Looking for a Simple-Simon alternative?
Simple-Simon is a friendly digital work-order app for installers and field-service teams. Whoever looks for an alternative is rarely unhappy with the work order itself - the pinch is around it. In the installation leads we saw, a work-order app always sat alongside a bookkeeping package and a pile of Excel: the job was digital, but the planning, the stock and the invoicing were not. Here are the options honestly side by side, with Odoo Field Service as the answer that brings the work order and the business onto one platform.
Odoo Gold Partner · Amsterdam · Field Service native on the ERP
What is the best alternative to Simple-Simon?
It depends on where the pain is. If you only want a different work-order app, there are several Dutch field-service apps to compare. But if the real problem is that the work order is digital while planning, stock and invoicing still live in Excel and a separate bookkeeping package, you are not looking for another app but for one platform. Then Odoo Field Service is usually the strongest alternative: the work order native on the same system as planning, stock, invoicing and accounting.
The best Simple-Simon alternatives, honestly scored
We are an Odoo partner, so we are not neutral. And honestly: Simple-Simon is an excellent work-order app. The question is whether you only want to digitise the work order, or consolidate the planning, stock and invoicing around it onto one system. Those two questions have different answers.
| Alternative | Business around the job | Digital work order | Stock & materials | Invoicing & accounting | Planning | Short verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Odoo Field ServiceTop pick | Yes - stock, invoicing, CRM, books native | Native: jobs, checklists, photos, signature | Strong: van stock posts automatically | Native: work order to invoice to ledger | Native planning and capacity | Best once the job has to land in a real business |
| Simple-Simon (stay) | No: point app | Excellent - the core | Records, no stock control | External/export | Light | Fine if digitising the work order is your only real need |
| Other work-order apps | No: point app | Good | Limited | External | Light | A sidestep within the same category; does not solve the loose back office |
| Stay + bookkeeping connector | Partly | Excellent | Separate | Via connector | Separate | Stretches Simple-Simon, but the loose tools remain |
Which alternative fits which situation?
Briefly per option, so you can shorten the shortlist faster:
Odoo Field Service
Strongest if the work order is digital but the planning, stock and invoicing around it live in Excel and a separate package. Odoo does the mobile work order natively - jobs, checklists, photos, signature - and lets the completed job flow on to stock, invoice and books. One platform instead of an app with a manual back office.
Simple-Simon (stay)
A fine choice if digitising the work order is your only real need and your accounting and stock are well handled elsewhere. It is a focused, affordable app your team adopts fast. The boundary is that it stays a point app: everything around it runs separately.
Other work-order apps
There are several Dutch field-service apps with a similar focus. Sensible if a specific feature solves your problem; but it stays a sidestep within the work-order category, with the back office separate alongside.
Stay + bookkeeping connector
Keeping Simple-Simon and connecting it to your bookkeeping stretches the setup. Works, but stock and invoicing stay separate. Often a stepping stone before moving to one platform.
What Simple-Simon does (and what runs next to it), and where it lives in Odoo
The work order sits in Simple-Simon; the rest of the field-service business often sits separately alongside. This is how both translate to Odoo:
| In or next to Simple-Simon | In Odoo |
|---|---|
| Digital work order | Native Field Service: jobs, tasks, photos, signature |
| Checklists & reporting | Checklists and work-order reports on the job |
| Planning (now light/Excel) | Native planning with calendar and capacity |
| Materials logging | Materials used deduct from van and warehouse stock |
| Inventory (now separate) | Native Inventory with replenishment and valuation |
| Invoicing (now export/separate) | Invoice straight from the work order |
| Accounting (now a separate package) | Native Accounting on one ledger |
| Quotation & CRM (now a loose tool) | Native CRM and quotation to work order |
| Service contracts (now none) | Recurring contracts and maintenance plans |
| Re-typing after the job | Gone - everything on one data model |
Why installers look for a Simple-Simon alternative
Simple-Simon is strong at the work order, but by design it is not a business system. In the installation and field-service leads we analysed we saw the pattern: the work order was digital, but the planning ran from Excel, the materials were tracked separately and the invoicing went through a bookkeeping package. The job was digitised, the business around it was not - with re-typing and reconciling between the app and the rest.
The real problem: re-typing after the job
For installers, materials and hours are a big share of cost. When the signed work order is the end of the digital road, someone then enters the materials into a stock sheet and the hours and lines into the bookkeeping - by hand or via an export. That is where margin quietly leaks, and the stock on the van is never quite right. In Odoo the completed work order flows on: materials deduct from stock, the invoice is generated and the result posts to the ledger, without re-typing.
Odoo Field Service: the work order native on the business
Odoo Field Service gives technicians their jobs, tasks, checklists, time, materials, photos and customer signature on a phone or tablet, online or offline - close to what Simple-Simon does. The difference is what happens after: the job becomes stock movements, an invoice and a financial result on the same platform. Around it sit planning, CRM, quotations and service contracts natively. You can start narrow with Field Service and invoicing and expand later.
How do you choose?
Three rules of thumb. One: if digitising the work order is your only real need and your back office is well handled elsewhere, staying with Simple-Simon is logical. Two: if you miss one feature, another work-order app can be a sidestep - but the loose back office remains. Three: if margin leaks in the re-typing after the job and you want planning, stock and invoicing on one system, Odoo Field Service is the strongest choice. Start from your biggest pain: for most Simple-Simon users that is the gap between the job and the rest of the business.
Curious about realistic hours, cost and timelines? See the Odoo implementation benchmark →
Frequently asked questions about Simple-Simon alternatives
Does Odoo have a mobile work-order app for technicians?
Yes. Odoo Field Service gives technicians their jobs, tasks, checklists, time, materials, photos and customer signature on a phone or tablet, online or offline. The difference from a standalone app is that when the job is signed off, the materials, the invoice and the accounting follow automatically on the same platform.
Can I keep Simple-Simon and connect it to Odoo?
It can be integrated, and for some teams keeping Simple-Simon as the field app while Odoo runs stock, invoicing and the books is a reasonable bridge. But it stays two systems to sync; many installers eventually move the work order onto Odoo Field Service. We are honest about when the bridge is worth it.
Is Odoo not too big for a small installation company?
Not if you start narrow. You can begin with Field Service and invoicing - close to what Simple-Simon does, but with the invoice and the books included - and add stock, CRM and contracts later. If digitising the work order is genuinely all you need, Simple-Simon is lighter and we will say so.
Can you migrate from Simple-Simon to Odoo?
Yes. We set up Field Service to match your job and checklist flow, migrate customers and relevant history, and connect the stock and invoicing that used to live in separate tools. Because Simple-Simon is usually run alongside bookkeeping and Excel, part of the value is bringing those onto one platform. We start with a fit-gap of your field-service flow.
Is Simple-Simon bad software?
No. For digitising the paper work order, Simple-Simon is friendly, affordable and quick to adopt. The reason to compare is rarely the work order itself, but that the planning, stock and invoicing around it run separately. If you only want to digitise the work order, we would not advise switching lightly.
A digital work order, or the whole field-service business?
We are happy to think along about which route fits your installation business - even if that is staying with Simple-Simon. Honest about when a work-order app suffices and when one platform wins.