Core vs. More – the SpiceCRM Editions

No two businesses are the same, no two Projects and no two CRM Systems. Flexibility is at the heart of our systems and being able to customize is in the DNA of our Developers.

Over the years however, we have gathered loads of requirements and built additional Products for SugarCRM (the open Source CRM that powers the backend of SpiceCRM) which we combined and consolidated in the SpiceCRM Backbone and the UI. TO cater to the Open Source idea which we fundamentally believe in but also allow to add more complexity out of the box we have split SpiceCRM into two editions – the “Core” and the “More” Edition. The Core covers all basic and essential CRM Functions and will allow a company to deploy a state-of-the-art CRM System, use it either right out of the box or build on top of it. The More Edition comes with prepackaged applications and addons that add additional benefits to the CRM Solution and might reduce the costs of implementation if the standard add-ons fit the purpose.

The Core Edition is the GPL Version of SpiceCRM. It covers the relevant and most used CRM processes. This starts with the marketing processes, sales of course and also the basic service processes. The Core Edition covers basic reporting requirements as well. It is the ideal base to start CRM and also the ideal base to build customized solutions on top of it. Technology-wise all bells and whistles are there. The Core Edition comes without guarantees and support. Following the open-source spirit, we built it with the knowledge that it will be useful but will also require some skills or a skilled partner.

The More Edition is based on the Core and adds further features. These are fully-fledged product management, sales documents and quotes, enhanced reporting. More features in service like SLAs or service orders. It also offers out-of-the-box Groupware integration and further features like an SAP Connector and connectors to tools like Mailgun, Sendgrid and other e-marketing tools. It also allows using the tool without the limitations of the GPL License. This edition is targeted atprofessional users who want to do more with the CRM but also don’t want to support it themselves.

GPL – What Open Source is and is not – and yes we are committed to it!

As a team, we started with SugarCRM in 2008. The SugarCRM Team was young and just started with the idea of providing an Open Source CRM tool to the market. The idea sounded strange but was compelling and as we learned well received by the market. As Sugar in 2013 abandoned their Open Source strategy we took over the free SugarCRM CE Version and started enhancing it adding other open-source tools like Angular, Elastic Search or Lightning Design.

We believe in the benefits of Open Source solutions but also have learned that sometimes it takes more than a free license to make a successful CRM project. We are fully committed to Open Source and will continue to release a fully functioning and feature-rich Core Product. On the other hand, we and our partners on many occasions see specific and more sophisticated requirements and also the need for dedicated support. This is what the More Product is about.

If you are using the Core Product you can use it with the GPL License. You are not obliged to contribute to the core product if you make changes even so we encourage you to do so. In any case, you are tied to the GPL license also if you deliver enhancements to your customers and also need to deliver it to them under the GPL license. This is also different with more products as we here provide you with a proprietary license and allow you to keep that license and enhance with your own restrictions and commercial terms.