Fonda vs. AFAS OutSite order portal for B2B e-commerce comparison
The OutSite order portal is included in AFAS as standard, at no extra cost: customers order online at their own price, see current stock and reorder with one click. For a simple catalog without much product information, that covers most of the need. As soon as rich product information, imagery or self-service beyond ordering come into play, you hit the limits of a portal built as a general external channel — not specifically to sell online. Fonda connects to the same AFAS system, but builds the customer-facing layer the order portal leaves out.
Who is this comparison for?
You already work with AFAS (Profit) and have an order portal available through OutSite — or you're considering using it for your business customers. Note: this isn't InSite (the internal employee portal), but OutSite, the external portal with the ordering functionality. You're wondering whether this order portal is enough, or whether a dedicated B2B platform delivers more.
This comparison is relevant for wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers in Belgium and the Netherlands, with 20 to 300 employees, who work with AFAS and are considering or already using the OutSite order portal for customer orders.
Fonda vs. AFAS OutSite order portal — an honest overview
The OutSite order portal is included in AFAS as standard, at no extra cost, and offers customer-specific pricing, current stock and one-click reordering. That makes it a serious option to consider — after all, there's no extra license cost involved. The difference with Fonda mainly lies in the product experience: rich product information, imagery and self-service beyond ordering.
| Criterion | Fonda | AFAS OutSite order portal |
|---|---|---|
| Customer experience & UX | ✓ Built for online selling — search, filters, mobile | ✗ Simple order interface, not a full webshop experience |
| Customer-specific pricing | ✓ Native included | ✓ Native included |
| Current stock | ✓ Synced in real time | ✓ Included |
| PIM (rich product information) | ✓ Included — technical spec sheets, multilingual | ✗ Not present — no technical spec sheets or multilingual content |
| Product images | ✓ Unlimited, linked to DAM | ✗ Capped at max. 7 photos per item |
| DAM (certificates, drawings) | ✓ Included, free from Fonda Basic | ✗ Not present |
| Self-service portal (invoices, quotes) | ✓ Native included | Limited — focused on ordering and reordering |
| Reordering | ✓ Included | ✓ One click |
| Development speed for new functionality | ✓ Product roadmap shared across all customers | ✗ Follows the AFAS release cycle |
| Implementation time | ✓ 4–8 weeks | Fast if AFAS is already running, provided scope stays limited |
| Price | ✓ Fixed monthly price, no cost per user or SKU | ✓ Included as standard in the AFAS license, no extra cost |
| The OutSite order portal costs nothing extra on top of your AFAS license — that's a real advantage. The question isn't the price, but whether the limited product experience (no PIM, max. 7 photos per item, no mention of technical spec sheets) is enough for how your customers buy. | ||
The fundamental difference: order portal versus a full customer experience
OutSite is built as a general external portal for AFAS — for customers, job applicants, volunteers and other outside parties — with the order portal as one of the applications within it. That explains both its strengths and its limits: the connection to the ERP data (prices, stock, customer data) is seamless because everything stays within AFAS, but the product experience stays basic. There's no mention of technical spec sheets, multilingual content or an extensive search and filter experience — the number of product photos is even explicitly capped at 7 per item.
Fonda is built specifically for the customer-facing layer an order portal leaves out: PIM for rich product information, DAM for unlimited imagery and documents, and a self-service portal for invoices and quotes alongside ordering. The connection to AFAS stays intact via a standard connector — AFAS remains the source of truth for administration, Fonda adds the customer experience.
When is the AFAS OutSite order portal the better choice?
The order portal is enough when your customers have a simple, straightforward catalog that doesn't need much product information, when customer-specific pricing and current stock are the core need, when self-service beyond ordering (invoices, quotes) isn't a priority, and when you don't want any extra cost for ordering functionality on top of your existing AFAS license.
When is Fonda the better choice?
Choose Fonda if product information and imagery drive the purchase decision (technical spec sheets, certificates, multiple languages, more than 7 photos per item), if you want a self-service portal for invoices, quotes and order history alongside ordering, if you want a modern, searchable webshop experience instead of a simple order form, or if you want to launch new webshop functionality without depending on the AFAS release cycle.
Start with the basics.
Build from there.
Fonda Basic is free and immediately gives you a central place for all your product data and digital assets. You can take the step to a complete B2B webshop with customer-specific prices when you are ready.
Specifically built for B2B SMEs with 20–300 employees · Support based in Ghent