I'm a big fan of open-source software, and make a living supporting it. However, while sugarcrm does have a free/open source version, after using the free version for the past two years it seems to me that the free version is deliberately broken by the sugarcrm company to force people to purchase their very expensive proprietary alternative. Alas, the bugs are many and crippling and render the product completely useless for a company who relies on crm for accurate customer and lead generation record keeping.
It does boast a very nice UI, but underneath, it's really buggy and poorly supported by the community and by the sugarcrm company.
given by Patrick Ranger on April 27, 2007
I think the previous comment is totally unfair. I'm using SugarCRM 4.5 for 2 organizations and am totally satisfied with it's performance. Note that the community is huge and very efficient at finding/fixing bugs. It's a professional solution available for free and widely used in businesses.
The interface and fields are highly customizable so you can perfectly fit it to your organization's needs. If it still doesn't, hundreds of additional modules are available. Plus the PHP code is well documented, clean and modular so you can add functionalities easily.
One important thing, though, is that your Web host must run PHP as suExec and not as an Apache module. When using an Apache module, some features as e-mails, module loader and document management won't work. This might be the reason for the previous reviewer's buggy installation.
SugarCRM is not just an application: it's a system. If you need an personal contact manager, SugarCRM is way too big.
In order for it to work properly, time and competence has to be put into installation, migration (i.a.), customization and in training the users. Getting a professional SugarCRM installation is a project.
If you can't afford to pay for a decent Web host or host yourself, don't blame it on the SugarCRM community. If you are an IT professional and need a reliable solution to manage contacts, calls and meetings, projects, bugs and so on and you don't want to be locked-in proprietary solutions, start testing SugarCRM.
Hope this review helps.
Thanks to osalt for sharing this site.
given by Streaker on May 23, 2007
The comment by Patrick Ranger is quite apologetic and full of subjective criticisms.
A "buggy" installation after using it for two years? I doubt it...
given by Xavier Raj on October 6, 2007
Go for VTiger if you found SugarCRM unfit/headache software.
It does boast a very nice UI, but underneath, it's really buggy and poorly supported by the community and by the sugarcrm company.