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EspoCRM 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?
EspoCRM Fast and lightweight open-source CRM VS FA Fat Free CRM Ruby on Rails open-source customer relationship manager
FeatureEspoCRMFat Free CRM
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score88 · Excellent86 · Excellent
CategoryCRM & Business AppsCRM & Business Apps
LicenseAGPL-3.0MIT
LanguagePHPRuby
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM1,024 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 3,383★ 3,632
First released20142008
ReplacesSalesforce, HubSpotSalesforce

What are EspoCRM and Fat Free CRM?

EspoCRM

EspoCRM is a fast, lightweight, open-source CRM for managing contacts, leads, opportunities, and customer relationships. It targets small and mid-sized businesses wanting a responsive CRM. It is deployed via Docker or a PHP stack.

  • Responsive single-page interface
  • Customizable entities and layouts
  • Workflow automation
  • Email and calendar integration

Read the full EspoCRM 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

EspoCRM vs Fat Free CRM: key differences

EspoCRM is written in PHP, while Fat Free CRM is built with Ruby. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for EspoCRM versus MIT for Fat Free CRM. Fat Free CRM is the more established project (first released 2008), while EspoCRM arrived in 2014.

Why pick each one

Choose EspoCRM if…

  • Fast and responsive
  • Highly customizable
  • Lightweight

Watch out for

  • Advanced extensions are paid
  • Smaller ecosystem
EspoCRM 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 EspoCRM or Fat Free CRM better?

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

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

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

Can I run EspoCRM and Fat Free CRM with Docker?

EspoCRM: yes. Fat Free CRM: yes.

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