head to head · open source
SuiteCRM vs EspoCRM
SuiteCRM has 5,752 GitHub stars, 2,419 forks, 1,382 open issues and last shipped yesterday. EspoCRM has 3,368 stars, 972 forks, 69 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SuiteCRM leads on adoption by 71% (5,752 vs 3,368 stars). SuiteCRM is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0; EspoCRM is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0. SuiteCRM has attracted 42% as many forks as stars, EspoCRM 29%. EspoCRM was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (contacts, crm, documents, leads), 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
| SuiteCRM | EspoCRM | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 5.8K | ★ 3.4K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | PHP | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 972 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick SuiteCRM if
- You weight community size — 5.8K 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 EspoCRM if
- You want the EspoCRM feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and EspoCRM fits your workflow better
About SuiteCRM
SuiteCRM is an open source, enterprise ready Customer Relationship Management application distributed under the AGPL 3.0 license and written in PHP. It lives in the PHP business software ecosystem and is maintained by SuiteCRM Ltd alongside a community of contributors. The current line documented in the README is SuiteCRM 7.15.2, described as a mature and stable release with a large community and regular releases carrying new features, security patches, and bug fixes. A separate repository holds SuiteCRM 8, which the README states is still in a levelling up phase and not yet as feature complete as version 7.…
read the full SuiteCRM overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SuiteCRM or EspoCRM more popular?
SuiteCRM has 5,752 GitHub stars and EspoCRM has 3,368. SuiteCRM has the larger community by that measure.
Are SuiteCRM and EspoCRM free?
Both are open source. SuiteCRM is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and EspoCRM under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SuiteCRM and EspoCRM?
SuiteCRM is written in PHP and EspoCRM in PHP. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, SuiteCRM or EspoCRM?
Choose SuiteCRM if you want the larger community (5,752 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose EspoCRM if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.