Odoo Standard, Custom or Odoo.sh: which one gives API access?

30 September 2026

This is the question that stops the most ERP-BI signups, and Odoo's documentation answers it in one sentence few people have read. Here it is, with what it implies.

The three Odoo Online plans

As of 30 September 2026, Odoo's pricing page lists three plans for the version Odoo hosts (Odoo Online):

• One App Free: free, a single app, unlimited users.
• Standard: 24.90 € per user per month (annual price, before the first-year discount), all apps, Odoo Online only.
• Custom: 44.90 € per user per month, all apps, plus Odoo.sh or on-premise hosting, Odoo Studio, multi-company, and the external API.

Odoo's developer documentation is blunt about it: "Access to data via the external API is only available on Custom Odoo pricing plans. Access to the external API is not available on One App Free or Standard plans."

What it means in practice

The external API is the door another piece of software uses to read (or write) your Odoo: an accounting connector, a BI tool, a third-party shop, ERP-BI. On the Standard plan that door is shut. You can export files by hand, but no tool can connect on its own every night.

If you are on Odoo.sh or on your own servers, the question does not arise: both come under the Custom plan, and the API is available.

How to tell which plan you are on

In Odoo, open Settings. The plan name shows in the subscription block, or on your Odoo invoice. If your address ends in .odoo.com and you have never discussed "Custom" with Odoo, you are probably on Standard.

Where the API key is

Once the API is available (Odoo 14 or newer), the key takes two minutes to create, with no integrator involved:

1. Click your avatar at the top right, then Preferences (or My profile).
2. Account Security tab.
3. New API Key. Give it a name (say "ERP-BI") and copy it at once: Odoo never shows it again.

The key carries the rights of the user who creates it. For a tool that only reads, create it from a user who sees sales, accounting and CRM, but does not need to be an administrator.

What ERP-BI reads, and what it does not do

ERP-BI reads partners, leads and opportunities, quotes and orders, invoices, products and categories, and chatter notes. It changes nothing in your Odoo unless you explicitly click an action that asks for it. Sync runs every night, incrementally, so it never weighs on your instance during the day.

If you are weighing a move to Custom just for the API, do the sum on your user count. And if you are already on Custom, Odoo.sh or your own servers, all that is missing is the key.