The best Monica alternative for a private personal CRM
Looking for a Monica (monicahq) alternative? Elos is an open-source personal CRM with end-to-end encrypted notes, 10 languages, no AI, and a simpler day-to-day. Free to start, easy to self-host.
Monica helped popularize the idea of a personal CRM, and it's a solid open-source project. If you're looking for an alternative — maybe you want something lighter, more private, or available in your language — Elos is worth a look. Like Monica, it's open source and self-hostable. Unlike most tools, its free-text notes are end-to-end encrypted, it speaks 10 languages, and it deliberately keeps AI out of your relationships.
Both open source — Elos adds E2E encryption
Monica and Elos are both FOSS. Elos goes further on privacy: your notes are end-to-end encrypted, so not even the server can read them.
10 languages, not just a few
Elos ships fully translated in 10 languages with per-language URLs, so it feels native whether you speak Portuguese, Spanish, Hindi, Japanese or Hebrew.
Deliberately no AI
No AI writing your messages or analysing your contacts — a promise Elos makes on purpose.
Lighter to run and to use
A focused feature set and a simple Docker deployment mean less to host and less to learn than a heavier CRM.
Log in with Nostr
Prefer not to use email? Sign in with a Nostr key that never leaves your device.
How Elos compares
| Elos | Monica | Clay | Dex | Cloze | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open source (AGPL-3.0) | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — |
| End-to-end encrypted notes | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| No AI reading your data | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Self-hostable | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Interface in 10 languages | ✓ | ~ | — | — | — |
| Log in without an email (Nostr) | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
Based on publicly available information; features change over time. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Frequently asked questions
Is Elos a good alternative to Monica?
If you want an open-source personal CRM that's more private (end-to-end encrypted notes), multilingual (10 languages) and AI-free, yes. Monica has a larger feature set; Elos is lighter and privacy-first.
Is Elos open source like Monica?
Yes — both are open source. Elos is AGPL-3.0 and self-hostable via Docker.
Can I import my contacts into Elos?
Yes. You can import contacts from a .vcf (vCard) file or your phone's contact picker, selecting exactly who to bring in.