CRM and sales decision
Copper
A capable developer can build a pared-down CRM covering contacts, pipelines, tasks and basic email sync (self-hosted) — but Copper’s polished Gmail integration, mobile apps, enrichment, integrations catalog and support are costly to match, so continuing to pay makes sense if you need those features and scale.
Visit website↗Open-source builds that already do this
Every project below is open source and already does this job today. Fork one, self-host it, or take the parts you need — the build prompt further down assumes an empty file, and this is the shortcut past that. Licences differ; check the one on each card before you ship.
What a replacement has to do
- A minimal CRM that stores contacts/companies, tracks deals in pipelines, logs activities/tasks, and sends/records emails (sync with Gmail).
What it still won’t have
- Chrome extension / in‑Gmail native UI polish
- Mobile apps (iOS/Android)
- Built-in contact enrichment and high-volume bulk email handling
- Prebuilt integrations catalog and Zapier connector
- Premium support, onboarding services and enterprise features (SSO, multi-currency advanced reports)
What remains hard
- Brand trust
Copper is trusted by 30,000+ companies of all sizes
First-year cost
Keep paying
Paying is—cheaper in year one.
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 1 seat.
Money you would actually spend
Time you would spend
—
What you would spend
What we assumed
The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.
Runnable build prompt
Build a self-hosted CRM using Node.js (Express), PostgreSQL, React, and Docker. Implement: (1) user auth (Google sign-in), (2) contacts & companies CRUD with CSV import/export, (3) deal pipelines with drag-and-drop stage changes, (4) tasks/activities tied to records and scheduled reminders, (5) email send/receive sync via Gmail API or IMAP/SMTP and record messages on contacts, (6) simple reports (pipeline value, activity feed) and an activity stream. Exclude: mobile apps, paid enrichment services, Zapier catalog, and enterprise billing. Provide error handling, input validation, API tests (unit + integration), and a deployment Dockerfile + docs for running on a single VPS (Ubuntu) with Postgres and optional HTTPS via Let's Encrypt.
How we checked
How the score was reached
- Partly verdict base52
- An open-source build was found+5
- 4 cited sources+3
- Price verified on pricing page+3
- 3/3 assessment runs agreed+4
- Evidence score67
The base comes from the verdict. Everything under it is a check that either happened or did not, and each one is a fact frozen in this record rather than a judgement made at render time — so the same evidence always produces the same number.
How scoring works →Cited sources · 4
Every page the run actually retrieved.
- official productCopper CRM product pages
- official pricingCopper pricing
- open sourceoroinc/crm-application
- open sourcekrayin/laravel-crm
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
