Best of 10 Open Source Alternative to SalesForce

We have curated a list of open-source free software Top 10 Open Source CRM Alternative to SalesForce that can help you manage your business like a pro.

As someone who manages a family of four, I frequently notice resources going to waste and losing their value over time. While this may be tolerable at home, it is never a good thing for your business.

Many organizations use several disparate systems at the micro-level, which require alignment. This is where Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) comes in handy.

You can choose to either self-host or opt for cloud management. Self-hosting is generally more secure and cost-effective. By hosting the software on your preferred cloud platform, you can have complete control over customization, security, and more. However, cloud options are easier to back up and geared towards non-technical business owners.

Without further ado, let's begin with the list of self-hosted open-source ERP software and see what they offer.

1 #. IDURAR ERP/CRM

A great solution for small-to-medium-sized businesses. The platform provides functionalities like sales management, customer management, and invoicing. Additionally, it comes with a user-friendly interface built using ReactJS that allows for customizations.

Idurar is a modern and open-source ERP/CRM system that offers features such as sales management, customer management, and invoicing. It is built with MERN Stack, using Node.js, ReactJS, which provides users with a scalable and customizable web interface. The platform is designed for small-to-medium-sized businesses and is free to use.

Stack: MERN , Node.js , Express.js , React.js, Redux, Ant Design, MongoDB

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/idurar/idurar-erp-crm

2 #. Odoo

Odoo is an open-source solution that offers a comprehensive suite of applications for managing all aspects of your business. The applications are fully integrated and can be purchased separately as needed.

Applications include:

• Build various platforms such as blogs, eCommerce websites, and eLearning platforms. Allows for forums and live chats to directly communicate with customers.

• Offers CRM, quotation, and Point of Sale applications along with rental and subscription management.

• Provides finance apps for accounting, invoicing, expenses, eSignatures, and more.

• Includes inventory and manufacturing applications for product life-cycle, purchase, maintenance, quality management, etc.

• Helps manage recruitments, time-offs, appraisals, fleet management, and more.

• Offers marketing automation utilities like email marketing, SMS marketing, event, and survey management.

• Allows for project optimization, field services & customer service, appointments, and meetings.

• Provides team communication utility, VoIP, and IoT management.

• Features Odoo Studio to build mobile applications.

There are two versions of Odoo ERP available: the community edition and the enterprise edition. The community version is free and open-source, though it has limited features.

It's generally recommended to start with the community edition and upgrade to the enterprise edition if necessary. In addition, it's worth noting that cloud hosting for Odoo ERP is available for free and costs the same as self-hosted subscriptions. However, additional costs may apply if custom modules are required.

3 #. ERPNext

Unlike Odoo, ERPNext open-source ERP software includes all modules in a free version, making it a fully free ERP solution.

Features:

• Real-time accounting books to track income & expenses, auto-invoicing, and multi-currency transaction management. Offers key performance indicators.

• Allows inventory, sales, supplier, and customer tracking. Monitors shipments, order fulfillment, and multi-channel sales. Comes with built-in marketing mechanisms like email campaigns.

• Helps manage employees including onboarding, appraisals, training, etc. Analyzes manpower requirements, posts job ads, and responds to the applicants.

• Provides production cycle monitoring, material consumption tracking, capacity planning, subcontract management, and more.

• Integrates customer acquisitions from all channels. Distributes leads among the team and tracks each prospect's case to evaluate marketing strategies. Supports email marketing.

• Offers agile project management software for planning, tracking, and managing deadlines. Assigns tasks and syncs them with your employee's to-do list. Includes an inbuilt chat application.

• Provides unified ticket management, service tracking, and reporting. Auto ticket distribution for faster resolutions. Create help articles to save time for complex issues.

• Asset management to oversee the product lifecycle. Monitors asset location, present custodian, depreciation, warranty, transfer, and more.

• Includes a website builder for responsive mobile-friendly, SEO optimized blogs, eCommerce stores, forums, web-chats, social login keys, and more.

Besides the free versions, there are two tiers that require payment. The first one provides server monitoring, security updates, and an optional product warranty in addition to the free version.

On the other hand, the enterprise edition offers implementation consultation, functional and developer support to its users.

4 #. Dolibarr

Dolibarr extends the list of free and open-source ERP software. However, there is a paid version with extra features and a 15-day free trial.

Features:

• Helps manage customers, quotations, proposals, subscriptions, etc.

• Employee management tools to create expense reports, timesheets, and recruitment assistance.

• Website builder with an eCommerce store and a Point of Sales application.

• Product catalog with inventory management. Allows tracking shipments, creating bills of materials, and material resources planning.

• Invoice creation, tracking, and payment management. Supports reconciliation for finding errors or missed entries. Offer double-entry accounting to fast-track the process of creating an accounting ledger.

• Provides email marketing campaigns and survey tools.

• Tracks individual project revenue and business prospects. Create intervention records using a custom calendar to record events and assign resources to specific events.

• Offers REST APIs to create, update, or delete data. Can link it with external eCommerce platforms like WooCommerce, Magento, etc. Import/export of data via CSV or spreadsheets.

• Provides a no-code/low-code utility to build custom modules for developers.

In addition, you can visit the DoliStore to buy additional modules. Dolibarr Cloud is customizable, allowing users to enable only necessary features and switch to a self-hosted solution if needed.

Additionally, the cloud version is accessible from any platform. Dolibarr operates data centers in France and has suppliers located in various regions.

5 #. Tryton

Tryton is a completely free open source ERP software that can be tried without any installations.

Features:

• Capture all transactions in the chart of accounts and maintain accurate financial records.

• Manage quotations and products effectively.

• Oversee shipments, receipts, and current stocks with location tracking and management features.

• Calculate revenues and expenses by specific categories to get a clear understanding of the financial metrics.

• Efficiently manage leads and conversions using built-in tools.

• Track quotations and group orders to streamline the sales process.

• Monitor individual projects and their profitability based on real-time data.

• Manage subscriptions seamlessly and integrate with third-party applications for added functionality.

Tryton is a business software that is operated by a federation of companies located across the world. It was initially created as a fork of Odoo, which was previously called TinyERP.

Presently, Tryton does not offer any paid version. Nonetheless, one of its biggest advantages is the absence of vendor lock-in, which implies that you can change or switch anytime without any complications.

6 #. Open blocks

Openblocks wants to take a step forward. More specifically, Openblocks is

• An all-in-one IDE to create internal or customer-facing apps.

• A place to create, build and share building blocks of web applications.

• A domain-specific language that UI-configurable block is the first-class citizen.

Features

• Visual UI builder with 50+ built-in components.

• Module and Query Library for reusable components and queries in the UI builder.

• Custom components to share through React and Openblocks SDK (instead of iFrame).

• Native connections to PostgreSQL, MongoDB, MySQL, Redis, Elasticsearch, REST API, SMTP, etc.

• JavaScript supported everywhere to transform data, control components, etc.

• Embed Openblocks pages as a React component (instead of iFrame). Demo

• Role-based access control (RBAC) for granular permission management.

• Auto-saved and restorable history for release and version control.

• DIY app themes to precisely align with your company's content.

• Audit logs to track activities and ensure compliance.

7 #. ERP5

ERP5 is a very powerful open source ERP software available for Linux, Virtual machines, and  SlapOS Webrunner.

Features:

• Workflow-based accounting with support for multiple currencies and role-based multi-entity access. Compatible with multiple general accounting plans (GAP), asset management with auto-generation of amortization events as per the asset life cycle, and future cash transaction planning.

• Unified activity view that includes clients, media, suppliers, etc., along with event tracking and ticket management. Central document storage with support for major formats, easy record access, and spreadsheet export.

• HR modules to manage job posts, training sessions, and position life cycle. Project and inventory management applications as well as a manufacturing module designed to streamline procurement, sales, and complaints.

• eCommerce support with high-performing shopping carts, subscription support, custom pricing based on select factors, multisite inventory, integrated PoS, discounts for regular customers, social integrations, etc.

• Product data management to control parameters like selling & cost price, barcodes, dimensions, etc.

ERP5 is a no-cost ERP software with detailed implementation guides.

8 #. Metasfresh

Metasfresh is a feature-packed open source ERP software that has free self-hosting and premium cloud subscriptions as an alternative.

Features:

• Allows order import by EDI, spreadsheets, etc. Delivery-time calculation and order pickup by product or customer.

• Auto accounting of all consignments with personalized invoice generation and scheduling.

• Programmed invoice payment capture and accounting, along with customer payment recording in bank accounts/cash books and payment grouping based on customers.

• Matching payments with bank statements, custom dunning procedure for customers, and easy subcontracting directly from orders.

• Scheduling and sorting of incoming goods, incoming goods invoice generation and verification, dynamic payment orders based on due dates or buffer periods, and payment orders export in SEPA format.

Metasfresh is best suited for wholesale or mid-sized companies, and offers a free self-supported option as well as cloud hosting with application support via a 7-day free trial. There is also an option for advanced support available in select countries through Metasfresh partners, and all tiers receive weekly automatic updates.

9 #. Axelor ERP

Axelor ERP is open source erp hardly leaves any aspect of your business management from their free and open-source ERP software.

Features:

• Auto-generation of entries from accounting documents. Real-time accounting reports like general ledger, discount slips, etc. Automatic tax management and custom tax calculations. Programmed credit transfers and SEPA direct debits. Bank reconciliation support.

• Axelor calendar showing CRM events, holidays, etc. Sync with external applications such as Google calendar. Project management with profit analysis, monitoring, and invoicing. Create and control customer and supplier contracts.

• Manage leads and customers. Track potential and present sales. Create business events like appointments, calls. Document management to create, download, classify and find business documents.

• Fleet management includes creation, assignment, life cycle monitoring. Oversee vehicle rental contracts, track maintenance, and fuel consumption.

• Auto/manual cash forecast creation, monitoring, and reporting. Helpdesk to create, assign, and track support tickets in addition to SLA management.

• Monitor employee contracts, prepare payrolls, voucher management, and create leave reports. Handle timesheets, acquisition, training, and evaluation.

• Manage invoices and supplier credit notes. Create and distribute mass invoices. Auto calculation and notification about invoice due dates. Financial performance reporting.

• Create and manage BOMs. Build production and manufacturing orders. Support for finite and infinite capacity planning. Integrated inventory management application.

• Design and send marketing campaigns. Link campaigns to prospects and customers. In-built messaging application to share invoices, quotes, etc.

• Project management and assignment to teams. Plan, group, and document different projects in a single place.

• Create, validate and finalize quotations to auto-build purchase orders. Generate receipts, schedule goods movement, and create control invoices. Send quotations to multiple suppliers.

• Build various quality control points and schedule monitoring. Problem notifications. Track each issue with resolution and the complete course of action.

• Sales management to generate and send quotations. Create vendor orders or plan manufacturing from sales orders. Auto-build delivery notes from sales orders.

• Stock management includes deliveries, receipts, and internal movements. Multi-warehouse tree bases inventory management with minimum stock rules.

• Schedule, prioritize, and assign tasks to teams.

Axelor also has an integrated low code/no-code platform to build custom applications. In addition, you can try a demo directly from your web browser.

While the free version has all the applications, cloud versions add some perks like regular updates, maintenance, and support.

10 #. Twenty: The Open Source CRM

If you're looking for a CRM that is user-friendly, customizable, and open source, then Twenty may be the perfect fit. Developed by Twenty Technologies Pty Ltd, this CRM has a web-based interface with minimal use of JavaScript to ensure maximum compatibility with various web browsers.

Twenty is an Open Source CRM designed to solve the issues that are still prevalent among the existing solutions. It is meant to be:

• Easily extendable

• Perfectly in-sync with your data

• Crafted with care and enjoyable to use

Conclusion

In conclusion, when considering a self-hosted open-source ERP software solution, it's important to carefully weigh the costs associated with hosting and support. It's also crucial to have a contingency plan in place before transitioning to any new system. While free options may be tempting, having access to implementation support and cloud hosting can prove invaluable. Additionally, opting for an ERP software with separate individual applications is often the best course of action. Taking things slow and staying informed throughout the process is key.