Group Office review covering its open source groupware and CRM features, self-hosted versus cloud pricing, key features, pros, cons, and top alternatives.
Category
Collaboration
Pricing
Open Source, Freemium (free self-hosted Community edition plus paid cloud and add-ons), from Free (self-hosted); Online plan from $12/month
Group Office is an open source groupware and CRM platform, first released in 2003 and developed by the Dutch company Intermesh, that bundles email, calendar, file sharing, contact management, and business tools into a single self-hostable suite.
The product is distributed under a dual-license model: a free AGPL-licensed Community edition available on GitHub for self-hosting, and a paid Professional edition plus a fully managed cloud offering from Intermesh.
Key Features
Group Office's core groupware stack covers email, shared calendars, address books, file storage, document editing through Collabora Online, notes, tasks, and device synchronization for unlimited users on the free Community edition.
The paid Professional tier and add-ons extend this into a fuller business suite, adding CRM-style contact and deal tracking, support ticketing, time tracking, project management with a Kanban-style board, invoicing and quoting, and Rocket.Chat-based chat and video calling.
Pricing
The Community edition is free to self-host with unlimited users but excludes the Professional-tier business modules, making it a strong fit for organizations comfortable managing their own server.
Organizations that want the fuller feature set can license the Professional edition for a one-time fee plus an annual update fee, or use Intermesh's cloud-hosted Online plan starting at roughly 12 dollars per month, with additional storage and modules priced as separate add-ons.
Key Features
Integrated email and calendar — Full email client and shared calendaring with scheduling, reminders, and address book integration form the core of the groupware suite.
File sharing and document editing — Built-in file storage integrates with Collabora Online for real-time, in-browser document editing and collaboration.
CRM and project management — The Professional tier adds contact and deal tracking, project management, and a Kanban-style board called Studio for building custom workflows.
Support ticketing and helpdesk — A built-in helpdesk module lets teams manage customer or internal support tickets directly inside the same platform used for email and files.
Invoicing and time tracking — Time tracking, quoting, and invoicing modules let small businesses manage billing without a separate finance tool.
Chat and video calling — A Rocket.Chat-based add-on brings team chat and video conferencing into the same suite as email and files.
Self-hosted or cloud deployment — Organizations can self-host the AGPL-licensed Community edition on their own servers or run a fully managed version on Intermesh's cloud infrastructure.
Unlimited users on the free edition — The Community edition supports an unlimited number of users at no license cost, with only the advanced business modules gated behind the paid tier.
Pros & Cons
Pros
The Community edition is free, open source, and supports unlimited users, making it inexpensive to deploy at scale.
Self-hosting gives organizations full control over data location, which matters for public-sector and privacy-conscious deployments.
Bundles groupware, CRM, invoicing, and helpdesk functionality in a single suite rather than requiring separate tools.
Has been in continuous development since 2003, giving it a long production track record versus newer self-hosted alternatives.
Offers both self-hosted and managed cloud deployment options, so organizations can choose based on their operational capacity.
Cons
The user interface is dated compared to modern SaaS collaboration tools like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365.
Self-hosting requires PHP and database administration skills, which smaller organizations may not have in-house.
Advanced business features are locked behind the paid Professional tier and add-ons rather than included in the free edition.
Support for the free Community edition relies on community forums rather than guaranteed response times.
Smaller ecosystem of third-party integrations and plugins compared to larger groupware and productivity platforms.
Pricing
Community Free One-time (self-hosted)
Professional About 439 euros license plus 219 euros per year for updates One-time license plus annual update fee
Online (Cloud) From about $12/month Monthly
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Group Office free to use?
Yes, the Community edition of Group Office is free and open source under the AGPL license, and it can be self-hosted with an unlimited number of users, though it excludes the paid Professional-tier business modules.
Can Group Office be self-hosted?
Yes, Group Office can be downloaded from GitHub and self-hosted on your own server infrastructure, or you can use Intermesh's managed Online cloud plan if you prefer not to run your own server.
What is the difference between Group Office Community and Professional editions?
The Community edition includes core groupware features like email, calendar, files, and document editing for free, while the Professional edition adds business tools such as support ticketing, time tracking, project management, invoicing, and helpdesk support for a license fee.
Does Group Office include a CRM?
Yes, Group Office includes CRM-style contact and deal management as part of its Professional edition, alongside its email, calendar, and file-sharing tools.
Who develops Group Office?
Group Office is developed and maintained by Intermesh, a software company headquartered in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, with the project's first release dating back to 2003.
What are the main alternatives to Group Office?
Common alternatives include EGroupware, Nextcloud, Zimbra, and hosted suites like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, though Group Office differentiates itself by bundling CRM, invoicing, and helpdesk tools into the same open source groupware suite.