Top 5 Free Open Source CRM software for small businesses
Are you looking for free open-source CRM software?
For sales teams and marketing departments that are customer centric, CRM software is the perfect tool to boost productivity and customise sales process' to improve customer loyalty and increase customer engagement.
Today, the average cost of a CRM software is about 1500 euros* per user per year ( for installation and subscription). This can be too expensive for a small business. And, this is where we can begin to consider using free open source CRM solutions to optimise resources.
But, what is an open source CRM? What are the benefits of using one? And, what are the best free open source CRM software?
Here is a complete guide to using free open-source CRM software:
*Average price observed among the 5 market leaders
What is an open-source CRM?
An open-source CRM refers to software that helps you organise your relationship with potential and current customers for increased customer satisfaction. The term "open-source" means that the software meets certain characteristics such as:
- The computer program cannot be sold.
- The software code is accessible and can be modified.
- Applications derived from Open Source CRM must be available.
The Pros and Cons of Open Source CRM
Pros
- The software itself is free of charge. It can be downloaded directly from the community website.
- Developments are fast due to the large community of developers.
- User communities are very engaged on forums and answer your questions when they are not already processed.
Cons
- Deployment, updates, maintenance and hosting at your expense. The time spent doing these operations is long and the journey is full of technical pitfalls. This time spent often costs more than a license from a proprietary CRM.
- The functional coverage of open CRM is very high and sometimes too much for the needs of a very small business.
- The ergonomics of free CRM is often lagging behind proprietary software. However, this is less and less the case.
Overall Ranking
1 of 4
 CiviCRM |  EspoCRM |  SuiteCRM |  Odoo |
|---|---|---|---|
| For companies with more than 1 employees | For all companies | For all companies | For companies with more than 1 employees |
| See software | See software | See software | See software |
| Learn more about CiviCRM | Learn more about EspoCRM | Learn more about SuiteCRM | Learn more about Odoo |
The Best Free Open Source CRM
Here are 5 free open-source CRM that we recommend using:
CiviCRM
Created: 2004
Number of downloads: 11,022 active platforms
Technology: PHP, MySQL, need to have Drupal, Joomla or Wordpress
CiviCRM is an interactive CRM designed for the very specific needs of non-profit organisations. Among the features that are not found in a traditional CRM are: member management, donations and family reunification. CiviCRM, therefore, does not manage clients but members or benefactors. It is quite possible to adapt CiviCRM to a commercial context but this practice is not recommended because it is likely to create bugs. Finally, CiviCRM can only be used in addition to a CMS (Drupal, Joomla! or Wordpress) and not independently as any other CRM. CiviCRM is used by NGOs such as Amnesty International and Creative Commons.
CiviCRM