Free Open Source CRM and Helpdesk Software

Last week, I was surfing on web to search for an free open source CRM and help desk solution. This post will share the experience and recommend some free open source CRM and Help Desk solution.

Help desk and CRM software's are always essential for any company to provide best customer support. This tools not only helps companies in increasing the customer satisfaction but also customer retention as well. In this post, we'll examine and recommend some free and open source CRM and Help desk solution.

SugarCRM and vtiger

In my opinion, vtiger is the best option as free CRM and helpdesk software. It will work both as an Help desk and CRM.

Comparing SugarCRM and vtiger, both are providing the following major functionalities,

SugarCRM	Marketing	Sales	Support	Activities	Collaboration	Reports
Vtiger	Marketing	Sales	Support	Quick Create	Tools	Analytics

There are many different sub actions defined within these categories which include Accounts, Contracts, Leads, Documents etc. Therefore, after getting some picture of CRM, the overall interface of vtiger seems to be good for me now.

There are also many positive feedbacks available for vtiger on the web. You can find the links in 'more information' section.

There is also community version available for SugarCRM [6] however, it does not contain reporting feature.  We might able to add some plug-ins for that [5] but it might need to explore more regarding how much work would need for this.

Kayako and SugarCRM

These are both awesome and renowned tools, however they are commercial and not free.Also for registered charities and open-source projects, Kayako Fusion, Kayako Resolve and Kayako Engage licenses are available free of cost.

Kayako Download licenses for Kayako Fusion, Kayako Resolve and Kayako Engage are available free of charge to registered charities and open-source projects. Free, perpetual licenses with unlimited users and no strings attached. Finally; some viable, business-class, free help desk software!

Other CRM and helpdesk option

Since vtiger will fulfill the requirement for both help desk and CRM feature, therefore you might not require any free separate help desk software. However, if you still would like to explore, I will highly recommend the below two tools.

• Trellis Desk, http://www.accord5.com/trellis
• osTicket, http://osticket.com/

Both software are available free and source code can also be downloadable. The source code is in PHP.

I find Trellis Desk awesome as its interface is good and it also provide good functionalities for help desk management systems.

Other tools include (not in PHP)

• RT: Request Tracker, http://www.bestpractical.com/rt/
• CiviCRM, http://civicrm.org/
• Liberum Help Desk, http://www.liberum.org/Default.aspx

References and More Information

• 1. vtiger demo,http://demo.vtiger.com/
• 2. vtiger download, http://www.vtiger.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30&Itemid=57
• 3. Vtiger CRM 5.0.3 - Installation Manual for Windows
  http://wiki.vtiger.com/index.php/Vtiger_CRM_5.0.3__Installation_Manual_for_Windows#System_Requirements 
• 4. SugarCRM VS Vtiger
  
    http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3271656/sugarcrm-or-vtiger
    http://stackoverflow.com/questions/98018/php-open-source-crm
    http://ostatic.com/question/how-does-vtiger-stack-up-against-sugarcrm
    http://www.siteground.com/sugarcrm_vtiger.htm
• 5. Sugar CRM reporting plugin, http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3271656/sugarcrm-or-vtiger
• 6. Sugar Editions comparison, http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/products/editions.html
• 7. osTicket download, http://osticket.com/downloads.php
• 8. osTicket forum, http://osticket.com/forums/
• 9. osTicket demo, http://www.ostickethacks.com/demo/demo_info.php
• 10. Trellis Desk download, http://www.accord5.com/trellis/download
• 11. Trellis Desk demo, http://www.accord5.com/trellis/demo
• 12. Trellis Desk forum, http://forums.accord5.com/
• 13. Trellis Desk Single Sign on Integration,
       http://forums.accord5.com/link-user-table-to-cubecart-user-table
• 14. Kayako editions comparision, http://www.kayako.com/signup/
• 15. Kayako free for Charity organization, http://www.kayako.com/free-help-desk-software/