Odoo Now Bills Employee Records: How to Audit Your Database Before You Upgrade to Odoo 20
From Odoo 20, every active employee record without a login is a A$12.90 light user. The complaint, Odoo's answer and a five-step audit to run before renewal.
By Bill Alvarez, Practice Manager, Auboros ·
Yes, from Odoo 20. Under the Odoo 20 Enterprise Subscription Agreement, any active employee record not linked to an active user counts as a light user and is billed at A$12.90 per month in Australia, as at 5 October 2026. Archived records are free. Before you upgrade, count active employees without a login, archive leavers, and ask Odoo for your user count in writing.
At a glance
- Who it is for: Australian businesses on Odoo Enterprise with more people in the Employees app than in the Users list, which is most of them
- Problem it solves: the Odoo 20 agreement turns unlinked employee records into billable light users; this is the audit that tells you what that costs before you upgrade or renew
- Platforms: Odoo 20 Enterprise (Standard and Custom); not applicable to Community
- Typical cost: A$12.90 per light user per month, yearly billing, ex GST (odoo.com/pricing, Australian pricelist as at 5 October 2026); the audit itself is an afternoon of your own time, or part of our upgrade scoping
- Typical timeline: one afternoon for the counts, one renewal cycle to realise the saving
- Last verified: 5 October 2026 (Odoo 20 Enterprise Subscription Agreement, definitions section)
The Odoo 20 light user, which our light user guide explains in full, arrived on 24 September 2026 with a clause that caught a lot of people out. A light user is not only an account you set to “Light User”. It is also any active employee record in the Employees app that has no linked user. That turns a list many businesses treat as reference data into a line on the invoice, and the community reaction has been loud. This post sets out the complaint and Odoo’s answer, then gives you the audit so you know your own number before anyone else does.
Why is the Odoo community arguing about employee records?
The complaint is simple. For years, Odoo billed internal users: people who log in to the back end. The Employees app was free to fill. Businesses used it for rostering, attendance kiosks, emergency contacts, org charts and onboarding, and kept records active for casuals who worked a few shifts a quarter. None of that cost anything. Under the Odoo 20 agreement, each of those active records is a light user, and at A$12.90 a month a 150-person employee list with 40 logins adds 110 billable users overnight.
Odoo’s answer, given in the forum thread that followed the release, is that employee records are usage. The people on them clock on, run the point of sale, work the shop floor or request leave through the record, and that usage was previously unpaid. Records for people who have left should be archived, and archived records are not counted. Odoo’s CEO also told the press on release day that the light user is available when there is at least one full user, and that the company’s first increase in four years was about 20% on the full-price plan.
The line that has stuck, in the LinkedIn and r/Odoo threads since release, is that Odoo is charging for presence rather than usage, and that HR records are closer to data than to users. The fix those threads propose is a split: a record that authenticates pays, a record that only exists does not. Odoo has not offered that, so for now the clause stands as written. Both sides have a point, which is why the argument has not settled. A kiosk user who clocks on every day is using Odoo. A casual who worked one weekend in March and was never archived is not. The same clause bills them the same amount, and the only thing that separates the two cases is your housekeeping.
Does the employee-record rule apply if I stay on Odoo 19?
Not yet. The definition in the Odoo 20 agreement begins “where supported by the Customer’s version of the Software”, and Odoo 19 and earlier have no light user designation. A database on Odoo 19 keeps counting internal users only, as before. The clause takes effect when two things are true: your database is on Odoo 20 and your subscription is on the current agreement. Those usually happen together, at the upgrade or at renewal, which is why the audit belongs before the upgrade, not after.
There is no reason to hide from the upgrade on this basis. The Odoo 20 release carries changes most businesses will want, the light user is a saving for the staff it was designed for, and versions older than the three most recent attract Odoo’s 25% surcharge in time. The point is to walk in knowing your number.
How do I count what Odoo will charge me for?
Five counts, in this order. Each one takes minutes in a standard Odoo database and none of them needs a developer.
- Active employees with no linked user. In Employees, filter to active records and group by the related user field. Records with no user are your light user exposure at A$12.90 each. Write the number down before you fix anything.
- Leavers still active. Cross-check that list against people who no longer work for you. Archive them. Archived employees are not counted and their history stays intact. Do not archive anyone still employed, because the record supports their attendance, leave and other HR functions.
- Full users who could be light. In Settings, Users, list everyone on a Standard or Custom seat and ask what they actually do. If the answer is time off, expenses, attendances, barcode scanning, field service jobs, the point of sale or the shop floor and nothing else, they are a candidate for A$12.90 instead of A$43.00 or A$80.00.
- Light candidates with one extra right. Odoo decides who is a light user from access rights. One group outside the light user list, even a limited one, makes the account a full user. Check each candidate’s groups before you reclassify them, and then leave the rights alone.
- The count in writing. Give Odoo the final figures and ask them to confirm your full and light user counts and the price per user before you sign the renewal or the upgrade. Keep the reply with the contract.
The exact position depends on your own agreement and renewal date, so check your contract rather than the pricing page alone. Odoo’s pricing page is the source for the current Australian rates; our Odoo pricing in Australia guide sets out the plans, and the Odoo pricing estimator runs a user mix.
What does the audit change on the bill?
Two examples, per month, ex GST, yearly billing at the Australian list prices 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 for the “before” column.
| Example C: office users plus a long employee list | Example D: manufacturer with a shop floor | |
|---|---|---|
| Who | 10 office users on Standard; 60 rostered casuals in Employees with no login, 15 of them leavers nobody archived | 8 office users on Custom; 25 operators using the Shop Floor on shared tablets as employees, not users |
| Before Odoo 20 | 10 at A$43.00 = A$430; the 60 records cost nothing | 8 at A$65.00 = A$520; the operators were not billed |
| Odoo 20, no audit | 10 at A$43.00 + 60 at A$12.90 = A$1,204 | 8 at A$80.00 + 25 at A$12.90 = A$962.50 |
| After the audit | Archive 15 leavers: 10 at A$43.00 + 45 at A$12.90 = A$1,010.50 | Nothing to archive; the operators use Odoo daily: A$962.50 |
| What changed | A$193.50 a month saved by archiving; the bill is still 2.3 times the old one because the remaining 45 casuals use the record | Nothing, and that is the honest answer: shop-floor usage that was free is now A$322.50 a month |
Example D is the case the forum is angriest about, and the audit does not make it go away. If 25 operators work the shop floor on Odoo, the Odoo 20 agreement bills them, and the question becomes whether A$322.50 a month is worth what the shop floor module gives you against a paper traveller. For most manufacturers we work with it is, but it belongs in the budget, not as a surprise on the renewal invoice. The opposite case, a wholesaler whose warehouse staff were paying full Custom seats to scan barcodes, saves money under the same clause, and the light user guide runs that example.
“Every Odoo database we open has more employees than users, and until September nobody cared. Now the difference is the bill. Archive the leavers, decide who really needs a full seat, and get the count from Odoo in writing before you renew. That is the whole job.”
Bill Alvarez, Practice Manager, Auboros
What should I do before the renewal?
Run the five counts, fix what the counts show, and then get the renewal quote. In that order. Existing customers whose charges are below list are protected by clause 5.2 of the agreement, which limits the increase to 7% for each year of the previous term, but that cap applies to the users you already pay for. Light users that appear because of unarchived records are new users, and new users are charged at the pricelist of the day. Why month 13 costs more covers the renewal mechanics, and our Odoo upgrade services page covers the version move the light user depends on.
Goes well with
- Odoo 20 light users in Australia: who counts and what they cost
- Odoo price increase 2026: Australia’s Custom plan is now A$80
- Odoo upgrade services
Want the employee and user audit run on your Odoo database before you renew?
We upgrade and support Odoo for businesses across Brisbane, Queensland and Australia, and the five counts above are now the first step in every Odoo 20 upgrade we scope. If you would like the numbers before your renewal lands, book a free consultation. We will tell you whether the light user helps or hurts your bill, and by how much.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Does Odoo charge for employee records that never log in?
From Odoo 20, yes. The Odoo 20 Enterprise Subscription Agreement counts any active employee record not linked to an active user as a light user, billed at A$12.90 per month in Australia on yearly billing ex GST as at 5 October 2026. Archived employee records are not counted.
Are former employees still in Odoo billed as light users?
Only if their records are still active. Archive anyone who has left before you upgrade to Odoo 20 or renew; archived records keep their history and are not billed. Do not archive current staff, because the record supports their attendance and leave.
Does the employee-record rule apply on Odoo 18 or Odoo 19?
No. The definition applies where your version supports light users, and only Odoo 20 does. On earlier versions Odoo bills internal users only. The rule takes effect once your database is on Odoo 20 and your subscription is on the current agreement.
How do I find employees without a user in Odoo?
Open the Employees app, filter to active employees and group by the related user. Records with no linked user are the ones the Odoo 20 agreement counts as light users. Export the list, archive leavers, and keep the count for your renewal conversation.
Can I avoid the charge by deleting employee records?
Archiving is the right tool, not deleting. Archived records are not counted and keep attendance, leave and contract history. Deleting records removes that history and can break links to timesheets, expenses and manufacturing work orders.