EspoCRM vs Freshsales: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of EspoCRM and Freshsales to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
EspoCRM
6.9/10
Open-source CRM for small and mid-sized businesses that can be self-hosted free or bought as a per-user cloud subscription.
Freshsales
6.7/10
Freshworks' sales CRM, with Kanban pipelines, built-in chat, email and phone, and Freddy AI lead and deal scoring, aimed at small and mid-sized sales teams.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.9/10 | 6.7/10 |
| Analytics | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Cost | 9/10 | 8/10 |
| Customization | 9/10 | 6/10 |
| Ease of Use | 6/10 | 8/10 |
| Integration | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Scalability | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Security | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Support | 5/10 | 5/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | €13/user/mo Basic | $11/user/mo Growth |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Free Open Source (self-hosted) | $110/mo Growth |
| Features | ||
| Built-in Calling | ||
| Contact Management | ||
| Integrations | ||
| Lead Management | ||
| Opportunity Management | ||
| Reporting & Analytics | ||
| Sales Automation | ||
| Collaboration | Not listed | |
| Customer Support Management | Not listed | |
| Marketing Automation | Not listed | |
| Mobile Access | Not listed | |
EspoCRM vs Freshsales cost by team size
| Team size | EspoCRM | Freshsales |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeOpen Source (self-hosted) | $11/moGrowth |
| 5 users | FreeOpen Source (self-hosted) | $55/moGrowth |
| 10 users | FreeOpen Source (self-hosted) | $110/moGrowth |
| 25 users | FreeOpen Source (self-hosted) | $275/moGrowth |
| 50 users | FreeOpen Source (self-hosted) | $550/moGrowth |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose EspoCRM
- Has a free plan (Freshsales does not)
- Higher Customization score (9/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Cost score (9/10 vs 8/10)
- Better fit for customer support teams (6/10 vs 4/10)
Why choose Freshsales
- Higher Ease of Use score (8/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Security score (7/10 vs 6/10)
Pros & Cons
EspoCRM
Pros
- The Entity Manager lets administrators add custom entities, fields and relationships without writing code.
- Every cloud plan includes all official extensions at no extra cost, among them the Sales Pack, VoIP, Google, Outlook and Mailchimp.
- The free, self-hostable open-source core keeps costs very low for small teams.
- You own your database and files and can request copies, which limits lock-in.
- Hosting in Germany is available for teams that need GDPR-friendly data residency.
Cons
- Reviewers say the initial setup of entities, roles and automations takes time and some technical skill.
- G2 reviewers point to a steep learning curve and limited documentation.
- A few reviewers reported slower performance with large datasets.
- Cloud support runs only 12 hours a day, 5 days a week, and the vendor team is very small.
- Self-hosted users must pay for reporting and BPM through the Advanced Pack.
Freshsales
Pros
- Chat, email and phone are built in from the entry Growth plan, so small teams don't need a separate dialer or inbox tool.
- The annual per-user price of $9 on Growth and $39 on Pro is low next to most mainstream sales CRMs.
- Freddy AI contact scoring and deal insights on Pro help reps decide which leads and deals to work first.
- It links well with Freshdesk and Freshchat for companies already using Freshworks for support.
- The vendor publishes SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO certification materials.
Cons
- Sales sequences, custom reports, multiple pipelines and territory management all require Pro, which limits Growth.
- Sandbox, audit logs, field-level permissions and custom modules are Enterprise-only.
- Reviewers say reporting is shallow, especially email metrics, and customization is limited.
- Support quality is reported as uneven, and Trustpilot reviews of Freshworks cite billing, renewal and cancellation disputes.
- Phone credits, numbers and AI agent sessions cost extra beyond the seat price.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
EspoCRM scores higher on our CRM criteria: 6.9/10 against 6.7/10 for Freshsales. The largest gap is in Customization: 9/10 for EspoCRM and 6/10 for Freshsales.
EspoCRM has a free plan; Freshsales does not list one.
EspoCRM is the better fit for customer support teams: we rate it 6/10 for them, against 4/10 for Freshsales.
