EspoCRM vs SuiteCRM: which one to choose in 2026?
Both are open source alternatives to Salesforce. We compare license, tech stack and features to help you decide which fits your team best.
| EspoCRM | SuiteCRM | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | CRM & Support | CRM & Support |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| GitHub stars | ~3k | ~5k |
| Tech stack | PHP, MySQL | PHP, MySQL |
| Replaces | Salesforce | Salesforce |
SuiteCRM has more GitHub stars, which usually indicates a larger community (not necessarily that it's the best option for your use case).
EspoCRM
Customizable sales CRM, an open source alternative to Salesforce.
Pros
- Highly customizable without writing code
Things to consider
- Less modern interface than current SaaS CRMs
SuiteCRM
Complete enterprise CRM, a mature alternative to Salesforce.
ℹ️ bitnami/suitecrm no longer exists on Docker Hub: Broadcom retired these free images to bitnamilegacy/suitecrm, a frozen archive with no security patches, stuck on an old version (8.1.2) while SuiteCRM itself is already at 8.9.x. SuiteCRM never published its own official Docker image. For production, the supported path remains a traditional LAMP install following SuiteCRM's official guide.
Pros
- Very complete for complex sales processes
Things to consider
- Interface and tech stack feel somewhat dated
- No officially maintained Docker image (see note above) — bitnami/suitecrm was retired
Key features
EspoCRM
- Visual custom entity editor
- Sales workflow automation
- Lead and opportunity management
SuiteCRM
- Sales, marketing and support modules
- Visual workflows
- Broad extension ecosystem
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