SuiteCRM

SuiteCRM is the second CRM in this directory that can be run entirely on hardware you control, and unlike Odoo it is a CRM rather than a suite with a CRM in it.

The code is AGPLv3 on GitHub, there is no per-user licence, and a company that self-hosts pays for servers and administrators instead of subscriptions. For a public body, a membership organisation or any buyer whose objection to SaaS is structural rather than financial, that is the strongest form of the guarantee the rest of this category offers by contract.

The jurisdiction is the reason SuiteCRM sits at the bottom of this list rather than near the top. SuiteCRM Ltd is at 73 Stirling Business Centre, Wellgreen Place, Stirling, incorporated at Companies House on 27 September 2024 with a British individual as the person with significant control and no parent company.

The United Kingdom sits outside the EEA and relies on an adequacy decision, which is a political instrument that has to be renewed rather than a permanent state. The older SALESAGILITY LIMITED, incorporated in 2009, is in liquidation, so 2024 dates the current company and not the software, whose own start year suitecrm.com does not give.

The managed option is where the sovereignty argument can quietly reverse. SuiteCRM Hosted runs on AWS virtual private clouds in a region of the customer's choice, described as including Europe and the USA, or in SuiteCRM's own private cloud in Scotland — so the buyer who wants the Scottish hardware has to ask for it specifically.

Managed hosting starts at £130 per month billed annually for up to ten users, £143 monthly, with support from £1,200 a year. ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 appear as the vendor's own statement, without a certificate to inspect.

What SuiteCRM does well

• Open source under AGPLv3, with the code on GitHub
• Free to self-host, with no per-user licence at any scale
• Managed hosting available in SuiteCRM's own private cloud in Scotland
• Prices published: from £130 per month for up to ten users, support from £1,200 a year
• No parent company; the person with significant control is an individual

Where SuiteCRM falls short

• United Kingdom, outside the EEA and dependent on an adequacy decision
• Managed hosting can be placed in the USA, so the region has to be specified
• ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 are stated by SuiteCRM, not evidenced by a published certificate
• The current company dates from 2024 and the predecessor SalesAgility is in liquidation
• Self-hosting moves upgrades, backups and security patching onto your own team

Standout feature. No per-user licence at any size: SuiteCRM is the only CRM here where adding the hundredth user costs exactly what adding the second one did, which is nothing.