Is there a free open source CRM?

Yes. MagpieCRM, Twenty, SuiteCRM, EspoCRM, Frappe CRM, Krayin and Odoo Community are all free to download and self-host. You pay only for your server and any email or data services you connect.

What is the best open source CRM?

It depends on what you need beyond contacts and deals. For prospecting, sequences and email marketing in one app, MagpieCRM covers the most. For a modern pipeline CRM, Twenty. For a full ERP, Odoo. For a simple CRM that is easy to host, EspoCRM.

Is an open source CRM secure?

An open source CRM can be very secure, because you control the server and anyone can audit the code. You are also responsible for updates and backups, so pick a project that is actively maintained.

Can I use an AGPL-licensed CRM in my business?

Yes. AGPL-3.0 allows business use. You only have to publish your changes if you change the software and offer it to other people as a hosted service.

Open Source CRM: The Self-Hosted Sales & Marketing CRM

The short version

An open source CRM is customer software whose code you can read, change and run on your own servers, usually for free.
Most open source CRMs cover contacts and deals. Few include prospecting, sequences and email marketing, so teams still pay for Apollo.io or Klaviyo on top.
MagpieCRM is AGPL-3.0 licensed and puts prospecting, pipelines, sequences, campaigns and reports in one app: one Docker image and a Postgres database.
Other well-kept options: Twenty, SuiteCRM, EspoCRM, Odoo Community, Frappe CRM and Krayin.

What is an open source CRM?

An open source CRM is a customer relationship tool whose code is published under an open source license. Anyone can use, study, change and share it. You can run it on a server you control, so your contacts, deals and email history live in your own database, not a vendor's.

The license matters, because it sets what you can do with the code. The Open Source Definition sets the ground rules. Three kinds of license are common in CRMs:

AGPL-3.0, used by MagpieCRM, Twenty, SuiteCRM, EspoCRM and Frappe CRM. You can use it for any purpose, including business. If you offer a changed version to others as a hosted service, you must publish your changes.
MIT and LGPL, which are looser. Krayin uses MIT and Odoo Community uses LGPL-3.0.
Open core, where the base is open source but key features sit in a paid, closed edition.

Why do teams choose an open source CRM?

Teams choose an open source CRM to cut per-seat costs, own their data and avoid lock-in. Self-hosted, you pay for the server, not for each person who logs in. A team of 20 costs about the same to run as a team of 2.

No per-seat pricing. Hiring does not raise your software bill.
You own the data. Records stay in a database you control.
No lock-in. If a vendor raises prices or shuts down, you keep the code and every record.
You can change it. Add fields, objects or whole features without waiting for a roadmap.

Owning the data also helps with privacy law. Under the GDPR, fines can reach 4% of yearly global turnover, so knowing where personal data lives matters. The UK data protection rules work the same way.

The trade-off is that someone has to run it: apply updates, keep backups and watch the server. For most modern CRMs, that means a small VPS and a Docker Compose file. If you would rather not, most projects sell a hosted version. Magpie Cloud starts at £10/month.

What should you look for in an open source CRM?

Look at four things: how much of the sales and marketing job it covers, which features are really open source, whether your team can run its stack, and whether it is still maintained. A cheap CRM that needs three paid add-ons is not cheap.

Coverage. Most open source CRMs are strong on companies, contacts and deals. Ask whether it can also find new prospects, run outbound sequences that stop on reply, and send marketing email.
License and open core. Check which features need a paid licence. Automation, advanced reports and single sign-on are common upsells.
Stack. PHP and MySQL projects are easy to host anywhere. Postgres-based ones suit teams that want to query their data with SQL or plug in BI tools.
Maintenance. Look for a release in the last few months. An old, unpatched CRM is a security risk, because it holds your most sensitive data.

Which open source CRMs cover sales and marketing?

MagpieCRM, SuiteCRM, EspoCRM and Odoo Community all include some email marketing as well as deals. We compared each project on 26 September 2026, using its own website, docs and code repository. Only MagpieCRM also includes prospect search and outbound sequences.

MagpieCRM

We built MagpieCRM to replace a whole sales and marketing stack. It combines prospect search with verified email reveals, sequences with email, call and task steps, drag-and-drop pipelines, email and SMS flows, and dashboards with forecasts. It runs as one Docker image on Postgres. Magpie Cloud starts at £10/month, with no per-seat fees.

SuiteCRM

SuiteCRM is one of the longest-running open source CRMs, licensed AGPL-3.0 and built on PHP with MySQL or MariaDB. It includes a Campaigns module with open and click tracking. The interface shows its age, and there are no sequences or prospect data.

EspoCRM

EspoCRM is a light AGPL-3.0 CRM on PHP. It supports MySQL, MariaDB or Postgres. Mass email with tracking is free, but workflows and drip emails need the paid Advanced Pack.

Odoo Community

Odoo is a full business suite written in Python on Postgres. The Community edition is LGPL-3.0, and CRM and email marketing are both included. Its lead generation uses paid credits. It is a lot of system if you only need sales and marketing.

Which open source CRMs focus on the pipeline?

Twenty, Frappe CRM and Krayin focus on leads, deals and pipelines, without built-in email campaigns. They suit teams that want a clean, modern CRM and already use other tools for outreach and marketing. All three had releases in September 2026.

Twenty

Twenty is a modern CRM in TypeScript on Postgres, with a polished interface and a large community. Its core is AGPL-3.0, with some enterprise features under a commercial licence. It syncs Gmail and Microsoft mail and has workflows. Twenty's cloud starts at $9 per user per month, billed yearly.

Frappe CRM

Frappe CRM is a fast AGPL-3.0 CRM built on the Frappe Framework, in Python and Vue. It has strong WhatsApp and phone integrations, and ties in with ERPNext.

Krayin

Krayin is an MIT-licensed CRM built on Laravel and Vue, with MySQL or MariaDB. The loose license suits agencies that build custom CRMs for clients.

Vtiger also has an open source edition, under its own Vtiger Public License. It gets about one release a year, and the company focuses on its cloud product.

Open source CRM comparison table

The table compares the free, self-hosted edition of each open source CRM. It shows the features that most often force teams to buy extra tools: prospect search, sequences and email campaigns.

Checked 26 September 2026.
	MagpieCRM	Twenty	SuiteCRM	EspoCRM	Odoo Community
License	AGPL-3.0	AGPL-3.0 + commercial	AGPL-3.0	AGPL-3.0	LGPL-3.0
Database	Postgres	Postgres	MySQL / MariaDB	MySQL, MariaDB or Postgres	Postgres
Deal pipelines	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Prospect search	Yes	No	No	No	Paid credits
Outbound sequences	Yes	No	No	Paid add-on	Marketing automation only
Email campaigns	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Hosted version	From £10/mo	From $9/user/mo	From £130/mo	From £11/user/mo	Free for one app

We found that every CRM here handles the pipeline well. The gaps are in outreach and marketing. If you need those, count the cost of the extra tools, not just the CRM.

How do you self-host MagpieCRM?

You self-host MagpieCRM by running one Docker image next to a Postgres database. A small VPS is enough to start, and the same image scales out behind a load balancer. Deploying it takes a few minutes.

Start Postgres, or point MagpieCRM at an existing database.
Run docker run -p 3000:3000 ghcr.io/magpiecrm/magpie-crm-app, or use the Docker Compose file from the self-hosting guide.
Open the app, create your workspace, and import contacts and deals from a CSV export.
Connect your mailbox for sequences, and an email service such as Amazon SES for campaigns.

Prefer not to run servers? Magpie Cloud is the same software, hosted, with email sending, backups and upgrades handled for you.

The open source CRM for sales and marketing teams