erxes vs EspoCRM (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, EspoCRM grades higher than erxes: 2.6 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
EspoCRM grades higher on ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
erxes
Open-source sales, support and operations suite on one data graph
EspoCRM
Open-source CRM you can self-host for free or rent in the cloud
Which one is for you
Pick erxes if
- Fits if you have someone technical who can run a server for you
- Works for firms that want CRM, support and operations in a single system
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if nobody can run servers, as the free Community edition is self-hosted
- Watch out: the pricing page doesn't say whether $99 and $250 are per user or per workspace
- Tight if you want a simple sales CRM, since the Everything bundle is broad and most of it goes unused
- Watch out: Embed, Infrastructure, Enterprise and Platform editions have no listed price
Pick EspoCRM if
- Fits if you want a CRM on your own server with no per-user fee
- Works for companies that want CRM, quotes, invoices and inventory in one system
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you're one or two people wanting the cloud, as plans need at least 3, 5 or 10 users
- Not for you if you can't run a server and won't pay, because free means self-hosted
- Tight if you self-host and want workflows, BPM or reports, which sit in the paid Advanced Pack
- Watch out: Basic and Enterprise are billed 6 or 12 months at a time, and cloud admins can't install extensions
- Tight if you're on cloud Basic: 100,000 records and 3 GB of files a user, on the web only
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAerxesFair | 2.6GPAEspoCRMGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CThe Community edition is free but self-hosted, which needs a server, so it's a C. Hosted bundles are $99 and $250 a month with the billing basis not shown. | CCloud Basic is $15 a user a month, which is mid-pack for the CRMs here, and you need at least 3 users billed 6 months or a year at a time. Every official extension is included, so you're not paying twice for workflows or reports. Free if you host it yourself, but then those extensions cost extra. |
| Free plan and trial | BCommunity edition is free and open source with nothing to pay for the software. You host and maintain it, though. | BThe open-source core is free on your own server, with no per-user fee and no time limit. The catch is you're running the server, and workflows, BPM and reports sit in the paid Advanced Pack. The cloud only gets a 30-day trial. |
| Features | BSales, support, operations, AI agents, loyalty and accounting on one data graph. The listing names no gap in the core CRM work. | BLeads and opportunities on a kanban board, trigger-based workflows and BPMN process flows, email sync and mass campaigns, quotes, invoices and inventory, cases with a customer portal, custom entities built in the UI. It covers the CRM job, as long as you're on a cloud plan that bundles the extensions. |
| Ease of use | DSelf-hosting means servers, updates and backups are yours to run. No store rating on record. | CNo rating on record, and this isn't an app you open and start using. You're connecting IMAP and SMTP mailboxes, setting up stages and building entities, and if you take the free route you're installing it on a server or with Docker first. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only, and no integrations listed on the pages we read. | BA web app, with no phone or desktop app on our listing. It connects to Google Calendar, Outlook, Zoom, Stripe, Mailchimp, Twilio, Zapier and Make, and there's a REST API, so you can wire it into whatever else you run. |
| Best for | teams that can self-host an open-source CRM suite | teams that want to host their own CRM |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: erxes and EspoCRM. How we grade
Price against what you get
erxes starts at $99 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. EspoCRM starts at $15 a month for each person and scores 2.7.
EspoCRM scores higher and starts $84 a month lower. Of the other CRM tools on the chart, 68 score higher than erxes for less, and 3 score higher than EspoCRM for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- erxes also covers shared inbox and AI agents.
- EspoCRM also covers kanban boards and reports.
At a glance
| erxes | EspoCRM | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $99 per month for the Everything bundle (billing basis not shown) | $15 per user / month, minimum 3 users, billed for 6 months or 1 year |
| Free plan | Community edition: free, self-hosted and open source, run on your own servers. | Self-hosted EspoCRM is free and open source under AGPLv3, with no per-user fees, on your own server. Official extensions such as the Advanced Pack are bought separately when self-hosting. |
| Free trial | None listed | 30-day free trial of the cloud service |
| Web | ||
| Made by | erxes Inc. | EspoCRM |
| Price read from | erxes.io | espocrm.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Worth knowing
erxes
- The pricing page does not say whether $99 and $250 are per user, per workspace or billed monthly or yearly.
- Embed, Infrastructure, Enterprise and Platform editions have no listed prices.
- The Everything bundle is broad; teams that only need a sales CRM may not use most of it.
- Running the Community edition means you maintain the servers yourself.
EspoCRM
- Cloud plans have seat minimums of 3, 5 and 10 users, and Basic and Enterprise are billed for 6 months or 1 year at a time.
- The Basic cloud plan is capped at 100,000 records and 3 GB of file storage per user.
- Workflows, BPM and reports belong to the Advanced Pack extension, which self-hosted installs must purchase.
- Cloud admins cannot install extensions themselves, and Zapier or Make connections need accounts with those services.
Key features
erxes
- Sales
- Pipelines, deals, quotes and orders in one module that the vendor positions against HubSpot, Pipedrive and Salesforce.
- Frontline
- Conversations, tickets and tasks for customer-facing teams, positioned against Intercom, Zendesk and Freshdesk.
- Operation
- Projects, milestones, cycles and tasks, so a won deal can spawn follow-up work in the same workspace.
- AI agents and assistant
- Agents draft replies, qualify and move deals and update cycles; every action goes into an audit log.
- Content, loyalty and accounting
- Further plugins cover a headless CMS and web builder, loyalty points and coupons, and a ledger with inventory.
- Five editions
- Community, Embed, Infrastructure, Enterprise and Platform editions cover self-hosting, embedding and enterprise support.
EspoCRM
- Core CRM and sales pipelines
- Accounts, contacts, leads and opportunities with customizable sales stages, probability and expected close dates, shown as lists or a drag-and-drop kanban board.
- Workflows and BPM
- Trigger-based and scheduled workflows send emails, update fields or create records, and business processes can be modeled as BPMN 2.0 flowcharts.
- Email sync and mass email
- Syncs inbound mail from IMAP mailboxes, sends through SMTP accounts from any record, and runs bulk campaigns to target lists with opt-out handling and tracking.
- Quotes, invoices and inventory
- The Sales Pack adds a product catalog, price books, quotes, sales orders, invoices, purchase orders and warehouse inventory tracking.
- Cases, portal and knowledge base
- Support cases are tracked to resolution with priorities and statuses, and a portal lets customers or partners submit cases and read articles.
- Entity Manager and REST API
- Custom entities, fields and relationships are created in the UI without code, and a REST API with OpenAPI support connects external systems.
Plans
erxes
Community edition$0
Free, open-source software you host on your own servers; you run updates, backups and support yourself.
erxes Everything$99
per month; seats and billing basis not shown
Pro tiers of Sales, Frontline, Operation, Content, Loyalty, Accounting, Mongolian and Payment in one workspace.
Everything + BYOK$250
per month; seats and billing basis not shown
Everything plus AI agents and the erxes Assistant, using your own AI provider key (BYOK).
EspoCRM
Self-hostedFree
The open-source core on your own server, installed directly or with the official Docker image. No per-user fees.
Basic$15.00
per user / month, min. 3 users, billed for 6 months or 1 year
3 GB of file storage per user and 100,000 records, with the full feature set, all official extensions, API access and 12x5 support.
Enterprise$25.00
per user / month, min. 5 users, billed for 6 months or 1 year
10 GB of file storage per user and 10,000,000 records, which can be extended for an additional fee.
Ultimate$69.00
per user / month, minimum 10 users
400 GB of file storage and unlimited records on a private server with a dedicated IP address and your own domain name.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, erxes or EspoCRM?
As of Nov 13, 2026, erxes starts at $99 per month for the Everything bundle (billing basis not shown), and EspoCRM starts at $15 per user / month, minimum 3 users, billed for 6 months or 1 year. One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, erxes or EspoCRM?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both erxes and EspoCRM have a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.