Odoo runs the back office. Catafy puts the catalogue in the buyer’s hand.

01

Quick verdict: Catafy vs Odoo catalogue

Odoo is an ERP. Its catalogue and e-commerce modules exist to expose the product master that the rest of the system — inventory, purchasing, accounting — is built around. Catafy is a selling tool. Its catalogue exists to be shared on WhatsApp, opened by a buyer on a phone, and ordered from in two taps. The right choice depends on which job you are hiring for: running the back office, or moving products in front of buyers. Many businesses do both, with Odoo behind and Catafy in front.

02

What each platform is built for

Odoo’s strength is operational depth. Products, stock, bills of material, purchase orders, invoices and accounts live in one database, and the catalogue module renders that data to the web. Deploying it well usually means an implementation partner, configuration work and a team that lives in the back office. The buyer-facing catalogue inherits the ERP’s structure rather than the buyer’s expectations.

Catafy’s strength is selling velocity. Upload products once — with photos, videos, variants and sets — and share a public, private or semi-private catalogue. Buyers verify by OTP and see their own price list; MOQ and minimum order amount apply at checkout; live analytics show who is browsing; and order updates go out from your own WhatsApp number with SMS, email and push as extra channels. Setup is self-serve and the onboarding call is included.

The two are not really competitors. The question is whether your buyers should be ordering from the ERP’s web layer or from a tool designed for how Indian trade buyers actually shop.

03

Catafy vs Odoo for wholesalers

Wholesalers need buyer-specific rates, minimums and a door that unverified people cannot walk through — and they need the catalogue to open fast on a retailer’s phone from a WhatsApp chat. Catafy provides price lists per buyer group, OTP access with seller approval, MOQ and MOA at checkout, set and variant ordering, and screenshot protection. Odoo can model price lists and minimums, but exposing them to buyers as a smooth, WhatsApp-first experience is configuration work, not a setting.

04

Catafy vs Odoo for manufacturers

Manufacturers are often the businesses that genuinely need an ERP — bills of material, work orders, purchasing. The mistake is assuming the same system should be the dealer-facing catalogue. On Catafy a new range is released as a private catalogue to approved dealers at dealer rates, catalogue-access approvals go out automatically on WhatsApp, and live tracking shows which dealer engaged. Orders can then be keyed or exported into Odoo for production and accounting.

05

Catafy vs Odoo for distributors

Distributors need several catalogues from one product master, collections per route or season, team seats for reps in the field, and automated confirmations so the inbox is not the bottleneck. Catafy provides plan-based team seats, per-segment catalogues, shareable collections, live visitor tracking across the team, and WhatsApp, SMS, email and push notifications from one settings screen — without an implementation project.

06

Feature-by-feature comparison

What Catafy includes, and what to verify — including how much configuration is involved — in an Odoo catalogue deployment.

07

Buyer experience: portal vs catalogue link

An ERP portal expects the buyer to log in, navigate the product structure and place an order the way the system models it. A Catafy catalogue expects the buyer to tap a link in WhatsApp, verify by OTP, see their rate card, order sets and quantities with MOQ warnings inline, and get an automatic confirmation from your business number. The second path is the one Indian trade buyers actually complete on a phone.

Send both to a real retailer and watch how far they get without calling you.

08

Using Catafy alongside Odoo

The most common pattern is not replacement but layering: Odoo stays the system of record for stock, purchasing and accounts, while Catafy is the front-end buyers see. Orders arrive in Catafy with buyer, price list and quantities and are keyed or exported into Odoo for fulfilment and invoicing. The sales team works from Catafy’s live analytics; the operations team works from the ERP.

09

Setting up Catafy next to Odoo

Because Catafy is a selling layer, “migration” usually means exporting the buyer-facing slice of the product master and configuring catalogues, buyer groups and notifications. The onboarding call included on every plan covers the mapping.

1. 1

   Export products from Odoo

   Export the product list with internal references, categories, variants and prices; gather images by reference.

2. 2

   Decide the selling slice

   Choose which products, variants and price lists should be visible to buyers — usually a subset of the ERP master.

3. 3

   Bulk import into Catafy

   Map columns, import with images and attributes, and check variants and price lists on a sample.

4. 4

   Set catalogue modes and buyer groups

   Create public, private or semi-private catalogues, assign price lists per buyer group, and set MOQ and minimum order amount.

5. 5

   Connect WhatsApp, notifications and payments

   Link your WhatsApp Business number via Whaaty, choose SMS, email and push events, and connect Razorpay, PayU or PhonePe.

6. 6

   Share with buyers and keep the ERP for operations

   Send the catalogue link on WhatsApp; orders arrive in Catafy and can be keyed or exported into Odoo for fulfilment and accounting.

10

Pricing: Catafy vs an Odoo catalogue deployment

Catafy pricing is flat and public. Every plan includes unlimited orders, online payments with zero transaction fees from Catafy, and a 7-day free trial with no card required. Prices below are per month on annual billing, exclusive of 18% GST. Mobile, email and WhatsApp OTP login options for buyers are included on Growth and Scale; Starter uses a single login type.

An Odoo deployment is priced per user and per app, often with implementation and customisation costs on top. Compare the total — licences, partner fees, ongoing configuration — against a flat Catafy plan for the selling layer, and check Odoo’s current pricing directly.

11

When Odoo is the right choice

If your priority is a single system for inventory, purchasing, manufacturing and accounts, Odoo is a strong ERP and Catafy does not replace it. If your buyers are content logging into a portal and your sales team does not sell on WhatsApp, the ERP catalogue may be enough. Catafy earns its place when buyers need a faster, phone-first, WhatsApp-led way to see prices and order.

12

How to decide in ten minutes

• Do your buyers open product information mostly on phones, from WhatsApp?
• Do different buyers pay different prices, and should unverified people be kept out?
• Do you enforce minimum quantities or order values?
• Does your sales team follow up based on who viewed what?
• Do you want order confirmations from your own WhatsApp number?
• Would waiting weeks for a configured portal cost you sales?
• Do you already run, or need, an ERP for operations?

Yes to most of the first six: add Catafy as the selling layer. Yes to the last one: keep or adopt Odoo for operations — the two work together.

13

Related reading

• B2B catalogue features →Private pricing, MOQ, OTP access
• Cataloguing features →Products, variants, videos, collections
• Live analytics →Real-time buyer tracking
• WhatsApp automation →Order updates from your own number
• Digital catalogue and order management →How the pieces fit together
• Catafy vs Excel →If the catalogue is currently a spreadsheet export