Best Free Business Accounting and CRM Software

Individuals won't have a need for Supply Chain Management (SCM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software but small businesses should be aware that there is a wide variety of business management software that may be found using sites like BrotherSoft. 

QuickBooks Simple Start is a good option but it cannot import data from other editions of QuickBooks, Quicken, or Peachtree. However it does provide an attractive interface to most of the common small business software packages.

If you're looking for another comprehensive small business management software suite supported by a major software vendor try Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2008. 

There are several other competent small business management suites worth evaluating if your business is looking for commercial quality open source offerings.  Examples include Averiware Free, BS1 Accounting, Compiere Community Edition, NolaPro, Openbravo Community Edition ERP, opentaps, Sugar Community Edition CRM, vtiger CRM, and XTuple PostBooks Edition. Non-U.S. businesses may appreciate TurboCASH support for VAT accounting. Small businesses not comfortable with the process of installing and configuring all of the components necessary to get some of these packages running should look at the Virtual Appliance Marketplace where offerings are pre-installed, pre-configured, and ready for deployment.

Of course, small businesses should augment these software packages with the services of a CPA.

BrotherSoft Business Software
Website: http://www.brothersoft.com/business/

QuickBooks Simple Start 2008
Website: http://quickbooks.intuit.com/
Download Link: http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product/accounting-software/free-accounting-software.jhtml
Author: Intuit Inc.
Current version: 2008 R5
Version date: 10/1/2007
License: Free - Software License Agreement for QuickBooks Software
Download File size: 284 MiB
Operating Systems Supported: Windows Vista/XP/2000/2003
Additional Software Required: Google Desktop for optional QuickBooks Search
64 Bit Capable: Yes
Portable Version Available: No
Non-English languages supported: No
Other relevant information: Must register within 30 days

Office Accounting Express 2008
Website: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/accountingexpress/default.aspx
Download Link: http://www.ideawins.com/downloads1.aspx
Author: Microsoft Corporation
Current version: 3.0.8231.0
Version date: 10/31/2007
License: Free - Microsoft Software License Terms
Download File size: 225 MiB
Operating Systems Supported: Windows Vista/XP/2003
Additional Software Required: Includes Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express
64 Bit Capable: Yes
Portable Version Available: No
Non-English languages supported: Spanish
Other relevant information: UK Version http://www.msofficeaccounting.co.uk/

Averiware Free
Website: http://www.averiwarefree.com
Download Link: http://www.averiwarefree.com/application_form.html
Author: Averiware Inc.
License: Free after application and activation - Terms of Service Agreement
Download File size: On Demand (no client download)
Operating Systems Supported: Web Service
Other relevant information: Sales Force Automation, Customer Care, Supply Chain Management, Financial Accounting, Human Resources, System Manager, StoreFront.

BS1 Accounting
Website: http://www.dbsonline.com/accounting/
Download Link: http://www.dbsonline.com/download/index.html
Author: Davis Business Systems Ltd. Canada (DBS)
Current version: 2008.2
Version date: 4/16/2008
License: Free - DBS BS1 Accounting EULA (fee - support, upgrades, multi-user)
Download File size: 1.47 MiB
Operating Systems Supported: Windows XP/2000/NT/Me/98/95
Additional Software Required: Borland CodeGear Delphi IDE for Source Code
Portable Version Available: No
Non-English languages supported:
Other relevant information: BS1 General Ledger, BS1 Professional Time Billing

Openbravo Community Edition
Website: http://www.openbravo.com
Download Link: http://www.openbravo.com/product/get-openbravo/community-edition/
Author: Openbravo, S.L.
Current version: R2.35 MP1
Version date: 01/09/2008
License: Free - Mozilla Public License 1.1
Download File size: 244 MiB
Operating Systems Supported: OS-independent, Windows, Solaris, freeBSD, Linux
Additional Software Required: Java Platform, Apache-Tomcat, and a database engine.
Non-English languages supported: Yes
Other relevant information: ERP functions include Master Data Management, Procurement Management, Warehouse Management, Product Management, Materials Requirement Planning (MRP), Sales Management, Project and Service Management, and Financial Management.  Openbravo Point-of-Sale (POS) application is also available.

Compiere Community Edition
Website: http://www.compiere.com/
Download Link: http://www.compiere.com/products/download/index.php
Author: Compiere
Current version: 3.0
Version date: 12/04/2007
License: Free - GPL v2
Download File size: various
Operating Systems Supported: Cross-platform Client compatible with Java JDK 1.5
Additional Software Required: Oracle XE (free) or EnterpriseDB Advanced Server(fee) database
64 Bit Capable: Unknown
Portable Version Available: No
Non-English languages supported: Yes
Other relevant information: Community Edition is intended for developers and does not include migration tools or support (other than Forums and Wiki).

NolaPro
Website: http://www.nolapro.com/index-5.html
Download link: http://free.grisoft.com/downloads
Author: Noguska L.L.C.
Version: 4.0.3563
Date: 07/20/2008
Download file size: 41.8 MiB
License: Free - Noguska L.L.C. EULA
Operating systems supported: Windows Vista/XP/2003/2000, Linux
64 Bit version available: No
Portable version available: No
Other languages supported: Yes
Additional software required: MySQL database. A few add-ons are free but most carry a fee. 
Other relevant information: On-site and hosted web-based ERP deployments. Support provided via online user forum and training videos.

opentaps
Website: http://www.opentaps.org/
Download Link: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=145855
Author: Open source community
Current version: 1.0.0
Version date: 3/28/2008
License: Free - Honest Public License (HPL)
Download File size: 355 MiB
Operating Systems Supported: Windows, Linux, Unix
Additional Software Required: Java and a relational database
64 Bit Capable:
Portable Version Available: No
Non-English languages supported:
Other relevant information: Other community projects and add-ons available

Sugar Community Edition
Website: http://www.sugarcrm.com
Download Link: http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/index.php?option=com_downloads&task=downloads&Itemid=305
Author: SugarCRM Inc.
Current version: 5.0.0b
License: Free - GPL v3
Download File size: 13 MiB
Operating Systems Supported: Windows, Linux, Mac
Additional Software Required: PHP, MySQL or MSSQL, and Apache or IIS
Portable Version Available: No but available as a virtual appliance. 
Non-English languages supported: Many language and theme packs
Other relevant information: Many support options and extensions are available via SugarWiki, Sugar University, Sugar Forums, SurgarExchange, and SugarForge.

TurboCASH
Website: http://www.turbocashuk.com/
Download link: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=86088
Author: Philip Copeman
Version: 3.7.56 (stable, Version 4 is more scalable)
Date: 02/23/2008
Download file size: 100.66 MiB
License: Free - GPLv2
Operating systems supported: Windows XP/2000/ME/98
64 Bit version available: No
Portable version available: No (but working on it)
Other languages supported: Many are listed here.
Additional software required:  Chart of accounts available here
Other relevant information: Community Forum requires registration; Wiki is used to promote business opportunities amongst users; Resources for TurboCASH in the USA here.
 
vtiger CRM
Website: http://www.vtiger.com/
Download Link: http://vtiger.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30&Itemid=57
Author: vtiger is a Private Limited Corporation that manages the open source project
Current version: 5.0.4
Version date: 03/11/2008
License: Free - refer to the vtiger FAQ for the vtiger licensing policy
File size: 32.5 MiB (Windows), 49.8 MiB (Unix/Linux)
Operating Systems Supported: Windows 2003/XP/2000/NT, Unix/Linux distributions such as Red Hat 9.0/8.0/7.2 Debian 3.0, SuSe 9.0, Fedora Core 3.0, Mandrake 10.0, Mac OS, and FreeBSD.
Additional Software Required: Bundled with the LAMP/WAMP stack and other third-party open source packages.  Plug-ins for Outlook, Office, and Thunderbird are part of the vtiger CRM project at SourceForge.net.
64 Bit Capable:
Portable Version Available: No but available as a virtual appliance.
Non-English languages supported:
Other relevant information: Many support options and extensions are available.

Virtual Appliance Marketplace
Website: http://www.vmware.com/appliances/

XTuple PostBooks Edition
Website: http://www.xtuple.com/postbooks
Download Link: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=196195
Author: xTuple (formerly OpenMFG)
Current version: 3.0.1
Version date: 07/11/2008
License: Free - Common Public Attribution License
Download File size: GUIclient (14 MB), database dumps (3 MB), docs (21 MB)
Operating Systems Supported: Graphical client runs on Windows XP/2000/NT/98/95, OS X, POSIX (Linux/BSD/UNIX-like)
Additional Software Required: PostgreSQL database
64 Bit Capable: No
Portable Version Available: No
Non-English languages supported: Fully internationalized
Other relevant information: Support, training, and source code available for all editions.

This software category is maintained by Mike Dutch