SugarCRM launches express edition that comes with onsite and cloud accounts
SugarCRM has introduced an express edition and with it a two-for-one deal that includes an on-site software account and cloud account for one low price.
And it's a good one: $7 per user per month. The express edition is based on the community edition, which, of course is free, but the express edition comes with additional services s well as commercial support.
The Professional Edition is priced at $30 per user per month and Enterprise Edition is $50 per user per month.
SugarCRM launched the Express edition on April 29.
"There's been a big disconnect between the community edition and the pro edition in cost but we're at a point where we could launch a mass market product," said SugarCRM CEO John Roberts, noting that ther four-year-old open source multinational company has a mature code base and employs 160 people. "Before the cost went from zero per month to $30 per month and now it's zero per month to seven dollars per month to $30 or $50 per month. We needed a product that fills the gap between community edition and pro edition."
The Express edition gives users the code and functionality including a module builder to create custom modules and cloud connectors to integrate third-party data services from companies such as Hoover's and Jigsaw.
Sugar Express is offered as an annual subscription at $499 for up to five users or $799 for up to ten users per year, the Cupertino, calif., company announced.
SugarCRM built out its internal cloud much like Amazon and Wikipaedia, using the Linux grid. It has offered on demand services for three years.
The two-for-one deal -- which gives mainstream users and SMB companies a $7 per user per month subscription for on-site use and a cloud account -- also represents a hardware savings since customers don't have two servers for different services.
"Why have SugarCRM and Sugar On Demand as two separate products? We say you can have both for the price of one. You get an on demand and on site account at the same time and that's unlike any other CRM vendor out there," Roberts said.
"The net net is a convergence of on demand and on site products represents twice the value for a lower price," " Roberts added.
Roberts also noted that the company's Sugar Open Cloud puts the customers in control of the software and the flexibility that allows them to customize on the cloud as well as on site.
"We're bringing the method of open source to the cloud. Sugar Open Cloud preserves the attributes of open source where the customer is in control."