Looking for a Monica alternative?
Monica is a beloved open-source personal CRM, but everything in it is manual: you log every call, note, and reminder yourself. Orbit flips that. Its 16 AI agents do the upkeep, from enriching new contacts to drafting check-ins and chasing invoices, and the free plan needs no credit card. Below is what you trade away, including self-hosting, and how to move.
Why do people look for a Monica alternative?
Monica is an open-source personal CRM with a devoted following, and it earned it. You can self-host it, own every byte, and log the small human details that make relationships real. The philosophy is the feature.
The cost of that philosophy is labor. Monica records what you type and only what you type. Every call, every note, every reminder is manual, so the CRM is only as current as your discipline. Add self-hosting upkeep, updates, backups, and a server bill, and plenty of people quietly stop logging.
A Monica alternative search usually means: I still want a CRM that feels personal, but I want the software to do the maintenance.
What do you get when you switch to Orbit?
Orbit keeps the personal-CRM spirit and hands the maintenance to 16 AI agents. Every output is a card you approve, edit, or dismiss, so you stay the editor.
- Ivy enriches new contacts with email, socials, and background. She fills blanks only and never overwrites your own notes.
- Sam runs a weekly hygiene sweep: duplicates, undialable phone numbers, stale deals. The cleanup happens without you.
- Noa triages your task inbox daily and pulls real to-dos out of your email.
- June drafts warm check-ins for people quiet 30 or more days, capped at one per contact per month.
- A meeting recorder with on-device transcription: free, private, and the audio stays on your machine.
- A full timeline per person: calls, emails, notes, and invoices in one dossier, with custom fields and tags.
- When relationships turn into work, the rest is already there: a pipeline, tasks, invoices, proposals, and a booking page.
What do you give up when you leave Monica?
The open-source deal itself. Monica's code is public, you can run it on your own server, and your data never has to leave hardware you control. Orbit is a hosted product. The meeting recorder transcribes on your device and voice calling runs on your own Vapi account, but the CRM itself is not self-hosted and the code is not open.
Monica also goes deeper on life details, the journal-style record of family, gifts, and personal moments. If self-hosting and total data control are your first requirement, keep Monica. Pick Orbit if your contacts now include clients and the manual upkeep is what broke.
How do you switch from Monica to Orbit in an afternoon?
- Export your contacts from Monica as a CSV and import them into Orbit.
- Carry over the human details that matter into notes and custom fields. They show up on each contact's timeline.
- Tag people by relationship so smart views and June's check-in list know who is who.
- Add your AI model key. Providers bill you at cost, typically cents to a few dollars a month for solo use.
- Turn on Ivy, Sam, and Noa first: enrichment, weekly cleanup, and daily task triage replace the manual upkeep you left behind.
Keep the personal CRM idea. Drop the manual data entry.
Keep exploring
Frequently asked questions
Is Orbit open source like Monica?+
No. Monica is open source and can be self-hosted, while Orbit is a hosted product with a free plan. Orbit does keep some things local: meeting transcription runs on your device so audio never leaves your machine, and voice calls run on your own Vapi account and number.
How do I get my contacts out of Monica and into Orbit?+
Export your contacts from Monica as a CSV file, then import it into Orbit. Personal details can be carried into notes and custom fields, and tags recreate your groupings. The move usually fits in an afternoon.
Does Orbit really maintain itself?+
The upkeep is delegated, not magic. Orbit's agents do the maintenance work: Ivy enriches new contacts, Sam sweeps weekly for duplicates and stale records, and Noa triages tasks daily. Each result lands as a card you approve, edit, or dismiss, so you review changes instead of doing the typing.
What does Orbit cost compared to self-hosting Monica?+
Orbit's free plan is free forever with no credit card. You bring your own AI key and pay the provider at cost, typically cents to a few dollars a month for solo use. That replaces the server bill and the maintenance hours that self-hosting usually carries.
Can Orbit track personal details the way Monica does?+
Partly. Orbit stores personal details through notes, tags, and custom fields, which all appear on each contact's timeline. It does not have Monica's journal-style life-logging features, so dedicated records for things like gifts are something you would model yourself with custom fields.
A personal CRM that does its own upkeep
Free to start, no credit card. Import your people and let Ivy, Sam, and Noa handle the maintenance.
Free forever plan. No credit card. No spam.