Folk vs Django-CRM
Choose Django-CRM (BottleCRM) when self-hosting, source-code control, multi-tenancy, and integrated support and invoicing matter more than Folk’s communication-centric automation and AI assistance. Choose Folk when the priority is multichannel relationship context, AI-generated follow-ups and recaps, enrichment, or trigger-based outreach; Django-CRM explicitly lacks workflow automation and does not send customer-com.
Decision guide
The practical reasons to choose either option, based on documented capabilities.
Choose Django-CRM if
- Teams able to operate a Python/Django, PostgreSQL, Redis, and Celery stack on their own infrastructure
- Organizations requiring an MIT-licensed CRM whose source and database they control
- Teams wanting contacts, deals, tasks, support tickets, estimates, and invoices in one system before adding custom integrations through a REST API and quick UI and native mobile clients.
Stay with Folk if
- Trigger-based outreach is essential: Django-CRM documents no workflow automation and says it does not compose or send customer email.
- Users depend on Folk’s AI follow-up drafts, relationship recaps, company enrichment, or campaign tracking; equivalent built-in features are not documented for Django-CRM.
- WhatsApp or LinkedIn activity must appear in the relationship timeline; the supplied Django-CRM sources document calls, emails, notes, and tasks but not those channels directly with native connectors for them, making it,
Deployment and operations
Django-CRM is MIT licensed and can be self-hosted; managed hosting is also offered. A documented Docker Compose stack runs PostgreSQL, Redis, the API, a Celery worker, and the web app. Operators remain responsible for backups, upgrades, TLS, and their mail provider. Scheduled behavior requires both a Celery worker and beat process; omitting them leaves recurring invoices, overdue marking, SLA scans, and cleanup jobs inactive.
Migration considerations
A general Folk-to-Django-CRM importer or compatibility path is not documented. The CSV importer exists and is tested on the backend, but neither the web nor mobile interface exposes it; the vendor lists migration from an existing CRM as a paid service. Treat transfer effort, field mapping, interaction-history preservation, and CSV execution as unresolved before switching.
Feature fit
What Django-CRM covers
- Contact and company/account records
- Deal pipeline tracking
- Custom fields
- Interaction timelines, with different channel coverage
- REST API access
What’s different or missing
- No workflow automation
- No customer-outbound email composer
- No documented Folk-style follow-up assistant
- No documented Folk-style recap assistant
- No documented company enrichment
- No documented WhatsApp or LinkedIn timeline support
- No web or mobile CSV import access
Project snapshot
- GitHub stars
- 2,384
- Contributors
- 48
- Language
- Python
- Last commit
- Aug 17, 2026
- Latest release
- Aug 17, 2026
Categories: Customer Data Platforms, Marketing Automation, Customer Support, Workflow Automation, Customer Relationship Management, Business Intelligence, Data Integration, Sales Intelligence
Sources and editorial review13 linked sources
Public documentation supports this comparison. Automation assists collection and classification; editorial standards and corrections remain the responsibility of Kris.
Open Source CRM for Startups and enterprises. Django + SvelteKit · Self-hosted · Multi-tenant · Free forever
repository description · github.comBottleCRM is an open source CRM you run on your own infrastructure.
readme · github.comIt covers the full customer lifecycle: leads, accounts, contacts, opportunities, support tickets, tasks and invoices
readme · github.comthrough a SvelteKit web app, a native Flutter mobile app, and a documented REST API
readme · github.comQuick start: git clone https://github.com/django-crm/Django-CRM.git ... docker compose up --build
readme · github.comThe full documentation ... covers setup, self-hosting, architecture, the REST API, and contributing
readme · github.comIt covers the full customer lifecycle: leads, accounts, contacts, opportunities, support tickets, tasks and invoices
verdict · github.comNo lead scoring, nurturing, or workflow automation
consider original · bottlecrm.ioIt does not compose and send mail to a customer, so this is not a replacement for your inbox.
consider original · bottlecrm.ioOne page per customer: the details, the deal, the people, and every call, email and note in the order they happened.
shared feature · bottlecrm.ioThe Docker Compose stack brings up Postgres, Redis, the API, a Celery worker and the web app.
deployment · bottlecrm.ioBackups, upgrades, TLS and the mail provider are yours.
deployment · bottlecrm.ioThe importer is built and tested on the backend, with per-row error reporting, and neither the web app nor the phone can reach it. Moving an existing CRM in is one of the things the paid migration covers.
migration · bottlecrm.io
