EspoCRM vs SuiteCRM: Lightweight Self-Hosted PHP CRM Comparison 2026

version: '3.8'

services:
  espocrm-db:
    image: mariadb:10.11
    container_name: espocrm-mariadb
    restart: always
    environment:
      MARIADB_DATABASE: espocrm
      MARIADB_USER: espouser
      MARIADB_PASSWORD: ChangeMeSuperSecurePass2026!
      MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD: ChangeMeRootSecretPass2026!
    volumes:
      - espocrm_db_data:/var/lib/mysql
    command: --character-set-server=utf8mb4 --collation-server=utf8mb4_unicode_ci --max_allowed_packet=64M
    networks:
      - espocrm-net

  espocrm:
    image: espocrm/espocrm:8.3-fpm
    container_name: espocrm-app
    restart: always
    environment:
      ESPOCRM_DATABASE_HOST: espocrm-db
      ESPOCRM_DATABASE_NAME: espocrm
      ESPOCRM_DATABASE_USER: espouser
      ESPOCRM_DATABASE_PASSWORD: ChangeMeSuperSecurePass2026!
      ESPOCRM_ADMIN_USERNAME: admin
      ESPOCRM_ADMIN_PASSWORD: AdminSuperPassword2026!
      ESPOCRM_SITE_URL: https://crm.yourdomain.com
    volumes:
      - espocrm_app_data:/var/www/html
    depends_on:
      - espocrm-db
    networks:
      - espocrm-net

  espocrm-daemon:
    image: espocrm/espocrm:8.3-fpm
    container_name: espocrm-daemon
    restart: always
    volumes:
      - espocrm_app_data:/var/www/html
    entrypoint: ["docker-daemon.sh"]
    depends_on:
      - espocrm
    networks:
      - espocrm-net

  espocrm-web:
    image: nginx:1.27-alpine
    container_name: espocrm-nginx
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
    volumes:
      - espocrm_app_data:/var/www/html:ro
      - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf:ro
    depends_on:
      - espocrm
    networks:
      - espocrm-net

volumes:
  espocrm_db_data:
  espocrm_app_data:

networks:
  espocrm-net:
    driver: bridge

import requests
import json
import time

ESPOCRM_URL = "https://crm.yourdomain.com"
API_KEY = "your_espocrm_api_key_secret_here"

headers = {
    "X-Api-Key": API_KEY,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
    "Accept": "application/json"
}

def create_lead(first_name: str, last_name: str, email: str, company: str, source: str = "Web"):
    endpoint = f"{ESPOCRM_URL}/api/v1/Lead"
    payload = {
        "firstName": first_name,
        "lastName": last_name,
        "emailAddress": email,
        "accountName": company,
        "source": source,
        "status": "New"
    }
    
    t0 = time.perf_counter()
    response = requests.post(endpoint, json=payload, headers=headers, timeout=5.0)
    latency_ms = (time.perf_counter() - t0) * 1000
    
    if response.status_code == 200:
        lead_data = response.json()
        print(f"[OK] Lead Created: ID {lead_data.get('id')} in {latency_ms:.2f}ms")
        return lead_data
    else:
        print(f"[ERROR] HTTP {response.status_code}: {response.text}")
        response.raise_for_status()

# Query High-Value Leads with Parameterized Filtering
def query_leads_by_status(status="Assigned", max_size=20):
    params = {
        "maxSize": max_size,
        "where[0][type]": "equals",
        "where[0][attribute]": "status",
        "where[0][value]": status,
        "orderBy": "createdAt",
        "order": "desc"
    }
    endpoint = f"{ESPOCRM_URL}/api/v1/Lead"
    res = requests.get(endpoint, params=params, headers=headers)
    return res.json()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    new_lead = create_lead("Elena", "Rostova", "elena@techfleet.internal", "Rostova Cloud Solutions")
    recent = query_leads_by_status("New", max_size=5)
    print(f"Total New Leads in Queue: {recent.get('total')}")