AI in Odoo 20 Runs on Credits: How to Keep the Cost Predictable

Weekly Odoo Notes: practical Odoo updates for Caribbean businesses

Odoo 20 launched at Odoo Experience in Brussels on September 24, 2026, with AI at the center of the release. One change gets less attention than the new features but matters more for your budget: every AI feature in Odoo 20 now uses credits.

What changed

Odoo's release notes put it briefly: "All AI features now need credits, which can be bought via IAP." IAP stands for In-App Purchase, Odoo's prepaid credit system. You may already use it for services such as SMS or scanning vendor bills.

• Credits come on top of your subscription. Odoo's pricing page lists In-App Purchase credits under what is not included in its plans. A new database gets a small number of free credits to try the AI out (20 at the time of writing).
• The price per credit is published, but usage per task is not. At the time of writing, Odoo's AI credit page lists €1.00 per credit, sold in packs of 10, 100, 500 or 1,000. How many credits a task uses is not fixed: "Credit usage varies based on the specific AI feature, task complexity, and the size of your request."
• AI agents need the Custom plan. On Odoo's pricing page, "Agentic AI" is listed under the Custom plan only. Odoo's documentation warns that installing the AI app on a Standard plan database automatically triggers an upgrade offer to Custom.
• Agents have a safety stop. When an AI agent reaches its maximum number of steps, it pauses and asks the user before continuing.

Odoo 19 vs. Odoo 20

In Odoo 19, the AI app let you connect your own ChatGPT (OpenAI) or Google Gemini account. That was optional on Odoo Online and required on Odoo.sh (Odoo's hosting platform for customized databases) and on-premise (your own servers).

In Odoo 20, Odoo partners who have reviewed the new version report that those settings are gone. AI requests go through Odoo's own AI service, which picks the model for each task, and are billed in Odoo credits.

In practice, AI costs now come out of your Odoo credit balance instead of a separate OpenAI or Google bill.

Where to see your balance

You can check credits and top them up from inside Odoo:

1. Go to Settings and search for IAP (it sits in the Contacts section).
2. Under Odoo IAP, click View My Services.
3. Open the service (for AI: Odoo AI) to see the balance and Buy Credit.

On that same page you can set an Email Alert Threshold and Email Alert Recipients, so someone is warned before credits run out. Do this before you switch on AI. An empty balance usually gets noticed in the middle of a busy day.

A simple way to budget

1. Start with one process. Pick one task with many repetitions and low risk, such as drafting product descriptions or summarizing leads. Don't switch on AI everywhere at once.
2. Measure for a month. Note your credit balance at the start and the end. That gives you a real monthly cost instead of a guess.
3. Compare against time actually saved. For example, if the AI saves your team two hours a week, set that against what the credits cost.
4. Set the email alert so finance or your Odoo administrator gets a warning, not a surprise.
5. Treat credits as a separate budget line, next to your user licenses.

For businesses in Aruba and the wider Caribbean, a quieter month is the natural time to run this trial, so you have real numbers before the next busy season.

Next steps

• Still on Odoo 19 with your own AI key? Factor the move to credits into your Odoo 20 upgrade plan.
• On the Standard plan? Check whether you need AI agents before installing the AI app. Odoo lists agents under the Custom plan only.
• Already on Odoo 20? Set the email alert on your Odoo AI credits before your team starts using AI.

Want help estimating what AI would cost for your processes? Contact us. Odoo implementations and upgrades are handled together with our implementation partner, Insight Accounting.