SHSelfHostIndex

EspoCRM vs Frappe HR

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?
ES EspoCRM Fast and lightweight open-source CRM VS FR Frappe HR Complete HRMS solution with over 13 different modules right from
FeatureEspoCRMFrappe HR
CategoryCRM & Business AppsCRM & Business Apps
LicenseAGPL-3.0GPL-3.0
LanguagePHPPython
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM1,024 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker
GitHub stars★ 3,201★ 8,535
First released20142026
ReplacesSalesforce, HubSpot—

Why pick each one

Choose EspoCRM if…

  • Fast and responsive
  • Highly customizable
  • Lightweight
EspoCRM details

Choose Frappe HR if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 8.5k GitHub stars
  • Written in Python
Frappe HR details

Frequently asked questions

Is EspoCRM or Frappe HR better?

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

Are EspoCRM and Frappe HR free and open-source?

Yes. EspoCRM is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Frappe HR under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run EspoCRM and Frappe HR with Docker?

EspoCRM: yes. Frappe HR: yes.

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