People call me just before they sign. An Odoo Online quote, a Gold partner on the directory, sometimes an integrator in Liège or Namur. The question is not “Odoo or not”. It is whether you asked the right questions before you put a signature on paper.
Odoo SA is Belgian, Grand-Rosière. That helps for localisation. It says nothing about who will sit with you after go-live. Neither does the badge on odoo.com/partners. Ready, Silver, Gold are commercial thresholds — net new Enterprise users per year, certified staff, retention. Not a quality score for a twelve-person SME. I reopened the Belgium directory on 18 September 2026: 135 partners listed, of which 18 Gold, 30 Silver, 87 Ready. The criteria are on become-a-partner. Gold means 300 new Enterprise users a year. A Liège firm with fifteen seats can be a poor fit for a factory that averages far more.
z80 is not on that list. We are an integrator / consultant in Liège. We deploy Odoo; we do not claim the badge. Better to say it upfront.
Official partner or integrator
Both do scoping, configuration, training. The difference is the contract with Odoo SA: commission on licences, visibility on the site, partner access. Implementation remains a service. Odoo says so: under fifty employees you can also work with them directly (Success Packs). Above that, the market pushes toward a local partner. That does not ban a certified freelancer, or an integrator outside the directory. It means: who answers on Tuesday when a Peppol invoice sticks.
Before signing, I would write three questions. Who will be in the room, in French, after go-live? Do we stay on standard, or will we customise? And Belgian Peppol: is it already live on a real database, not a demo?
Online, Odoo.sh, or on your own metal
Three boxes. Not one.
Odoo Online is Odoo’s cloud. No custom Python modules, no Git repo to drop third-party addons. The Standard plan is tied to it: all apps, Online only. For many SMEs, that is enough. Less machine to maintain.
Odoo.sh is Odoo’s CI platform: development, staging, production branches, custom modules. You need the Custom plan. Odoo.sh hosting is extra — the pricing page says so. Europe zone: GCP datacentre in Saint-Ghislain, Belgium — odoo.sh FAQ, 4 September 2026. Locations “are not contractually guaranteed”. A Belgian datacentre is not a Belgian hosting contract with a hoster you chose. If the client wants a Belgian hosting contract, on-prem or a Belgian hoster is the other answer.
On-premise, you (or your integrator) host Enterprise yourselves. Same Custom plan. Updates, backups, patches: yours. Odoo.sh phases out old versions at six years; Odoo 14 leaves on 31 October 2026. Staying stuck on an old version is not a plan.
GDPR, data residency in Belgium, is not sovereignty. The infra behind Odoo.sh Europe is Google. If someone in the room asks for a Belgian hosting contract, say it clearly.
Standard or Custom
I rechecked odoo.com/pricing on 4 September 2026. Shown in dollars from here; I am not copying euro figures.
Standard: all apps, Odoo Online only.
Custom: Studio, multi-company, external API, and the choice of Online / Odoo.sh / on-premise. sh hosting is not in the base price.
If you need Studio — a field, a slightly odd automation — or another system calling into Odoo over JSON-RPC / XML-RPC, that is Custom. Install Studio on Standard and it upsells. If Odoo pushes outward (bank, carrier, payment), their FAQ says that is not “External API”. Custom Python modules, non-standard store apps: not on Online Standard.
You do not take Custom “just in case”. You take it when the needs list asks for it. Otherwise you pay for a door you will not open in year one.
Peppol and the Belgian localisation
Since 1 January 2026, between Belgian VAT-registered firms, a structured B2B invoice is no longer a PDF by email. I already covered the law and the royal decree in invoicing from Excel. Here, only the Odoo filter.
Belgium 19.0 docs: when you activate Peppol, EAS 0208 (company registry number), endpoint = company registry number, customer format BIS Billing 3.0. Odoo can act as an access point. The l10n_be localisation brings the chart of accounts, taxes, Intervat, CODA, SODA; CodaBox exists as a module. This is not “Odoo, and Peppol later”. It is day-one scope for a Belgian SME that invoices B2B.
Useful questions before signing: who activates Peppol on the database? Who checks that customers are reachable on the network? What if a supplier still sends a PDF outside the mandate? And B2C, outside the obligation: do not mix the flows.
Before you put the signature down
One sheet. Not an eighty-page specification.
- How many users actually open the backend — not the customer portal.
- Is Online enough, or do you already have a list of custom / API / multi-company needs?
- Who hosts, under which contract, and where are the backups you have already restored once.
- Peppol BE: EAS 0208, BIS 3.0, send and receive test on five real invoices.
- Who trains, who answers after go-live, in French, without a ticket that vanishes.
The Gold badge is on none of those lines. A clear quote, with the plan (Standard or Custom), hosting, and Peppol switched on, yes.
If the sheet is still stuck after a week, info@z80.be, +32 494 111 041, www.z80.be — we look at the scoping, not an eighteen-month factory project.