A shop that rents things out has three ways to run its rentals: a general ERP with a rental module (Odoo, Dolibarr, ERPNext, Zoho, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central), a subscription rental program, or a platform that manages the rentals and also brings the customers and covers the items. The ERPs cost between €0 and €37 per user a month plus setup, and they handle invoices and stock well. None of them holds a deposit on a card, verifies an ID or covers an item that does not come back. Here they are one by one, with October 2026 prices, and which kind of shop each one suits.
The author has an interest: Sharepact is a rental platform and you will find it at the end. The sums on the others were done the way a shopkeeper would do them, with no favours to anyone.
Where most shops actually start: notebook, WhatsApp and cash
The system most rental shops in Italy and France run on today is a paper diary, photos of ID cards on the owner’s phone and an envelope of cash deposits. It costs nothing, a counter rental takes two minutes, and it works until something happens: an e-bike that does not come back, a customer who disputes a scratch, a tax inspector asking where those deposits go. Any software has to be compared with this, not with other software. If it is slower than the notebook, nobody at the counter will use it.
Odoo
The one consultants propose most, because it does everything: sales, purchasing, stock, accounting, website. The Rental app is Enterprise-only: €19.90 per user a month in year one, €24.90 after, plus a €2,635 Success Pack for 25 hours or a partner at €100 to €250 an hour. It handles prices by period, pickup and return with receipts, late penalties, contracts signed from the portal. The deposit is a product line refunded by hand, the ID is not verified, damage is invoiced separately. It suits a business that already runs its accounts on Odoo and rents to companies. We wrote a separate guide to Odoo for rentals.
Dolibarr
Open source and free to licence: you install it on your own server or on hosting for a few euros a month. It has invoices, customers and stock, plus third-party modules for managing a fleet of equipment under contract, with brand, model, serial number and dates. Daily rental with a calendar and availability is not in the base product and depends on external modules of uneven quality. Good for someone who has a friend in IT, or is one, and wants to spend time rather than money. No card deposit, no cover.
ERPNext
Also open source, with a more modern interface than Dolibarr, built for companies with manufacturing and accounting. There is no native rental module. Community apps exist for machine and equipment hire, and a property module for leases. In the cloud you pay per user; on your own server you install it yourself. For a shop it is too big a house.
Zoho (Inventory, Books, Creator)
Cheap and well made for invoicing and stock, with plans from about €15 a month. On Zoho’s own support forum, the answer to “can I rent equipment with Inventory” is that it is not designed for that, because an item that goes out and comes back is not stock. Anyone who wants rentals on Zoho builds them with Creator, the app-building tool, or pays someone to. The result is a custom app to maintain.
Dynamics 365 Business Central and SAP Business One
The two ERPs for companies with a finance department. Rental is not in the product: you buy an extension from a partner, and the project usually starts at several tens of thousands of euros. They make sense for a rental company with several sites, a fleet and an admin team, not for a shop.
Subscription rental programs
There are programs built for rentals, on a monthly subscription from a few tens of euros, with a calendar, online booking and contracts. They do the management part better than an ERP, because it is the only thing they do. What stays outside is the same: you verify the customer’s identity yourself, you collect and refund the deposit yourself, if the item does not come back the loss is yours, and the customers you have to bring yourself, with your own website and your own advertising.
Side by side
| Option | Cost (Oct 2026, excl. VAT) | Rental built in | Deposit held on card | ID verified | Damage and theft cover | Brings customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notebook + cash | €0 | no | no | no | no | no |
| Odoo Enterprise | €19.90 to €37.40 per user a month + €1,500 to €5,000 setup | yes (Enterprise) | no | no | no | no |
| Dolibarr | €0 licence, hosting and modules | partly, third-party modules | no | no | no | no |
| ERPNext | €0 licence, cloud per user | no, community apps | no | no | no | no |
| Zoho | from about €15 a month + Creator development | no, to be built | no | no | no | no |
| Business Central / SAP B1 | project from tens of thousands of € | partner extension | no | no | no | no |
| Subscription rental programs | from a few tens of € a month | yes | sometimes | no | no | no |
| Sharepact business | €90 a year + commission per rental | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
Four questions before you choose
Do you need accounting inside the same program? If yes, an ERP. If your accountant already has their own software, no.
How long does a counter rental take? Time the notebook: two minutes. Anything slower will stay switched off.
Who pays if the item does not come back? With every ERP and every rental program, you. Ask it before the demo, not after the first stolen e-bike.
Where do new customers come from? A management program brings none. If the shop is on a side street, that question is worth more than the other three.
The platform: what Sharepact does
Sharepact is a rental platform with an app for customers and a business space for the shop, on the phone or the computer. The business account costs €90 a year, plus a service commission on each completed rental, shown line by line in the payout summary. Nothing to install and no card terminal to rent.
At the counter you create the order, item, days, price, deposit, and the customer scans a code on their own phone: email and phone number, ID and selfie, Apple Pay, Google Pay or card. About two minutes, nothing to download. The deposit stays held on the card and releases itself at return. The platform verifies the ID and the shop keeps no photocopy. Every rental goes out with Sharepact Protection, damage and theft up to the declared value, from pickup to return.
Then there is the part no ERP has. What you list for rent appears in the Sharepact app, where people search by item and by area, and whoever books comes to you to pick it up. The walk-in customer gets an account after the first rental and books from home the next time.
Sharepact does not do accounting, purchasing or payroll. Keep your ERP or your accountant’s program for that, and use Sharepact for the rentals. Details and prices are on the business account page, and for fleets or several shops write to support@sharepact.com.
FAQ
What is the best software for a small rental shop?
The one that is faster than the notebook at the counter and does not leave the item uncovered. ERPs win if you need accounting in the same place; a platform wins if the problem is deposits, IDs, damage and finding customers.
Is there free rental software?
Dolibarr and ERPNext are free to licence, but you pay for hosting, modules and your own time. Odoo’s free plan does not include the Rental app with the apps you need next to it. Sharepact costs €90 a year.
Can an ERP hold the deposit on the customer’s card?
Not out of the box. In Odoo, Dolibarr, ERPNext and Zoho the deposit is an invoice line that you refund by hand.
Can I keep my ERP and use Sharepact?
Yes. The ERP keeps accounting and purchasing; Sharepact handles the rentals, from the till to the cover. The payout summary lists every rental.
How much does it cost to start with Sharepact?
€90 a year, plus a commission on each completed rental. The account opens from the app and the first rental can go out the same afternoon.
