A CRM looks like a dashboard but behaves like an app. Beyond charts, it needs a contacts list you can search and filter, a pipeline where deals move between stages, deal records with values and close dates, tasks tied to people, and a fast way to jump between all of them. CRM templates differ mostly in two things: whether there's a real database behind the screens, and how much of that daily workflow is actually built. This is an honest comparison of four Next.js CRM templates, one of them ours, plus two open-source CRMs worth knowing about if what you really want is a CRM rather than a template.
What to check before you pick one
- Backend or UI kit - does it save contacts and deals to a real database, or run on mock data you replace?
- The pipeline - can you drag deals between stages, and can you also move them without dragging? WCAG 2.2 requires a non-drag alternative, like a click or a menu, and keyboard users need one too.
- Workflow depth - contacts, deals, and tasks are the minimum; email, calendar, CSV import, and forecasting are where kits differ.
- License for client work - if you're building a CRM for a client, check which tier allows it.
- Version currency - Next.js 16 and Tailwind v4 are current; check package.json, not the README.
The best Next.js CRM templates in 2026
1. NextCRM - Best open-source full-stack CRM
NextCRM is an MIT-licensed, actively maintained CRM built on Next.js 16, React 19, Tailwind CSS v4, and shadcn/ui, with PostgreSQL through Prisma 7. Unlike the UI kits below, it's a working application with a real database: modules for contacts, accounts, opportunities, invoicing, projects, and documents. If you want a free CRM you can run and extend rather than a set of screens to wire up, it's the strongest Next.js option. The tradeoff is the usual one for a full app: you inherit its data model and its opinions, and you're running a database from day one.
2. Elite CRM - Best focused, designed CRM front end
Elite CRM is ours: a dark-first CRM front end that covers the daily sales workflow tightly rather than broadly. Contacts with search, status filters, and a table/grid toggle; a five-column Kanban pipeline with per-stage totals, days-in-stage risk flags, and drag-and-drop between stages; a deals table with multi-select and bulk actions; tasks bucketed into overdue, due today, and upcoming; and analytics with a revenue chart, win/loss donut, conversion funnel, and rep leaderboard. A Cmd+K command palette searches contacts, deals, and tasks, and one global slide-over panel opens any record without leaving the page. It's built on Next.js 16, React 19, and Tailwind v4 ("Indigo Console", Geist Sans and Mono) with a light theme, and ships an automated WCAG 2.2 AA check.
The honest tradeoffs: it's front end only, with contacts, deals, and tasks in a typed mock-data layer and no database, auth, or email. Deals you drag between stages live in page state and reset on reload. And dragging is the only way to change a deal's stage - there's no keyboard or click alternative yet, which matters if your users rely on a keyboard. It's also narrower than Frontkit's kit below: no email, calendar, CSV import, or forecasting.
See Elite CRM - Elite CRM - contacts, a drag-and-drop Kanban pipeline, deals with bulk actions, tasks, and analytics, with Cmd+K search and a global detail panel. Next.js 16, dark-first with a light theme. From $79, one-time.
3. Frontkit CRM Dashboard Kit - Best for breadth
Frontkit's CRM Dashboard Kit is the broadest CRM UI kit we found: 42 screens across ten sections on Next.js 16, Tailwind v4, and shadcn/ui. Beyond contacts, deals, and a Kanban pipeline, it includes companies with a CSV import wizard, revenue forecasting, four analytics dashboards, an email inbox with compose and sequences, a calendar, and an activity log. Its pipeline drag-and-drop uses @hello-pangea/dnd, a library that supports keyboard dragging. Like Elite CRM, it's front end only on mock seed data. Pricing is per tier - Solo lists at $165 and Agency at $349, and the page showed a 40% discount when we checked - and only the Agency tier allows client delivery; Solo and Team are for internal projects.
4. shadcn-crm-dashboard - Best free starter
KaraBharat's shadcn-crm-dashboard is an MIT-licensed CRM dashboard UI on Next.js 15, React 19, Tailwind v4, and shadcn/ui, meant to be forked as a base. It's free and clean, but it's a starting point rather than a finished CRM, and it hasn't been updated since April 2025 - so plan to upgrade Next.js and build out the workflow yourself.
If you want a CRM, not a template
Two open-source CRMs are worth knowing about if what you actually need is a working CRM for your own team rather than a template to build a product on. Neither is a Next.js template, which is why they aren't ranked above.
- Atomic CRM, from Marmelab - an MIT-licensed CRM built with React and react-admin on Supabase, with contacts, a Kanban deals board, tasks, and email capture. It's designed as a framework you extend in TypeScript, and it's actively maintained.
- Twenty - a full open-source CRM product you can self-host, positioned as a Salesforce alternative. Its license is mostly AGPL-3.0, with some enterprise features under a commercial license, so read it carefully before building a service on top of it.
Side-by-side comparison
| Template | Backend | Workflow | Pipeline drag | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NextCRM | PostgreSQL + Prisma | Contacts, accounts, opportunities, invoicing, projects | Full app | Free (MIT) |
| Elite CRM | None - typed mock data | Contacts, pipeline, deals, tasks, analytics, Cmd+K | Mouse only, resets on reload | From $79 |
| Frontkit CRM Dashboard Kit | None - mock data | 42 screens incl. email, calendar, CSV import, forecasting | Keyboard-capable library | $165 list (Solo) |
| shadcn-crm-dashboard | None | Dashboard UI starter | Not a focus | Free (MIT) |
How to choose
- You want a free CRM with a real database you can run and extend - NextCRM.
- You want a polished, focused CRM front end for your own product and will connect the backend - Elite CRM.
- You need the widest set of CRM screens, including email and calendar, or keyboard-accessible pipeline dragging - Frontkit's CRM Dashboard Kit.
- You want a free UI base to build on - shadcn-crm-dashboard.
- You just need a CRM for your team - Atomic CRM or Twenty.
In a CRM, the data model is the product. Before choosing a template for its screens, sketch the records you'll actually store - contacts, companies, deals, stages, activities - and check the template's types fit them. Re-shaping a data model later touches every screen.
See dashboard templates - Browse every TheKitBase dashboard template - Elite CRM for sales pipelines, and SaaS Dashboard Pro for SaaS admin. Next.js 16, Tailwind v4, light and dark.
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