CiviCRM vs Django-CRM
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted crm & business apps options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | CiviCRM | Django-CRM |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 77 · Good | 86 · Excellent |
| Category | CRM & Business Apps | CRM & Business Apps |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 778 | ★ 2,427 |
| First released | 2005 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Salesforce, Blackbaud | Salesforce, Zoho CRM |
What are CiviCRM and Django-CRM?
CiviCRM
CiviCRM is an open-source constituent relationship management system designed for nonprofits and civic-sector organizations. It manages donors, members, events, and campaigns.
- Donor and member management
- Event registration
- Email campaigns
- Integrates with WordPress and Drupal
Django-CRM
Django-CRM is a free, open-source customer relationship management application built with Django. It manages leads, contacts, accounts, and opportunities with a straightforward web interface for small teams.
- Lead and contact management
- Opportunity pipeline
- Account tracking
- Django-based
CiviCRM vs Django-CRM: key differences
CiviCRM is written in PHP, while Django-CRM is built with Python. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for CiviCRM versus GPL-3.0 for Django-CRM. CiviCRM is the more established project (first released 2005), while Django-CRM arrived in 2016. Django-CRM has the considerably larger community, at 2,427 GitHub stars versus 778. Django-CRM lists first-class Docker deployment; CiviCRM does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Django-CRM if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Watch out for
- Basic reporting
- Manual data entry
Frequently asked questions
Is CiviCRM or Django-CRM better?
Neither is universally better. Django-CRM has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are CiviCRM and Django-CRM free and open-source?
Yes. CiviCRM is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Django-CRM under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run CiviCRM and Django-CRM with Docker?
CiviCRM: check the project docs for container support. Django-CRM: yes.