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Dolibarr vs Fat Free CRM

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted crm & business apps options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
Dolibarr Open-source ERP and CRM for small businesses VS FA Fat Free CRM Ruby on Rails open-source customer relationship manager
FeatureDolibarrFat Free CRM
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score92 · Excellent86 · Excellent
CategoryCRM & Business AppsCRM & Business Apps
LicenseGPL-3.0MIT
LanguagePHPRuby
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM1,024 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 7,652★ 3,632
First released20032008
ReplacesSAP, SalesforceSalesforce

What are Dolibarr and Fat Free CRM?

Dolibarr

Dolibarr is an open-source ERP and CRM suite for small and medium businesses, covering invoicing, inventory, and contacts. It targets small companies wanting an easy all-in-one tool. It is deployed via Docker or a PHP stack.

  • Combined ERP and CRM
  • Invoicing and inventory
  • Module-based activation
  • Easy installation

Read the full Dolibarr guide →

Fat Free CRM

Fat Free CRM is an open-source, Ruby on Rails based customer relationship management platform. It offers group collaboration, campaign and lead management, contact lists, and an opportunity pipeline out of the box.

  • Lead and campaign management
  • Contact and account lists
  • Opportunity pipeline
  • Group collaboration

Dolibarr vs Fat Free CRM: key differences

Dolibarr is written in PHP, while Fat Free CRM is built with Ruby. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Dolibarr versus MIT for Fat Free CRM. Dolibarr is the more established project (first released 2003), while Fat Free CRM arrived in 2008. Dolibarr has the considerably larger community, at 7,652 GitHub stars versus 3,632.

Why pick each one

Choose Dolibarr if…

  • Easy for small businesses
  • Modular features
  • Mature project

Watch out for

  • Interface looks dated
  • Less polished than Odoo
Dolibarr details

Choose Fat Free CRM if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (3.6k GitHub stars)
  • Written in Ruby

Watch out for

  • Dated interface
  • Slower development
Fat Free CRM details

Frequently asked questions

Is Dolibarr or Fat Free CRM better?

Neither is universally better. Dolibarr has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Dolibarr and Fat Free CRM free and open-source?

Yes. Dolibarr is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Fat Free CRM under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Dolibarr and Fat Free CRM with Docker?

Dolibarr: yes. Fat Free CRM: yes.

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