Odoo vs Simple-Simon.
A work-order app, or one platform?
Simple-Simon is a genuinely good digital work-order app: installers and field-service teams get their jobs, checklists, photos and signatures on a phone or tablet, and the paper work order disappears. For a team whose only goal is to digitise the work order, it is affordable, friendly and quick to adopt. But it is a point tool by design: it does not run the planning, the stock, the purchasing, the invoicing or the books. In the installation and field-service leads we analysed, Simple-Simon-style apps always sat alongside a bookkeeping package and a pile of Excel - the work order was digital, but the business around it was not. Odoo answers with Field Service and Project as native apps on the same platform as inventory, invoicing and accounting: the completed work order becomes stock movements, an invoice and a financial result without re-typing. In one line: Simple-Simon digitises the work order; Odoo runs the whole field-service business the work order is part of.
- 01 Digitising the work order, or running the business? If digitising the work order is the whole ambition, Simple-Simon nails it. Once the business around it has to keep up, the hand-offs become the pain.
- 02 What happens after the job is signed off? The re-typing after the job is where field-service margin quietly leaks. On one platform that step disappears.
- 03 Stock on the van and in the warehouse For installers, materials are a big share of cost - having them flow from work order to stock to invoice is where the numbers get trustworthy.
- 04 From quotation to contract, not just the job If service contracts and recurring maintenance are part of the business, one platform keeps the customer, the job and the money together.
- 05 A focused app versus a platform A focused app is the fastest way to digitise one step. A platform is the way to stop the whole operation living in separate tools.
At a glance
| Criterion | Odoo | Simple-Simon |
|---|---|---|
| Positioning | Broad ERP with native Field Service | Digital work-order & checklist app |
| Best fit | Installers/service firms wanting the whole business on one system | Teams digitising the paper work order, fast |
| Digital work orders | Native Field Service: jobs, checklists, photos, signature | Excellent - the heart of the product |
| Planning & scheduling | Native planning, calendars, capacity | Light scheduling; not full planning |
| Inventory & materials | Native: van stock, materials used post to inventory | Records materials; no real stock control |
| Invoicing & accounting | Native: work order to invoice to ledger | External; export or connector to bookkeeping |
| Quotation & CRM | Native CRM, quotation to work order | Not the core; separate tool |
| Contracts & maintenance | Native recurring contracts, maintenance plans | Limited |
| Architecture | One platform, one data model | Point app + separate back office |
| Strongest point | The whole field-service business on one model | Fast, friendly work-order digitisation |
Five questions that decide it
Digitising the work order, or running the business?
Odoo Field Service handles the mobile work order too - jobs, checklists, photos, signature - but it is one app feeding the same planning, stock, invoicing and books as the rest of the business.
Simple-Simon is superb at exactly one job: turning the paper work order into a smooth digital one. Everything else - planning depth, stock, invoicing, the accounts - is another tool it hands off to.
If digitising the work order is the whole ambition, Simple-Simon nails it. Once the business around it has to keep up, the hand-offs become the pain.
What happens after the job is signed off?
In Odoo, a completed work order flows on: materials used deduct from van and warehouse stock, the invoice is generated, and the financial result posts to the ledger - one continuous flow.
With Simple-Simon the signed work order is the end of its road; someone then re-enters the materials into a stock sheet and the hours and lines into the bookkeeping, by hand or via an export.
The re-typing after the job is where field-service margin quietly leaks. On one platform that step disappears.
Stock on the van and in the warehouse
Odoo tracks stock across warehouse and vans in real time, so materials used on a job update inventory and trigger replenishment automatically.
Simple-Simon records what materials were used on a job, but it is not a stock system; real inventory control lives elsewhere, disconnected from the work order that consumed the parts.
For installers, materials are a big share of cost - having them flow from work order to stock to invoice is where the numbers get trustworthy.
From quotation to contract, not just the job
Odoo covers the whole cycle: CRM and quotation before the job, Field Service during, invoicing after, and recurring service contracts and maintenance plans around it - on one data model.
Simple-Simon focuses on the execution of the job; the quotation, the CRM and any service-contract logic sit in separate tools that do not share the work-order data.
If service contracts and recurring maintenance are part of the business, one platform keeps the customer, the job and the money together.
A focused app versus a platform
Odoo is a broad platform you can start narrow on - Field Service plus invoicing - and extend into stock, CRM and accounting as you consolidate, without changing systems.
Simple-Simon is a focused, affordable app that does its one job well and integrates outward. That is its strength and its ceiling: it is not designed to become the system of record.
A focused app is the fastest way to digitise one step. A platform is the way to stop the whole operation living in separate tools.
Which one fits?
Choose Odoo if…
- Materials used on a job should update stock and the invoice automatically.
- You want planning, work orders and the books on one system.
- Quotation, CRM and service contracts are part of the business.
- Re-typing after the job into stock and bookkeeping is a daily drain.
- You run a real field-service operation, not just work orders.
- You want to start with Field Service and grow into the platform.
Choose Simple-Simon if…
- Digitising the paper work order is essentially the whole goal.
- You are happy running bookkeeping and stock in separate tools.
- You want a friendly app your field team adopts in a day.
- Planning, invoicing and inventory depth are not needed in the app.
- Budget and speed of adoption outweigh integration.
- The back office is simple and stays that way.
Odoo vs Simple-Simon, frequently asked questions.
What is the best alternative to Simple-Simon?
What is the difference between Simple-Simon and Odoo?
Does Odoo have a mobile work-order app for technicians?
Can I keep Simple-Simon and connect it to Odoo?
Is Odoo not too big for a small installation company?
Can you migrate from Simple-Simon to Odoo?
A digital work order, or the whole field-service business?
Simple-Simon is a great way to kill the paper work order. The comparison gets real once the materials, the planning, the invoicing and the books have to keep up with the jobs and a pile of Excel and a separate bookkeeping package grow behind it - exactly the setup we saw in the installation leads we analysed. Book a Quickscan and we will map your job flow, the tools behind it, and what running it native on Odoo Field Service would look like.
The most expensive software is the software that 'just works'.
Because the work around it - double entry, Excel checks, waiting time, errors - never shows up on your software invoice. It does land on your P&L, as labour cost and lost hours; you just never add it to the software bill. And the frustration your team feels every day stays completely invisible. Work out what it costs you per year: you can't capture work satisfaction in a spreadsheet. 60 seconds, no sales pitch - just a number that sticks.
Curious about realistic hours, cost and timelines? See the Odoo implementation benchmark →
Prefer all Simple-Simon alternatives side by side? See the Simple-Simon alternatives →