Is EspoCRM or Twenty cheaper?

EspoCRM starts at €0 self-hosted, or €12.90 per user per month for managed cloud (Basic, 3 users minimum) (free plan available). Twenty starts at $0 self-hosted, or $9 per user per month for managed cloud (Pro) (free plan available).

EspoCRM vs Twenty

An independent, review-free comparison compiled by the SaaSTracker editorial team. Both products are profiled in full, and neither can pay for placement here.

The short answer

Both sides assessed

EspoCRM compared with Twenty

The two open-source options in this batch, from different generations. EspoCRM is a mature PHP application with a deep entity manager, BPM engine, quoting, and portals at €12.90 a user on cloud. Twenty is newer, far better looking, API-first with a native MCP server, and $9 a seat. Take EspoCRM for functional depth, process automation, and a decade-plus of stability; take Twenty for interface quality, modern developer ergonomics, and AI-assistant access.

Twenty compared with EspoCRM

Both are open-source CRMs you can self-host, but they come from different eras. EspoCRM is a mature PHP application with a deep entity manager, BPM workflows, portals, and a formula language, at €12.90 a user on cloud. Twenty is newer, far better looking, and API-first with a native MCP server. Take EspoCRM for functional depth and a decade of stability; take Twenty for interface quality and modern developer ergonomics.

Choose EspoCRM if

Small and mid-sized organisations with a technical person available, an unusual or detailed data model, and a reason to care where the data lives, especially European and public-sector-adjacent buyers who need self-hosting or EU-based cloud without paying enterprise prices for custom objects.

Choose Twenty if

Technically comfortable startups and small businesses that want to own their CRM data, need an unusual data model without paying enterprise prices for custom objects, and are happy to trade a large integration marketplace for an open codebase, a real API, and a $9 seat.

Side by side

13 attributes

Attribute	EspoCRM	Twenty
Category	CRM	CRM
Starting price	€0 self-hosted, or €12.90 per user per month for managed cloud (Basic, 3 users minimum) (free plan available)	$0 self-hosted, or $9 per user per month for managed cloud (Pro) (free plan available)
Pricing model	Open-source software free to self-host under GPLv3, with commercial extensions sold separately, plus a managed cloud sold per user per month on three tiers with minimum user counts and all official extensions bundled.	Open-source software that is free to self-host, plus a managed cloud sold per user per month on three tiers, with a small annual workflow credit allowance as the only metered element.
Free plan	The self-hosted open-source edition is free forever under GPLv3 with no user limit, though the official reporting, sales, VoIP, and advanced automation extensions are paid purchases outside the cloud.	Self-hosting is free with no licence cost, no seat limit enforced by the vendor, and the same feature set as the cloud product; you supply the infrastructure and the operations.
Free trial	Free cloud trial available; self-hosting can be evaluated indefinitely at no cost	30 days on cloud, no credit card required
Best for	Small and mid-sized organisations with a technical person available, an unusual or detailed data model, and a reason to care where the data lives, especially European and public-sector-adjacent buyers who need self-hosting or EU-based cloud without paying enterprise prices for custom objects.	Technically comfortable startups and small businesses that want to own their CRM data, need an unusual data model without paying enterprise prices for custom objects, and are happy to trade a large integration marketplace for an open codebase, a real API, and a $9 seat.
Setup time	Cloud: a working instance the same day. Self-hosted: a few hours for a competent administrator using Docker, longer for a conventional stack with mail, cron, and backups configured properly. Designing entities, layouts, roles, and workflows is a one to three week part-time project for anything non-trivial.	Cloud: a working workspace in under an hour, including email and calendar sync. Self-hosted: half a day for a competent engineer using Docker Compose, longer if you are wiring managed Postgres, Redis, object storage, and OAuth credentials properly.
Learning curve	Moderate for users and steep for administrators. Daily use is conventional CRM work. Administration involves entity design, layout management, role scoping, formula scripting, and BPM modelling, which is a genuine skill set rather than a configuration afternoon.	Low for daily use because the table and kanban views are familiar, and moderate for whoever designs the schema. Building objects, relations, and workflows is light data modelling, and the quality of the result depends entirely on that person.
Platforms	Web, Self-hosted on Linux, Windows, or macOS, Docker, Mobile web and a limited mobile application	Web, Self-hosted via Docker Compose or Kubernetes, MCP server for AI assistants
Compliance	GDPR, Self-hosting allows any jurisdiction you choose, which is how most compliance requirements are satisfied	GDPR, SOC 2 (cloud); confirm current attestation status with the vendor before signing
Founded	2011	2023
Headquarters	Chernivtsi, Ukraine	Paris, France
Ownership	Privately held and bootstrapped; no outside investment reported	Venture-backed, Y Combinator alumnus (S23)

Strengths and limitations

EspoCRM

Strengths

A real entity and relationship designer at a small-business price, which almost nothing else in this bracket offers without moving to enterprise tiers.
Genuinely open source under GPLv3, so the code is inspectable, modifiable, and self-hostable in any jurisdiction you like.
Two layers of automation: simple workflow rules and a proper business process engine with approvals, timers, and branching.
Email is a first-class citizen with group inboxes, case creation from inbound mail, and campaign sending, which lets EspoCRM replace a light help desk and mailing tool.

Limitations

The interface is functional and dated; nobody chooses EspoCRM for the experience, and adoption in design-conscious teams can be a fight.
Self-hosting is a genuine system administration job: PHP, database, cron, mail configuration, backups, and upgrades all become your responsibility.
The self-hosted edition is not feature-complete for free, since reporting, quoting, VoIP, and advanced automation live in paid extensions.
Mobile is materially weaker than the web application and weaker than most competitors in this category.

Twenty

Strengths

Unlimited custom objects, fields, and records on the $9 tier, which no packaged CRM at that price comes close to matching.
Genuinely open source with the full stack on GitHub, so self-hosting is a real option and vendor lock-in is close to zero.
A native MCP server on every cloud workspace, making the CRM readable and writable by Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor without middleware.
REST and GraphQL APIs plus webhooks on every plan rather than gated behind an upper tier.

Limitations

No native calling, SMS, or call recording anywhere in the product, so phone-driven sales teams need a separate tool entirely.
No built-in mass email marketing, nurture campaigns, or landing pages; Twenty is a system of record, not a growth platform.
The integration ecosystem is small compared with Pipedrive, HubSpot, or Zoho, and most connections are made through the API, webhooks, or middleware rather than one-click apps.
Reporting is comparatively thin: views, filters, and dashboards exist, but there is no forecasting engine of the depth a sales manager gets from Pipedrive or Zoho.

Pricing compared

EspoCRM

Open-source software free to self-host under GPLv3, with commercial extensions sold separately, plus a managed cloud sold per user per month on three tiers with minimum user counts and all official extensions bundled.

Self-hosted (open source)€0
Cloud Basic€12.90
Cloud Enterprise€22.00
Cloud Ultimate€59.00

For a business that needs custom objects, process automation, quoting, and a customer portal, EspoCRM Cloud Basic at €12.90 with all extensions bundled is remarkable value; the equivalent capability from Zoho or Salesforce sits several tiers higher and costs multiples more. Self-hosting is cheaper still in licence terms and more expensive than people expect in practice, because the extensions are paid and the operations are yours. The fair way to judge it is against configuration-heavy CRMs rather than against simple pipeline tools: compared with Bigin at $7 you are paying more for capability you may not need, and compared with Zoho CRM Enterprise you are paying far less for most of the same power at the cost of polish and ecosystem.

Twenty

Open-source software that is free to self-host, plus a managed cloud sold per user per month on three tiers, with a small annual workflow credit allowance as the only metered element.

Self-hosted$0
Pro (cloud)$9
Organization (cloud)$19
EnterpriseFrom $50,000

At $9 a seat for unlimited custom objects, unlimited records, workflows, a full API, and a native MCP server, Twenty is the best capability-per-dollar in this category by a wide margin, and it is not close. Bigin at $7 caps you at 50,000 records and ten custom fields per module; Pipedrive charges $39 for the tier where automation lives; Attio starts at $29. What you are giving up is maturity: no dialer, no marketing engine, a thin connector ecosystem, and a young company still changing quickly. If your team can absorb that, the open-source option removes lock-in entirely, and self-hosting turns the licence line item into an infrastructure line item you control.

Editorial verdict on each

EspoCRM

EspoCRM is the least fashionable product in this category and one of the most capable per euro. An entity designer, a business process engine, quoting, portals, field-level permissions, and an audit log at €12.90 a user is a combination that normally requires an enterprise tier, and the GPLv3 licence means you can put the whole thing on your own infrastructure in your own jurisdiction. Buy it if you have a technical person, an awkward data model, and a reason to care where the data lives. Do not buy it if you want a beautiful interface, a strong mobile app, AI features, or a CRM that requires no configuration. And if you are self-hosting, price the extensions before you commit, because the free edition is complete in the ways that matter to developers and incomplete in the ways that matter to sales managers.

Read the full EspoCRM profile

Twenty

Twenty is the most interesting CRM in this directory and one of the cheapest, which is a rare combination. Unlimited custom objects and records at $9 a seat, a full API, a native MCP server, and a genuinely open codebase add up to a product that removes the two things buyers hate most about CRM: arbitrary limits used as upsell levers, and lock-in. Buy it if you have someone comfortable with a data model and you either want to own the data or want a flexible schema without Attio pricing. Do not buy it if you sell by phone, need marketing automation in the same subscription, or want a marketplace full of one-click integrations. And be honest about self-hosting: free of licence, not free of work.

Read the full Twenty profile

EspoCRM profile last reviewed 2026-08-22; Twenty last reviewed 2026-08-22. Pricing is compiled from public sources and can change without notice. See our methodology.