CRM and sales decision
Indy
A competent developer can build a narrow self-hosted replacement (CRM + invoices + time tracking + basic contracts) using existing open-source projects, but reproducing Indy's full polished product (AI assistant, integrations, storage tiers, and UX polish) would take substantial extra effort.
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. All Indy alternatives, with the arithmetic →
What a replacement has to do
- Manage clients and projects, create/send proposals & contracts, track time, generate invoices, accept payments, store files
What it still won’t have
- Polished UI/UX and cross-tool automation polish
- Built-in AI digital assistant (Pro feature)
- Advanced templates, white-labeling, and large-storage tiers
- Support SLAs, hosted reliability and security hardening
- Community, help hub content, and product updates
What remains hard
- Product polish and ongoing maintenance
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 minimal Indy-like freelance business hub using Node.js (Express), PostgreSQL, React, and AWS S3. Implement: (1) user auth and a client CRM linking contacts to projects; (2) a rich-text proposal/contract editor that exports to PDF and stores signed PDFs with a simple signature token flow; (3) invoice creation with line items, PDF export, Stripe checkout links and webhook handling for payments; (4) a start/stop time tracker tied to projects and an exportable report; (5) file upload to S3 with metadata and basic revision comments; (6) embeddable web form that creates leads in CRM. Out of scope: built-in AI assistant, multi-tenant billing plans, advanced template marketplaces, mobile apps, and community features. Include input validation, error handling, authentication/authorization tests, unit tests for core business logic, and end-to-end tests for payment and signing flows.
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 productIndy | The Best CRM for Freelancers and Independent Business Product
- official pricingPricing - Discover our Affordable Plans | Indy Product
- open sourceDolibarr/dolibarr
- open sourcekrayin/laravel-crm
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
