Should you build your own Bigin?
Run a small-business pipeline with contacts, activities, and simple workflows
The core loop is buildable, but a dependable replacement becomes a real weekend or multi-day project. For Bigin, run a small-business pipeline with contacts, activities, and simple workflows. The hard boundary is zoho ecosystem, telephony, forms, integrations, and mobile apps, plus integrations, data quality, and workflow lock-in.
ENOriginal research content in English. Original prompt preserved in English.
Build a personal replacement for Bigin in an empty repository.
Use Next.js 15, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM, and Docker Compose; do not offer alternative stacks.
The core loop is: manage contacts and companies for a small business, move opportunities through a pipeline with simple workflows, log interactions and activities, and surface the next action.
Make the first run work locally with one documented command.
Store all user data locally by default and make export straightforward.
Put secrets in .env, ship .env.example, and never commit credentials.
Create contacts, companies, opportunities, notes, tasks, and configurable pipeline stages.
Add fast global search, duplicate detection, merge, CSV import, and CSV export.
Provide a chronological interaction timeline with manual email and meeting logging.
Implement saved views, filters, owner assignment, and a next-action dashboard.
Add role-based access, an immutable activity log, backups, and a recovery command.
Seed a realistic demo workspace and document field mapping for imports.
Include clear empty, loading, success, and recoverable error states.
Add input validation, safe filenames, and graceful handling of unavailable APIs.
Write focused tests for the core transformation and one end-to-end happy path.
Create a README with setup, architecture, permissions, data location, and backup steps.
Do not add accounts, billing, telemetry, analytics, or a hosted control plane.
Deliberately leave out automatic mailbox ingestion.
Deliberately leave out commercial enrichment databases.
Deliberately leave out enterprise forecasting, integrations, and compliance.
Finish by running the tests and listing the exact commands used.The prompt opens pre-filled in your agent. Review it before running. · this prompt is generated from the build plan · improve it via PR
What would building your own look like?
Manage contacts and companies for a small business, move opportunities through a pipeline with simple workflows, log interactions and activities, and surface the next action.
What you will need
- Docker
- PostgreSQL
- self-hosted server
- optional email API credentials
People still pay for Bigin because CRM value compounds as the system becomes the shared memory of every customer interaction and embeds itself in the rest of the stack. The recurring cost buys deduplication, permissions, imports, sync, enrichment, email capture, automations, backups, and audit history, not just the visible interface.
xZoho ecosystem, telephony, forms, integrations, and mobile apps
xautomatic email and calendar capture
xdata enrichment
xlarge integration ecosystem
xenterprise reporting
Prefer something ready-made?
TwentyA modern pipeline CRM with custom objects, views and mailbox sync; the subscription becomes a Compose file.Open source↗
Krayin CRMA Laravel sales pipeline with leads, contacts and email; glossy enough, but it still wants a PHP stack.Open source↗
EspoCRMA traditional CRM that actually lets you change the data model; polished enough, but still your server.Open source↗View all 8 alternatives to Bigin →· Licença, instalação e limitações em cada alternativa.
How much does Bigin cost?
- Monthly billing
- $9/mo$9/mo · per person
- Per year
- $108/yr$108/yr
- Annual billing
- $84/yr22% cheaper than paying monthly
- On a Brazilian card, with 3.5% IOF
- R$47.03/moR$439/yr
Saved to My list. You will see a notice on this site when the price changes.
You complete the purchase on Bigin’s site. Vibe Radar does not handle payments.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (per month) | What is included |
|---|---|---|---|
| free | $0/user | $0/user | 1 user and 500 total records |
| express | $9/user≈ $9 | $7/user≈ $7 | 50,000 records; no user-count limit (each user requires a license) |
| premier | $15/user≈ $15 | $12/user≈ $12 | 100,000 records; no user-count limit (each user requires a license) |
| bigin 360 | $21/user≈ $21 | $18/user≈ $18 | 1,000,000 records; no user-count limit (each user requires a license) |
Free tier1 user and 500 records total (contacts, companies, pipelines, activities, products and notes all count as records)
Billing termsmonthly + annual
Additional costsLocal taxes may be added despite contradictory wording on the page; paid plans charge for every user. Add-ons are sold separately in the Bigin Store. Annual downgrades can create account credits rather than cash refunds.
verified 2026-08-12 · source ↗
Is it cheaper to build or buy Bigin?
Adjust the numbers: hours to build, your hourly rate, running costs and the subscription price.
Over 24 months, subscribing is cheaper.
Starting hours estimated from the analysis (multi-day). Does not price what you give up (support, integrations, security).
Can I rebuild Bigin?
Kinda. The core of Bigin is buildable in a weekend with the prompt on this page, but there are real gaps: Zoho ecosystem, telephony, forms, integrations, and mobile apps, automatic email and calendar capture. Read the honest list above before committing.
How much does Bigin cost?
Bigin costs about $9/mo (Express, checked 07/31/2026), which is $84 per year.
What do I lose by replacing Bigin?
Honestly: Zoho ecosystem, telephony, forms, integrations, and mobile apps; automatic email and calendar capture; data enrichment; large integration ecosystem; enterprise reporting. If any of those are load-bearing for you, keep paying.
Is there an open-source alternative to Bigin?
Yes: Twenty (A modern pipeline CRM with custom objects, views and mailbox sync; the subscription becomes a Compose file.) Krayin CRM (A Laravel sales pipeline with leads, contacts and email; glossy enough, but it still wants a PHP stack.) EspoCRM (A traditional CRM that actually lets you change the data model; polished enough, but still your server.) All 8 curated free alternatives are at https://viberadar.si/bigin/alternatives. The prompt is for when you want it exactly your way.