Yes, you read that right. We have stopped using apps from the Odoo App Store. We evaluated our recent Odoo implementation projects and it turned out that we had no benefit at all from using Odoo 3p apps. On the contrary, we lost valuable time solving bugs and communicating with the authors of these 3p apps.
The Odoo App Store
The Odoo App Store is the place for developers to publish Odoo Apps. Anyone can publish a new module in the Odoo App Store. Can you believe that??Anyone? Yes, anyone can post their Odoo Apps. But who assesses the quality of what is posted? Unfortunately: no one!
For this reason alone, you should already avoid the Odoo App Store. It is a breeding ground for problems. Users expect the same experience as, for example, the Apple App Store (https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/) or Google Play Store (https://developers.google.com/android/play-protect).
Users do not see the complexity (and potential problems) of an app and think you can simply install the app, try it out, and remove it if you do not like it. I can do it on my mobile phone, so why can I not do the same on my ERP system? I cannot blame them for thinking that way. We live in an app world and even Odoo presents its ERP system as an app-based application.
If we take a closer look at what is offered in the Odoo App Store, we find free and paid apps. Apps are not that expensive and you may think, ‘what the heck’, let us give it a try. If your Odoo database is hosted on Odoo.sh, you can even create a test instance at the push of a button.
Of course, not all apps are bad, that is not my point. The OCA has very good apps, because they force developers to follow strict guidelines before an app may be published. My point is that if you offer uninformed users an App Store, they may expect certain things.
Below is an overview of what I believe is missing from the Odoo App Store:
No quality control performed by Odoo SA
Anyone can subscribe and publish Apps in the Odoo App Store. There is no review of the publisher or the published code. In my opinion, you cannot facilitate the publication of software without properly assessing the author and the published code.
Poor coding standards
We have reviewed many apps from the app store and the majority do not follow proper coding standards. That makes code difficult to read and maintain. Good quality software starts with following the proper standards and guidelines.
Security issues
If no one reviews the code of the apps in the Odoo Apps Store. How can you be sure the app is not leaking data? A security issue may be only internal, due to not setting the right security rules, but it can also be more harmful if your company data is exposed externally.
Performance issues
For what type of Odoo database was the app developed? You cannot read that in the Odoo Apps Store. The app may work fine with 1,000 products, but does it work just as well with 100,000 products? Okay, the number of products in your database may be stable, but what about apps that make changes to stock moves or accounting journal entries? These numbers will only increase and may eventually run into the millions.
And what about scheduled tasks that a 3p app can run for you? In Odoo, a scheduled task (cron) must be completed within a maximum of 15 minutes. If you have a few of these scheduled actions, it works fine, but what if you have many? And can that scheduled task handle the number of records that must be processed? Too often we have seen problems with this in production databases, resulting in performance issues.
Conflicts with other customizations
Keep in mind that every Odoo app can work perfectly on its own, but may conflict with other apps, because the customizations affect the same functionality in Odoo. So testing is always an important step to take.
Apps for existing functionalities
There are plenty of apps that offer functionality already included by default in the current version of Odoo. It seems that the major authors (the authors who publish the most apps in the app store) only migrate apps to the latest version of Odoo without checking whether the functionality is already standard in the new version. When a new Odoo version is released, we see hundreds of apps becoming available for the new Odoo version.
That raises the question of whether these apps are seriously being made compatible with the new version of Odoo or simply pushed to the app store and we will see who uses them. Users contact the author about a problem and that also gives you a new lead/customer. A proven strategy.
Updating to a new Odoo version
Customization is not a one-time investment. When Odoo's standard functionality changes, you must make the customization compatible again. This is often called a migration. You need to think about who will do that in the future and at what price?
How to move forward without the App Store?
So it was a difficult decision to stop using the Odoo App Store. We did not take this decision lightly, but we did it to protect our customers from unexpected problems.
The Odoo App Store looks like a candy store full of solutions you can use off the shelf. Unfortunately, that is not the case at the moment.
So are there no exceptions?
As with so many things in life, there are always exceptions. There are very good authors of very good apps. They have little choice but to offer their apps on the Odoo Apps Store. They are gems of Apps, but you have to know where to find them. If you are looking for good Apps, take a look at the apps made under the banner of the Odoo Community Association. They also have their own app store, the OCA App Store.
But we are also big fans of the work of the Polish company Ventor Tech. They make a great scanning solution for Odoo, and they also have e-commerce connectors available. Take a look at the website of Ventor Tech.
Get proper advice
That is the best advice I can give. We will continue to advise our customers on the use of third-party apps offered in the Odoo App Store. We hope things will improve drastically so that we can reconsider it.
If you need customizations or see an Odoo 3p app in the Odoo App Store that you (think you) need, contact your Odoo partner and get advice. Of course, you can also send an email to erwin@odooexperts.nl.
