Switching your ERP to Odoo · Lexware
For many businesses, Lexware is the right start: quick to set up, affordable, and the tax advisor knows it. At some point it gets tight: the three or five workstations in the subscription are taken, the second location works via remote access, the online shop runs alongside, customer history and projects sit in Excel. Lexware itself isn't discontinuing anything, there is no forced deadline. That's why on this page we also tell you when you're better off staying with Lexware.
Official Odoo Partner · fixed-price entry with Rocket Start · Lexware stays readable as an archive
The starting point
Subscription model
Lexware offers its programs as a subscription: “unlimited term” with automatic renewal for 365 days, or as a fixed 365-day licence. According to the offer model, access to the data remains after the subscription ends, but the program can no longer be used. One-off purchase versions are only available through retailers.
Workstations and price
Lexware warenwirtschaft pro includes 3 workstations, premium 5; more via additional licences. Price according to the Lexware shop from €61.90 net per month for pro. On 1 September 2026, Lexware adjusted the prices of many programs. Accounting and payroll are separate programs or part of the financial office package.
Technology
Lexware is installed on a Windows PC; multi-user operation via the local network, Mac or tablet only via workarounds. ZUGFeRD and XRechnung are included, as is the DATEV interface. For the cloud, Lexware refers to its own product Lexware Office.
Source: shop.lexware.de
None of these facts is a reason to switch. They only describe the framework: Lexware is built for small teams at one location and is good at that. The question is whether your business still fits this framework.
The honest assessment
Three answers, depending on where your business stands. Which one applies to you, we clarify in a thirty-minute initial call.
Answer 1
One location, up to three workstations, quotations and invoices, manageable inventory, no online shop, accounting with the tax advisor. Then Lexware is the cheapest tool for your business, and a switch only costs you time. We'll tell you that, too.
Answer 2
You mainly want to get away from the Windows PC and your processes are simple: invoices, receipts, bank, tax advisor. Lexware's own cloud covers that. Inventory, manufacturing, projects or an integrated online shop are not its purpose; check the scope of functions on lexware.de.
Answer 3
More users than workstations, two locations or home office, an online shop, customer history, projects, service or manufacturing are to run with sales and inventory in one database – in the browser, on Mac, PC and phone. Then Odoo is the next step, and your tax advisor stays involved via DATEV export.
What stays the same in all three cases: your tax advisor, their DATEV environment and your obligation to retain old documents. How Odoo and DATEV work together: GoBD and DATEV.
What comes along
Lexware data can be exported as lists. That's enough for everything you need to keep working. The past stays in Lexware, where it remains readable.
| From Lexware | In Odoo | Path |
|---|---|---|
| Customers and suppliers with contacts | Contacts, including delivery addresses and payment terms | Migration |
| Products, prices, product groups | Products, pricelists, categories | Migration |
| Stock levels | Opening stock at cut-over | Migration |
| Open invoices and payables | Open items at cut-over | Migration |
| Ongoing orders and quotations | Re-entered or completed in Lexware | Plan the cut-over |
| Document templates and text blocks | New templates with your layout | Rebuilt |
| Documents and entries from previous years | Remain readable in Lexware (data access after the subscription ends) | Archive |
| Payroll (Lexware lohn+gehalt) | Stays with Lexware, the tax advisor, or is a separate topic | Consider separately |
With Lexware, timing matters more than technology: the cut-over date should be before your next subscription renewal, otherwise you pay twice for a year. Check the renewal date and notice period in your contract before you do anything else.
Timeline
Lexware businesses are usually small enough for a quick switch. The pace follows the end of your subscription or the turn of the year.
Which Lexware program, how many users, what runs alongside, when does the subscription renew. Decision: stay, Lexware Office or Odoo.
Sales, purchasing, inventory and invoicing set up in Odoo, customers and products migrated from Lexware, document templates in your layout, e-invoicing and DATEV export active.
Your team creates test documents with real data. Two hours of training, then you work on your own. Lexware keeps running in parallel.
Open items and stock at cut-over in Odoo. Lexware subscription expires, data remains readable. Four weeks of support.
If accounting is to move to Odoo as well, plan the cut-over for the first day of a month or quarter, ideally 1 January: then balances and open items are reconciled anyway.
The offer
Unlike Sage 100 or Navision, a Lexware switch rarely needs its own analysis. The switch check only comes in when accounting, payroll, an online shop or several locations come together.
Step 1, free of charge
€0
30 minutes, via screen sharing
We look at your Lexware setup and tell you which of the three answers applies to you.
Step 2, fixed price
/ €1,035
flat rate, plus Odoo licence
Sales, purchasing, inventory and invoicing in Odoo standard, set up and trained. For businesses with up to about ten users and no special processes.
Details: Rocket Start. Afterwards KAPEO Care, a fixed contact person, €195 per month.
Only if needed
/ €1,190
net, fixed price, 8 hours
If accounting and payroll run in-house, an online shop is connected or several locations come together: a written target picture and cost range before the decision.
All details on the process and the migration matrix: Switching your ERP to Odoo.
FAQ
Right, Lexware generates ZUGFeRD and XRechnung, so mandatory e-invoicing is no reason for Lexware users to switch. The reason is almost always growth: more workstations than the subscription includes, a second location, home office, an online shop that isn't properly connected, or customer history and projects kept in Excel on the side. If none of this applies, stay with Lexware.
According to Lexware's offer model, access to the existing data remains after the subscription expires, but the program itself can no longer be used. For the switch, this means: we export customers, products, prices and open items before the cut-over date; the old documents remain readable in Lexware. This way you continue to meet the retention obligation.
Yes, in two ways. Either accounting stays with you, then in Odoo in a GoBD-compliant way with DATEV export to the tax advisor. Or only quotations, orders, invoices and inventory move to Odoo and the tax firm takes over accounting. Which way fits depends on who does the bookkeeping today and how much time it costs.
For typical Lexware businesses with up to five users and standard processes, usually not. The initial call is enough, after which we go straight into Rocket Start, master data included. We recommend the switch check if accounting and payroll run in-house, an online shop is connected or several locations come together.
For a sole trader with one workstation: yes, usually. From three to five users, several Lexware programs and additional licences, the gap closes, and Odoo includes CRM, an online shop and projects that would be separate tools with Lexware. Current Odoo prices are listed at odoo.com; we tell you in figures what your switch costs in the initial call.
For a business with sales, purchasing and inventory in the standard: four to six weeks from the initial call to the first working day in Odoo. The best cut-over date is your subscription renewal date or the turn of the year. Check your renewal date and notice period in your Lexware contract now.
The first step
Briefly describe which Lexware program you use and what runs alongside it. We get back to you within one working day for the free initial call. Or book a 30-minute call.
