and enterprise module costs $95 per user, per month.
includes 25 GB storage, 15,000 emails per month,
tracking data for unlimited companies, and unlimited Odoo is an open-source ERP solution with two
custom fields, forms and scripts. pricing options.

LillyWorks offers a monthly subscription that starts Odoo Community is free to implement and maintain
at $100 per user, per month and scales up from that on-premise. It includes basic modules for accounting,
point. The manufacturing-focused ERP solution offers project management, customer relationship
advanced functionality for shop-floor planning and management (CRM), human resources, inventory,
execution, material planning, inventory management, manufacturing, e-commerce and marketing.
and bill of materials and routing definition.
Odoo Enterprise costs $28 per user, per month and
Microsoft Dynamics 365 allows companies to includes advanced functionality and mobile device
purchase individual modules based on their specific access. Additional apps can cost anywhere from $12
business area. For example, the sales professional to $96 per month.
SAP Business One ERP doesn’t disclose pricing on
its website. However, third-party implementation
consultants say perpetual licenses cost $3,213 for
professional users and $1,666 for limited users.
Bug fixes, upgrades and patch releases are covered
through a separate annual maintenance fee.

Subscription licenses cost $94 per professional user,

per month or $54 per limited user, per month. The
subscription price includes annual maintenance and
requires a one-year commitment.

A Starter Package designed for start-ups and small

businesses costs $39 per user, per month with a one-
time fee of $1,357. It includes accounting, sales orders,
item management and purchasing, but not service
or manufacturing.

Synergy Resources Visual ERP invoices clients on a

case-by-case basis, so exact prices are unavailable.
However, companies that want to have up to five users
can expect to pay between $10,000 and $15,000.
Bottom Line

Xtuple ERP is an open-source ERP solution with five Many of the vendors listed here follow the per user, per
different pricing options and a 90-day free trial. month pricing model with tiers that provide additional
features. Some also offer perpetual licenses for a one-
The Postbooks version is free for up to four users and time fee.
includes core modules. The paid version of Postbooks
and other industry-specific versions include advanced Be sure to consider what modules or features are
functionality, specialized modules, and in-classroom required, as well as future scaling and business needs.
and online training. You’ll also want to research implementation costs and
how long the process will take.
Prices range from $45 to $150 per user, per month
or $1,350 to $4,500 for a one-time perpetual license. If you’d like more information on ERP software or
Cloud deployment costs $100 per month, plus $30 per want to compare different solutions, we’ve reviewed
user, per month. over 45 ERP system vendors.