Best Open-Source CRM Software 2026: 6 Options Compared
Best open-source CRM Software compared: SuiteCRM, EspoCRM, Twenty, Dolibarr and 2 more, with licenses, platforms and prices from official pages checked October 23, 2026.
•3 min read•CRM & Client Management
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SuiteCRM | Free (free open-source download; you pay for hosting and support); paid from £50 per month (fully managed hosting, from) | Web browser, Self-hosted | Teams with a sysadmin wanting enterprise features | Docs only |
| EspoCRM | Free (free self-hosted download); paid from $15 per user/month (Cloud Basic, 3-user minimum, billed per 6 months or 1 year) | Web browser, Self-hosted | Small teams wanting a clean self-hosted CRM | Docs only |
| Twenty | Free (self-host the open-source core for free); paid from $9 per user/month, billed yearly (Cloud Pro) | Web browser, Self-hosted | Developer-friendly teams | Docs only |
| Dolibarr | Free (Free software; commercial cloud hosting is sold separately) | Web (self-hosted), Windows, Linux | Small businesses wanting CRM and invoices | Docs only |
| Odoo | Free (One App Free plan on Odoo Online, unlimited users) | Web browser, Self-hosted | Teams that may add ERP modules later | Docs only |
| ERPNext | Free (Free to self-host; Frappe Cloud is the managed option) | Web, Self-hosted | Companies replacing several systems | Docs only |
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Good fit if
- You want a classic self-hosted CRM for a sales team (SuiteCRM is the pick)
- You want a modern interface and an API (Twenty is the pick)
- You also need invoicing and stock (Dolibarr is the pick)
- You want a lighter CRM with a hosted option (EspoCRM is the pick)
- You plan to run accounting in the same system (ERPNext is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You cannot host, patch and back up a server yourself and want a vendor to run it
Open-source CRM is often the right answer for a team that has outgrown the free plan of a hosted product but does not want per-seat bills. The code is free to run, so adding users costs nothing, but you pay in operations: a server, a database, backups, upgrades and someone who understands them. The six tools here lean in different directions. SuiteCRM and EspoCRM are classic web CRMs with contacts, deals and workflows, SuiteCRM being larger and EspoCRM easier on the eye. Twenty is newer, with a modern interface and a developer-friendly API. Dolibarr, Odoo Community and ERPNext are bigger systems where CRM is one module among invoicing, stock and accounting, and they make sense if you want to run the whole business in one place. Most are AGPL or GPL, which matters only if you plan to modify and offer the software to others. Hosted versions exist for several of them, usually priced per user, and are worth pricing out, since the cost can be close to a self-hosting salary hour. Before committing, import a few hundred of your own contacts, test the email integration and check how you would export everything, because switching later is the hard part.
SuiteCRM
AGPL-3.0 full-featured CRM, no user cap. You pay for hosting and support; managed hosting starts at 50 GBP a month.
Price: Free (free open-source download; you pay for hosting and support); paid from £50 per month (fully managed hosting, from) (SuiteCRM pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser, Self-hosted. AGPL-3.0 (open source) (license source).
Project activity: 5.8k GitHub stars · latest release v7.15.2 (Jul 31, 2026) · last commit Oct 23, 2026
Best for: Teams with a sysadmin wanting enterprise features.
Worth knowing: Licence checked on the SuiteCRM 7 repo; SuiteCRM 8 is a separate repo.
EspoCRM
AGPL-3.0 and free to self-host. The hosted Basic plan is $15 per user a month with a 3-user minimum and a 30-day trial.
Price: Free (free self-hosted download); paid from $15 per user/month (Cloud Basic, 3-user minimum, billed per 6 months or 1 year) (EspoCRM pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser, Self-hosted. AGPL-3.0 (open source) (license source).
Project activity: 3.5k GitHub stars · latest release 10.0.11 (Oct 23, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Small teams wanting a clean self-hosted CRM.
Worth knowing: 30-day free trial for cloud.
Twenty
AGPL-3.0 core with some files under a commercial license. Cloud Pro is $9 per user a month billed yearly.
Price: Free (self-host the open-source core for free); paid from $9 per user/month, billed yearly (Cloud Pro) (Twenty pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser, Self-hosted. AGPL-3.0 (some files under a commercial Enterprise license) (open source) (license source).
Project activity: 59.9k GitHub stars · latest release twenty/v2.52.0 (Oct 27, 2026) · last commit Oct 28, 2026
Best for: Developer-friendly teams.
Dolibarr
GPL-3.0 or later ERP and CRM with invoicing and stock. Needs PHP and a database; cloud hosting is sold separately.
Price: Free (Free software; commercial cloud hosting is sold separately) (Dolibarr pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web (self-hosted), Windows, Linux. GPL-3.0 or later (open source) (license source).
Project activity: 7.8k GitHub stars · latest release 24.0.1 (Sep 7, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Small businesses wanting CRM and invoices.
Worth knowing: Needs PHP and MariaDB, MySQL or PostgreSQL; DoliWamp, DoliDeb, DoliRpm and Docker packages exist.
Odoo
LGPL-3.0 Community edition self-hosted. Odoo Online also offers a One App Free plan with unlimited users but a single app.
Price: Free (One App Free plan on Odoo Online, unlimited users) (Odoo pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser, Self-hosted. LGPL-3.0 (Community edition) (open source) (license source).
Project activity: 55.4k GitHub stars · last commit Oct 28, 2026
Best for: Teams that may add ERP modules later.
Compare: Odoo alternatives
ERPNext
GPL-3.0 ERP with CRM, free to self-host; Frappe Cloud is the managed route. Running it yourself means hosting, upgrades and backups.
Price: Free (Free to self-host; Frappe Cloud is the managed option) (ERPNext pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. GPL-3.0 (open source) (license source).
Project activity: 40.7k GitHub stars · latest release v15.124.1 (Oct 22, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Companies replacing several systems.
Worth knowing: Its Accounting module covers recording transactions through financial reporting. Running it yourself means handling hosting, upgrades and backups.
Which one to pick
- You want a classic self-hosted CRM for a sales team: SuiteCRM
- You want a modern interface and an API: Twenty
- You also need invoicing and stock: Dolibarr
- You want a lighter CRM with a hosted option: EspoCRM
- You plan to run accounting in the same system: ERPNext
Limits of this review
Docs-only for SuiteCRM, EspoCRM, Twenty, Dolibarr, Odoo, ERPNext: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you commit.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing, license and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-23: SuiteCRM, EspoCRM, Twenty, Dolibarr, Odoo, ERPNext. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.