If you've spent any time searching for an open-source CRM , you've probably hit the same wall most teams hit: the popular options are either bloated, expensive at scale, locked behind paid editions, or built on aging PHP stacks that are painful to extend.

In this post, I want to introduce you to Horilla CRM — a free, self-hosted, open-source CRM built with Django 6 and Python 3.13. It's designed for teams who want full control over their customer data, deep customization, and a modern developer experience — without paying per seat.

Note: Horilla also ships a separate HRMS product in its own repository. This article is focused on Horilla CRM specifically.…