Odoo Community 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.
Odoo Community
Modular open-source business management suite
VS
Fat Free CRM
Ruby on Rails open-source customer relationship manager
| Feature | Odoo Community | Fat Free CRM |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 86 · Excellent |
| Category | CRM & Business Apps | CRM & Business Apps |
| License | LGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Python | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 54,545 | ★ 3,632 |
| First released | 2005 | 2008 |
| Replaces | Salesforce, SAP, NetSuite | Salesforce |
What are Odoo Community and Fat Free CRM?
Odoo Community
Odoo Community Edition is a modular business management suite covering CRM, sales, inventory, accounting, and many other apps. It targets businesses wanting a flexible, app-based platform. It is deployed via Docker or packages.
- Modular app-based design
- CRM, sales and inventory apps
- Large marketplace of modules
- Customizable workflows
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
Odoo Community vs Fat Free CRM: key differences
Odoo Community is written in Python, while Fat Free CRM is built with Ruby. Licensing differs — LGPL-3.0 for Odoo Community versus MIT for Fat Free CRM. Fat Free CRM is the lighter option, starting around 1,024 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Odoo Community. Odoo Community is the more established project (first released 2005), while Fat Free CRM arrived in 2008. Odoo Community has the considerably larger community, at 54,545 GitHub stars versus 3,632.
Why pick each one
Choose Odoo Community if…
- Very flexible and modular
- Large ecosystem
- Polished UI
Watch out for
- Best features in Enterprise
- Complex to maintain
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
Frequently asked questions
Is Odoo Community or Fat Free CRM better?
Neither is universally better. Odoo Community has the larger community, while Fat Free CRM is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Odoo Community and Fat Free CRM free and open-source?
Yes. Odoo Community is licensed under LGPL-3.0 and Fat Free CRM under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Odoo Community and Fat Free CRM with Docker?
Odoo Community: yes. Fat Free CRM: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Odoo Community or Fat Free CRM?
Fat Free CRM has the smaller minimum footprint at 1,024 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Odoo Community. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.