Odoo 20 Light Users in Australia: Who Counts, What They Can Do and What They Cost
An Odoo 20 light user costs A$12.90 per user per month in Australia, against A$80 for Custom, and employee records without a login now count as one.
By Josh Craig, Managing Director, Auboros ·
An Odoo 20 light user is a user account set to “Light User”, or any active employee record with no linked user. In Australia it costs A$12.90 per user per month on yearly billing ex GST, against A$80.00 for a Custom user, as at 5 October 2026. Light users get self-service HR, barcode, field service, POS and shop floor access. The price needs Odoo 20 and the current agreement.
At a glance
- Who it is for: Australian businesses on Odoo Enterprise, or evaluating it, with staff who scan, clock on, submit expenses or work a shop-floor screen but never open Sales, Purchase or Accounting
- Problem it solves: Odoo 20 introduced a cheaper user and, in the same agreement, started counting employee records as users; this sets out who counts, what they can do, and whether your bill goes down or up
- Platforms: Odoo 20 Enterprise (Standard and Custom plans)
- Typical cost: A$12.90 per light user per month, A$43.00 Standard and A$80.00 Custom per full user at list, yearly billing, ex GST (odoo.com/pricing, Australian pricelist as at 5 October 2026); light user licences are quoted through an Odoo advisor
- Typical timeline: a user and employee audit takes an afternoon; the reduced price starts when the Odoo 20 upgrade and the current agreement are both in place, so plan it against your renewal date
- Last verified: 5 October 2026 (Odoo 20 Enterprise Subscription Agreement, odoo.com/pricing)
Odoo 20 was released on 24 September 2026 and the pricing changed the same day. The Custom plan went up, which our Odoo price increase post covers, and a new, cheaper kind of user arrived with it. The light user is the part most Australian businesses have questions about, because the rules decide whether the change saves you money or costs you money. Both outcomes are real, and this post shows the arithmetic for each.
What is an Odoo light user?
Odoo’s definition, from the Odoo 20 Enterprise Subscription Agreement, has two halves. A light user is any active user account designated as a “Light User” in the software, where your version supports it. It is also any active employee record in the Employees app that is not linked to an active, non-portal user account. The second half is the one people miss. Under the Odoo 20 agreement, an employee who has never logged in still counts, and is billed, as a light user.
A full user is everything else: any active account that is not a light user. Portal users, meaning customers and suppliers with limited access through the portal, and deactivated accounts are still free, as they were before. Odoo’s CEO, speaking at Odoo Experience on 24 September 2026, described the light user as available when there is at least one full user, so you cannot run a database on light users alone.
Two conditions apply before the reduced price does. Your database has to be on Odoo 20, because earlier versions have no light user designation, and your subscription has to be on the current agreement. If either is missing, every active user is billed at Standard or Custom, which is why the upgrade and the renewal need to be planned together. Our Odoo upgrade services page covers the version side.
What can a light user actually do?
Odoo lists the capabilities on its pricing page, and the list is the whole entitlement. Grant a light user one right outside it and Odoo treats them as a full user automatically. The table below is Odoo’s list as at 5 October 2026, grouped the way Odoo groups it.
| Area | Light user can | Light user cannot |
|---|---|---|
| Self-service HR (as a user) | My Time Off, My Expenses, My Appraisals, My Attendances, My Referrals, My Planning | Approve anyone else’s leave, expenses or timesheets; manage employee records |
| Operations (as a user) | Field Service jobs, Inventory as a Barcode Operator, read-only Knowledge | Create or edit sales orders, purchase orders, deliveries outside the barcode flow, invoices or bills |
| Operations (as an employee record) | Use the Point of Sale, use the Manufacturing Shop Floor, receive payslips | Any back-end screen in Sales, Purchase, Inventory, Accounting, CRM or Project |
| Access rights | Only the rights implied above | Any additional group or app access; one extra right makes them a full user |
The Odoo 20 release notes add one practical detail: the Barcode app can now restrict light users to the Barcode module alone, which is how you keep a warehouse scanner from drifting into full-user territory. Field technicians are on the list too, which is a real saving for service businesses that gave every tech a full seat to use the field service app for Odoo and MYOB Acumatica or Odoo’s own.
How much does a light user cost in Australia?
A$12.90 per light user per month on yearly billing, excluding GST, on the Australian pricelist as at 5 October 2026. A full user on Custom is A$80.00 at list (A$64.00 for the first 12 months on initial users), and A$43.00 on Standard (A$34.40 for the first year). So a light user is about one sixth of a Custom user and under a third of a Standard user. Odoo does not sell light users through the website checkout; the pricing page says to book an Odoo advisor, who quotes them for your database. Our Odoo pricing in Australia guide carries the full plan table, and the Odoo pricing estimator lets you run your own user mix.
Two renewal rules sit alongside the price. Under clause 5.2 of the agreement, if your current charges are below list at renewal, Odoo may raise them by up to 7% for each year of the term just ended, so existing Custom customers do not jump to A$80 at once. Users you add mid-term, including light users, are charged at the pricelist of the day. Why month 13 costs more walks through both.
Does Odoo now charge for employee records?
Yes, once you are on Odoo 20 and the current agreement. The definition counts any active employee record not linked to an active user, and that is the clause the Odoo community has been arguing about since the release. The complaint is fair on its face: a business with 200 people in the Employees app for rostering or an attendance kiosk, 20 of whom log in, used to pay for 20 users. On the new terms it pays for 20 full users and 180 light users.
Odoo’s answer, given in the forum discussion that followed the release, is that employee records are usage: those people clock on, use the point of sale, work the shop floor or collect payslips, and records for people who have left should be archived, not kept active. Archived employees are not counted. The agreement also says “where supported by the Customer’s version of the Software”, so a database still on Odoo 19 does not have light users to count. The moment you upgrade and sign the Odoo 20 agreement, it does.
The sharpest version of the complaint, doing the rounds on LinkedIn and r/Odoo in the week after release, is that this charges for presence rather than usage: a record exists, so you pay, whether or not the person ever authenticates. The counter-proposal from the same threads is a split: if they log in, they pay; if it is only a record, it should be free. Odoo has not adopted that, and partners are already asking each other how to price it into proposals. The practical reading for an Australian business is this. The light user is cheap for people who use Odoo lightly, and expensive for records that are not people using Odoo at all. Which of those describes your Employees app decides whether you are ahead or behind, and nobody can tell you that from the outside.
When does the light user lower your bill, and when does it raise it?
Two worked examples, per month, ex GST, yearly billing at list, using the Australian pricelist as at 5 October 2026: Custom A$80.00, Standard A$43.00, light user A$12.90, and the pre-24 September Custom list of A$65.00.
| Example A: wholesaler with a warehouse | Example C: office users plus a large employee list | |
|---|---|---|
| Who | 12 office users and 18 warehouse staff who only scan barcodes, on Custom | 10 office users on Standard and 60 rostered casuals in the Employees app with no login |
| Before Odoo 20 | 30 full users at A$65.00 = A$1,950 | 10 users at A$43.00 = A$430; the 60 records cost nothing |
| Odoo 20, no light users | 30 at A$80.00 = A$2,400 | Not applicable; the records count once the version supports light users |
| Odoo 20 with light users | 12 at A$80.00 + 18 at A$12.90 = A$1,192.20 | 10 at A$43.00 + 60 at A$12.90 = A$1,204 |
| Result | A$757.80 a month less than before the rise, about 39% down, provided the warehouse roles stay inside the light user list | A$774 a month more, about 2.8 times the old bill; 15 unarchived leavers alone would be A$193.50 a month |
Example A is the business Odoo designed the tier for. Example C is the business the forum thread is about. Most Australian SMEs sit somewhere between the two, with some staff who could drop to light and some employee records that should be archived, and the audit below is how you find out where.
“The question we ask first is not ‘how many users do you have’ but ‘how many people are in your Employees app’. The gap between those two numbers is your light user bill, and most businesses have never looked at it.”
Josh Craig, Director, Auboros
What to count before you upgrade to Odoo 20
- Active employees without a user. Open Employees, filter to active, and count records with no linked user. On the Odoo 20 agreement each one is a light user. Archive anyone who has left.
- Full users who could be light. List your users and check who only uses time off, expenses, attendances, barcode, field service, POS or the shop floor. Each one is a candidate for A$12.90 instead of A$80.00.
- Light candidates who hold one extra right. A warehouse scanner with Inventory user rights, or a technician with Sales access to quote on site, becomes a full user. Decide whether the extra right is worth the difference.
- Your renewal date and version. The reduced price needs both Odoo 20 and the current agreement, and users added mid-term are charged at the pricelist of the day, so the upgrade date and the renewal date should be planned as one decision.
- The count in writing. Ask Odoo to confirm your full and light user counts before you sign, and keep the answer with the contract.
When MYOB surveyed Australian mid-sized businesses, 36% said they were looking to upgrade their ERP and 48% named operational efficiency as the main driver. A licence model that charges A$12.90 for a scanner operator instead of A$80.00 is part of what efficiency means for a wholesaler or a manufacturer, as long as the employee list is clean first. Our Odoo 20 release post covers the rest of what changed, and the Odoo implementation cost in Australia page covers the project side if you are starting from scratch.
Goes well with
- Odoo price increase 2026: Australia’s Custom plan is now A$80
- Odoo renewal price: why month 13 costs more
- Odoo 20 release: what changed for Australia
Not sure whether Odoo 20 light users save you money or cost you money?
We implement and upgrade Odoo for businesses across Brisbane, Queensland and Australia, and the user and employee audit above is the first thing we run before an Odoo 20 upgrade. If you want it done on your database, with the numbers before you renew, book a free consultation. It takes an afternoon and usually pays for itself on the first invoice.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is an Odoo light user cheaper than a full user?
Yes. On the Australian pricelist as at 5 October 2026 a light user is A$12.90 per user per month on yearly billing ex GST, against A$80.00 for a Custom user and A$43.00 for a Standard user at list. The reduced price only applies once your database is on Odoo 20 and your subscription is on the current Odoo agreement.
Can an Odoo light user approve a purchase order or create a sales order?
No. A light user is limited to self-service HR (time off, expenses, appraisals, attendances, referrals, planning), field service jobs, barcode operations, read-only Knowledge, point of sale and the manufacturing shop floor. Any right outside that list, even a limited one, makes the account a full user and it is billed as one.
Do I need Odoo 20 to get light user pricing?
Yes, and you also need to be on the current Odoo Enterprise Subscription Agreement. Earlier versions have no light user designation, so on Odoo 18 or 19 every active internal user is billed at Standard or Custom, and employee records without a login are not counted.
Does Odoo charge for employees who have left but are still in the Employees app?
Under the Odoo 20 agreement, any active employee record not linked to an active user counts as a light user, so an unarchived leaver is billed at A$12.90 a month. Archive former staff before you upgrade; archived records are not counted.
Can I convert existing full users to light users?
Yes, if their work fits inside the light user list. Review each user's access rights against their day-to-day tasks, remove anything outside the list, and set the account to Light User on Odoo 20. Ask Odoo to confirm the resulting full and light user counts in writing before your renewal.