Open source CRM in 2026: which ones are alive, and which one fits a company of 5–30 people
Nine open source CRMs that are still maintained, four that only look alive in old lists, and what self-hosting costs in hours rather than dollars. With the cases where a free hosted CRM is the more honest answer.
awakes.ai editorial ·
Why a small company looks at open source CRM at all
The usual trigger is the bill. A hosted CRM charges per seat, so every hire is another subscription, and the natural reaction is to give half the team no seat at all. Then the pipeline is wrong, because the people talking to customers are not in the system. An open source CRM on your own server has no per-seat fee: the tenth user costs the same as the first.
The second trigger is the data. With a hosted CRM your customer list lives in someone else's database, exports are limited to what the vendor allows, and a price change or a discontinued plan is not your decision. Self-hosted, the database is a file on a server you pay for, and you can move it whenever you like.
The third is the process. A company of 5–30 people usually has one or two things it does differently from everyone else, and a hosted CRM makes those things hard: the field you need is on a higher plan, the workflow is fixed. Open source lets you add the field and change the workflow. That freedom is also the trap, and the rest of this article is about where it stops.
Nine open source CRMs that are alive in September 2026
| Product | License | Built with | Fits best | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twenty | AGPL-3.0, a few files under other terms | TypeScript, Docker | A sales team that wants a modern interface and does not need accounting inside | Young: the data model still changes between versions |
| EspoCRM | AGPL-3.0 | PHP, runs on ordinary hosting | A small team that needs contacts, deals and email in one light system | Fewer ready-made integrations; some extensions are paid |
| SuiteCRM | AGPL-3.0 | PHP | A company that wants the largest install base and a classic, full-featured CRM | Two lines, 7 and 8, with a migration between them; the interface shows its age |
| Odoo CRM (Community) | LGPL-3.0 | Python | A company that will need quotes, invoicing and inventory next to the CRM | Community lacks some modules; Enterprise is priced per user |
| Krayin | MIT | PHP (Laravel) | A team with a Laravel developer nearby or a Webkul-style e-commerce stack | Smaller ecosystem than the four above |
| Frappe CRM | AGPL-3.0 | Vue and Python, Frappe framework | A company already on ERPNext or planning to be | New product: releases every few weeks, fewer years of production use |
| Dolibarr | GPL-3.0 | PHP | A company that wants ERP and CRM in one modest, long-lived package | Old-school interface; CRM is one module among many |
| Atomic CRM | MIT | TypeScript (react-admin, Supabase) | A developer-led team that wants a starting point to build on | A kit, not a finished product: expect to write code |
| Django-CRM (BottleCRM) | MIT | Python (Django) | A Python shop that wants contacts, pipeline and tickets without PHP | Small community; check the roadmap before committing |
Licenses, stack and activity from each project's GitHub repository, checked on 8 September 2026. Every one of these had a commit within the previous two weeks.
Twenty: the modern one, and the one growing fastest
Twenty is the project with the most GitHub stars in this list and the one people search for most: interest in its name roughly doubled over the past year. It looks and feels like the hosted CRMs of the last few years, with a flexible data model, views you can shape per team and an API from day one. You can self-host the open source core for free or use the company's cloud, and the licence is AGPL for almost everything.
The ceiling is its age. A product that ships a release every few days also changes its data model, and a self-hosted instance needs someone who can run Docker, read a changelog and apply an upgrade with a backup in hand. There is no accounting, no inventory and no invoicing inside, so if those are part of your problem, Twenty is half of the answer.
EspoCRM: the light one that runs on cheap hosting
EspoCRM is PHP, so it runs on the kind of hosting a small company already pays for, and it has been shipping steady releases for years: version 10 as of September 2026. Contacts, accounts, opportunities, email, calendar and a workflow engine are in the free self-hosted edition. It is the CRM we reach for when a company needs a CRM and nothing else, because there is little to learn and little to maintain.
The ceiling is breadth. Out of the box it connects to fewer outside tools than Odoo or Twenty, some useful extensions are paid, and the interface is functional rather than pretty. If the team is used to a polished hosted product, the first week takes some patience.
SuiteCRM: the heir of SugarCRM, with the biggest install base
When SugarCRM closed its community edition in 2018, SuiteCRM took over the code, and it has been the default answer to "open source CRM" ever since. It is complete: sales, marketing lists, cases, reports, workflows, a customer portal. If your list of requirements is long and classic, SuiteCRM probably already does all of it.
The ceiling is weight and history. There are two lines, 7 and 8, and moving between them is a project in itself. The interface shows its age, the codebase is large, and searches for its name have been falling for a year while Twenty's have been rising. It is a safe choice, not an exciting one, and for a team of five it is often more system than they will ever use.
Odoo CRM: the right one when an ERP is coming next
Odoo's CRM lives inside Odoo Community, which is LGPL and free to run on your own server. A lead becomes a quote, a quote becomes an invoice, and the invoice sits next to the stock count, all in one database. Choose Odoo when the CRM is the first module of many, not when it is the only one: on its own it is heavier than EspoCRM or Twenty.
The ceiling is the edition split. Some modules are Enterprise only and priced per user, which is exactly the fee you were trying to escape, so the honest question before choosing Odoo is which modules you actually need. We wrote up how we decide that on the Odoo page.
Worth a look, with a caveat each
MIT licence, built on Laravel by Webkul, the company behind Bagisto. Good if you have a Laravel developer or run a Webkul shop. Smaller community than the big four.
From the team behind ERPNext, AGPL, releases every few weeks. The natural CRM if you are on ERPNext already. As a standalone product it is still young.
GPL, PHP, an ERP and CRM that has been around for years and gets a release every few months. Modest interface, wide coverage. CRM is one module among many.
MIT, built by marmelab on react-admin and Supabase. A well-made starting point for a team that will write code. Not a product you install and forget.
MIT, Python. Contacts, pipeline, tickets and invoicing, no per-seat fees. A small community, so check the roadmap before you commit a company to it.
Corteza is a low-code platform with a CRM template, Axelor and ERPNext are ERPs with a CRM inside, CiviCRM is built for non-profits, Monica is a personal CRM. None of them is a plain sales CRM for a small company.
Names you will still find in lists, and why they are no longer options
Most "best open source CRM" articles are rewritten from older ones, so dead projects keep appearing. As of 8 September 2026, four names in the usual lists are not open source options any more. YetiForce moved to a non-commercial licence with version 6.5 in late 2023 and archived its main repository in September 2024. X2CRM has had no commits since December 2022. OroCRM's main package has not had a release since 2017; the company sells OroCommerce now. SugarCRM Community Edition ended in 2018, which is where SuiteCRM came from.
Vtiger is the exception that needs a footnote. Its open source edition is alive under the Vtiger Public License 1.1, version 8.4 with PHP 8 support, but development happens outside GitHub and the company's attention is on its hosted product. It works, but you will find fewer people who maintain it today.
What the licence means for you, in plain words
MIT and LGPL, which cover Krayin, Atomic CRM, Django-CRM and Odoo Community, let you change the software and keep the changes to yourself. AGPL, which covers Twenty, EspoCRM, SuiteCRM and Frappe CRM, is different in one way that matters: if you modify the CRM and let people outside your company use it over the network, you must publish those modifications. For a company using the CRM internally that changes nothing. For a company building a customer portal on top of it, it is a conversation to have before writing code.
This is the practical reading, not legal advice. If a customer-facing product is part of the plan, have a lawyer read the licence. Ten minutes of their time is cheaper than a rewrite.
What self-hosting actually costs
The software is free. Running it is not. A self-hosted CRM needs a server, backups that someone has tested by restoring them, updates applied within weeks of release because CRMs hold personal data and security fixes matter, and one person who owns all of that. The real cost of open source is that person's hours, and the real risk is that nobody is assigned. It is common to find an instance that has not been updated in two years because the person who installed it has left.
The ceiling is honest: for a company with no technical person and no budget for one, a self-hosted CRM is a liability, not a saving. Either someone inside takes it on with time set aside, or you pay an outside team a small monthly amount to own updates and backups. Both are fine. Pretending it runs itself is not.
When a free hosted CRM is the more honest answer
If you are two people with a few hundred contacts, the per-seat argument does not apply yet. HubSpot's free CRM, for one, is described on its own site as free with no expiration for up to two users and 1,000 contacts, as of 9 September 2026. A two-person company with a standard sales process should probably start there and move later, with the export in hand, rather than run a server for two logins.
The moment to move is usually the third or fourth seat, or the first field the hosted plan will not give you, or the first time you want the CRM to talk to your accounting on your terms. That is when the arithmetic flips and an open source CRM with one person owning it becomes cheaper than the subscription, and when the migration is still small enough to do in a weekend.
How to choose in one evening
- 1
Count seats and years
Everyone who talks to customers needs a seat, not just sales. Multiply by three years. That number is what you are comparing the hours of self-hosting against.
- 2
Write down the five fields and two integrations you cannot live without
Not features: fields. The job type, the contract date, the accounting link. Check each candidate for those five and two, and ignore the rest of its feature list.
- 3
Run two of them for a week with real data
Every product in the table has a Docker image or a demo. Import last month's leads into two candidates and let the person who will use it most try both. Their reaction is the answer.
- 4
Decide who owns it before you install it
Name the person who applies updates and tests backups, and how many hours a month they get. If there is no name, choose the hosted free tier or an outside team, not a server.
- 5
Plan the migration, then the launch
Customers, open deals and history come first, cleaned. The old system stays readable until the new one has run a full month. Then switch it off.
What moving a company onto one system looks like
A UK rental operator moved bookings, pricing, cleaning and owner settlements from several tools onto one system, property by property, without stopping operations. The discipline is the same for a CRM migration: one process at a time, the old system readable until the new one is proven, failed syncs shown as tasks rather than hidden.
$96,000 a year for a PMS that got the money wrong
The off-the-shelf system charged $16 per flat per month. Across a portfolio of 500 flats that is $96,000 a year. And it still calculated owner payouts incorrectly.
Read the full case study →Questions people ask before choosing
- What is the best open source CRM for a small business?
As of September 2026, the four most maintained choices for a company of 5–30 people are Twenty for a modern sales-only CRM, EspoCRM for a light system on ordinary hosting, SuiteCRM for a classic full-featured CRM, and Odoo CRM when quotes, invoicing and inventory are coming next. Krayin, Frappe CRM, Dolibarr, Atomic CRM and Django-CRM are alive and worth a look for specific stacks. The best one is the one whose five must-have fields and two must-have integrations you have checked with real data.
- Is open source CRM really free?
The software is free to download and run, and there is no per-seat fee. Running it is not free: you pay for a server, and someone spends hours on updates, backups and questions. Some projects also sell paid extensions or a hosted cloud version. The saving is real once you have more than a few users and a person who owns the system.
- Which open source CRMs are no longer maintained?
As of 8 September 2026: YetiForce moved to a non-commercial licence in 2023 and archived its repository in 2024; X2CRM has had no commits since December 2022; OroCRM's main package has had no release since 2017; SugarCRM Community Edition ended in 2018. They still appear in older lists, which is why the dates matter.
- Can I self-host a CRM without a developer?
You can install one: every product in this article has an installer or a Docker image. Keeping it running is the harder part. Updates, backups and the occasional broken integration need someone technical, either inside the company with hours set aside or an outside team on a small monthly agreement. Without either, a hosted CRM is the safer choice.
- What does the AGPL licence mean for a company using the CRM?
Using an AGPL CRM inside your company, with or without modifications, requires nothing from you. The obligation appears only if you modify the software and let people outside the company use it over the network, for example a customer portal built on the CRM. Then the modifications must be published. MIT and LGPL products do not carry that condition. This is a practical reading, not legal advice.
- Open source CRM or HubSpot free?
For two people with a standard sales process, HubSpot's free tier, which its own site describes as free for up to two users and 1,000 contacts as of September 2026, is the simpler start. Open source wins when you need a third or fourth seat, a field the free plan will not give you, or a connection to your accounting on your own terms. Move while the data is still small.
- How do we migrate from a hosted CRM to an open source one?
Export contacts, companies, open deals and notes from the old system, clean duplicates and addresses, import into the new CRM on a copy first and compare counts. Run both for a month with the old one read-only, then switch it off. A migration for a company of 5–30 people usually fits in a few weeks; dirty data is what makes it longer.
Not sure which of these fits your company?
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