Monica is a beloved open-source personal CRM, and its appeal is clear: it is privacy-first, self-hostable, and gives you complete ownership of your data. The difference comes down to a single question, do you want to enter and track everything by hand, or do you want a simple all-in-one CRM with an AI assistant, Hiro, to do the busywork for you.
Monica is the strongest choice for people who care most about privacy and control. It is open-source, you can self-host it, and you own every byte of your data. For documenting personal relationships, family details, and the things you want to remember about the people in your life, it is thoughtful and well loved.
Its design choice is also its trade-off. Monica does not auto-log interactions and has no assistant working on your behalf. Every contact, note, and reminder is entered manually, and every follow-up is one you remember to send. That keeps the data private and deliberate, and it means the system only reflects what you take the time to type in and act on.
| Orbit | Monica | |
|---|---|---|
| Open-source and self-hostable | ||
| One AI assistant (Hiro) that drafts and does the busywork | ||
| All-in-one: invoices, proposals, and booking pages included | ||
| Built-in email inbox on the timeline | 100/mo free | |
| Duplicate detection and merge | Manual entry | |
| Deal pipeline | 1 free, unlimited on paid plans | |
| Native daily dashboard and mobile | Web, limited mobile | |
| Free plan | $0, up to 250 contacts | Free if self-hosted |
Orbit is for people who want the relationship memory and the follow-through without the manual labor. The difference is that everything lives together: contacts, a pipeline, tasks, a built-in email inbox, invoices, proposals, and booking pages, plus one AI assistant, Hiro, that is approval-gated so nothing sends without your yes. Ask Hiro to draft a reply, write an invoice reminder, or clean up duplicate contacts. The upkeep that makes a manual CRM fade is the part it takes off your plate.
A note on honesty: Monica wins on ownership. Orbit is hosted, not open-source, and two-way Google Calendar sync is part of every paid plan rather than the free tier. If you want to understand the category first, the plain-English guide to what a personal CRM is helps, and the honest look at the best personal CRMs lays out who each tool is really for.
If open-source and self-hosting are non-negotiable, Monica is the right call. If you want a simple CRM with an AI assistant doing the busywork, that is exactly what Orbit is for.
No. Monica is open-source and self-hostable, which is one of its biggest strengths and the right pick if ownership is non-negotiable. Orbit is a hosted product whose edge is a simple all-in-one CRM with one AI assistant, Hiro, that drafts follow-ups and writes invoices, which manual tools do not do.
No. Monica is a deliberate, manual personal CRM with no assistant working on your behalf. Orbit has one AI assistant, Hiro, that is approval-gated and can draft replies, write invoices and proposals, manage tasks, and prep you for meetings, so the busywork gets handled instead of typed in.
Yes. The free plan is $0 forever with no credit card: up to 250 contacts, one pipeline, unlimited tasks, a built-in email inbox (100 sends a month), 10 invoices, and 10 proposals. Monica is free if you self-host it. Two-way Google Calendar sync in Orbit is part of every paid plan, starting with Lite at $8 a month.
Orbit, for most professionals. Managing many work contacts and chasing follow-ups is hard to sustain by hand. Orbit logs interactions and Hiro can draft the follow-ups, while Monica is better suited to deliberately documented personal relationships you keep private.
A simple all-in-one CRM with an AI assistant for the busywork. Free for up to 250 contacts.
Free forever plan. No credit card. No spam.