ERP Comparison 2026: Which system fits a growing, international business?

At a glance

NetSuite: cloud ERP built for growth companies

NetSuite, owned by Oracle, is a fully cloud-based ERP that brings finance, inventory, order-to-cash, CRM and e-commerce together in a single system. It’s designed specifically for mid-sized, growing businesses.

Market data suggests NetSuite’s real sweet spot starts at around €10–30 million in revenue and extends well into the mid-market, typically companies with 50–500 employees. For this group, a few things stand out:

• Multinational capabilities out of the box. The OneWorld functionality handles multiple currencies, tax regimes and subsidiaries in one system without separate integrations, and a single partner can run rollouts across many countries.
• A unified data model. Finance, inventory, orders and customer management live natively in the same system rather than as bolt-ons, giving a solid foundation for data and process architecture.
• Room to scale without switching systems. New users, business units or countries can be added without replacing the platform.

There are realistic challenges too. Pricing isn’t public, and implementation for a mid-sized organization typically costs anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of euros depending on scope. Customization is done in SuiteScript, which is JavaScript-based but tied to NetSuite’s own environment, so changes call for specialist skills. That said, those skills are widely available.

Best for: Companies that have outgrown entry-level systems, operate across several countries or currencies, and want one system instead of many without yet committing to a large-enterprise ERP investment.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central: a natural extension of the Microsoft ecosystem

Business Central is Microsoft’s ERP for small and mid-sized businesses, typically organizations with around 5–300 employees. It covers finance, supply chain, sales and customer service, and its biggest draw is seamless integration with the rest of Microsoft 365, including Excel, Outlook, Power BI and Teams.

In 2026, development has focused on building AI agents directly into the system, such as automations that monitor overdue invoices or flag anomalies in purchasing and inventory.

Business Central’s pricing is more transparent than NetSuite’s and its entry point is lower, which makes it especially appealing to companies already living in the Microsoft ecosystem. Its limits show, however, as an organization becomes highly complex. It isn’t primarily designed for large multinational, multi-currency group structures. For that, Microsoft offers its heavier Dynamics 365 Finance.

Best for: Microsoft-centric SMEs whose international and structural complexity is still moderate, and who value a familiar interface and cost efficiency over deep, native multinational capabilities.

Odoo: affordable and modular, but demands in-house expertise

Odoo is a Belgian ERP that started out as open source and has grown into more than 30 integrated apps, spanning accounting and inventory through to CRM, project management and e-commerce. Its main appeal is value for money: per-user pricing is significantly lower than SAP, Microsoft or NetSuite, and the app ecosystem is extensive.

Odoo is used by companies with revenues ranging from a few hundred thousand euros to around €100 million. It works both for light use (a single free app) and for broad, customized deployments on the Custom plan, which includes Odoo Studio and multi-company support, among other features.

User reviews paint a two-sided picture. The system is praised for its flexibility and user-friendly interface, but implementation often requires a deep understanding of your own business processes. Odoo is not a plug-and-play product. The partner network also varies considerably by country, and in some markets local Odoo partners are fairly small, which can create challenges.

Best for: Cost-conscious, technically capable growth companies that want a broad set of apps on one platform and are prepared to invest in implementation.

Light: AI agent-driven finance software

Light is a European software company that launched in 2024 and was built from the ground up around AI agents. Rather than an assistant bolted onto a legacy system, its agents do the actual bookkeeping: coding supplier invoices, chasing missing receipts and preparing month-end reports. The agents follow rules the company sets itself, and the finance team approves anything that needs human judgment.

Light’s key strengths are:

• Group accounting in one system. Every entity, country and currency is in the same system, so consolidation doesn’t require separate spreadsheets.
• Fewer separate tools. Alongside the general ledger, Light covers accounts payable and receivable, company cards, expense management and subscription billing. Banks, payroll and CRM connect through integrations.
• Fast implementation. The vendor estimates 4–16 weeks from signing to the first month-end close.

That said, Light is focused on finance. It doesn’t include inventory management, manufacturing, supply chain or e-commerce, so a company that makes or stocks physical products will need a broader ERP. Light is also a very young vendor, with fewer customer references and partners than established players.

Best for: Internationally growing services and software companies with multiple entities whose ERP needs center on finance, especially those looking to keep the finance team lean through automation.

SAP Business One: mature and well localized, but heavier

SAP Business One is SAP’s ERP for small and mid-sized businesses, used either by independent SMEs or by subsidiaries of larger SAP-run groups that need a lighter system with a close connection to the parent company’s SAP environment. It covers finance, sales, purchasing, inventory and light manufacturing.

Its strengths include a mature, well-tested product, strong localization for different countries’ tax and accounting requirements, and the option of running on the SAP HANA database for real-time reporting, which is rare in systems of this size.

Recurring criticism centers on cost and implementation effort. Many user reviews cite high licensing, implementation and maintenance costs, along with a more traditional interface that takes longer to learn than modern cloud-native competitors. Business One has also been on the market for a long time without a major technological overhaul.

Best for: Companies that value SAP’s maturity and localization, particularly where the rest of the group already runs SAP, and that are ready for a larger overall investment than Odoo or Business Central would require.

When a company outgrows the mid-market

Some companies eventually become so large or complex that none of the systems above are enough anymore. That might mean dozens or hundreds of entities, billions in revenue, heavy regulatory requirements or an exceptionally asset-intensive business. This is where Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and IFS come in.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance: finance for large, complex groups

Dynamics 365 Finance, part of the broader Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations suite, is Microsoft’s solution for large and complex organizations. These are typically companies with more than 200 users, many legal entities, multiple currencies and reporting under both IFRS and local standards.

Its core strength is global financial management. It supports hundreds of entities in a single environment, automates intercompany transactions and their elimination in consolidation, and can maintain parallel ledgers, such as IFRS and local GAAP, at the same time. In 2026, development has focused on AI-assisted period close and global localization for more than 210 countries.

Compared with NetSuite and SAP S/4HANA, D365 Finance is positioned as a system for large global groups, while NetSuite targets fast-growing mid-sized companies. Businesses with lighter manufacturing often feel more at home in NetSuite, whereas heavy manufacturing or extensive multinational operations tend to suit D365 Finance better.

The price tag matches the segment. Implementation costs typically run three to five times the annual license fee, and the project can take considerably longer than a mid-market ERP rollout.

Best for: Large multinational groups whose core challenge is the complexity of finance and reporting, with many entities, currencies and regulations to manage in one system.

IFS Cloud: when assets and service are at the heart of the business

IFS is a Swedish ERP vendor specializing in asset- and service-intensive industries: aerospace and defense, energy and power generation, industrial equipment, construction and field service. IFS Cloud combines three things on a single platform that most other ERPs require you to buy separately and integrate:

1. ERP: finance, manufacturing, procurement and project management
2. EAM (Enterprise Asset Management): asset lifecycle management and predictive maintenance
3. FSM (Field Service Management): field service scheduling and resource planning

This combination removes the data silos that appear when maintenance and service systems are bolted onto a general-purpose ERP after the fact. IFS is particularly strong in sectors where physical assets directly generate business value. In aerospace and defense, for example, it’s known for strong support for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) and regulatory compliance such as ITAR.

IFS doesn’t compete as a general-purpose ERP for small retail or service businesses. Its value only materializes when asset management and service are core to the business itself. Implementation requires an experienced partner and is especially complex in regulated or asset-heavy industries, and total cost of ownership is high.

Best for: Asset- and service-intensive organizations in energy, aerospace, heavy industry or infrastructure, for whom deep integration of maintenance and field service with finance matters more than general ERP breadth.

Summary: where to start

If a company is just outgrowing entry-level systems and its business is structurally simple and based in one country, Business Central or Odoo is often the most cost-effective way forward, especially if the organization already runs Microsoft or has the capacity for technical customization.

Once multiple countries, currencies, subsidiaries or rapid international growth come into play, but the organization isn’t yet a large enterprise, NetSuite is built precisely for this in-between segment: one unified system that scales with the business, without another system switch a few years down the line.

If a multi-entity structure is a real challenge but the business is services- or software-led, with no inventory or manufacturing, Light is worth considering. It’s a new, AI agent-driven finance option focused on automating the finance team’s work.

SAP Business One deserves a closer look, particularly if the rest of the group already runs SAP or localization requirements are exceptionally strict.

When an organization grows so large and complex that consolidating finance across dozens of entities and countries becomes the main problem in itself, it’s time to look at Dynamics 365 Finance or comparable enterprise-grade systems. And if the core of the business lies in managing physical assets and field service, from power generation to aviation, IFS is one of the few systems built for exactly that problem from the start.

Need support choosing an ERP system?

At Greenstep, we carry out independent ERP pre-studies for companies. We map your current state and needs, and give an objective assessment of which system we believe would suit you best. Get in touch!