5 Best Open Source CRM Tools – More and more SMEs are using Open Source Customer Relationship Management (CRM ), better known by its acronym CRM , to deal externally with their customers.
One of the most valued characteristics is that CRMs are open source, since it facilitates access to them, without having to pay to use or modify them.
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What is an Open Source CRM?
Open Source CRMs are open source business tools with which you can manage customer relationships, among other aspects related to marketing, search for new customers, loyalty, sales, after-sales, stocks, support, etc.
There is a great variety of Open Source CRM , so it is not always an easy task to know which one to choose, due to the multiple user profiles that exist, which have different needs.
In this post we are going to talk about which are the best Open Source CRMs and we will even leave a WordPress CRM for last , with which to turn this CMS into an interesting CRM with which to manage customer relationships. An option that we are sure will be of interest to many users who use WordPress.
5 Best Open Source CRMs Tools 2023
Sugar CRM
Sugar CRM is the most famous, as well as the most used , since it brings with it a large number of functionalities that allow us to have a very complete CRM within our reach that you can easily install through Plesk applications .
We must mention that despite being “Open Source”, Sugar CRM also has some limited options that are only offered with its paid version . Therefore, it is not a 100% free software, however, the version that is free brings many tools that we can hardly take advantage of all of them, but if we still want more, we can always end up going through the checkout to have all the Sugar CRM functionalities.
To install Sugar CRM from Plesk that we offer at Hostinger, you just have to go to the Plesk Applications section, click on “All available applications” on the left , and then on “Back office” .
And in this way a button will appear on the right side to install in our Plesk Sugar CRM .
Dolibarr ERP CRM
As well indicated on Dolibarr ‘s own page ; This software is an open source ERP and CRM for companies (SMEs, Large Companies, Freelancers, Foundations).
Dolibarr is much easier to use than Sugar CRM . It is especially focused on SMEs, as we have mentioned before. Also, add an “enterprise resource planning system” or what is the same an Enterprise Resource Planning (abbreviations of “ERP” in English). Therefore, its biggest advantage is the union between CRM and ERP . Being so flexible makes it a benchmark.
Dolibarr operates in a modular way so it is very configurable . That is, each section of the software can be enabled and disabled to leave only the ones that are being used. In addition, it is very similar to WordPress in terms of widgets and plugins, since it has a large number of third-party modules and plugins with which to increase its functionality and features.
vTiger
With more than 5 million downloads , vTiger is considered another of the famous CRMs, especially for those companies that purchase their paid license. In fact, this software started as an offshoot of Sugar CRM more than 10 years ago.
vTiger has a free part (open source) , but it is quite limited compared to the paid version. Maybe that’s why Dolibarr is in second place and not vTiger. Users tend more to look for free options, while companies opt for the opposite and that is why many prefer vTiger or directly bet on Sugar CRM.
Now, what does vTiger offer? The possibility of adapting to all types of companies, but above all its simplicity of use .
It is a tool that focuses on sales optimization , also providing numerous integrations, regular updates, more than 25 languages, user access control, large community, etc.
Fat Free CRM GitHub
For this fourth position we have left the most valued CRM project within the GitHub platform . In fact, it has to be downloaded from that platform and not from its official website.
Fat Free CRM is very interesting, not only because it is yet another Open Source CRM, but because unlike other projects or applications, it is based on Ruby on Rails instead of PHP.
This software offers group collaboration, campaign management and leadership, contact lists, and opportunity tracking.
The goal of Fat Free CRM is to stimulate innovation by providing a clean code base that developers can easily modify .
UpiCRM – ¡CRM For WordPress!
In the fifth and last position of the top we have decided to mention a different tool, as we have commented at the beginning of this same publication. Instead of another Open Source CRM program, we bring a WordPress plugin with which you can turn this popular website and blog platform into a powerful CRM .
WordPress is not prepared out of the box to manage relationships with a company’s customers, but since it has plugins for almost anything, if we want a CRM we only have to install a plugin for it .
This is where Upi CRM for WordPress comes in, a free plugin to turn this CMS into a powerful CRM . In addition, it has very interesting features, but in principle what is achieved is to create a database of potential customers, through contact forms, to be able to follow up on them and not leave them “abandoned”.
UpiCRM is compatible with the most famous WordPress form plugins , such as:
- Contact Form 7
- Elementor Forms
- Wp-Forms
- Caldera Forms
- Ninja Forms
- CForms
- Gravity forms
Once the plugin is activated, in the WordPress main menu, a new section called “UpiCRM” will appear from which you can access the configuration.
Conclusion
Choosing an open source CRM is a good option for your business since its adaptability and flexibility help cover most of the needs you may have, in a personalized way, in addition to reducing costs or using it for free.