The primary draw is obvious: accessible code, no license fees, and total freedom to customise. However, the real cost often surfaces around the third month, when the system requires security patches or updates, and local modifications must be manually reapplied.
The right decision involves comparing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) over three years-including internal staff time-against the subscription of a commercial solution like CRMconnect.
In short
- Zero licensing fees, but significant hosting and development costs.
- Updates become highly complex after applying local customisations.
- Support relies on community forums or expensive third-party integrators.
- Ideal for atypical requirements and firms with robust internal IT teams.
- Unsuitable when sales and ops teams need a fast, reliable deployment.
Critical questions before choosing open source
Four key questions clarify whether an open source route is viable for your business:
- Who is responsible for updating the system and how frequently?
- Who responds at 2 AM if the server goes down or a module fails?
- How many man-days are estimated for the initial configuration and security hardening?
- What happens to our custom code when the next major version is released?
Frequently asked questions
See how it works in CRMconnect
Native modules for sales, quoting and reporting, integrated with the ERP you already run.
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