SuiteCRM
Open-source CRM descended from SugarCRM Community Edition, covering sales, marketing campaigns and support cases. Needs PHP, MySQL or MariaDB and a scheduler cron running every minute; version 8 adds a newer interface on the same back-end.
CRM hosting in Kenya
Host your CRM on a server of your own
Run SuiteCRM, EspoCRM, Odoo or a CRM your developer built on a VPS with full root access. Cron jobs run every minute, queue workers stay up, and SMS, WhatsApp and M-Pesa webhooks have a public HTTPS address to land on. One monthly price, however many reps log in.
15 users
We suggest
VPS V2
KES 5,000/mo
With 8 GB of RAM this is the memory pick: room for a well-cached database, Redis, queue workers for bulk SMS, or a full Odoo or Twenty install for a growing sales floor.
Order VPS V2Why Kenyan sales teams move their CRM onto a VPS
Most Kenyan sales teams start their CRM life in a shared Google Sheet and a WhatsApp group. It works until two reps call the same lead on the same morning, or someone resigns and takes the contact list on their phone. A proper CRM fixes that, and running it on your own VPS means customer records, call notes and quotation history sit on a server you control rather than on a per-seat plan billed in dollars.
Self-hosted CRMs such as SuiteCRM, EspoCRM and Odoo are free to download, but they are not light. They run a web server, a database, scheduled jobs for email import and reminders, and often a queue worker for bulk SMS. Shared hosting tends to kill long-running processes and limit how often cron can fire, which is exactly where CRMs break: workflows stop triggering and inbound email stops syncing without anyone noticing.
A VPS gives you root access to run cron every minute, keep queue workers alive under Supervisor, tune MySQL or PostgreSQL, and expose an HTTPS endpoint for webhooks from Africa's Talking, the WhatsApp Business Platform or M-Pesa. We set up the server with your chosen operating system and hand over the login; you or your developer install the CRM. Support is free by ticket, email, phone or WhatsApp if you get stuck.
The problem
Problems a CRM server should take off your plate
Per-seat bills that grow with the team
Hosted CRMs usually charge per user per month, often in US dollars, so hiring five reps for a campaign changes the bill and the exchange rate moves it again. A self-hosted CRM on a VPS costs the same whether three people log in or thirty.
Workflows that quietly stop firing
Follow-up reminders, lead assignment rules and email-to-case all depend on a scheduler. When cron is throttled or blocked, nothing errors on screen; leads simply go cold. On a VPS you set the schedule and can see when a job last ran.
Webhooks with nowhere to land
SMS delivery reports, WhatsApp replies and M-Pesa payment confirmations are pushed to a public HTTPS URL. A CRM on an office PC behind a home-style router cannot receive them, so conversations and payments never appear against the customer.
Customer data living on personal phones
When contacts and deal notes sit in each rep's WhatsApp, the business does not really own its pipeline. A central CRM with roles means reps see their own accounts, managers see everything, and exports are restricted to the people who should run them.
What runs on it
CRMs that run well on a HostingKE VPS
Any CRM that runs on Linux will run on our VPS. These are the ones Kenyan businesses ask us about most often.
EspoCRM
A lighter PHP CRM with a clean interface, custom entities and a workflow add-on. Runs on MySQL, MariaDB or PostgreSQL, relies on cron or its daemon for jobs, and is comfortable on modest hardware for small teams.
Odoo CRM
The CRM app inside Odoo, useful when you also want quotations, invoicing or inventory in the same system. Python on PostgreSQL with several worker processes, so it needs noticeably more memory than the PHP CRMs.
Twenty
A newer open-source CRM with a modern, spreadsheet-like interface and a GraphQL and REST API. It is deployed with Docker alongside PostgreSQL and Redis, so plan for container tooling and extra RAM.
Vtiger CRM (open source)
The self-hosted edition of Vtiger, a long-standing PHP and MySQL CRM with contacts, deals, tickets and email integration. Simple to run on a LAMP stack with a cron for scheduled tasks.
Custom Laravel or Django CRMs
Many Kenyan firms run a CRM their developer built around their own sales process. These need PHP or Python, a database, a queue worker for SMS and email, and root access to install exactly what the code expects.
Sizing
Which VPS fits your CRM?
Move the slider to the number of people who are usually in the CRM at the same time, not the total number of accounts.
- 1–5 users VPS V1 A single core and 1 GB of RAM is enough for EspoCRM, Vtiger or SuiteCRM with a handful of users, a small database and a modest email sync. Not suitable for Odoo or Twenty.
- 6–40 users VPS V2 With 8 GB of RAM this is the memory pick: room for a well-cached database, Redis, queue workers for bulk SMS, or a full Odoo or Twenty install for a growing sales floor.
- 41–120 users VPS V4 Six cores handle many simultaneous PHP or Odoo workers, and 480 GB of SSD holds years of attachments and email archives. Its 24 GB of RAM keeps a large database well cached.
- 121+ users VPS V5 Ten cores and 40 GB of RAM for call centres and large teams running heavy reporting, marketing campaigns and integrations against one busy database.
This is a starting point: Odoo and Twenty need more memory than PHP CRMs, and heavy email sync, large attachments or dashboard-heavy reporting will push you up a plan sooner.
VPS V1
KES 2,000/mo
- 1 Core
- 1 GB RAM
- 40 GB NVMe
- 1 TB transfer
VPS V2
KES 5,000/mo
- 2 Cores
- 8 GB RAM
- 160 GB SSD
- 8 TB transfer
VPS V3
KES 7,000/mo
- 4 Cores
- 16 GB RAM
- 320 GB SSD
- 16 TB transfer
VPS V4
KES 15,000/mo
- 6 Cores
- 24 GB RAM
- 480 GB SSD
- 24 TB transfer
VPS V5
KES 20,000/mo
- 10 Cores
- 40 GB RAM
- 800 GB SSD
- 40 TB transfer
Before you go live
CRM go-live checklist
0 of 8 done. Tick them off as you go.
Built for Kenya
Running a CRM in Kenya
Customer data is personal data
Names, phone numbers and purchase history in a CRM are personal data under the Data Protection Act 2019, and many businesses must register with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner. Self-hosting lets you decide who has access, how long records are kept and how deletion requests are handled.
Pay in shillings, by M-Pesa
Dollar-priced CRM subscriptions move with the exchange rate and depend on a card with enough foreign spending limit. A VPS is billed in Kenya shillings and can be paid by M-Pesa or card, so the cost of the CRM is predictable for budgeting.
Reps in the field, not at a desk
Sales teams covering Mombasa, Kisumu or Eldoret update the CRM from phones on mobile data. A CRM hosted off-site stays reachable when the head office has a power cut or the office line is down, which an in-house server cannot promise.
Questions
CRM: your questions, answered
Can I run SuiteCRM on a VPS in Kenya?
Yes. SuiteCRM needs PHP, MySQL or MariaDB, a web server and a cron job that runs every minute, all of which you control on a VPS with root access. For a small team VPS V1 is enough to start; move to VPS V2 if you add many users or heavy email sync.
How much RAM does a self-hosted CRM need?
It depends on the CRM more than the number of contacts. PHP CRMs like EspoCRM and Vtiger run in 1 GB for a small team. Odoo and Twenty run several processes plus PostgreSQL and Redis, so start them on VPS V2 with 8 GB of RAM.
Can my CRM send bulk SMS through Africa's Talking from a VPS?
Yes. Your CRM calls the Africa's Talking SMS API from the server, and delivery reports are posted back to a callback URL. A VPS with a domain and HTTPS certificate gives that callback a stable address. Run the sending through a queue worker so large campaigns do not time out.
Is self-hosting a CRM cheaper than a hosted one like HubSpot or Salesforce?
Often, once you have more than a few users, because a VPS is a fixed monthly price rather than per seat. The trade-off is that you or your developer handle updates, backups and security. For teams with in-house or retained technical help, that trade usually pays off.
Do you install the CRM for me?
Our free setup gives you a ready server with your chosen operating system and root login. Installing and configuring the CRM is done by you or your developer. If you hit a server problem, such as PHP extensions, cron or firewall rules, our support team can help by ticket, email, phone or WhatsApp.
How do I move contacts from Excel or Google Sheets into a new CRM?
SuiteCRM, EspoCRM, Vtiger and Odoo all import contacts from CSV. Clean the sheet first: one column per field, phone numbers in a single format such as +2547XXXXXXXX, and duplicates removed. Import a small sample, check it, then run the full file.
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