Yes, in the vast majority of cases, you should start your Odoo project on version 20 as soon as it is released, provided you check your business flows in that version before go-live. On Odoo Online, the question hardly arises; on Odoo.sh or on your own servers, starting on version 19 costs you one year of standard support and brings your first upgrade closer.
There are exceptions, and they are specific: an essential module from the app store that does not exist yet for version 20, custom developments already written for 19, a go-live date too close to test with peace of mind. Odoo 20 was unveiled at Odoo Experience, September 24 to 26, 2026. Here is how to decide, based on the publisher's own facts.
Odoo 19 or Odoo 20: which to choose for a new project?
For an SME starting today, the real comparison is not “the version everyone knows” versus “the new version”. It is the lifespan of the database you are about to build. An integration project means several months of configuration, data migration and training. Partly redoing it two years later to move up a version means less time and budget for everything else.
The table below sums up the decision based on your hosting, the criterion that weighs the most.
| Hosting | Recommended starting version | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Odoo Online | The latest available | Intermediate versions come out every two to three months and upgrades are mandatory |
| Odoo.sh | Odoo 20, unless a module or custom development blocks it | Standard support planned until September 2029, versus September 2028 for 19 |
| Your own servers | Odoo 20, unless a module or custom development blocks it | Same support schedule, and an upgrade that gets easier the smaller the version gap |
Take a 25-user distribution business that kicks off its project in November 2026 for a go-live in March 2027. On version 19, it starts with a year and a half of standard support ahead of it. On version 20, it has two and a half. This is not a scheduling detail: it is one more year of security fixes on the tool that runs its sales, inventory and invoicing.
Why does the answer depend on your hosting?
Odoo does not release its versions the same way everywhere. Major versions (19.0, 20.0) come out once a year and are available on all three hosting options. In between, Odoo releases intermediate versions (19.1, 19.2, 19.3, 19.4) reserved for Odoo Online.
On Odoo Online, the version follows the publisher's pace
The Odoo 20 upgrade documentation is explicit. An Online database on a major version must be upgraded every two years. A database on an intermediate version must be upgraded a few weeks after the next version is released. Odoo warns you in the database before triggering the upgrade, and runs it automatically if nothing is done before the deadline.
The consequence: choosing Odoo 19 on Online to “wait for 20 to mature” does not protect you for long. The test database used for the screenshots in this article is hosted on Odoo Online, and it already runs Odoo 20.
The habit to adopt, whatever the hosting: open the Settings and scroll down to the “About” section. That is where the actual version of your database is shown, to compare with the one stated in your integrator's proposal.
On Odoo.sh and on your own servers, the choice is real
On Odoo.sh, the documentation allows two additional years to carry out the upgrade after the first three years of support. On your own servers, you can stay on the same version indefinitely, even though Odoo does not recommend it, and the documentation states that the smaller the version gap, the easier the upgrade should be. It is on these two hosting options that the choice between 19 and 20 really commits the business for several years.
How long is each version maintained?
Odoo distinguishes two phases. Standard support is included in the subscription. Extended support, paid on top, only exists on Odoo.sh (for a limited number of versions) and on your own servers.
“Standard support covers the first three years following the release. It is available on Odoo Online, Odoo.sh and on-premise.” (Official Odoo 20.0 documentation, Standard and extended support)
The same page sets the schedule. Odoo 19.0, released in September 2025, is supported until September 2028. Odoo 20.0, released in September 2026, until September 2029. Both dates are stated as planned by the publisher.
One point carries a lot of weight for a business owner: security updates are only provided during standard support. Once that period is over, what remains is extended support, billed on top, where fixes are only provided when technically feasible. Online intermediate versions are not eligible for it at all.
Another rule in the documentation: you can upgrade from any version to a major version that is still under standard support, or that left it less than six months ago. Starting on 19 therefore does not lock you in. It simply forces you to schedule one more technical project earlier: retesting your flows, documents and automations in the next version.
What are the risks of a brand-new version?
Starting on a new version is not without trade-offs. Three risks deserve a hard look, none of them a deal-breaker if it is checked before go-live.
Fixes still in progress
A major version a few weeks old has been less battle-tested by users than a version that is a year old. Standard support includes help and bug fixing, but a defect discovered the day before go-live is still a defect to work around. That is exactly what the testing phase must bring to light, on your real cases and not on a demo.
This is also what sets a new project apart from a database already in production. Switching your production to 20 on release day exposes the business to the first defects. Starting a months-long project on 20 means going live on a version that will have had time to receive its first fixes.
You, discovering on go-live day a version 20 screen that nobody had opened during testing.
Add-on modules not yet available
On the Odoo app store, each module is published by its author for specific versions. A carrier connector, a payment module or a business tool available for 19 is not necessarily available for 20 in the first weeks. Before choosing, list the add-on modules your project depends on and check, for each one, that it exists for the target version. If one of them is essential and missing, the decision changes.
Custom developments to port
This is the most expensive point. The upgrade documentation leaves no ambiguity on the subject:
“If your database contains custom modules, it cannot be upgraded until a version of your custom modules is available for the target version of Odoo.” (Official Odoo 20.0 documentation, Upgrade)
In practice, the code of a development written for Odoo 19 will have to be upgraded for 20 before the database can follow. The same page specifies that upgrading modules created in-house or by third parties, Odoo partners included, is not part of the upgrade services of the Odoo Enterprise subscription, unless a maintenance contract covers them. If you start on 19 with three custom developments, you pay for porting them sooner. If you start on 20, they are written once, for the version that will live the longest.
The best way to limit this cost is still to limit custom work itself: standard first, then Studio, then an existing module, and code only when the business need truly justifies it. These four levels, and the technical debt each development adds at every version upgrade, are detailed on our page about the cases where it is better to avoid custom development in Odoo.
Which Odoo 20 new features can tip the balance?
The support period argues for 20 in almost every case. New features make the difference when one of them meets a specific need of your project. The release notes published by Odoo detail them app by app. A few telling examples for an SME, according to those notes: in CRM, a drop-down menu to switch from one sales team's pipeline to another; paying vendor bills, one by one or in batches, directly from Odoo with a single signature; on-site interventions built into the Planning app, with an optimized route on the map.
If one of these features was part of your specification and would have required custom development in 19, starting on 20 eliminates that development. It is the most concrete argument there is. Thirty-four of these new features, reviewed and rewritten in plain English, are sorted app by app on a page we invite you to read here: what's new in Odoo 20.
Be careful, however, with the new artificial intelligence features. On Odoo's pricing grid, agentic AI is reserved for the Custom plan, billed at €35.90 per user per month on an annual commitment for the first year, then €44.90. And the Odoo 20 release notes specify that all AI features now consume credits, purchased separately. If AI is your reason for moving to 20, put a figure on these two items before deciding. The Standard plan, for its part, is €19.90 per user per month on an annual commitment for the first year, then €24.90.
For a business coming from another software, the useful comparison is 19 versus 20. For one coming from an older Odoo version, it covers the whole gap. Our comparison tool adds up the changes from every intermediate version, capability by capability, from 16 to 20: compare two Odoo versions.
How do you time the project schedule around version releases?
The simplest rule: the starting version is decided during scoping, and does not change afterwards. Switching versions in the middle of configuration means redoing part of the testing.
- Project launched between October and June: go with 20. Your tests cover the version that will be in production, and fixes released during configuration arrive before go-live.
- Project being scoped in September, when the version is released: wait a few weeks to check the add-on modules, then decide.
- Project already configured on 19 and close to go-live: do not switch midway, go live on 19 and plan the version upgrade within the first year.
You, when your integrator asks you for the third time in a scoping meeting: “So, 19 or 20?”
In every case, the right test is not a sales demo. It is a test database in the chosen version, where your teams replay their real scenarios: a quote all the way to the invoice, a receipt all the way to inventory, a manufacturing order all the way to delivery. Regulatory flows, such as e-invoicing, are also checked in that version, before go-live. How an implementation is organized in short cycles, with a test database open to the teams and scenarios replayed every week, is described in our guide how to run an Odoo implementation.
Which decision rule should you follow?
Three questions are enough to decide, in this order.
- Will your database be on Odoo Online? If so, take the latest version: the documentation requires an upgrade at least every two years anyway.
- Is an essential add-on module missing for version 20? If so, check its availability date with its author, or look for a standard solution.
- Are custom developments already written for 19? If so, compare the cost of porting them now and in two years.
If all three answers are no, start on 20 without hesitation. The only real danger of a new version is going live on it without having tested it on your own flows. That danger exists on version 19 too: it is handled through method, not by choosing a number.
For an SME with 10 to 50 employees, the math is therefore almost always the same: the longest possible standard support, new features that can replace a custom development, and a first version upgrade pushed back by a year. To be weighed against a few extra weeks of vigilance during testing.
- Odoo S.A., official Odoo 20.0 documentation, “Standard and extended support”, 2026: https://www.odoo.com/documentation/20.0/administration/standard_extended_support.html
- Odoo S.A., official Odoo 20.0 documentation, “Upgrade”, 2026: https://www.odoo.com/documentation/20.0/fr/administration/upgrade.html
Article written by Billy Felicie
Odoo integration expert at Hors du Commun (Lyon). I have been helping SMEs implement their digital tools and optimize their business processes for more than 5 years.