Dolibarr ERP/CRM Review

Overview

Dolibarr ERP/CRM is a French open-source business suite that manages contacts, quotes, invoices, orders, stock, agenda, HR, and accounting in one PHP application, usable standalone or over the web. Its defining trait is modularity: roughly 100 modules ship by default and you enable only what you need, which keeps the interface as small as your selections. The CRM side covers customers, prospects, contacts, opportunities, commercial proposals with online signing, orders, contracts, interventions, tickets with a knowledge base, and a point of sale. The ERP side is where it earns its keep: invoicing, bank accounts, SEPA direct debit and credit transfer, accounting with a choice between accrual and cash basis, stock with batches, lots, and barcodes, bill of materials and manufacturing orders, plus HR modules for leave, expense reports, recruitment, and timesheets. Version 24.0.0 shipped in August 2026 with an experimental MCP server and AI assistant, and the AI module itself moved from experimental to stable in 21.0: it generates and rewrites text in editors, spell-checks, autofills extrafields, and calls an external AI API you configure. That is assistance inside forms, not an AI CRM. Connectivity is real and includes REST and SOAP APIs, webhooks, a Zapier module, PayPal, Stripe, and Paybox for payments, mass emailing, an email collector, LDAP, and 1, 000-plus third-party addons on Dolistore. Country-specific tax logic is a genuine differentiator: French NPR VAT, Spanish RE and IRPF, Canadian double taxes, Argentine invoice lettering, Greek MyData, and ZATCA e-invoicing QR codes. The trade-offs are a dated interface, a reporting layer that usually ends up in a spreadsheet or BI tool, and marketing features that stop at mass emailing. It fits when one tool must run invoicing and light CRM; it does not fit when campaign automation is the job.

AI Capabilities

• AI content generation and rewriting in editors (stable since 21.0)
• AI spell check and extrafield autofill
• Configurable pre- and post-prompts with word blacklist
• Experimental MCP server and AI assistant (24.0)

Key Integrations

How to install

1. Pick a packaged route if you want the short path: DoliWamp for Windows, DoliDeb for Debian and Ubuntu, DoliRpm for Red Hat, Fedora, or openSUSE, or the official dolibarr/dolibarr image on Docker Hub.
2. For the generic setup the README recommends for IT users, clone a version branch - git clone https://github.com/dolibarr/dolibarr -b 24.0 - and point your web server's docroot at the htdocs/ directory. Any PHP-capable server works: Apache, Nginx, Lighttpd, or IIS.
3. Create an empty htdocs/conf/conf.php file and give the web server user write permission on it. That write permission is removed once installation finishes.
4. Browse to the install/ page, for example http://yourhost/dolibarr/htdocs/install/, and follow the installer.
5. Upgrades follow the same shape: back up files, overwrite with the new package, and the next visit redirects you to install/ to run the upgrade. The README says this holds from any version after 2.8.
6. No time to host it? saas.dolibarr.org lists commercial ready-to-run cloud offerings run by third parties.

Requirements

PHP with any PHP-capable web server (Apache, Nginx, Lighttpd, IIS) plus MariaDB, MySQL, or PostgreSQL. The wiki lists MariaDB 10.3+, MySQL 5.7.7+, and PostgreSQL 9.1+, asks for a 128 MB PHP memory_limit, and estimates about 150 MB of disk for the program files and 35 MB for a fresh database.

Best for

Freelancers, foundations, and small businesses that want invoicing, inventory, and light CRM in one self-hosted package, especially in France, Spain, Canada, or other markets where Dolibarr's country-specific tax and e-invoicing logic matches local rules.

Not for

Marketing teams, since campaign features stop at mass emailing and an email collector. Also wrong for organizations needing modern reporting, payroll, or a polished UI, and multi-company operation requires an external module.

Hands-on notes

Assessed from the GitHub repository, the ChangeLog, and the project wiki rather than a self-hosted instance. The project is old and unusually conservative: releases are calendar-versioned, the README claims upgrades work from any version after 2.8 without breakage, and 24.0.0 shipped in August 2026.

Module count is the honest way to frame scope. About 100 modules ship by default and the Dolistore marketplace lists 1,000-plus third-party addons, so evaluation means reading a catalogue rather than a feature matrix. Disabling a module removes it from the menus, which is why the interface stays manageable for small teams.

The AI module is form-level assistance, not intelligence in the pipeline: it drafts, rewrites, translates, and spell-checks text, and autofills extrafields from prompts you configure, using an external AI API key. The 24.0 MCP server is experimental. The README still lists payroll, task dependencies, and a native webmail in its 'what Dolibarr can't do yet' section, which is a candid way to scope expectations.

Verdict

The pragmatic small-organization ERP/CRM: start tiny, enable modules as you grow, and accept dated conventions in exchange for an upgrade path measured in decades.

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