Custom CRM Development in Cambridge
Built around your workflow, not Salesforce’s licensing model.
Off-the-shelf CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive) charges per user and forces you to adapt your workflow to their software. A custom CRM, built in Python or Node with PostgreSQL, costs a fixed price up-front, fits your actual workflow exactly, and you own the code outright. For Cambridge businesses with 5–50 users and a process worth automating, a custom CRM frequently pays back in 12–18 months and continues paying for itself indefinitely.
The pain we keep hearing
- Per-user CRM licensing makes growth expensive. Salesforce / HubSpot Pro at £70–£150/user/month means a 30-person team costs £25k–£50k/year forever. A custom CRM is a one-off build and you stop paying licence fees.
- Your workflow doesn’t fit their model. Estate agents, recruitment agencies, professional-services firms, multi-sided marketplaces all have workflows the major CRMs handle awkwardly. You end up with workarounds, custom fields, and reports that don’t quite work.
- Integrations are gated or expensive. The CRM you use needs to connect to your accounting, your booking system, your portal, your e-commerce stack. Off-the-shelf charges premium plans for the integrations a custom system handles natively.
- You don’t own the data architecture. Migrating off Salesforce or HubSpot is painful by design. With a custom CRM in PostgreSQL, your data is yours, the schema is documented, exports are trivial, and switching cost is zero.
What we typically build
Custom contact + company database
Schema designed around your business — leads, contacts, companies, opportunities, jobs, projects, whatever you actually track. Full audit log. Soft-delete. GDPR-compliant data export and erasure.
Pipeline + workflow automation
Drag-and-drop pipelines, automated stage transitions, email/SMS triggers, internal notifications, SLA timers. Whatever the manual workflow looks like today, we automate it.
Integrations: accounting, payments, calendar, e-mail
Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, FreeAgent, Stripe, GoCardless, Google/Outlook calendar, Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Twilio. Bidirectional sync, not just one-way push.
Reporting, dashboards, & forecasting
Custom dashboards that surface the numbers you actually run the business on. Pipeline value, conversion rates, time-to-close, cohort retention. Optional ML-powered forecasting layered on top.
Where it applies
- Cambridge professional services. Law, accountancy, consultancy — high-value matters, long sales cycles, custom matter/case tracking.
- Cambridge biotech & deep-tech. Pipeline tracking for partnerships, BD, grant applications — none of which fit a standard sales CRM.
- Estate agencies & lettings. Property-portfolio + contact CRM with viewing scheduling and vendor reporting baked in.
- Recruitment agencies. Candidate + client + role tracking with CV pipelines, interview workflows, placement billing.
- Multi-sided marketplaces. Two-sided platforms (e.g., trades + customers, suppliers + buyers) need bespoke data models off-the-shelf can’t do well.
How we deliver — 5 phases
Discovery
30-min call + 60-90 min structured scoping. Fixed-price quote.
Design
Architecture doc, you sign off before any code.
Build
Git from day 1, weekly demos.
Deploy
Shadow mode → restricted live → full live.
Handover
Docs, runbook, training, 30 days bug-fix.
Full methodology at how we build.
Pricing guidance
Compact custom CRM (single workflow, 3–5 user roles, 2–3 integrations) £6,500–£12,000. Mid-size CRM with reporting + pipeline automation + 5+ integrations £12,000–£22,000. Full enterprise custom CRM with bespoke modules £22,000–£35,000. Hosting + maintenance £150–£700/month under a care plan.
Where we're based
Wisbech-based, working with clients across Cambridge.
Areas we cover
- Cambridge (CB1–CB5)
- Histon & Impington (CB24)
- Trumpington (CB2)
- Cherry Hinton (CB1)
- Cambourne (CB23)
- Sawston (CB22)
- Ely (CB7)
- Newmarket (CB8)
Real engagement walkthroughs
No fabricated testimonials here. Instead, see what real engagements look like end-to-end:
Related services
Frequently asked questions
How is custom CRM cheaper than Salesforce when the build cost is £10k+?
Salesforce Pro at £150/user/month for 30 users = £54k/year, every year. Custom CRM: £12–£22k one-off + £200–£500/month hosting. Custom pays back in year 1 and saves £40k–£50k every year after.
Will the custom CRM actually have the features Salesforce does?
We build what you actually use, not the 4,000 features Salesforce sells. Pipeline management, automation, integrations, reporting — yes. Marketing-cloud-grade automation, predictive AI — yes, with caveats. Telephony / call-centre integration — yes via Twilio.
What stack do you build on?
Python (Django or FastAPI) or Node.js + Next.js for the application, PostgreSQL for data, Redis for caching/queues, S3 for files, hosted on Vercel/Railway/AWS depending on scale. Mobile-friendly responsive UI by default.
Do you migrate data from our existing CRM?
Yes — Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho, Monday, ActiveCampaign, custom-spreadsheet migrations all supported. We map the schema, dry-run the migration, validate row counts, and switch over on a planned cutover date.
Who owns the code and data after delivery?
You. Source code in your Git repository, data in your database. We provide handover documentation, runbook, and 30 days bug-fix coverage. After that, optional care plan or you self-host.
How long does a custom CRM take to build?
Compact (single workflow) 6–10 weeks. Mid-size 12–20 weeks. Enterprise 4–6+ months. Weekly demos throughout, you sign off each milestone before we move on.
Start with a 30-minute call
Tell us about the workflow that's costing you the most time. We'll tell you honestly whether automation pays back for your specific case.