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Comparison · CRM

Phorest vs Suitecrm

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Phorest and Suitecrm — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Phorest vs Suitecrm: at a glance

FeaturePhorestSuitecrm
SectorCRMCRM
Velocity score5.02.5
Sparks · 30d00
Top themessalon-software, booking, staff-management, pricingopen-source-crm, maintenance-releases, esr, version-management
Last editorial update15d ago4mo ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is Phorest?

Phorest keeps handing salon owners the settings they used to phone support about

Phorest is salon and clinic management software shipping small, well-scoped changes every week or two, written in the voice of the front desk. The recent run is dominated by giving owners control they previously had to request: adding product brands without contacting Phorest, per-staff-per-service pricing, per-staff online booking visibility, and finer permissions on who may edit service versus retail prices. Around that sit operational tools like geofenced clock-in on the mobile app.

Read the full Phorest trajectory →

What is Suitecrm?

SuiteCRM keeps the lights on with parallel 8.x and 7.x ESR maintenance releases.

SuiteCRM, the open-source CRM, is in maintenance mode across three concurrent branches. April delivered 8.10.0 with full migration paths from 7.15.x, March cut 8.9.3 plus extended-support 7.14.9 and 7.15.1 ESR releases. The release notes themselves are thin download-page entries rather than feature posts, suggesting product communication lives elsewhere.

Read the full Suitecrm trajectory →

Phorest vs Suitecrm: editorial side-by-side

P5.0

Phorest keeps handing salon owners the settings they used to phone support about

◆ Current state

Phorest is salon and clinic management software shipping small, well-scoped changes every week or two, written in the voice of the front desk. The recent run is dominated by giving owners control they previously had to request: adding product brands without contacting Phorest, per-staff-per-service pricing, per-staff online booking visibility, and finer permissions on who may edit service versus retail prices. Around that sit operational tools like geofenced clock-in on the mobile app.

◆ Where it's heading

The through-line is decentralising configuration to the salon and making the booking model match how these businesses actually run. Nearly every recent release either removes a support ticket or lets one staff member be treated differently from another — different price, different online availability, different qualifications. The multi-service booking flow extends the same thinking to the client-facing side, where a visit involving two practitioners was previously modelled as an edge case.

◆ Prediction

Per-staff settings have now landed for price, online visibility and qualifications separately; the obvious next step is a single staff-level view that shows all three together, since the release notes already admit owners are hopping between screens to check them.

Suitecrm logo2.5

SuiteCRM keeps the lights on with parallel 8.x and 7.x ESR maintenance releases.

◆ Current state

SuiteCRM, the open-source CRM, is in maintenance mode across three concurrent branches. April delivered 8.10.0 with full migration paths from 7.15.x, March cut 8.9.3 plus extended-support 7.14.9 and 7.15.1 ESR releases. The release notes themselves are thin download-page entries rather than feature posts, suggesting product communication lives elsewhere.

◆ Where it's heading

The cadence is steady but the public surface communicates almost nothing about what is in each release beyond filenames and migration guides. The continued 7.x ESR support indicates a long-tail user base that has not migrated to 8.x. Expect this branch parity to continue until the 8.x line is stable enough to retire 7.14.

◆ Prediction

The next directional move is likely an 8.11 or 8.10.x point release on the same monthly cadence, plus another 7.15.x ESR. Communications will likely stay on the downloads page with substantive notes only on the linked release-notes documents.

Alternatives to Phorest and Suitecrm

Other CRM products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Phorest or Suitecrm.

See all Phorest alternatives → · See all Suitecrm alternatives →

Recent activity from Phorest and Suitecrm

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 15d agoPhorestBooking multiple services with multiple staff? Now way easier to mix up who's doing what 💇
  2. 21d agoPhorestChoose which team members show up for online bookings — service by service
  3. 26d agoPhorestPermissions to change service / retail prices
  4. 29d agoPhorestAdd New Brands
  5. 29d agoPhorestPricing just got personal
  6. 1mo agoPhorestGeofencing Clock In/Out on Phorest Go
  7. 4mo agoSuitecrmSuiteCRM 8.10.0 release with 7.15.x migration
  8. 5mo agoSuitecrmSuiteCRM DownloadsAll the latest SuiteCRM releases, upgrades, and more are all in one place.
  9. 6mo agoSuitecrmSuiteCRM 8.9.3 patch release
  10. 6mo agoSuitecrmSuiteCRM 7.15.1 ESR with upgrade paths
  11. 6mo agoSuitecrmSuiteCRM 7.14.9 extended-support release
  12. 6mo agoSuitecrmIf you’re looking for the latest SuiteCRM pre-release then check out this page.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Phorest and Suitecrm?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Phorest is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is Phorest better than Suitecrm?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Phorest is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other CRM products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to Phorest?

Top Phorest alternatives in CRM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Phorest alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/phorest for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Suitecrm?

Top Suitecrm alternatives in CRM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Suitecrm alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/suitecrm for the full list with editorial commentary on each.