Alternatives / Zoho
Looking for an open source Zoho alternative? We compared 2 open source tools by license, apps, and scope. Odoo is a modular business suite that covers CRM, accounting, and inventory, while ONLYOFFICE Docs replaces the document editing side only.
Written by Maxime DERAME
Last updated:
| Alternative | Best for | License |
|---|---|---|
| Odoo | Modular business suite | LGPL-3.0 (Community) |
| ONLYOFFICE Docs | Online office editors | AGPL-3.0 Community Edition |
We looked for open-source tools that cover parts of Zoho's broad suite. We verified each project's license, recent activity, stars, and self-hosting in its repository. Neither covers everything Zoho offers. See our methodology for the full criteria.
Odoo is a modular business suite covering accounting, CRM, inventory, ecommerce, HR, and project management, with apps sharing one data layer on PostgreSQL. The Community edition is open source, while extra apps, cloud hosting, and support require the paid Enterprise edition.
ONLYOFFICE Docs is an online editor for documents, spreadsheets, presentations, PDFs, and fillable forms, with real-time co-editing, comments, and track changes. It can be self-hosted and has web, desktop, and mobile clients.
ONLYOFFICE Docs is an editor, not a CRM or business suite, so it covers only the document part of Zoho. Odoo Community lacks some apps that exist only in the Enterprise edition.
Odoo Community is LGPL-3.0. ONLYOFFICE Docs Community Edition is AGPL-3.0.
Both had commits within days of this update, and Odoo has over 54,000 stars.
Zoho is a proprietary suite priced per user and per app, with data hosted in its data centers. Open-source suites can be self-hosted and combined, but connecting several tools yourself takes more effort than using one vendor's integrated suite.
Odoo is a modular business suite covering CRM, accounting, inventory, eCommerce, HR, manufacturing, and project management. The Community edition is LGPL-3.0, while the Enterprise edition is proprietary and priced per user.
Pricing: Free Community edition; paid per-user Enterprise edition and hosting.
AGPL-3.0 Community Edition for editing text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, PDFs, and forms. Focuses heavily on DOCX, XLSX, and PPTX workflows, with real-time co-editing, Track Changes, comments, desktop/mobile editors, and integrations such as Nextcloud and ownCloud. Enterprise and Developer editions are proprietary.
Pricing: Self-hostable Community Edition; Enterprise and Developer editions require commercial licenses.
| Alternative | Type | License | Self-hosted | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Odoo | Business suite | LGPL-3.0 (Community) | Yes | CRM, accounting, inventory |
| ONLYOFFICE Docs | Office suite | AGPL-3.0 (Community) | Yes | Document collaboration |
Want an integrated business suite
Odoo covers CRM, accounting, inventory, and HR in one data layer, with some apps paid.
Want to replace Zoho's document editors
ONLYOFFICE Docs offers co-editing for documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.