A 6-person micro-business does not have the same needs as an 80-person industrial SME. Yet ERP salespeople don’t always make that distinction. The result: small business owners end up with an oversized tool, disproportionate licensing costs, and low adoption for lack of training.
This comparison answers a straightforward but critical question: does a micro-business actually need an ERP, and if not, which management tool should you choose between Pennylane, Axonaut, Sellsy, and Dolibarr?
Context note: Pennylane, Axonaut, and Sellsy are French-market tools, primarily designed for businesses operating in France, with French accounting standards and regulatory compliance built in. Dolibarr is an open-source project with a global community. This guide is relevant for French businesses, international companies with French subsidiaries, and founders operating under French business law.
Does a Micro-Business Actually Need an ERP?
The complexity threshold that justifies an ERP
A traditional ERP (SAP, Odoo Enterprise, Sage X3) delivers real value when a business combines multiple complex flows: multi-site inventory management, cost-center analytical accounting, manufacturing with bills of materials, or multi-entity consolidation.
Below that threshold, a full ERP is a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Deployment takes 6 to 12 months, configuration requires an integrator, and annual maintenance typically runs 15 to 20% of the acquisition cost.
Under 20 employees: the actual needs
The reality of a small French business comes down to four domains:
- Invoicing and quotes: issue compliant invoices, track payments, follow up on overdue accounts.
- Cash flow: maintain visibility on liquidity at 30 and 90 days.
- Basic CRM: manage a sales pipeline, track contacts and opportunities.
- Basic accounting: export entries to your accountant or maintain bookkeeping online.
These four needs do not require an ERP. They require a well-designed management tool that is quick to learn and connected to your bank.
The 4 tools in this comparison
Pennylane, Axonaut, Sellsy, and Dolibarr all cover these needs — but with radically different philosophies. Here is what each one actually does.
Pennylane: The Choice for Startups and Modern Consultants
Pennylane was founded in 2020 in France with a clear ambition: replace spreadsheet accounting and email-scan exchanges with your accountant with a unified platform. The tool quickly gained traction among tech startups, agencies, and independent consultants.
Strengths: banking, accounting, and financial dashboards in one tool
Pennylane’s core strength is real-time bank connection. Transactions are categorized automatically, accounting reconciliations are generated without manual re-entry, and your chartered accountant gets a dedicated workspace to validate entries. For an agency or freelance professional working with an accounting firm, this produces documented time savings on monthly closing.
The interface is modern and designed for non-accountants. Cash flow forecasting dashboards are readable without training.
Compliance with France’s 2026-2027 e-invoicing mandate is integrated in the higher-tier plans: Pennylane is registered as a Plateforme de Dématérialisation Partenaire (PDP, a certified e-invoicing platform) with the French tax authority (DGFiP) — a critical requirement for VAT-registered businesses operating in France.
Limitations: no inventory management, no native CRM
Pennylane is not a CRM. Sales management is rudimentary (quotes and invoices), but there is no opportunity pipeline, no project tracking, and no inventory management. If your business involves managing physical products or a structured sales cycle, Pennylane will not be enough.
Pricing evolved in early 2026 toward a per-user model. Plans range from approximately €14 to €79/month depending on activated features (indicative pricing at time of publication — verify at pennylane.com/tarifs).
Best for
Communication agencies, consultants, freelancers, advisory firms, early-stage SaaS: any structure with fewer than 10 people, no inventory, and a partner accounting firm.
Axonaut: The All-in-One CRM-ERP for Service Businesses
Axonaut is a French solution launched in 2017, designed specifically for independents and service-based micro-businesses. Its promise: replace the stack of disconnected SaaS tools (CRM here, invoicing there, time tracking elsewhere) with a single platform.
Strengths: sales pipeline, invoicing, time tracking, and lightweight HR
Where Pennylane focuses on the financial side, Axonaut covers the entire commercial cycle: prospecting, quotes, project management, time tracking, invoicing, payment follow-up, and collections. The CRM module includes pipeline-based opportunity management — something Pennylane does not offer.
The lightweight HR module (leave management, expense reports, employee records) avoids the need for a dedicated HR tool when the team stays under around twenty people.
Axonaut is compatible with France’s 2026 e-invoicing requirements (PDP registration confirmed by the publisher).
Limitations: no certified accounting, limited reporting
Axonaut does not manage bookkeeping in the legal sense: it generates accounting exports in FEC or journal entry formats for transmission to an accountant, but does not constitute standalone certified bookkeeping software. If you want embedded certified accounts, this is not the right tool.
Reporting dashboards remain basic compared to a full ERP. For advanced cost-center analysis or multi-entity consolidation, you will quickly hit the limits.
Displayed pricing is €97/month for one user (no commitment), with discounts for multi-year plans — a 30% reduction over 3 years. Verify current pricing at axonaut.com.
Best for
Web agencies, consulting firms, IT service providers, training companies: any service-based micro-business with an active sales cycle and project tracking needs.
Sellsy: The Hybrid CRM-Invoicing-Accounting Solution
Sellsy is a French publisher founded in La Rochelle in 2009. Originally known for its CRM, it has progressively integrated invoicing and pre-accounting modules to become a credible alternative to lightweight mid-market ERPs.
Strengths: integrated accounting, sales pipeline, client portal
Sellsy’s main advantage over Axonaut and Pennylane is integrated bookkeeping: Sellsy includes an accounting module (chart of accounts, journals, account matching) that allows some micro-businesses to reduce dependence on an external accountant for routine entries, with only quarterly validation required.
The client portal is a differentiator: your customers access a dedicated space to review quotes, approve purchase orders, and pay online. For B2B businesses with recurring clients, this delivers measurable value.
Sellsy is positioned as an eligible PDP for France’s 2026 e-invoicing mandate.
Limitations: demanding pricing model for very small structures
Sellsy’s friction point is its pricing model. The Standard plan starts at €49/user/month (annual billing), with a minimum of 2 users — meaning a minimum of €98/month for a micro-business. The Evolution plan rises to €89/user/month. Verify current pricing at go.sellsy.com.
For a solo or 2-3 person operation, the features-to-price ratio is less favorable than Axonaut for equivalent scope. Sellsy becomes more compelling from 5 to 10 users, where the tool can deploy its full commercial capability.
The interface can feel dense at first, with a steeper learning curve than Pennylane.
Best for
Small and mid-sized businesses with sustained B2B commercial activity, multiple active CRM users, and a need for integrated pre-accounting to reduce dependence on an external accountant.
Dolibarr: The Open-Source ERP for Self-Sufficient Micro-Businesses
Dolibarr is an open-source project launched in 2004, maintained by the Dolibarr Foundation. It is freely downloadable, self-hostable on your own server, and has an ecosystem of add-on modules available on the Dolistore marketplace.
Strengths: free, modular, active community
Dolibarr is the only tool in this comparison that you can deploy without paying a license fee. Module activation is à la carte: start with invoicing and CRM, then activate inventory, projects, or payroll as needed. The French community is one of the most active in the open-source ERP space: the Dolibarr Foundation estimates approximately 100,000 French companies and sole traders currently use the software (source: Dolibarr Foundation). Internationally, Dolibarr has users across Europe, Africa, and Latin America.
The accounting module covers the French chart of accounts, journals, VAT, and FEC export. Third-party modules even enable online VAT filing and tax return generation.
For tradespeople or non-profits managing physical inventory on a tight budget, Dolibarr offers an unmatched features-to-cost ratio.
Limitations: maintenance on you, dated interface
Open source has an invisible cost: you manage updates, backups, and module conflict resolution. If you host Dolibarr on a VPS (€10 to €20/month), you take on server maintenance. Managed SaaS Dolibarr options exist through several hosting providers (Dolicloud, Mon-Dolibarr), typically between €10 and €25/month, though this partially erodes the cost advantage.
The interface dates from the early 2010s. It is functional but does not match the ergonomics of Pennylane or Axonaut. Adoption by non-technical teams can be challenging without initial training.
Compliance with France’s 2026 e-invoicing mandate depends on installed third-party modules: some Dolibarr partners offer PDP connectors, but there is no official native solution as of this writing. This is a critical point for VAT-registered businesses required to issue electronic invoices from 2026.
Best for
Tradespeople with inventory management, non-profits, technically confident founders, structures with very tight budgets and no requirement for a modern interface.
Comparison Table and Profile-Based Recommendations
| Tool | Starting price | Integrated accounting | Inventory | CRM / Pipeline | API | France e-invoicing 2026 | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pennylane | ~€14/month | Yes (full bookkeeping) | No | No | Yes | Yes (PDP) | Consultant, agency, freelance |
| Axonaut | ~€97/month (1 user) | FEC export only | Yes (basic) | Yes | Yes | Yes (PDP) | Service provider, agency |
| Sellsy | ~€98/month (2 users min.) | Yes (pre-accounting) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes (eligible PDP) | B2B SME, multi-user |
| Dolibarr | Free (SaaS from ~€10/month) | Yes (native module) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Via third-party modules | Tradesperson, non-profit, technical profile |
Indicative pricing at time of publication. Verify current prices on each publisher’s official website.
Recommendation by profile
Consultant or freelance with no inventory: Pennylane. The automatic bank connection and collaboration with your chartered accountant reduces administrative overhead to under 2 hours per month for a pure service profile.
Service provider with an active sales force: Axonaut. The combination of pipeline management, time tracking, and invoicing in a single tool eliminates SaaS fragmentation and gives a coherent project-client view.
B2B micro-business with multiple users: Sellsy. Integrated accounting and the client portal justify the price from 5 active users upward.
Tradesperson with inventory or budget-constrained non-profit: Dolibarr. Free, modular, and the French-language community offers solid support for common use cases.
Growing micro-business exceeding 20 employees: consider Odoo Community or a lightweight ERP such as Sage 50 or Access Group. These tools mark the threshold where complexity (multi-entity, analytical accounting, advanced reporting) justifies a true ERP.
When to Move to a Real ERP?
These four tools cover requirements up to a point. Here are 5 signals that you have outgrown their scope:
- You manage multiple legal entities and need intercompany consolidation or automated transfers between companies.
- Your production involves bills of materials (BOM), manufacturing orders, and real-time raw material consumption tracking.
- Your inventory spans multiple sites with FIFO, weighted average cost, or LIFO valuation rules that differ by warehouse.
- You need project or cost-center analytical accounting, with automatic allocation on journal entries.
- Your team exceeds 25 users and role-based access control becomes critical (segregation of duties, audit trail).
If you tick 2 of these 5 boxes, migrating to Odoo, Sage 50, or another mid-market ERP becomes relevant. If you tick 3 or more, a structured ERP project is the right next step.
To prepare for that next phase, two complementary resources on this blog:
- Our complete guide to choosing your ERP: selection methodology, evaluation criteria, and pitfalls to avoid.
- Our open-source ERP comparison: Dolibarr, ERPNext, Axelor, Odoo: comparing license-free alternatives before scaling up.
- Our guide to self-implementing an ERP with Odoo or Dolibarr: if you want to scale without an external integrator.
