SuiteCRM

An open-source CRM for sales, marketing and customer service that you host on your own PHP and MySQL-compatible stack, maintained as two lines: SuiteCRM 7 and SuiteCRM 8.

Open-source alternative to:

Salesforce

Visit SuiteCRM GitHub Docs

AGPL-3.0Self-hostedCloudNot confirmed

Screenshot of the SuiteCRM website — Homepage of suitecrm.com

What the free edition leaves out

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The official pages do not say enough about the free edition to give a verdict. “Not confirmed” means the official pages we read did not say, so we do not guess.

Open-core feature checklist for SuiteCRM
Feature	Free edition	Details	Source
SSO / SAML	Not confirmed	The docs list a SAML Configuration Reference (8.x) and Azure SAML Single Sign On (7.x), and an LDAP configuration reference (8.x).	Source ↗
Role-based access control	Not confirmed	The docs list Roles and Security Groups for 7.x. The pricing page does not mention roles.	Source ↗
Audit logs	Not confirmed	No audit log is described. The paid SuiteASSURED plan mentions 'Audit readiness & compliance', which is not an audit log.	Source ↗
Multi-user / teams	Not confirmed	No user limits are stated for the self-hosted edition on the pages read.	Source ↗
Backups and restore	Not confirmed	Backups are included with the fully managed hosting plans, with no schedule or retention stated. No built-in backup tool for self-hosting was found.	Source ↗
API access	Free	The SuiteCRM 8 developer docs describe a V8 REST API with OAuth 2.0 authentication.	Source ↗
Support SLA	Paid	Community support (forums and knowledge base) is free. Standard Support and SuiteASSURED are paid; neither page lists response-time SLAs.	Source ↗

Best for

Organisations that want a broad sales, marketing and service CRM with an AGPL licence and a long-established codebase, and are ready to administer it themselves or buy paid support.

Why choose it over Salesforce

The software is free to download under AGPLv3, so there are no per-user licence fees from the project. Your data stays on your own servers. SuiteCRM publishes both a stable SuiteCRM 7 line and a newer SuiteCRM 8 line, and the docs cover SAML, LDAP, OAuth providers, roles and security groups, and an API.

Where it falls short

The two live in separate repositories with separate docs. Professional help is paid: support plans and hosting are sold separately. The pricing page does not describe audit logging or built-in backups. You manage PHP, database, cron and upgrades yourself.

Open-source alternative to

Salesforce — SuiteCRM is an AGPL-licensed CRM you can host yourself, so it can replace a per-seat hosted CRM such as Salesforce.

Built with

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