People look for an open source CRM for three reasons. They don't want a bill that grows with every seat, they want their customer data on a server they control, or they want to shape the CRM to how they sell. All three are fair. The catch is that "free" software on your own server still needs someone to install it, update it and back it up.
This guide is for a small business choosing its first CRM, or leaving a hosted one, that is weighing open source options.
When you don't need an open source CRM
- A spreadsheet is still enough if one or two people follow up with customers, you have a few dozen active deals, and nobody needs the history of every email. One row per customer, a "next step" column with a date, sorted every morning.
- A free hosted CRM is simpler if nobody on the team can look after a server. HubSpot's CRM, for example, has a free plan that HubSpot describes as "100% free with no expiration date". The trade-off is that the paid features cost more as you grow, and your data lives on their servers.
What self-hosting takes
Self-hosting means the CRM runs on a server you rent or own. The software is free, but these jobs are yours:
- Setup. A server, a domain name, and an installation. Most of these CRMs ship as Docker images, which makes the install quick for someone who knows Docker.
- Updates. New versions fix security holes. Someone has to install them, and check that nothing broke.
- Backups. The database and uploaded files, copied somewhere else, and a restore tried at least once.
- Email. Sending and syncing email from a CRM needs mailbox settings that are easy to get wrong.
- Someone to call. Community forums answer most questions, but not on your schedule. Several vendors sell support or managed hosting for exactly this reason.
If none of that sounds like anyone on your team, most of the options below also sell a hosted version of the same open source CRM. You keep the option to move to your own server later.
Pick by your reason
| Your reason | Look at |
|---|---|
| No price per seat | Frappe CRM or Krayin hosted (priced per server, any number of users), or any option on your own server |
| A modern, simple sales pipeline | Twenty or Frappe CRM |
| Quotes, invoices and stock in the same system | EspoCRM with its Sales Pack, or Odoo |
| A company that will host, set up and support it | SuiteCRM, or the hosted plans of Twenty or EspoCRM |
| CRM free in the cloud, more apps later | Odoo's One App Free plan |
The open source CRM options
Twenty
Twenty has the most GitHub stars of these, about 60,000. It looks and works like a modern hosted CRM: custom objects and fields, table, kanban and calendar views, workflows, and email and calendar sync. Its licence is AGPL-3.0, except some files under a commercial licence and some developer packages under MIT.
Self-hosting the open source core is free, with up to 5 workspaces and community support. A paid self-hosted Organization plan adds row-level permissions, SSO and support from Twenty's team, at $19 per user a month billed yearly or $25 monthly. In Twenty's cloud, Pro is $9 per user a month billed yearly, or $12 monthly, and Organization is $39 or $52. There is a 30-day trial.
EspoCRM
EspoCRM covers more than sales: accounts, contacts, leads and deals, support cases with a customer portal, and email campaigns. It is licensed AGPL-3.0, and its official Docker image sets up the CRM and its database in one go.
The core is free on your own server. Some important parts are paid add-ons there: the Advanced Pack (reports, workflows and business processes) costs $395 a year per installation, and the Sales Pack (products, quotes, invoices, purchases and inventory) $260 a year. EspoCRM's cloud includes every add-on: Basic is $15 per user a month with at least 3 users, and Enterprise $25 with at least 5, billed for 6 months or a year. There is a 30-day trial.
SuiteCRM
SuiteCRM covers sales, marketing and customer service, and is licensed AGPL-3.0. The company behind it charges no licence or per-user fees; it sells hosting, setup and support, priced in pounds.
The software is free to download and run on your own servers. Its pricing page says that self-hosted means your team manages updates and security and needs technical people. Fully managed hosting starts at £50 a month and requires Standard support, which is £1,200 for 10 support hours. SuiteCRM's own example of hosting plus support comes to £1,560 a year. A guided setup with a day of training starts at £2,520.
Odoo CRM
Odoo is a full suite of business apps: CRM, sales, invoicing, inventory, accounting and more. The Community edition's code is licensed LGPL-3.0 and free to run on your own server.
In Odoo's own cloud, the One App Free plan makes any single app free for any number of users, forever. So CRM on its own costs nothing. Install a second app, such as Sales or Invoicing, and you move to a paid plan priced per user. The strength is that CRM, quotes, invoices and stock live in one system. The cost is setup: Odoo can be configured almost any way, so someone has to decide how it should work for you.
Frappe CRM
Frappe CRM is a simple sales CRM for leads and deals, with email, calls, WhatsApp and follow-ups in one place. It is licensed AGPL-3.0 and works in a phone's browser. It connects to ERPNext, so a deal can become a quotation there, if you later want accounting and stock too.
Frappe doesn't charge per user. On Frappe Cloud you pay for hosting, which starts at $5 a month per site with any number of users and grows with the server size you need. There is a 14-day trial, and you can self-host it instead.
Krayin CRM
Krayin is a sales CRM built on Laravel, a PHP framework, by the company Webkul. Its GitHub repository is MIT-licensed. Self-hosting is free, and its managed cloud hosting starts at $20 a month for a server, with any number of users and up to about 15% off for yearly billing. It is a good fit if a PHP developer will look after it, or if you want to build on top of it.
The options side by side
| Licence | Good for | Hosted from | Watch for | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twenty | AGPL-3.0 (most of it) | A modern sales pipeline you can reshape | $9 per user a month, billed yearly | SSO and row-level permissions are paid, also when self-hosted |
| EspoCRM | AGPL-3.0 | Sales, support and campaigns in one | $15 per user a month, at least 3 users | Reports and workflows need a $395 a year add-on when self-hosted |
| SuiteCRM | AGPL-3.0 | Hosting, setup and support from its makers | £50 a month, plus required support | Managed hosting needs £1,200 of support hours |
| Odoo | LGPL-3.0 (Community) | CRM now, invoicing and stock later | CRM alone free in Odoo's cloud | A second app makes it a per-user plan |
| Frappe CRM | AGPL-3.0 | A simple pipeline for the whole team | $5 a month per site | Hosting cost grows with server size |
| Krayin | MIT | Building on top of the CRM | $20 a month per server | Best with a PHP developer at hand |
How to choose in an afternoon
- Write down your sales steps. From first contact to paid, in your own words, with who does what.
- Shortlist two options from the table above, by your main reason.
- Try both with real data. Most have a free trial or a public demo. Import 50 real customers from a CSV file, then run five real deals through each, with the emails and the follow-ups.
- Decide who looks after it. If the answer is nobody, pick a hosted plan, even of an open source CRM.
- Check the way out. Export your contacts and deals to CSV once, before you commit. If that is hard on day one, it will be harder in two years.