🟣 Odoo: CRM and ERP, and how a phone system connects to it
Odoo is a modular business suite from Belgium, covering CRM, sales, helpdesk, accounting and more. It is not a phone system and sells no numbers or calling minutes. It appears in this directory because an Odoo customer already holds the contact database, and telephony is usually the gap they fill next.
⏱ 6 min read · 🇧🇪 Business suite and CRM · 📅 Updated September 2026 · 🔗 odoo.com
ℹ️ A relationship worth knowing about
Mixvoip, one of the providers listed in this guide, is a Gold Sponsor of the Odoo Community Association. Odoo is a separate company and is not part of the same group.
🏢 Who Odoo is
Odoo is a business software suite built in Belgium and sold worldwide. It is modular, so a company installs only the apps it needs: CRM, sales, inventory, helpdesk, accounting, projects, manufacturing and many more. The apps share one database, which is why the phone system question matters. Call activity landing in that database is visible to every team.
It ships in two editions. Community is open source under the LGPL-3 licence and is installed on your own servers. Enterprise is commercial, sold as a subscription per user, and adds apps and services that Community does not include.
A new major version arrives every year. Version 19 was released on 18 September 2025. That annual cycle is the single most important thing to plan for with any phone connector, because a connector has to be updated for each new version.
🧱 Editions and hosting
Four commercial options, with different consequences for integrations.
🧰 Community
Open source under LGPL-3. You host it yourself. Core apps only, and no Odoo Studio.
🎁 One App Free
One app, unlimited users, hosted by Odoo. Installing a second app moves the database to Standard automatically.
☁️ Standard
All apps, on Odoo Online only. Odoo describes it as hosting databases without custom modules.
🔧 Custom
All apps plus Odoo Studio, multi-company and External API. Hosted on Odoo Online, on Odoo.sh, or on your own servers.
Hosting is the first question to settle, before anything about phones. Odoo Online is run by Odoo, Odoo.sh is Odoo's platform for customised deployments, and self-hosted means your own infrastructure. Some phone connectors work on all three and some do not.
⚠️ Ask about hosting before you ask about features
Odoo's own version 19 administration documentation says Odoo Online is not compatible with custom modules or modules from the Apps Store. Providers describe their connectors in different ways. Ask your phone provider, in writing, exactly which Odoo hosting models and which Odoo versions their connector supports.
☎️ What Odoo Phone is, and what it is not
Odoo has a telephony app. It was called VoIP and was renamed Odoo Phone in version 19. It puts a phone widget in the top bar, links calls to CRM and Helpdesk records, logs call history, and offers routing rules, recording and analytics.
What it does not do is carry the call. Odoo Phone supplies no phone numbers, no calling minutes, no number porting, no emergency calling and no network. It is the screen layer. A real telephony provider always sits behind it. This is by design and is stated plainly in Odoo's own documentation.
Odoo's documentation names three providers it has verified for use with Odoo Phone.
🇪🇺 Axivox
Europe-based hosted PBX. By far the most deeply documented by Odoo, with dedicated pages for dial plans, call queues, voicemail and caller ID.
🌍 DIDWW
International number and SIP provider, listed as verified in the version 19 documentation.
🇺🇸 OnSIP
Odoo's documentation states that OnSIP services are available in the United States only, and need a US billing address and a US credit card.
For buyers in Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany and France, that leaves two names on Odoo's verified list. Any other provider can still be used. Odoo's stated requirement is a SIP server reachable over a WebSocket connection. Odoo adds that it cannot test every provider itself, and recommends a verified one, while confirming that no problems are expected where the requirement is met.
🧩 Four routes to telephony inside Odoo
There is more than one way to get calls into Odoo records, and they differ in who fixes them when a new Odoo version lands.
Route | Built and maintained by | What it needs from you |
Odoo Phone with a provider Odoo has verified | Odoo, and the provider | SIP credentials entered on each user record. No custom code |
Odoo Phone with any other SIP provider | Odoo, and the provider | A SIP server reachable over WebSocket, plus per user credentials |
A module built by your phone provider | The phone provider | Credentials from the provider, and a written answer on hosting and version support |
Community modules from the Odoo Community Association | The Odoo community | Self-hosted or Odoo.sh hosting, and a PBX that supports SIP over WebSocket |
A fifth pattern exists on the phone side rather than the Odoo side. Some phone systems ship their own CRM integration that reaches into Odoo, rather than running inside it. 3CX has done this natively since version 20 Update 10, for example. The practical difference is where the integration lives, and therefore who you call when it breaks.
For what these integrations actually do day to day, the companion page covers screen-pops, click-to-call and automatic call logging in detail: Odoo phone system integration →
💶 Costs that sit on the Odoo side
Telephony pricing is only half the bill. Three Odoo-side items decide the rest, and none of them is about phones.
📐 Maintenance of custom code
Odoo's pricing page lists what no plan includes, and maintenance of custom code is on that list, along with Odoo.sh hosting for custom development, implementation services and In-App-Purchase credits. If your phone connector is a custom module, ask both Odoo and your provider who pays to keep it working, and how that is calculated.
🔌 External API and which plan you need
Odoo defines External API as external software, such as a legacy system or a reporting engine, that initiates calls to the Odoo API to query, retrieve or update data held in Odoo. Odoo then states that where the call is initiated from Odoo, including by VoIP providers, that is part of the Standard plan. External API itself is a Custom plan capability.
Which side of that line a given connector falls on depends on how it is built, and the answer changes your Odoo bill rather than your phone bill. Ask the provider to state it, and confirm it with Odoo before you sign either contract.
🧾 Per user prices
Odoo publishes prices, and the pricing page changes by country. Check it for Luxembourg on a Luxembourg connection rather than relying on a figure quoted in an article, and compare the first year against the renewal year.
📋 What the Enterprise subscription includes, per Odoo
Hosting on Odoo Online with unmetered storage up to 100GB, incremental daily backups held on two continents, email integration, monitoring around the clock, unlimited email support Monday to Friday, free access to eLearning, and version upgrades at no extra fee. Support is listed in English, French, Spanish and Dutch.
Odoo also publishes who it thinks should implement the system. Under 50 employees, directly with Odoo using Success Packs. Between 50 and 250, through a partner who provides local project management. Over 250, with Odoo directly.
👥 Typical client profiles
Three situations where the Odoo question comes before the phone question.
📈 The sales team living in the CRM
Ten to fifty people working leads and quotes in Odoo all day. They want the caller's name and deal stage on screen before they answer, and they want the call logged without typing. This is the most common starting point.
🎧 The support desk running on Odoo Helpdesk
Tickets already sit in Odoo. Linking calls to tickets removes the gap between a phone conversation and the written record, which matters most when several people touch the same ticket.
🏭 The company that runs everything in Odoo
Manufacturing, inventory, accounting and field service in one database. Here the phone system is one more integration on a long list, and consistency at upgrade time matters more than any single calling feature.
📚 Terms you can look up
Not sure what something on this page means? The glossary explains each one in plain language.
🧩 Which route fits you
Not a choice between products, but between two ways of wiring the same thing.
✅ Start from Odoo Phone if
- You want to stay inside standard Odoo, with no custom module in your database
- You are on the Standard plan and do not want to move to Custom
- Your calling needs are ordinary: dial, answer, log, click to call
- You would rather have two suppliers who each support their own half
- You are comfortable entering SIP credentials for each user
🟡 Choose a provider-built module if
- You want one supplier accountable for the whole integration
- You need features Odoo Phone does not cover, such as call transcripts attached to a record
- You want the connector kept current for each annual Odoo release by the vendor
- You prefer setup done from the provider's side rather than user by user
- You have checked, in writing, that it runs on your Odoo hosting model
🔎 Where to go next
Phone systems with a documented Odoo integration
Understand the integration itself
🖱️ Odoo integration, feature by feature
Screen-pops, click-to-call, call logging and what to check before you buy
❓ Common questions
Is Odoo a phone system?
No. Odoo is a business suite with a telephony app inside it. That app, called Odoo Phone since version 19, links calls to records and logs them. It supplies no phone numbers, no calling minutes, no porting and no emergency calling. A telephony provider always sits behind it.
Which providers has Odoo verified for Odoo Phone?
Odoo's version 19 documentation names three: Axivox, DIDWW and OnSIP. Axivox is Europe-based and has by far the most documentation on Odoo's own site. OnSIP, per that documentation, is available in the United States only and needs a US billing address and a US credit card, so it is not a practical option in Luxembourg or the Greater Region.
Can I use a provider that Odoo has not verified?
Yes. Odoo's stated requirement is a SIP server reachable over a WebSocket connection. The provider's domain goes in the settings, and SIP credentials are set on each user record. Odoo notes that it cannot test every provider itself and recommends a verified one, while confirming that no problems are expected where the requirement is met. Ask your provider directly whether they support SIP over WebSocket.
Does Odoo charge extra to keep a phone connector working?
Odoo's pricing page states that maintenance of custom code is not included in any plan. If the connector you choose is a custom module, that cost exists and sits with Odoo, not with your phone provider. Ask both sides how it is calculated and who is billed for it, before you sign either contract.
Do I need the Custom plan to connect my phone system?
It depends on how the connector works, which is worth pinning down early because it changes your Odoo bill. Odoo defines External API as outside software calling into Odoo to read or write data, and that is a Custom plan capability. Odoo also says that calls initiated from Odoo, including by VoIP providers, are covered by Standard. Ask your provider which of those describes their connector, then confirm the answer with Odoo.
How do annual Odoo versions affect a phone connector?
Odoo ships a major version every year, and version 19 arrived on 18 September 2025. Each release can change the integration points a connector relies on. Ask a provider two things: which versions they support today, and how quickly they supported the last release after it came out. The second answer tells you more than the first.
📎 Explore next
📍 Next steps
📅 Running Odoo and wondering how the phones should fit?
A free 20-minute consultation that starts from your setup and your Odoo plan, not from a product.