EspoCRMvs
Vtiger
Vtiger: If you want an open source lineage CRM with more built-in marketing and helpdesk in one product
EspoCRM
AGPL open source CRM in PHP that you can self-host free or buy as cloud with seat minimums
As of 31 August 2026, EspoCRM has a free plan and paid plans start at $15/month. EspoCRM is a self-hostable CRM under the AGPL that runs on ordinary PHP and MySQL hosting, which makes it one of the cheapest ways to own your customer data outright. Softwr lists it under CRM. EspoCRM is made by EspoCRM s.r.o., available on Web, Linux, Docker, iOS.
Overview
What EspoCRM does
EspoCRM is an open source CRM written in PHP with a Backbone-based front end, covering accounts, contacts, leads, opportunities, activities, cases, email integration, calendars, documents and reporting. Its entity manager lets an administrator add custom entities, fields, relationships, layouts and dynamic logic through the interface, so most customisation happens without touching code. It is offered as self-hosted software under the AGPLv3 and as a hosted cloud subscription. The practical distinction is deployment cost. Because it needs only PHP, MySQL or MariaDB and a web server, EspoCRM installs on commodity shared hosting or a small VPS costing a few pounds a month. Nothing else in the open source CRM field is that undemanding; SuiteCRM is heavier and most modern alternatives assume Docker and a container platform. For a small business or a nonprofit that wants its pipeline on its own server without hiring anyone, that lowers the real total cost far more than the licence fee does. Buyers are small and mid-sized companies, agencies and public sector bodies with data residency constraints, plus firms in regulated sectors that will not put customer records in a US-hosted CRM. The trade-offs are that the AGPL licence has redistribution obligations, cloud plans impose seat minimums that misprice tiny teams, marketing automation and telephony are thinner than the mainstream commercial CRMs, and self-hosting means you own upgrades, backups and security patching.
What people use it for
- A small business that wants a CRM on its own hosting with no per-seat fee and no vendor holding its customer data
- A public sector or healthcare team with data residency rules that rule out US-hosted commercial CRM
- A developer or agency needing a CRM whose data model can be extended into a bespoke entity structure through configuration
- An organisation with many light users, where self-hosting avoids paying seat prices for people who open the CRM twice a month
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about EspoCRM.
- The AGPLv3 licence obliges you to publish source modifications if you make the modified software available over a network, which blocks resellers who want to offer a customised hosted version without opening their code.
- Cloud plans carry seat minimums of three, five and ten users, so a two-person consultancy pays for three seats and a small team wanting the Ultimate features pays for ten.
- Record ceilings are real on the cheaper cloud tiers, with Basic capped at 100,000 records, and hitting the cap means a tier upgrade rather than a small overage charge.
- Marketing automation, sequences and native telephony are thin compared with HubSpot or Zoho, so most deployments end up wiring in a separate mailing tool and a separate dialler.
- Self-hosting shifts the entire cost to your own team: PHP version upgrades, database backups and security patching are yours, and a neglected instance becomes an internet-facing liability holding your customer list.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of EspoCRM
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- EspoCRMvsZoho CRM
Zoho CRM: If you would rather buy a hosted CRM with a large integration ecosystem than run PHP yourself
- EspoCRMvsHubSpot CRM
HubSpot CRM: If you need marketing automation and sequences in the same product and can accept US hosting
Pricing
What EspoCRM costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Self-hosted
Free
- AGPLv3 licence, no fee
- Runs on PHP with MySQL or MariaDB
- Advanced Pack, Sales Pack and other extensions sold separately as one-off purchases
- You carry hosting, upgrades, backups and security patching
Cloud Basic
$15 /mo
- Three-user minimum
- 3GB storage per user
- Up to 100,000 records
- Extensions included
- Daily backups kept seven days
Cloud Enterprise
$25 /mo
- Five-user minimum
- 10GB storage per user
- Up to 10 million records, extendable for a fee
- Full feature set and external API
Cloud Ultimate
$69 /mo
- Ten-user minimum
- 400GB total storage
- Unlimited records
- Dedicated IP address, private server and own domain name
- 12x5 weekday support
Capabilities
Features
Entity manager
Create custom entities, fields, relationships and layouts from the admin interface
Dynamic logic
Show, hide, require or make fields read-only based on record conditions without code
Email integration
Two-way IMAP and SMTP with inbound email to case and group inboxes
Sales pipeline
Leads, opportunities, quotes and forecasting with configurable stages
Case management
Support cases with a customer portal and knowledge base
Reports and dashboards
Grid and chart reports, available on the Advanced Pack for self-hosted users
Workflow automation
Condition and action rules plus BPM process modelling on the paid packs
REST API
Full API with API user keys for integration and headless use
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Is the self-hosted version really full featured?
The core CRM is, but several paid extension packs including Advanced Pack for reports and BPM are sold separately as one-off purchases and are not in the free download.
What are the cloud seat minimums?
Three users on Basic, five on Enterprise and ten on Ultimate, so the advertised per-user rate is not the smallest bill you can pay.
What does it need to run?
PHP, MySQL or MariaDB and a web server. It installs on ordinary shared hosting or a small VPS, which is unusual for a modern CRM.
Can I move from cloud to self-hosted later?
Yes. EspoCRM states customers own their database and data files, so an export and reinstall is possible, though you take on all maintenance when you do.
Keep looking
Where to go from EspoCRM
- EspoCRM alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- EspoCRM pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- EspoCRM badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All CRM softwareThe full category
- Best CRM softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best CRM software for
Compare EspoCRM with
- Vtiger
- Zoho CRM
- Krayin
- SuiteCRM
- Twenty
- SugarCRM
- Salesflare
- Kylas
- Solid Performers
- Woodpecker
- Apptivo
- Corefactors AI CRM
- Capsule
- Capsule CRM
- Copper
- Insightly
- Streak
- SugarCRM
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for EspoCRM, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on EspoCRM
EspoCRM alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
EspoCRM pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare EspoCRM
Put it head to head with anything we hold
EspoCRM badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
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