Roundups

40 Fantastic Self-Hosted Business Apps

Justin Stravarius on February 24th 2011

The cloud is awesome; it’s convenient, flexible and extremely scalable. There aren’t a lot of arguments that go against using a cloud based app, except for concerns regarding security and cost. However hard one tries to argue against these Notions, we will have to agree that to a significant extent these two concerns are true. It’s Not always a comfortable decision to let someone else hold on to your business data.

The second concern regarding overall cost is true (at least as of today). Over a couple of years, the subscription charges of SaaS apps can add up to a whole lot in comparison to standard enterprise apps. The best work around is to adopt the private cloud (ie. self-host apps in your own servers, behind your own corporate firewall). We’ve compiled a list of 40 apps to help you do just that.

Mail Servers

Sendmail

Sendmail provides message processing applications and services that enable sending and receiving messages is a wide variety of formats including the popular SMTP format. Sendmail has been around for a while and has a commercial version of the product available for enterprises.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

IceWarp

IceWarp excels in all areas of essential business communication through a single, highly integrated, secure and standards-compliant platform. It performs a multitude of tasks enabling users to create, manage and share all personal data, including Contacts, Calendars, Files, Tasks etc. They can also easily schedule meetings and company resources.

Open Source: No
Pricing: Upon Request
Free Trial: Yes
Platform: Cross Platform

Eudora

Eudora Internet Mail Server is one of the popular Internet mail servers for Macintosh. If you need to handle email for a dozen users, or thousands of users, EIMS is a reliable and easy to use solution. It supports even older machines with a PowerPC architecture and Mac OS 8.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: $200
Free Trial: 60 days
Platform: Mac

Open Exchange

Open Xchange

Open Exchange is a powerful and feature rich mail server. It comes in both community and commercial editions. Open-Xchange enables users to easily aggregate e-mail and contact information from Social Networks and other e-mail accounts in a central application – providing users with all relevant data – personal and business – anywhere, anytime and with virtually any device.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

MailEnable

MailEnable’s mail server software provides a powerful, scalable hosted messaging platform for Microsoft Windows. The self hosted app offers stability, flexibility and an extensive feature set which allows you to provide cost-effective mail services. The new version of MailEnable comes with a webmail client has been optimized for improved speed and responsiveness.

Open Source: No, but a free version is available.
Pricing: From $349
Free Trial: Available
Platform: Windows

Webmail Clients

Roundcube

Roundcube is a browser-based multilingual IMAP client with an application-like user interface. It provides full functionality you expect from an e-mail client, including MIME support, address book, folder manipulation, message searching and spell checking.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

Zimbra

Now owned by VMware, Zimbra calls itself the next generation of Microsoft Exchange server. In addition to email and calendar, it provides document storage and editing, instant messaging, and simplified administrative controls all in an award winning webmail user interface built with the latest AJAX web tech Nology.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Linux

SquirrelMail

SquirrelMail is the grand old man of the webmail ecosystem. It is a standards based webmail package that has very few requirements and is very easy to configure and install. SquirrelMail has all the functionality you would want from an email client, including strong MIME support, address books, and folder manipulation.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

Mailr

Mailr is an open source webmail application written in Ruby which uses Ruby On Rails web application framework. The developers have a disclaimer that the app is tested with Courier-IMAP but it should be possible to use it with any other IMAP server. Do remember that your server should support Ruby for installing this app.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

AfterLogic

WebMail Lite is a free community edition of full-featured AferLogic WebMail Pro server application intended for users who need a clean and simple web mail application, which is fast and easy to use. Interestingly, this web app has separate packages compatible for both ASP.Net and PHP environments.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

Collaboration

Mindquarry

Mindquarry is a collaborative software platform for file sharing (documents, images, media files, etc.), task and project management, team collaboration and Wiki editing that meshes simplicity and functionality. As a result, k Nowledge workers are able to connect with team members and share information from wherever they are, effectively improving team-work and increasing productivity within the company.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

Liferay

Liferay Social Office is a social collaboration solution for the enterprise. This full virtual workspace streamlines communication, saves time, builds group cohesion and raises productivity. All you have to do is log in and work the way you want to, at your convenience. A commerical edition is available as well.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

Feng Office

Previously known as Opengoo, Feng Office lets you manage your projects and business services, Collaborate with your team and your customers. With this web app, you can organize and share documents and files behind your corporate firewall too. A commercial SaaS version of the app is available for immediate deployment.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

EtherPad

EtherPad has been made open source after being acquired by Google. It’s a web-based word processor that allows people to work together in real time. When multiple people edit the same document simultaneously, any changes are instantly reflected on everyone’s screen. The result is a new and productive way to collaborate on text documents, useful for meeting Notes, drafting sessions, education, team programming, and more.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform and needs Scala installed.

WebCalender

WebCalendar is a PHP based calendar application that can be configured as a single-user calendar, a multi-user calendar for groups of users, or as an event calendar viewable by visitors. This web app has support for almost every form of database used in the enterprise environment including MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, DB2, Interbase, MS SQL Server, or ODBC.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

Time Tracking & Invoicing

ClockingIT

ClockingIT is a hosted application for tracking all your tasks, issues, projects and time spent, with a focus on software development and handling large amounts of tasks. this Ruby on Rails app helps you manage time for multiple clients and multiple projects at the same time.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

Kimai

Kimai lets you track work time and prints out a summary of your activities on demand. Tracking time on a multitude of ways – Yearly, monthly, daily, by customer, by project, by action – is possible with this web app. It is available in English and major European languages.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

Bamboo Invoice

Bamboo Invoice is a free Open Source invoicing software intended for small businesses and independent contractors. It is known for the easy to use interface, clean code and extensive multi lingual support.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

SimpleInvoices

Simple Invoices focuses on the basic needs of invoicing yet gives users advanced flexibility without compromising simplicity. The web app is Not limited to just invoices. You can create receipts, estimates, quotes, and other document types you can think of.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

MyClientBase

MyClientBase is designed to manage your clients and invoices as simply as possible without sacrificing powerful features that make a great application. It is well known for its highly customizable options and features that provide a comprehensive invoicing solution. MyClientBase offers support for multiple tax rates per invoice and can apply tax across an entire invoice or against individual invoice items.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

Project Management

Project.net

Project.net empowers team members and teams through a comprehensive project workspace where they log and manage their individual contributions while simultaneously seeing the “big picture” of the overall project.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

project-open

project-open is an ambitious application that can handle anything from project management to CRM and ERP. Use it to generate Gantt charts that helps you communicating your project. Besides native charts there’s also an export/import interface to the Open Source product “GanttProject”. Its drag-and-drop functionality allows you to conveniently reorganize tasks and import them back.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

Project HQ

Project HQ is a collaborative open source project management tool, similar to Basecamp. Project HQ uses a structured workflow to assist you in managing your projects.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform and is built on Python.

Project Pier

Project Pier is focused on simple concepts and usability to provide an easy to use project management solution. It organizes your projects into Milestones, Messages, Task lists, Tasks and Files. E-mail Notifications for new milestones, tasks, messages and comments mean that your users can stay in the loop without checking the site.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

Redmine

Redmine is a flexible project management web application. Written using Ruby on Rails framework, it has support for Multiple projects and Flexible role based access control. Other Notable features include LDAP access and user self-registration support.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

Issue Tracking

OTRS

OTRS is an open source software system for managing a wide range of business processes, from Help Desk to Support Center to IT Service Management. Based on a set of functions built on a “trouble ticket,” OTRS is built to allow support, sales, pre-sales, billing, internal IT, support desk and many other departments to react quickly and responsibly to inbound inquires. There is a SaaS version as well.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

Request Tracker

Request Tracker is an gorgeous issue tracking system which thousands of organizations use for bug tracking, help desk ticketing, customer service, workflow processes,change management, network operations, youth counselling and even more.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform and is written in PERL.

Bugzilla

Bugzilla is a well known bug or issue tracking tool that can help you get a handle on the software development process. Successful projects often are the result of successful organization and communication. Bugzilla is a powerful tool that will help your team get organized and communicate effectively.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

Eventum

Eventum is developed and maintained by the MySQL team. Eventum is a user-friendly and flexible issue tracking system that can be used by a support department to track incoming technical support requests, or by a software development team to quickly organize tasks and bugs.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

BugNET

As you can infer from the name, BugNET is an issue tracking and project issue management solution built using the ASP.NET web application framework. Email Notifications, reporting and per project configuration of fields and values allows efficient management of bugs, feature requests, and other issues for projects of any scale.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform:Windows

CRM

SugarCRM

SugarCRM is one of the world’s most used CRM system.SugarCRM helps companies communicate with prospects, share sales information, close deals and keep customers happy. Use their SugarExchange marketplace to find extensions to get the max out SugarCRM.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

openCRX

openCRX is an open CRM solution that meets the needs of organizations requiring multifunctional, enterprise-wide coordination of sales generation, sales fulfillment, marketing and service activities to customers, partners, suppliers or intermediaries. openCRX’s account management provides a true 360° view of customers across contracts, activities, products, and status. Account management enables your employees to build tighter, more profitable relationships by understanding the status of each account.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform, but requires JDK installed.

Concursive

ConcourseSuite is Concursive’s dedicated Customer Relationship Management application. It is a complete front office solution that integrates CRM, website creation, content management and team collaboration capabilities into one easy to use, easy to deploy solution. that is available in both hosted and on-premise configurations. ConcourseSuite comprises several fully integrated modules.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

Tustena

Tustena CRM is an in Novative and cost-effective hosted customer relationship management solution that helps you optimize your time, improve customer satisfaction and increase sales. It delivers solid business value to companies of all sizes, from small and medium-sized businesses to large enterprises.

Open Source: No
Pricing: Available upon request
Free Trial: 30 days
Platform: Cross Platform

XRMS

XRMS is an advanced solution that goes beyond the functions of the conventional CRM. In addition to Sales Force Automation, XRMS also includes computer telephony integration, business intelligence tools and an advanced plugin architecture for further extending its features.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform and supports a lot of Database types.

ERP

OpenERP

OpenERP is a comprehensive suite of business applications including Sales, CRM, Project management, Warehouse management, Manufacturing, Financial management, Human Resources just to name a few. OpenERP unique modular approach allows customers to start with one application and to add other modules later on.

Open Source: No
Pricing: Starts from $1800
Free Trial: Yes
Platform: Cross Platform

Compiere

Compiere’s revolutionary design enables applications to be easily customized and extended without programming – a first in the ERP industry. Integration with other applications is easy using Compiere’s service oriented architecture (SOA) and web services. SaaS and commercial versions are available as well.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

ERPNext

ERPNext is one among today’s newest crop of ERP solutions. They cover entire business processes with a lot of modules. The prominent modules are Accounting, Sales, Production, Human Resources, Inventory and Project modules.

Open Source: No
Pricing: Available upon request
Free Trial: 30 days.
Platform: Cross Platform

Openbravo

With the latest verison, Openbravo 3 claims to be the agile ERP. Openbravo 3 has a gamut of attractive features including the ability to manage multiple levels of information on the same screen, with ergo Nomic splitters and ability to independently toggle each level between grid and form view.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform

xTuple

xTuple is an open source ERP solution for small and medium businesses. There is a commercial version of it available as well.

Open Source: Yes
Pricing: NA
Free Trial: NA
Platform: Cross Platform, requires PostgreSQL database.

Share Your Thoughts!

What do you think of this list? Are there some great apps we have missed?

http://techinch.com/ Matthew Guay

For self-hosted webmail, AtMail is one of my favorites. Its Pro version (starting at $400 for 25 users) is one of the most polished online email experiences I’ve seen outside of MobileMe, and its email server even supports Exchange-compatible push mail for mobile devices. Then, the free opensource version is both versatile and fairly full-featured for a free self-hosted email offering. Check http://atmail.org/ or http://atmail.com/ for more info about the free or pro versions, respectively.
- http://techinch.com/ Matthew Guay
  
  I should mention, I’ve only used the demo version of Atmail pro, but I used the free Atmail.org version for several months and it worked quite good … much better than SquirrelMail for me!
  - Alexander
    
    Atmail Open seems to be dead project (more than two years since last update). Looks like they now focus only on their commercial offering while AfterLogic keeps making updates for their free version.
    
    And no POP3 support in Atmail (the same problem with RoundCube with SquirellMail). IMAP is great, no doubt, but many mail servers still offer POP3 access only.
  - http://pcsoresult.blogspot.com pcso
    
    I prefer Roundcube for Linux or MailEnable for Windows. Atmail is runner-up to those two.
http://www.sumeile.lt/ Papuošalai

Great and very useful list. Thanks.
http://www.cronsync.com Jakob

Suggestion for Time Tracking and Invoicing:

http://www.cronsync.com

cronsync – web based time tracking and invoicing?

We have launched cronsync this year. I look forward to your feedback!

Best, Jakob
http://www.defunkte.es DefunktOne

What about http://www.Zoho.com tools?
- http://en.saturngod.net saturngod
  
  I think , Zoho can’t Self-Hosted. It’s SAAS.
  - Mark
    
    have you used Zoho?
    dozens of packages ad a CRM that – if 100 users would be on it would give me 10000s of headaches and I’d still need to pay thousands of dollars for that, every month … gimme a break. That’s why this folk is on the net flocking their kids-experiments, cause with a company in the real world they wouldn’t get a job.
Tim

Throughout the article the word “know” is written as “k Now”.

Feng Office is a great tool!
Olga

What about TeamLab?http://www.teamlab.com
It is an open source (listed on Sourceforge) platform for collaboration and project management.
- Bojan
  
  It’s Open Source, unfortunately it is a Windows app so it cannot be run on a fully open source stack (it might be a showstopper for some, or an advantage for others)
- Mike
  
  Olga, be decent and stop promoting your company’s product ON EVERY WEBSITE! You guys at TeamLab do not even have a Gantt chart, and the project management functionality is rediculous.
http://www.ganttic.com Indrek

Ganttic Resource planning software can be hosted in your own servers too.
http://www.veolay.com Mark

Veolay is also a great self-hosted Light CMS for web designers.
http://en.saturngod.net saturngod

How about http://collabtive.o-dyn.de/ for project management ? It look like basecamp.
- Mediatracts
  
  I use collabitive as well and it’s pretty cool
  - http://stpetersburgroofingrepair.com/ Jeff
    
    I prefer roundcube. Simple clean.
koiyu

Isn’t that Collabtive in the Redmine screenshot? Or is it just a similar looking theme?
- http://saturngod.net saturngod
  
  Yes, I think like that. The screenshot is Collabtive. Redmine and Collabtive are not similar.
Jim

Anyone know a good alternative to orderwave?
http://pauljmartinez.com/ Paul J. Martinez

For issue tracking I’d also recommend Mantis Bug Tracker, I’ve been using it since 2005 and have managed over 13,000 issues. It’s been amazingly reliable and is super scalable.

http://www.mantisbt.org/

I also use Zimbra (a hosted version) but there is a free trial of the Network Edition and a free version of the Open Source edition. Their community support is quite active and the forums/wiki have tons of useful information.

http://www.zimbra.com/downloads/
http://www.zimbra.com/forums/
http://wiki.zimbra.com/
http://www.erpnext.com Rahul

Hi Justin,
Thanks for including ERPNext.com

Just to clarify, we are opensource (http://www.wnframework.org) and our SaaS offering is only USD7/user/month.

Our vision is to power millions of small and mid sized businesses with a good quality, affordable software to manage and grow their business.
- Mark
  
  Well, for a start, if you claim you are open source, don’t say
  “start your rep now”… and just beneath you say…
  Only $7 per user per month
  
  What is it that you want us to believe? Does the public need to educate all these folks on the net trying to “talk”. But I guess you are still better than so many others which try to lure the public with mouths full of shaggy marketing techniques to surrender their email addresses so they can bother the public with their slimy sales pitches while legally claiming, well, “you asked for!”
  
  I am really tired of all this either free and “over-priceced” malfunctioning CRM, ERP… out there…
  
  Gosh, can some “Harvard” einstein come up with something that just works, makes sense and yes, can be self-hosted cause I don’t give my business to all those losers out there pretending they have a great software!
Adrian

I’m still finalising my own choices, but two I came across not mentioned here that seem worthwhile – CiviCRM (aimed at non-profits, but potentially of use in other sectors) and Alfresco (heavy enterprise hitter with free Community edition).
- Bojan
  
  As a long time evaluator of Open Source edition of Alfresco I’d have to say that, despite it being probably the most feature complete and best quality Document Management app of all opensource ones (and it kicks Microsoft SharePoint’s ass in some areas easily), their community edition is pretty rough ride and unstable most of the time, despite being even more feature-complete than Enterprise Edition. Also it’s pretty intense in system requirements department so you can forget running it on your 512MB VM.. think 2G for getting any decent performance out of it.
http://web.appstorm.net/roundups/40-fantastic-self-hosted-business-apps/ Hosted Zimbra

This is clearly an excellent list that really highlights the professional business software currently being released as Open Source for free. In particular, we would highly recommend Zimbra Server which currently does seem to be leader in communications suite with many people choosing this over both MS Exchance and Google Apps.
chad

Thanks for taking the time to compile this list. I’m just starting and am not familiar with the self-hosted options. It’s great to see well made lists giving me a launching point in my hunt for the perfect software for me.

Kudos!
Colt

Thanks very much for this list, several projects I hadn’t heard of that I’m looking into now. I’ll probably come back to add my comments about what I found easy to deploy on my own.
http://www.johnslimak.com John Slimak

OK so has anyone found a great crm and project management platform that can be used as self hosted? Still trying to find one…
Mark

Does anyone know a CRM that works – And – makes sense?
- Stahlratte
  
  vTiger CRM – impressive fuctionality and 100% free
Marc

Any suggestion on a “decent” and “functioning” PAID invoicing software that a firm can host on their own server?

Tired to read through all the rubbish and nonproductive voluntary free “kids” on all these open source forums and then get told … “what do you expect, it’s FREE”? Not interested in free time wasters, we rather pay … if someone can produce something that is worth the money!

All this free stuff is just full of bugs and a wasted attempt from all those losers out there not being able to get a job otherwise!
Mediatracts

This is a really great list, thank you. I have never heard of some of these and will start to test a few out today. Another one I stumbled on while googleing today was http://www.vtiger.com
- marketingMagoo
  
  We’ve tried vTiger several times–it does seem like it should work–but it’s just too kludgy. For a CRM, we really want to be able to capture everything about a prospect and about clients, but this isn’t easy for the average admin.
Pingback: 40+ Amazing Desktop App Alternatives
http://trac.edgewall.org/ Trac

Trac is an enhanced wiki and issue tracking system for software development projects. Trac uses a minimalistic approach to web-based software project management. Our mission is to help developers write great software while staying out of the way. Trac should impose as little as possible on a team’s established development process and policies.

It provides an interface to Subversion (or other version control systems), an integrated Wiki and convenient reporting facilities.

Trac allows wiki markup in issue descriptions and commit messages, creating links and seamless references between bugs, tasks, changesets, files and wiki pages. A timeline shows all current and past project events in order, making the acquisition of an overview of the project and tracking progress very easy. The roadmap shows the road ahead, listing the upcoming milestones.
http://www.ofisclub.com ofis koltukları

a time will come there the desktop GUI building softwares no longer needed. browser will be enough for all
http://www.ofisclub.com ofis mobilyası

Eudora Internet Mail Server is one of the popular Internet mail servers for Macintosh.
Sam

Two I predominantly use are SugarCRM (which you mentioned) and ScreenConnect (http://www.screenconnect.com/). ScreenConnect is a remote support/remote access application- that compares to something like LogMeIn or Citrix’s GoTo platform which are Saas based. Thanks for this review as I am always looking for ways to save my company money. I am going to look into some of these suggestions. Thanks!
http://www.berekettente.com branda

It’s Not always a comfortable decision to let someone else hold on to your business data.
http://www.uswebstyle.com Stas Kuzma

2 great apps are worth to include in the list:
– activeCollab – Project Management, Time Tracking, Invoicing, billing, etc
– UseResponse – Gather customer feedback, provide support, online chat, surveys
http://www.webfrootz.com WebFrootz

Stas, have you had any experience with adding additional payment gateways to ActiveCollab? (In addition to build in PayPal andAuthorize.net)?
Robert Miles

I think Comindware task management software should be mentioned too, as a tool for project managers work and issue tracking. http://www.comindware.com/
Fabrice

Thank you!
http://spierssafety.co.uk/ Puwer

Just to say thanks for this list. There’s plenty for me to take a look at.
http://squidoo.com/employeetime-clock Kumar

What about Replicon time clock? which comes under time tracking division and its a self hosted hassle free app too.
http://www.epapuosalai.lt Auskarai ir papuosalai

Bugzilla forever.
http://www.oxentec.co.za Francis

Is OpenERP not opensource?
http://mili.me Mili

For self-hosted invoicing, I tried all of them but came to a conclusion that Siwapp.org was best suited for my needs. I mainly do invoicing as a freelancer (small business) and the elegant design of Siwapp and it’s customization is more than enough.

If you need help installing Siwapp, shoot me an email !
Perhaps I can even do it for you…
Kumar

How about Replicon employee time tracking software? which is a cloud based time tracking software.
http://www.scriptcorp.com Sandeep Kumar

Thanks a lot fro the list. I will compile some of these tools in our software directory.Thanks again
http://awebdesk.com/emailmarketing/email-marketing-software/ Sandeep Kumar

How about a self-hosted aweber/mailchimp clone. Equally good for managing own newsletters and campaigns. Self-hosted and completely web based.
http://www.papuosaluslenis.lt Papuosalai

Love “SquirrelMail”.

Advertise Here

40 Fantastic Self-Hosted Business Apps

Mail Servers

Webmail Clients

Collaboration

Time Tracking & Invoicing

Project Management

Issue Tracking

CRM

ERP

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