Attio vs Twenty

Attio and Twenty are both modern, AI-connected CRMs, but they diverge on openness and hosting. Attio is a closed-source hosted SaaS with a free plan for up to…

Best for Attio: Teams that want a hosted, ready-to-use CRM with a free plan out of the box, native AI search, and Call Intelligence for recording and analyzing meetings, without managing infrastructure.
Best for Twenty: Technical teams that want to self-host for free, need heavily customizable data models (custom objects) without vendor lock-in, and want native MCP-based connections to Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor plus custom AI agent skills.

At a Glance

 AttioTwenty
Primary categoryCRMCRM
RatingNot documentedNot documented
Pricing modelFreemiumfreemium
Starting priceFree (paid plans from €29/user/month billed annually)Free (self-hosted); Cloud Pro from $9/user/month
Free planYesYes
Free trialNot documentedNot documented
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb
Team collaborationNot documentedNot documented
AI featuresYesYes
Public APIYesYes

Key Differences

Open source and self-hosting

Attio: No self-hosting or open-source option is documented; Attio is a hosted SaaS product.

Twenty: Fully open source and free to self-host on your own infrastructure, in addition to a cloud offering.

Teams wanting full control over data and hosting, or avoiding recurring per-seat SaaS costs, can self-host with Twenty but not Attio.

Free tier model

Attio: Provides a hosted free plan for up to 3 seats with real-time syncing and automatic enrichment.

Twenty: Is free to self-host (unlimited, but requires technical setup and maintenance); cloud plans start at $9/user/month with a 30-day free trial rather than a permanent free cloud tier.

Non-technical teams get a no-cost hosted option only with Attio; technical teams can get Twenty for free by self-hosting instead.

Custom data modeling

Attio: Enterprise plan includes 'unlimited objects,' but custom data modeling is not emphasized as a core, lower-tier feature.

Twenty: Built around custom objects and data modeling as a headline feature, available on the entry Pro plan, explicitly marketed as avoiding vendor lock-in.

Teams needing to model unusual data structures without hitting a rigid schema get that flexibility earlier in Twenty's plan lineup.

AI assistant integration

Attio: Ask Attio provides native in-app AI search and record creation; integrates with Claude, Slack, Notion, Linear, and Stripe via API, SDK, and MCP.

Twenty: Provides a native MCP server connecting specifically to Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor via OAuth, plus AI chat and custom AI agents/skills via a developer framework.

Attio's AI is built into the CRM's own search experience; Twenty's AI leans on connecting external assistants and building custom agent skills. Teams should match this to whether they want AI inside the CRM or the CRM exposed to their AI tools.

Call Intelligence

Attio: Includes Call Intelligence for recording and analyzing meetings, available on the Pro plan and above.

Twenty: Does not document a meeting/call recording or analysis feature.

Sales teams wanting automated call analysis get that natively from Attio.

Feature-by-Feature

Core Features

FeatureAttioTwenty
Open-source / self-hosting optionNot documentedAvailable
Custom objects & data modelingLimitedAvailable
Call Intelligence (meeting recording/analysis)AvailableNot documented
No-code workflow automationAvailableAvailable
Mobile apps (iOS/Android)AvailableNot documented

AI & Extensibility

FeatureAttioTwenty
Native in-app AI searchAvailableNot documented
MCP server connecting to external AI assistantsAvailableAvailable
AI chat and custom agent skills via developer frameworkNot documentedAvailable
Documented REST/GraphQL API rate limitsNot documentedAvailable

Pricing & Plans

FeatureAttioTwenty
Free hosted planAvailableNot documented
Free self-hostingUnavailableAvailable
Entry cloud paid priceAvailableAvailable
SSONot documentedLimited

Pricing Compared

Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.

Attio

Free — €0/user/month Monthly or Annual
Plus — €36/user/month (€29 billed annually) Monthly or Annual
Pro — €86/user/month (€69 billed annually) Monthly or Annual
Enterprise — Custom Annual

Twenty

Self-Hosted (Community) — Free N/A
Cloud Pro — $9/user/month Annual
Cloud Organization — $19/user/month Annual

Pros & Cons

Attio

Pros

  • Deep automation and configurable AI agent capabilities
  • Real-time data sync and flexible, customizable object modeling
  • Usable free plan for small teams (up to 3 seats)
  • Wide integration ecosystem with 50+ connected apps

Cons

  • Pro and Enterprise tiers get expensive on a per-seat basis at scale
  • Some advanced AI and automation features are limited to paid tiers
  • Newer entrant than legacy CRMs, so its third-party ecosystem is still maturing

Twenty

Pros

  • Fully open source under AGPLv3 with free, unlimited self-hosting
  • No vendor lock-in and full data ownership when self-hosted
  • Modern, developer-friendly architecture built on TypeScript
  • Active, fast-growing open-source community with frequent updates
  • Transparent, affordable cloud pricing compared to legacy CRMs

Cons

  • Self-hosting requires technical setup and ongoing maintenance
  • AGPLv3 license requires open-sourcing modifications if redistributed as a hosted product
  • Younger platform with a smaller feature set than mature CRMs like Salesforce
  • Fewer native third-party integrations than long-established CRM platforms

Use Cases

Choose Attio: Teams that want a hosted, ready-to-use CRM with a free plan out of the box, native AI search, and Call Intelligence for recording and analyzing meetings, without managing infrastructure.
Choose Twenty: Technical teams that want to self-host for free, need heavily customizable data models (custom objects) without vendor lock-in, and want native MCP-based connections to Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor plus custom AI agent skills.
Need both: An organization with both a business-facing revenue team (better served by Attio's hosted, ready-to-use experience) and an engineering team wanting a customizable, self-hosted internal CRM (Twenty) could reasonably run both for different purposes.

Attio

  • Startup GTM & sales process building — Early-stage teams use Attio's flexible data model to build a CRM around their specific sales process.
  • Enterprise revenue operations automation — Larger sales organizations use Attio's Workflows and AI agents to automate pipeline management at scale.

Twenty

  • Self-hosted CRM for data-sensitive organizations — Organizations with strict data residency or privacy requirements self-host Twenty to keep full control of customer data.
  • Custom CRM development for technical teams — Engineering teams use Twenty's SDK and open codebase to build a CRM tailored precisely to their sales process.
  • Cost-conscious CRM replacement — Growing companies switch from expensive per-seat CRMs like Salesforce to Twenty's lower-cost cloud or free self-hosted plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Attio have a free plan?

Yes, free for up to 3 seats with real-time contact syncing and automatic data enrichment.

Is Twenty free?

Yes, it's open source and free to self-host; cloud plans start at $9/user/month.

Can Twenty connect to AI assistants?

Yes, via a native MCP server with Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor.

What does Attio integrate with?

Claude, Slack, Notion, Linear, Stripe, Granola, Lemlist, and others via API, SDK, and MCP.

What's the difference between Twenty's Pro and Organization plans?

Organization adds row-level permissions, SAML/OIDC SSO, a custom domain, and a higher API rate limit (100 vs. 50 calls/minute).

Does Attio offer self-hosting?

No self-hosting or open-source option is documented for Attio; it is offered as a hosted SaaS product.

Read the full Attio review · Read the full Twenty review