The verdict in three sentences
An API connector between your ERP and your website costs in 2026 between 12,000 and 40,000 EUR, depending on the number of flows (stock, prices, orders, customers) and the maturity of your ERP's API. The realistic timeline runs 6 to 12 weeks, with ongoing maintenance at 400-1,000 EUR/month to handle errors, retries and changes. The real payoff is not cosmetic: manual re-entry drops by roughly 70% and displayed stock levels finally become reliable.
What a connector actually covers
A connector is not a nightly CSV export. In 2026 we mean bidirectional REST APIs, webhooks for real-time sync and a robust queue to absorb spikes. The most requested flows: catalogue and prices downstream (ERP to site), real-time stock, web orders pushed up to the ERP, and customer records.
| Synced flow | Direction | Frequency | Complexity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product catalogue | ERP to site | Hourly or webhook | Medium |
| Prices and discounts | ERP to site | Real time | Medium |
| Stock | ERP to site | Real time (webhook) | High |
| Orders | Site to ERP | Real time | High |
| Customer records | Bidirectional | Real time | High |
| Delivery statuses | ERP to site | Hourly | Low |
The line item that blows up a budget is error handling: what happens if the ERP is down when an order lands? A serious connector includes exponential retries, logging and alerting.
2026 pricing grid by tier
| Tier | Scope | Cost | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | 1-2 flows, one-way | 12,000-18,000 EUR | 6-8 wks |
| Standard | 3-4 flows, partial real time | 18,000-28,000 EUR | 8-10 wks |
| Advanced | 5-6 bidirectional flows, webhooks | 28,000-40,000 EUR | 10-12 wks |
| Monthly maintenance | Monitoring, fixes, changes | 400-1,000 EUR/month | Ongoing |
Add the cost of your ERP's API licences or modules: some vendors (SAP, Microsoft Dynamics) bill API access separately, 100 to 600 EUR/month depending on call volume.
Mini case study
Mark, IT director of an electrical-supply SME in London, manages 8,000 SKUs in Sage X3. His sales team was re-keying web orders into the ERP: about 25 hours a week combined. He picks a Standard connector at 24,000 EUR plus 600 EUR/month maintenance.
Payoff: re-entry falls from 25 to 7 hours a week, saving 18 hours. At a loaded cost of 32 EUR/hour, that recovers around 2,300 EUR/month, before counting avoided keying errors (returns, credit notes). The 24,000 EUR investment pays back in about 11 months, after which the connector becomes a pure operational profit centre.
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FAQ
How long to connect an ERP to my website?
Expect 6 to 12 weeks in 2026. A basic one-way connector ships in 6-8 weeks; a bidirectional real-time connector needs 10-12 weeks, testing included.
My ERP has no modern API, is it still possible?
Yes, but the budget rises. Without a REST API you fall back to file connectors or an intermediate database, which adds 20 to 40% to the cost and makes real time difficult.
Why 400-1,000 EUR/month maintenance?
A remote API keeps changing: ERP updates, new fields, traffic spikes. Maintenance covers monitoring, fixing failed flows and small changes, typically 2 to 6 hours a month.
Is real time essential?
For stock, yes, or you risk selling out-of-stock products. For the catalogue, an hourly sync is often enough and costs less.
What concrete gain should I expect?
Around a 70% reduction in manual re-entry and reliable displayed stock, which cuts customer disputes and credit notes.
Let's scope your project. Tell us your ERP (Sage, SAP, Odoo, Dynamics), your priority flows and monthly order volume, and we will price the right connector. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
