CRM

4 open source tools compared. Sorted by stars. Scroll down for our analysis.

Tool	Stars	Velocity	Language	License	Score
twenty Building a modern alternative to Salesforce, powered by the community.	45.8k	+216/wk	TypeScript	-	71
SuiteCRM Open source CRM software application.	5.4k	-		GNU Affero General Public License v3.0	58
erxes Experience Operating System (XOS) that unifies marketing, sales, operations, and support — run your core business seamlessly while replacing HubSpot, Zendesk, Linear, Wix and more.	4.0k	+5/wk	TypeScript	-	53
EspoCRM EspoCRM is an Open Source CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software.	3.0k	-		GNU Affero General Public License v3.0	52

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Our Analysis

twenty45.8k★

Twenty is a full-blown CRM built to replace Salesforce. Not a toy. Not a contact list with delusions of grandeur. It handles custom objects, kanban views, email integration, calendar sync, workflow automation, and role-based permissions. The UI borrows from Notion and Linear: clean, fast, modern. Self-hosting runs on Docker with Postgres and Redis. The community is massive and active. You get custom fields, API access, and webhooks on every tier. The AGPL license means the core stays open. Enterprise features like SSO sit behind a commercial license. At $9/user/month for cloud, the open source tax on ops might make the hosted version the smarter call anyway. Alternatives like SuiteCRM and EspoCRM exist but feel dated by comparison. Twenty looks and feels like a product built in 2025, not 2005. The catch: self-hosting requires Postgres plus Redis plus the app server. That is not a weekend project for a solo founder.

SuiteCRM5.4k★

SuiteCRM is the most mature open source CRM available. Originally forked from SugarCRM when Sugar went closed source, it now ships under AGPLv3 with a full sales pipeline, contact management, marketing automation, and reporting stack. Salesagility (the maintainers) released version 7.15.1 this March, and the repo shows nearly 17,000 commits and 230 releases. This isn't a hobby project. Self-hosting is the standard LAMP-ish stack: PHP 8.1 through 8.4, Apache (recommended) or IIS, and MySQL/MariaDB or SQL Server. Plan a few hours for a clean install and ongoing time for patches. The customization surface is large; SuiteCRM accommodates everything from solo consultants tracking deals to mid-market companies running full sales operations. Solo and small teams: self-host. The savings versus Salesforce at any team size are real, and the data stays yours. Large teams with limited PHP ops capacity: SuiteCRM Hosted (the official managed offering) plus SuiteASSURED support is the practical path. Enterprise teams currently on Salesforce: this is a real migration. Possible, but multi-quarter. The catch: the UI looks like 2015. The data model and features are competitive, but the interface is dated next to HubSpot or modern CRMs like Attio. If your sales team cares about the look as much as the function, factor that in.

erxes4.0k★

erxes wants to be your entire business operating system. CRM, helpdesk, project management, marketing automation: it bundles what most companies stitch together from HubSpot, Zendesk, and Linear into one self-hosted platform. The plugin architecture is flexible. Pick what you need, skip what you do not. GraphQL federation under the hood means the pieces talk to each other without turning into a monolith. The community core covers sales pipelines, contacts, inbox, segments, and automations. That is a real CRM out of the box. Compare that to SuiteCRM or Twenty, which focus narrower. erxes swings wider, more like an open source Salesforce than a simple contact tracker. The catch: the best plugins are Enterprise Edition only. Accounting, content management, team tools, and several vertical modules sit behind a commercial license. Self-hosting requires MongoDB, Redis, and a microservices stack that will keep your ops team busy. The "experience operating system" ambition means complexity is baked in from day one.

EspoCRM3.0k★

EspoCRM is the cleaner-looking open source CRM. AGPLv3, modern single-page-app frontend, and an active release cadence with 22,000+ commits. The latest 9.3.6 dropped two weeks ago. Where SuiteCRM feels like a 2015 enterprise tool, EspoCRM feels like a 2023 SaaS product without the SaaS bill. Self-hosting needs PHP 8.3-8.5 and either MySQL 8, MariaDB 10.3+, or Postgres 15+ (notable: most PHP CRMs are MySQL-only; EspoCRM ships Postgres support). The setup is meaningfully simpler than SuiteCRM. Customization is via the built-in admin UI: custom entities, fields, layouts, and workflows configured without touching code. Solo and small teams: this is the friendliest path into an open source CRM. The UI doesn't embarrass you in front of clients, the Postgres option is useful if you already run it for other things, and the AGPLv3 license keeps the data yours. Large teams: capable but lighter on advanced enterprise features than SuiteCRM. Evaluate both before committing. The catch: there's no official hosted version. EspoCRM offers professional services (install, customization, support) but no managed cloud. If you want SaaS pricing with somebody else running PHP, SuiteCRM Hosted is a better fit. EspoCRM is for teams comfortable running their own infrastructure.