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Best Free and Open Source CRM Software

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Best Free and Open Source CRM Software: Customer relationship management (CRM) is a business strategy for managing and understanding clients and sales prospects to help enhance customer satisfaction and thus increase profit and reduce operational costs. CRM software is needed to collect the correct information about a company's customers and arrange that information for proper analysis and action. It is a tool for organizing, automating, and synchronize business processes for sales activities, marketing, customer service, and technical support. The information gathered by a CMS software needs to be kept up-to-date, accessible to employees, and provide the knowledge for employees to convert that data into products better matched to customers' needs.

If you happen to own a business and are looking for CRM applications, I have here a list of some of the most well-known free and open-source customer relationship management (CRM) software available today:


CiviCRM
CiviCRM is an open source CRM software that calls itself a "constituent relationship management solution". From its project website, it is described as a powerful contact, fundraising and eCRM system that allow you to record and manage information about your various constituents including volunteers, activists, donors, employees, clients, vendors, etc. CiviCRM is web-based, internationalized, and especially designed to meet the needs of advocacy, non-profit and non-governmental organizations. It may be utilized either standalone, alongside Drupal and Joomla! content management systems (CMS), or SAAS (Software-As-A-Service). The standalone version is designed to work alongside other CMSs.


Opentaps
Opentaps is an open source CRM + ERP that is based on Apache OFBiz. It is web based, and it is aimed towards small to medium sized businesses. Here are some of basic CRM features of Opentaps:
* Automate sales process from lead gathering to conversion
* Manage sales opportunities
* Create sales visibility with forecasts
* Share calendar and tasks with the entire team
* Quotes, order entry, and order prioritization
* Manage marketing campaigns, including outbound emails and call management
* Address lookup and correction via USPS
* Voice Over IP (VOIP) Integration


openCRX
openCRX is an enterprise class open source CRM software that is loaded with powerful features such as role-based security, system-wide/pervasive audit-trail, true platform independence, virtually unlimited scalability, and more. It is web based and works with any latest versions of IE, Opera, Mozilla, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc. openCRX runs on any platform with Apache Tomcat and one of the major database management systems (e.g. HSQLDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MS SQL, Oracle, or IBM DB2). Because of its component-based architecture and open standards, you can write your own workflows or develop your own extensions.


vtiger CRM
vtiger CRM is an open source CRM software that was forked from SugarCRM with the goal of being a fully open source CRM application and having the same functionality of SugarCRM and Salesforce.com. It is built on the LAMP/WAMP (Linux/Windows, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) stack with code from other open source projects. Some of the main features of vtiger CRM:
* Sales automation
* Customer support & service functions, including a customer self-service portal
* Marketing automation
* Analysis and reporting
* Integration with corporate E-mail systems (plugin for Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird extension)
* Support of the Asterisk PBX phone system
* Tag cloud functionality
* RSS feed subscription
* PDF document generation via the TCPDF library


hipergate
hipergate is an open source web based software suite that is written entirely in Java. It runs on multiple databases and operating systems and supports multiple languages. hipergate is described as the only Open Source application with such a wide functional coverage. By default, it includes 7 different modules that can be activated in a user/group/domain basis. Here are some of those functional modules:
* Collaborative tools and Groupware Module - includes discussion forums, shared calendar, agenda, TO-DO lists, etc.
* Contact Management Module - covers the most common CRM tasks
* Project Management and Support Issues Tracking Module - handle projects, tasks, bugs, support requests and incidences
* eShop Module - complete shop catalogue, with multiple warehouse control, stock flow, pricing policies, invoices
* Content Management Module - web-based page builder


There are other popular open source CRM software that I've already mentioned before. These are OpenERP, Adempiere, and Compiere, which I've classified as Free and Open Source Finance/Accounting Software.

28 comments

  1. You should have included SugarCRM. It is one of the best open source CRM software around in terms of features and performance.

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  2. AnonymousJune 07, 2010

    SugarCRM is not truly open source, it is now licenced under Creative Commons AND it has never been honestly open source *friendly* at heart.
    The use of GLP in the past was mostly a matter of getting attention.

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  3. I agree with Brett. No article regarding Open Source CRM Software would be completed without SugarCRM.

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  4. Nicole MillerJune 07, 2010

    Hello,

    That was a great list of open source CRM solutions. In selecting a solution, you must take into account many options including current needs as well as future needs...

    Some other great CRM options are from:

    www.Rightnow.Com -- great online and on-premise solutions. Has been in the market for sometime.

    www.SuradoCRM.com -- you can start with online and easily migrate to on-premise. Also has a great offline CRM product. One of the early CRM market introductions.

    www.SugarCRM.com -- open source... only attempt this option if you are into programming.

    www.NetSuite.com -- offers both CRM and ERP integration. May not be suitable for small business since implementation is not exactly easy. But may be a great tool for larger organizations.

    There are some great articles or white papers for small businesses looking to adopt CRM applications... one that come to mind is -- Got CRM? Small Business Guide for Small Business.

    -Nicole

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  5. AnonymousJune 07, 2010

    You should also have included xTuple; it's more fully featured as it also includes accounting and ERP features.

    http://www.xtuple.org

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  6. good list , have been looking for this

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  7. I agree with Brett; "You should have included SugarCRM. It is one of the best open source CRM software around in terms of features and performance."

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  8. Interested parties should also take a look at Alfresco. It's (Community version) open source, free and kickass!

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  9. SugarCRM hates Open Source and wants to see it die.

    What does make me wonder though - those people posting how SugarCRM should have been included - are they just ignorant, dumb or, perhaps, just perhaps, somehow related to Sugar?

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  10. obviously shills for sugarcrm

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  11. junariCRM, based on the Open ERP platform is also well worth a look thanks to the multitude of additional modules available and Outlook integration. Have a look at http://www.junari.com for more

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  12. I saw a guy selling a CRM solution, he claims his company has done the software development his web site is www.crmboost.com, can someone take a look and let me know if it is a scam? I am almost sure he is using some components or software from another company or open source and commercializing his version. Can you guys take a look at his web site and provide some comments.
    Regards

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  13. SugarCRM is good, but they don't include some of the useful features in the Open Source version.
    Email integration and full reporting are just two of these.

    They decided to adopt charging for extra features, which puts off many potential users and as somebody already mentions was this inspiration for vTiger to fork the project.

    It is a shame, as I believe SugarCRM would do better to include ALL features in their Pro and Enterprise versions within the Open Source version, and instead make money to fund the project offering professional support, installs and hosting.

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  14. intelecrm is a web based open source CRM solution with a unique pricing model that bills a monthly fee amount for unlimited users, take a look at www.intelestream.net/intelecrm

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  15. Yes, sugar is very nice, we use it for 2 businesses

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  16. SugarCRM is not truly open source!!.
    But "vtiger CRM is an open source CRM software that was forked from SugarCRM with the goal of being a fully open source CRM application and having the same functionality of SugarCRM and Salesforce.com"

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  17. AnonymousJuly 06, 2011

    http://workforcetrack.com also offers CRM as well as PM, HRMS and accounting tool

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  18. aha www.workforcetrack.com is the most comrehensive and cost effective software i`ve ever tried!

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  19. I'd add: epesiBIM, Openbravo, OpenERP and SugarCRM of course.

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  20. Zurmo is an open source CRM that has been getting a good deal of attention. Built on top of a PHP framework, Yii, and relying heavily on test driven development, Zurmo is software engineering at its best. Might be worth a consideration: http://zurmo.org

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  21. As people previously have pointed out Sugar CRM should be mentioned on the post. In our company we combine Sugar CRM, Zendesk and live chat service ClickDesk as an effective combination for all our customer service needs.

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  22. SugarCRM is not free. So May not make the above list.

    Is vtiger free? seems it is also no longer free. They offer only online subscription version? Is there any where I can get a CE edition.

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  23. AnonymousJuly 15, 2012

    vtiger is available to download here,

    https://www.vtiger.com/crm/open-source-downloads/

    or

    http://sourceforge.net/projects/vtigercrm/files/

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  24. You can try teamwox SaaS full version for unlimited users for free or search for other systems. Details here

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  25. I agree with Brett; "You should have included SugarCRM. It is one of the best open source CRM software around in terms of features and performance."

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  26. Open Source CRM Zurmo is the new game in town. It blows SugarCRM out of the water. www.zurmo.org. It is GPLv3.

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  27. Whats the reason of OpenCrx its really a good solution why it doesnt get the attention

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  28. A CRM system when implemented efficiently, has notable and often dramatic impact on the overall health of any business.

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