head to head · open source
EspoCRM vs nextcrm-app
EspoCRM has 3,368 GitHub stars, 972 forks, 69 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nextcrm-app has 696 stars, 269 forks, 29 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. EspoCRM leads on adoption by 384% (3,368 vs 696 stars). EspoCRM is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0; nextcrm-app is written in TypeScript under MIT. EspoCRM has attracted 29% as many forks as stars, nextcrm-app 39%. EspoCRM was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (crm), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| EspoCRM | nextcrm-app | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 3.4K | ★ 696 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | PHP | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 972 | ⑂ 269 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick EspoCRM if
- You weight community size — 3.4K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick nextcrm-app if
- You want the nextcrm-app feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and nextcrm-app fits your workflow better
About EspoCRM
EspoCRM is a free, open source customer relationship management application written in PHP. It lives in the open source business software ecosystem for CRM and sales systems, and it combines a single page frontend with a REST API backend. The project describes itself as a platform for storing, organizing, and managing leads, contacts, sales opportunities, marketing campaigns, support cases, and related business information.
read the full EspoCRM overview →
About nextcrm-app
NextCRM is an open source, MIT licensed customer relationship management platform written in TypeScript on Next.js 16, React 19, PostgreSQL with Prisma 7, and shadcn/ui, built for teams that want CRM, project management, invoicing, document storage, and an email client inside one self hostable application.
read the full nextcrm-app overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is EspoCRM or nextcrm-app more popular?
EspoCRM has 3,368 GitHub stars and nextcrm-app has 696. EspoCRM has the larger community by that measure.
Are EspoCRM and nextcrm-app free?
Both are open source. EspoCRM is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and nextcrm-app under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between EspoCRM and nextcrm-app?
EspoCRM is written in PHP and nextcrm-app in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, EspoCRM or nextcrm-app?
Choose EspoCRM if you want the larger community (3,368 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose nextcrm-app if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.