Customer Services & Support

Top 3 Open Source CRM Software

Preksha Buttan profile picture
By Preksha Buttan

Published
6 min read

Keep your sales, marketing, and support teams on the same page with open source CRM software.

Is your customer data scattered? Is there no synergy between your marketing, sales, and support teams? Are you having a hard time identifying customer needs? If your answer to these questions is yes, then customer relationship management software could be of use to you.

CRM software acts as a centralized repository of customer-related information for all business departments. Therefore, it helps you identify customer needs accurately and offer personalized services.

If you’re looking for a CRM tool that can be customized according to your business needs, then open source software is the right choice. It gives you the flexibility to tweak the software code as needed as well as the freedom to sell the final product.

To help you make the right decision, we’ve compiled a list of the three best open source CRM software (listed alphabetically) based on user reviews and ratings. (Read how we selected these products.)

Check out the full list of the best CRM software in Capterra’s software directory.

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1. Bitrix24: Provides two-step authorization

Bitrix24 is a CRM platform that lets you manage leads, engage with clients, and close deals. It gives you complete control over the sales process—from capturing and converting leads to preparing bills and invoices.

Bitrix24 uses one-time passwords (OTPs) for two-step authorization. Only users who enter the correct OTP, in addition to the account password, can access the system. You can also set up custom backup rules to create reserve copies of your data.

Open source Bitrix24 CRM has no limit on the number of processes you can run or CRM entities you can create. You can customize the source code to add or remove features, personalize the software interface, and increase data security. There's also no restriction on the type of third-party integrations you can avail.

This free open source CRM tool is capable of handling a large number of processes and requests. It can also be scaled up to include more users.

Bitrix24’s support options include FAQs, how-to videos, and an online ticketing system. It also offers training courses and product documentation.

Best functionality

Key Features

  • Account management
  • Activity dashboard
  • News feed
  • Agenda management
  • Application tracking
  • Attendance tracking

Trial/Free Version

  • Free Trial
  • Free Version

Cost to upgrade

$39 per month for five users (billed annually)

Device compatibility

Screenshots

Bitrix24

Task management in Bitrix24

* Analysis accurate as of March 2022

2. Odoo: Provides a real-time view of campaign KPIs

Odoo is a free open source CRM system that allows you to capture leads, connect with customers, and generate sales reports. It offers an intuitive user interface that provides a complete view of sales activities.

Using the Odoo CRM tool, you can identify where your leads are coming from and score them based on the number of page views, average time on page, and localization. You can also acquire leads via an online chatbox.

With the contact management feature, you can create an address book for your clients and customers and share it with the CRM team. You can set customer preferences based on language, delivery methods, financial data, and more, and view the full history of their activities.

The tool’s reporting feature includes a customizable dashboard and lead analysis. These options help visualize your sales team's KPIs and evaluate the ROI of your marketing campaigns. They also let you review team and campaign performance in real time and compare it with monthly targets.

Odoo’s support options include tutorials, product documentation, and a question and answer forum. The customer support team can be reached by filling out an online form. Open source Odoo software can be downloaded for free from the company’s official website.

Key Features

  • 360-degree feedback
  • Accounting
  • Agile methodologies
  • Application tracking
  • Approval workflow
  • Audit management

Trial/Free Version

  • Free Trial
  • Free Version

Cost to upgrade

$8 per month per user (billed annually)

Device compatibility

Screenshots

Odoo

Server backup in Odoo

* Analysis accurate as of March 2022

3. Vtiger CRM: Allows multichannel communication

Vtiger CRM is an Agile CRM platform that provides unified customer data management to help marketing, sales, and support teams stay on the same page. It also offers a mobile CRM app for Android and iOS devices so you can work on the go.

With Vtiger, you can manage marketing activities across channels, including social media and websites. This, in turn, helps attract ideal customers and gain maximum returns on lead generation campaigns. You can also leverage social and email marketing capabilities to develop customer relations.

The software routes incoming leads to dedicated teams to help serve customers better. You can track the progress of leads and generate insights using the advanced automation and artificial intelligence feature.

You can manage contacts, view active deals, automatically convert emails into tickets, and create tables and charts. You can also allow multichannel communication, as the software is integrated with phone, email, and SMS channels.

Vtiger’s support options include articles, FAQs, tutorials, e-books, and webinars. Its customer support team can be reached through a call. Open source Vtiger CRM is based on the Mozilla Public License and can be deployed on Linux and Windows systems.

Key Features

  • Campaign management
  • Customer support
  • Forecasting
  • Knowledge management
  • Lead capture
  • Lead distribution

Trial/Free Version

  • Free Trial
  • Free Version

Device compatibility

Screenshots

Vtiger CRM

Conversion insights in Vtiger CRM

* Analysis accurate as of March 2022

How to choose the right open source CRM software

Before you make up your mind, here are some points to consider to find the best open source CRM software:

  • Open source licensing and restrictions: Open source software solutions are classified under various licenses: General Public License, Lesser General Public License, Affero General Public License, and more. Each license has its own restrictions, which may become a hindrance. Therefore, before shortlisting a CRM tool, understand the license classification and obligations it carries.

  • Developers' skills and experience: Certain open source CRM solutions have complex functionalities, resulting in complex development codes. It could be possible that your developers don’t have the skills required to work on such codes. So, look for a solution your developers are comfortable working with.

  • Available documentation: Open source software tools have two types of documentation: user documentation and developer documentation. The former generally describes how to use the system, while the latter describes how to add or change the code. Check for the availability of these documentation types, as they will give you a sound idea of the quality and support you will get with your selected open source Agile CRM software.

Common questions to ask while selecting open source CRM software

You'll find what you're looking for when you know what to ask. To help you, here are a few questions you should ask vendors before selecting an open source CRM solution:

What is the level of security?

An open source software platform may not have strong security if there aren't many developers actively working and fixing the code. This could mean the software is vulnerable to cyberattacks and data thefts. Ask the vendor about the security patches of the software and possible ways to improve them.

What are the available support options?

Usually, open source software offers support via community/public groups and user forums. However, not all forums and groups actively post updates. Some open source software tools also have third-party paid support. When purchasing, check these support options with the vendor and understand the cost of getting paid support.

Is the software compatible?

Many open source software tools require specialized hardware and drives that are only available from the equipment manufacturer. This will lead to additional costs. Ask the vendor if their solution is compatible with your current hardware and drivers.

How did we choose these products? We didn’t—you did

To find your ideal software match, you need information you can trust—so you can save time, stay on budget, and focus more energy on growing your business. It’s why we vet and verify all our user reviews and recommend only the tools endorsed by people like you.

In other words, our product recommendations are never bought or sold, or based on the opinion of a single individual—they’re chosen by your peers, reflecting the views and experiences of our independent base of software reviewers.



At Capterra, we objectively select and rank products based on a methodology developed by our research team. Some vendors pay us when they receive web traffic, but this has no influence on our methodology.

To be considered for this list, products had to:

  1. Have at least 20 unique product reviews published on Capterra within the past two years, with an average rating of 3.0 or higher (as of March 28, 2022). We selected the three products with the highest ratings to feature in this article.

  2. Offer an open source, stand-alone version of the software with the source code freely available that can be modified and redistributed.

  3. Meet our CRM software market definition: “Customer relationship management (CRM) software helps automate and manage the customer life cycle for sales and marketing departments. CRM software consolidates customer information into one repository so that users can better organize and manage relationships, automates common processes, and provides tools for monitoring performance and productivity.”

“Best functionality” tool is identified based on the highest user ratings for functionality that a vendor received based on publicly available reviews as of March 28, 2022.

Disclaimer: We conducted this analysis based on reviews and ratings data as of March 28, 2022. In order to present the most up-to-date information, the product cards show real-time ratings. Please note that this means the ratings value in the product card may not reflect the ratings value at the time of analysis.

Product research for this article was conducted by Himanshi Arora.


Looking for CRM software? Check out Capterra's list of the best CRM software solutions.

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About the Author

Preksha Buttan profile picture

Preksha Buttan is a Writer at Capterra. She provides expert insights and helps small businesses identify the right software for their needs by analyzing user reviews for the highest rated products in relevant software categories. She has previously written and published content for the medical and automotive industries. Her interest lies in marketing and branding. When she’s not working, she can be found watching a thriller.

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