Odoo Enterprise vs Community Docker — Setup Guide

Community vs Enterprise — What's Different in Docker?

Here is the short version:

The Community image is freely available on Docker Hub. Anyone can pull it, run it, and deploy it to production. No credentials, no subscription, no approval process.

The Enterprise image is not on Docker Hub. You need an active Odoo Enterprise subscription to access it. There are two ways to get it: pull from Odoo's private registry, or build your own image with the enterprise addons baked in.

Everything else — PostgreSQL configuration, Nginx routing, volume mounts, backup strategies, environment variables — is the same for both editions. If you already have a working Community Docker setup, upgrading to Enterprise is a 15-minute job.

Running Odoo Community with Docker

This is the simplest path. The official Odoo image on Docker Hub includes everything you need.

docker-compose.yml — Community Edition

version: "3.8"

services:
  odoo:
    image: odoo:18.0
    container_name: odoo-community
    depends_on:
      - db
    ports:
      - "8069:8069"
      - "8072:8072"
    volumes:
      - odoo-data:/var/lib/odoo
      - ./config/odoo.conf:/etc/odoo/odoo.conf:ro
      - ./custom-addons:/mnt/extra-addons
    environment:
      - HOST=db
      - PORT=5432
      - USER=odoo
      - PASSWORD=odoo_db_password
    restart: unless-stopped

  db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    container_name: odoo-db
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_DB=postgres
      - POSTGRES_USER=odoo
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=odoo_db_password
      - PGDATA=/var/lib/postgresql/data/pgdata
    volumes:
      - db-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data/pgdata
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  odoo-data:
  db-data:

Minimal odoo.conf

[options]
addons_path = /mnt/extra-addons
data_dir = /var/lib/odoo
admin_passwd = your_master_password_here
db_host = db
db_port = 5432
db_user = odoo
db_password = odoo_db_password
proxy_mode = True
workers = 4
max_cron_threads = 2
limit_memory_hard = 2684354560
limit_memory_soft = 2147483648
limit_time_cpu = 600
limit_time_real = 1200

Start it:

docker compose up -d

Open http://localhost:8069 and you are running Odoo Community. No license key, no registration, no trial period. It is LGPL software — use it freely.

Getting the Enterprise Image

Enterprise is not on Docker Hub. You have two options.

Option A: Odoo's Private Docker Registry

Odoo S.A. provides a private Docker registry for Enterprise subscribers. You will need your Odoo subscription credentials (the ones you use on odoo.com).

# Log in to Odoo's private registry
docker login https://nightly.odoo.com

# Pull the Enterprise image
docker pull nightly.odoo.com/odoo-enterprise:18.0

Your subscription portal will have the exact registry URL and instructions. The image is functionally identical to the Community image but includes the enterprise addons pre-installed.

Option B: Build a Custom Image

If you prefer to control what goes into your image — or if your subscription gives you source access but not registry access — you can build it yourself. This is the more common approach in practice because it lets you include your own custom modules in the same image.

Building a Custom Enterprise Docker Image

This is the approach most production deployments use. You start from the official Community image and layer the Enterprise addons on top.

Prerequisites

• •An active Odoo Enterprise subscription
• •Access to the Enterprise source code (via Odoo's GitHub or download portal)
• •The enterprise addons directory downloaded locally

Dockerfile

FROM odoo:18.0

USER root

# Install additional Python dependencies needed by Enterprise modules
# OCR/invoice extraction, PDF processing, etc.
RUN pip3 install --no-cache-dir \
    python-stdnum \
    vobject \
    xlrd \
    num2words \
    phonenumbers \
    python-barcode \
    qrcode \
    cryptography

# Copy Enterprise addons into the image
COPY ./enterprise /mnt/enterprise-addons

# Copy any custom addons
COPY ./custom-addons /mnt/custom-addons

# Update addons_path in the default config
RUN sed -i 's|addons_path = .*|addons_path = /mnt/enterprise-addons,/mnt/custom-addons,/mnt/extra-addons|' /etc/odoo/odoo.conf

# Fix permissions
RUN chown -R odoo:odoo /mnt/enterprise-addons /mnt/custom-addons

USER odoo

Build and tag

# Clone or download the enterprise addons to ./enterprise/
# (requires Odoo subscription credentials)
git clone https://github.com/odoo/enterprise.git --branch 18.0 --depth 1

# Build the image
docker build -t odoo-enterprise:18.0 .

# Verify it works
docker run --rm odoo-enterprise:18.0 odoo --version

The resulting image is about 1.5–2 GB depending on how many extra Python packages you install. Tag it with your own registry prefix if you are pushing to a private registry:

docker tag odoo-enterprise:18.0 registry.yourcompany.com/odoo-enterprise:18.0
docker push registry.yourcompany.com/odoo-enterprise:18.0

Docker Compose for Enterprise

Here is a full production Docker Compose setup for Enterprise. The key differences from Community are highlighted in comments.

version: "3.8"

services:
  odoo:
    # Use your custom-built Enterprise image instead of the Docker Hub image
    image: odoo-enterprise:18.0
    # Or if using Odoo's private registry:
    # image: nightly.odoo.com/odoo-enterprise:18.0
    container_name: odoo-enterprise
    depends_on:
      - db
    ports:
      - "8069:8069"
      - "8072:8072"
    volumes:
      - odoo-data:/var/lib/odoo
      - ./config/odoo.conf:/etc/odoo/odoo.conf:ro
      # Mount enterprise addons if NOT baked into image
      # - ./enterprise:/mnt/enterprise-addons:ro
      - ./custom-addons:/mnt/custom-addons
    environment:
      - HOST=db
      - PORT=5432
      - USER=odoo
      - PASSWORD=odoo_db_password
    deploy:
      resources:
        limits:
          memory: 4G
          cpus: "2.0"
        reservations:
          memory: 2G
          cpus: "1.0"
    restart: unless-stopped

  db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    container_name: odoo-db
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_DB=postgres
      - POSTGRES_USER=odoo
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=odoo_db_password
      - PGDATA=/var/lib/postgresql/data/pgdata
    volumes:
      - db-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data/pgdata
      - ./postgres/postgresql.conf:/etc/postgresql/postgresql.conf:ro
    command: postgres -c config_file=/etc/postgresql/postgresql.conf
    deploy:
      resources:
        limits:
          memory: 2G
          cpus: "1.0"
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  odoo-data:
  db-data:

Enterprise odoo.conf

[options]
; Enterprise addons path comes FIRST so enterprise modules override community
addons_path = /mnt/enterprise-addons,/mnt/custom-addons,/mnt/extra-addons
data_dir = /var/lib/odoo

admin_passwd = strong_master_password_here
db_host = db
db_port = 5432
db_user = odoo
db_password = odoo_db_password

proxy_mode = True
workers = 4
max_cron_threads = 2

; Enterprise tends to use more memory due to heavier modules
limit_memory_hard = 4294967296
limit_memory_soft = 3221225472
limit_time_cpu = 600
limit_time_real = 1200

; Longpolling for live chat, discuss, etc.
gevent_port = 8072

The critical detail: the enterprise addons directory must come first in addons_path. Enterprise modules override their Community counterparts by name. If community addons come first, you will get the community version of modules that exist in both.

Enterprise Features That Need Extra Docker Config

Most Enterprise modules work out of the box. A few need additional configuration.

OCR and Invoice Extraction (Documents/Accounting)

Enterprise's AI-powered invoice digitization calls Odoo's IAP (In-App Purchase) servers. No extra Docker config needed for the API calls themselves, but the image processing libraries must be present:

RUN pip3 install --no-cache-dir \
    pdf2image \
    pdfminer.six \
    Pillow

You will also need an IAP credit balance on your Odoo subscription.

Studio (Custom App Builder)

Studio needs the enterprise addons in addons_path and the web_studio module installed. No extra Docker configuration. Just make sure your addons_path includes the enterprise directory and install the module from the Apps menu.

VoIP

The VoIP module requires WebSocket support. Ensure your Nginx reverse proxy passes WebSocket connections:

location /websocket {
    proxy_pass http://odoo-longpolling;
    proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
}

Sign (Electronic Signatures)

Works out of the box. Uses Odoo's servers for signature verification. No additional Docker dependencies.

IoT Box

If you are connecting physical hardware (printers, scales, payment terminals) via IoT Box, the Docker container needs USB passthrough. This only applies if you are running the IoT Box software inside Docker rather than on a dedicated Raspberry Pi:

services:
  odoo:
    devices:
      - /dev/bus/usb:/dev/bus/usb
    privileged: true  # Required for USB access

In practice, most deployments run the IoT Box on a separate device and connect it to the Odoo server over the network.

Switching from Community to Enterprise

Already running Community and want to upgrade? Your data is fully preserved. Odoo Enterprise is the same database schema with additional modules available.

Step-by-step

1. Stop your running containers:

docker compose down

2. Back up everything (do not skip this):

# Database backup
docker exec odoo-db pg_dump -U odoo your_database > backup_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql

# Filestore backup
docker cp odoo-community:/var/lib/odoo ./filestore-backup/

3. Get the Enterprise addons (requires subscription):

git clone https://github.com/odoo/enterprise.git --branch 18.0 --depth 1

4. Build or pull the Enterprise image (see sections above).

5. Update docker-compose.yml to use the Enterprise image:

services:
  odoo:
    image: odoo-enterprise:18.0  # Was: odoo:18.0

6. Update odoo.conf to include enterprise addons path:

addons_path = /mnt/enterprise-addons,/mnt/custom-addons,/mnt/extra-addons

7. Start containers and update the module list:

docker compose up -d

# Update module list to discover enterprise modules
docker exec odoo-enterprise odoo -d your_database --update=base --stop-after-init

8. Activate your Enterprise license via Settings > General Settings > Odoo Enterprise Subscription.

9. Install Enterprise modules you need from the Apps menu.

Your existing data, users, configurations, and customizations are preserved. The upgrade adds new modules to the catalog — it does not remove or modify your existing ones.

Licensing Considerations

This is where people get confused, so here are the specifics.

Community Edition (LGPL-3.0)

• •Free to use, modify, and distribute
• •No user limits
• •No container limits
• •No registration required
• •You can run 100 containers across 50 servers and owe nothing
• •Commercial use is fully permitted

Enterprise Edition

• •Licensed per user — not per container, not per server, not per database
• •Running 5 containers behind a load balancer counts as one deployment — you need licenses for your users, not your infrastructure
• •Development and staging instances are covered under the same license. You do not need separate licenses for non-production environments.
• •The license is tied to the number of named users who access the system
• •Minimum 5 users (pricing varies by region — check odoo.com/pricing)
• •Self-hosting does not change the per-user price, but you avoid Odoo.sh hosting fees

What This Means for Docker

You can:

• •Run as many containers as you want (dev, staging, production)
• •Pull the image on any machine
• •Build and cache images in your pipeline
• •Share the image within your organization

You cannot:

• •Distribute the Enterprise source code or image outside your organization
• •Run Enterprise without an active subscription
• •Use Enterprise modules in a Community installation without a license

Cost Comparison

The infrastructure cost is roughly the same whether you run Community or Enterprise — both need the same PostgreSQL, the same server resources, the same Docker setup. The difference is entirely in the Odoo license.

Self-hosting Enterprise through Docker gives you the same software as Odoo.sh at a fraction of the cost. You trade managed convenience for infrastructure control. OEC.sh sits in the middle: managed deployment without the Odoo.sh markup.

Deploy Both Editions on OEC.sh

Setting up Docker, PostgreSQL, Nginx, SSL, and keeping it all updated is straightforward — but it is also time you could spend on your actual business.

OEC.sh handles the infrastructure:

• •Community or Enterprise — choose your edition at deployment time
• •Switch editions without rebuilding. Your data and configuration carry over.
• •Multi-cloud — deploy on DigitalOcean, AWS, Hetzner, or any provider. No vendor lock-in.
• •Docker-based under the hood — same architecture as this guide, but managed for you
• •Free tier for Community Edition

If you want to run Docker yourself, use this guide. If you want the same result without managing containers, check the pricing or try the Docker Compose Generator to see what OEC.sh would set up for you.

Frequently Asked Questions