EspoCRM vs Twenty
Both are alternatives to Salesforce. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as Twenty vs EspoCRM — same comparison, one verdict.
EspoCRM
TOP PICKA complete CRM that a small team can run without a specialist.
EspoCRM covers what most companies actually use a CRM for: accounts, contacts, leads, opportunities, activities, email integration, reporting and a workflow engine, with an entity manager that lets you add custom fields and objects through the interface rather than through code. AGPL-3.0, PHP and MySQL, installs on modest hardware. Around 3.2k stars — a smaller number than the flashier entries here, and a slightly misleading one, because this is a mature product with a long deployment history rather than a new arrival.
Twenty
The modern one — built to feel like software from this decade.
Twenty is an open-source CRM built with the design sensibility of a modern product: keyboard-first navigation, a clean data model, custom objects, and an interface that does not feel like enterprise software from 2012. Around 54k stars, which is the most of any CRM here by a wide margin and reflects genuine developer enthusiasm. The licence is mostly AGPL-3.0, with specific files marked `@license Enterprise` under a commercial licence — so it is AGPL-with-carve-outs. It is the youngest option, and the caveat is exactly that: excellent trajectory, short track record.
Side by side
| EspoCRM | Twenty | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty Score | 90 | 86 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first | Yes | Yes |
| License | AGPL-3.0 (core; some extensions are commercial) | AGPL-3.0, with `@license Enterprise` file carve-outs |
| Pricing | Free and open source to self-host. Some advanced extensions are paid. | Free and self-hostable. Twenty Cloud is a paid hosted option. |
EspoCRM is Macrostack's recommended Salesforce alternative, so it's our pick here.
EspoCRM
Strengths
- +Covers the CRM job most companies actually have, completely
- +Customisable through the UI — no developer needed for fields and objects
- +Light PHP/MySQL stack that runs on a small VPS
- +Mature and stable, with years of production use
Trade-offs
- −Interface is functional rather than beautiful
- −Some advanced extensions are commercial add-ons
- −Nothing resembling AppExchange
- −No CPQ or complex territory management
Twenty
Strengths
- +By far the best interface of any open CRM
- +Custom objects and fields without touching code
- +Enormous community momentum for a young project
- +Keyboard-first workflow that salespeople genuinely like
Trade-offs
- −Youngest here — shortest production track record
- −Enterprise-marked files are carved out of the AGPL
- −Feature set still thinner than EspoCRM's
- −Fewer integrations than any established option
Related alternative guides
Facts verified 2026-08-03. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.