- Twenty is a free, self-hosted CRM with 44,000+ stars on GitHub, replacing Salesforce and HubSpot for $0.
- Built by a YC-backed team (S23) with 11,000+ commits and 3,000+ forks — a production-ready CRM, not a side project.
- AGPL-3.0 licensed with custom objects, kanban views, Gmail and Outlook sync, workflow automation, full API, and webhooks included.
- A 10-person sales team on Salesforce pays $21,000 a year. The same team on self-hosted Twenty pays the cost of a VPS — about $60 a year.
Why Twenty Is Better Than Salesforce
Salesforce charges $175 per user per month for its Sales Cloud Enterprise tier. HubSpot CRM Suite Professional costs $1,781 per month plus a $4,500 onboarding fee. Even Salesforce Starter sits at $25 per user per month with feature gates everywhere. The real product these companies sell is not the CRM — it is the lock-in. Your data, your workflows, your integrations all live on their servers, and migrating off costs more than staying.
Twenty flips the model. The self-hosted version is free forever — no seat limits, no feature gates, no surprise pricing tiers. You install it on your own server, your data stays on your infrastructure, and every feature ships unlocked: custom objects and fields, kanban boards, table views, filters, grouping, email sync with Gmail and Outlook, workflow automation with triggers and actions, custom roles and permissions, a full REST and GraphQL API, webhooks, and keyboard shortcuts for everything.
Twenty vs Salesforce: Features Compared
| Feature | Twenty | Salesforce | HubSpot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing (self-hosted) | Free forever | Not available | Not available |
| Pricing (cloud) | $9/user/month | $25–$175/user/month | $1,781/month + $4,500 onboarding |
| Self-hosting | Yes, any server | No | No |
| Data ownership | You own everything | Vendor-locked | Vendor-locked |
| Custom objects | Unlimited | Higher tiers only | Higher tiers only |
| API & webhooks | Full REST + GraphQL | Limited by tier | Limited by tier |
| Email sync | Gmail + Outlook | Add-on | Included |
| Workflow automation | Built-in | Higher tiers only | Higher tiers only |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Proprietary | Proprietary |
Twenty is not for teams that want a managed, hand-held experience with a dedicated success manager. It is for founders, sales leaders, and ops teams who want a modern CRM that they own outright. A 10-person team running Twenty on a $5 Hetzner VPS replaces a Salesforce bill that would cost $21,000 a year — with no seat tax, no migration trap, and no quarterly upsell call.
How to Get Started With Twenty
- Spin up a VPS on Hetzner, DigitalOcean, or any provider ($5 per month minimum).
- Follow the self-hosting documentation — Docker Compose deploys the full stack in minutes.
- Configure Gmail or Outlook OAuth credentials for inbox and calendar sync.
- Create your first workspace, custom objects, and import contacts via CSV or API.
- Connect Zapier, n8n, or your own scripts via the REST and GraphQL API.
- Invite your team — no per-seat license fees, ever.
Twenty has 44,000+ stars, 11,000+ commits, and 3,000+ forks on GitHub. It is built with TypeScript, NestJS, and React, deployed via Docker, AGPL-3.0 licensed, and backed by Y Combinator from the Summer 2023 batch. If you do not want to self-host, the cloud version is $9 per user per month — still cheaper than Salesforce Starter, with more features unlocked. For more open-source CRM and customer tooling options, see our 10 free open-source alternatives to Intercom.
GitHub | Twenty.com | Documentation | Source
