It's FOSS
A Linux and Open Source Web Portal
Last updated November 15, 2021 By 18 Comments
In this article, we list some of the best open source CRM software available for small and medium-sized businesses.
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. CRM software enables the companies to interact with their potential and existing customers, understand and manage their requirements. This improves the relationship of an organization with customers, and a happy customer brings profitability to the business.
So, no matter how big your team is (small business or a big firm), CRM software always comes in handy when you want to keep things organized in your business.
You may avoid CRM software for a couple of employees when you start a business. However, to streamline the process and make the work efficient and fast — you will eventually need CRM software.
But, what about the level of control (or security) in a CRM software? Do you want transparent CRM software which you can take control of?
Well, that is when an open-source CRM software comes into play. You can host it yourself, and you can customize it as per your requirements. You may also opt for the hosted version, where you don’t have to manage it yourself.
In this article, we talk about some of the best open-source CRM tools I have come across.
Let me clarify something. CRM is intended for businesses and when there is software created for business organizations, the developers would also like to make money. This is why almost all the free and open-source software also have their paid ‘enterprise versions’ available.
While you can download the open-source version and host it on your Linux-based server, the ‘enterprise versions’ are hosted by the developers themselves so that you don’t have to manage it.
Some enterprise versions also provide premium features that are not available for the open-source versions. Ticket support is also a feature available only for enterprise versions. Hence, I have also tried to highlight their ‘premium features’ in the list.
Note: The list below is in no particular order of ranking.
Key Highlights:
SuiteCRM was originally inspired (and forked) from SugarCRM’s open-source version. Well, that is no longer available. So, SuiteCRM is the open source alternative for organizations that utilized SugarCRM earlier.
In addition to all the essential features a CRM has to offer, SuiteCRM offers some great affordable managed hosting deals for organizations. With an impressive pricing plan (on server-basis with unlimited users), SuiteCRM takes aim at Salesforce — which is promising.
Key Highlights:
Odoo is yet another popular open-source CRM solution. However, in contrast to SuitCRM, you will observe the pricing plan per user. So, if you are just starting out with a lot of users – you might find it a bit pricey.
The third-party integrations can be done easily, and you can find the pricing for each app/integration when purchasing a subscription. You can either opt for the open source community edition or purchase the enterprise edition.
Key Highlights:
Vtiger offers a cloud version and an open source version. Of course, if you opt for the open source version, you get to host it yourself and manage it all by yourself or hire a team.
After observing the pricing plan, the managed cloud version obviously looks promising. – with separate pricing plans for sales, marketing, and help desk. However, if you have the required technical expertise, the open-source version is good enough as well. Also, it was interesting to see a regional pricing plan for India because they have an office here.
Key Highlights:
ConcourseSuite is a simple CRM that offers open-source version as well. The community edition (or the open-source version) is outdated—which you can still utilize as a basic CRM.
In case you want the latest version (which is the enhanced version of the community edition), you will have to opt for a 5-user trial or purchase the enterprise/cloud version. I couldn’t find a clear pricing plan but its pricing page did mention $10,000 for unlimited users. So, you will probably find out about it after trying out the trial.
Key Highlights:
EspoCRM is new to the scene and it is an impressive CRM software. You can download it for free and host it yourself or opt for the cloud solution where they do it for you.
They offer detailed documentation—in case you want to try it yourself. Furthermore, if you want to go with the cloud solution—you can always switch to on-premise anytime you want. I guess that makes it a bit more appealing.
Key Highlights:
Axelor is normally a complete suite of ERP, CRM, and BPM. Here, we talk about the CRM which is an incredible open source CRM available out there.
In addition to the web app, it also offers mobiles apps for Android and iOS. So, no matter you host it yourself or purchase a subscription for managed hosting – Axelor CRM is a great choice to keep up across multiple platforms.
Key Highlights:
Crust CRM is one of the best enterprise-level Slack/Salesforce alternatives. Well, the primary aim of Crust CRM is to provide you with a unified platform.
Crust CRM offers a community edition “Corteza” which is open-source in nature with all the latest features that you get with Crust CRM. It has been recently launched – so you can expect it to be compatible with many services. You need to go through the technical documentation to set it up.
Key Highlights:
X2CRM is yet another convincing open source solution. The open source package includes all the modules (Sales, Marketing, and Support).
However, do note that the open source package isn’t actively maintained anymore – so if you want the latest and greatest features, you will have to purchase it. You can let them manage everything (hosted solution) or you get to manage everything and opt for their support and optimization services (on-premise).
Key Highlights:
CiviCRM is an interesting open source CRM suggested by one of our readers. Unlike some others, it does not offer a separate enterprise edition with premium features.
No matter whether you host it yourself, or utilize one of the CiviCRM’s hosting providers, you will get the same features. To learn more about it, you can follow their official user guide.
Key Highlights:
YetiForce takes its inspiration from Vtiger CRM and a couple more open source projects. It is completely free and available for download at Sourceforge.
You can also install it directly via Softaculous. If you are not going to host it yourself, you can opt for the affordable hosting plans which supports unlimited users.
Key Highlights:
Apache OFBiz may not be the most popular CRM solution but it is a decent open-source suite of business applications. Unlike others, it does not offer any hosting options – you will have to take care of that (or hire someone to do it).
It also includes ERP with integrated E-commerce solution. If you are looking for a single solution for multiple abilities – this could be one of the best open source CRM software to consider.
Key Highlights:
Krayin CRM is one of the newer options compared to the others. It has been developed by the same company behind Bagisto, one of the best open-source e-commerce platforms.
It offers a simple, easy-to-use, and modern user experience. Unlike some others, it is completely free without any optional premium options. You can still expect to find all the essential features that you’d need for an enterprise.
The official documentation available gives you the necessary information to get started.
If you prefer to host the CRM system on your server and manage it by yourself, it can be an interesting choice.
I had made the list of best open source CMS earlier. You may read that to get some ideas about which open source technology to use for creating your business website.
Coming back to CRM, if you would ever consider trying out an open source CRM, these are the best ones I would recommend. Did I miss one of your favorites? Let us know about it in the comments down below.
Like what you read? Please share it with others.
Filed Under: List, Software
A passionate technophile who also happens to be a Computer Science graduate. You will usually see cats dancing to the beautiful tunes sung by him.
Thanks for the amazing article Ankush. May I suggest if you can add Krayin. It’s the popular opensource CRM built on laravel: https://krayincrm.com/
The only viable solutions for SMB’s are:
EspoCRM
SuiteCRM
YetiForce
EspoCRM is the best by far (I have 15 years+ of experience with ERP and CRM platforms) due to its simplicity, ease of customization and modules.
Im suprised EspoCRM is open source, its that good.
Cheers 🙂
EspoCRM is awful.
Hello, i have bookmarked this post and after analizing open source versions i´m ready to install CiviCRM and integrate it with wordpress. Wish me some luck. Thank you.
Guys, I read your blogs a lot. But most of the time I can’t seem to find any images. Most of the images inside the posts usually appear broken. I guess your CDN doesn’t show images in Pakistan. I just wanted to let you know if you could do something about it.
Thanks for notifying me of that, Arslan. Is it most of the time or just today?
I would image it is because the site is serving webp images and some browsers still don’t support it.
It is not as robust as several in your list, but FENG OFFICE is open source and very user-friendly and flexible. For teams of people (in office and remote), both customers and employees, it does a great job of sharing documents, communication and tasks. Sometimes simpler is better!
Join 75,000 other Linux users and start your journey to become a better, informed desktop Linux user.
It’s FOSS is Part of chmod777 Media Tech (OPC) Pvt Ltd· Built on Genesis Framework and Powered by UpCloud
Session expired
Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page.
