Best Highrise Alternatives in 2026 (7 CRMs Compared)
You log into Highrise, and it works. It's worked every day since 2018. But nothing's changed since 2018, either - no new integrations, no mobile improvements, no feature updates. You're running a business on software that's technically alive but functionally frozen.
We reviewed seven Highrise alternatives worth switching to. Below you'll find honest pricing, the gotchas nobody mentions, and a migration plan so you don't carry eight years of dead data into your next tool.
What Happened to Highrise?
Highrise was a beautifully simple CRM trusted by more than 10,000 companies. Then Basecamp made the call to end development. Jason Fried's message was clear: "Today's version of Highrise is the forever version of Highrise." Security and infrastructure updates would continue. New features wouldn't.
The situation was even leaner than most people realized. Nathan Kontny, who led the product, wrote in a March 2018 Medium post that just seven people were running Highrise - generating millions in profit each year. When his entire team moved on, Basecamp took over maintenance. Basecamp cited 99.99% uptime over the last 12 months at the time of that announcement, but Highrise doesn't accept new signups anymore, and it doesn't evolve beyond the "forever version." The common reasons people finally leave: limited integrations, zero updates, and basic features that can't scale with a growing team.
Our Top 3 Picks
| Pick | Best For | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|
| Less Annoying CRM | Highrise simplicity | $15/user/mo |
| Pipedrive | Visual pipelines | ~$14/user/mo |
| HubSpot CRM | Zero budget | Free |
If you want one CRM to trial today, start with Less Annoying CRM - it's the closest thing to Highrise that's still being actively developed.
7 Best Highrise CRM Replacements
Less Annoying CRM
Use this if you loved Highrise's simplicity and just want a CRM that stays out of your way. Less Annoying CRM is the spiritual successor to Highrise: one plan, one price, no upsells. It's $15/user/month with a 30-day free trial. No tiers, no contracts, no volume discounts - they don't even offer them.
The migration path is unusually smooth. LACRM has an integration with import2 specifically designed to pull in Highrise historical data - notes, pipelines, the works. We've walked clients through this process, and the whole thing typically takes under an hour for most small teams. One detail worth knowing: LACRM retains your data for one calendar year after cancellation, so there's a safety net if you need to come back for something.
Here's the thing, though. If you need marketing automation, advanced reporting, or multi-pipeline management, skip LACRM entirely. It's deliberately minimal. That's the point, and that's also the ceiling.
Pipedrive
Pipedrive is what you graduate to when Highrise's flat contact list stops being enough. The drag-and-drop pipeline view is excellent - it turns your sales process into something visual and trackable in a way Highrise never attempted.
Plans start around ~$14/user/month on an annual contract, with a 14-day trial. No free plan. Power features like workflow automation and revenue forecasting live on higher tiers ($29-$49/user/mo). For teams of 3-10 reps who actually run a defined sales process, Pipedrive is the obvious upgrade from Highrise's contact-list-with-notes approach. The consensus on r/sales and r/smallbusiness tends to agree - Pipedrive gets recommended constantly for teams in that size range who want structure without enterprise bloat.
If you’re trying to standardize your sales process and keep deals moving, this is one of the cleanest options.
HubSpot CRM
The free tier is real - unlimited users, generous contact storage, basic deal tracking, and a massive integration ecosystem. If you're leaving Highrise primarily because of budget, it's hard to beat.
The wall you'll hit is sales automation and reporting depth. Once you need sequences, deeper analytics, and more control, you're looking at Sales Hub paid tiers, and those climb fast. We've seen teams get sticker shock when they realize the jump from free to useful-paid is steeper than expected. Map out where the free tier ends before you commit - HubSpot's pricing page is deliberately confusing, and the gap between "free" and "what you actually need" can be hundreds per month.
If you’re comparing CRM ecosystems, it’s also worth skimming our Bitrix24 vs HubSpot breakdown.
Nutshell
Nutshell positions itself as a natural Highrise replacement, and the Foundation plan at $13/user/month (annual) looks competitive. Marketing and engagement features come included with every CRM subscription, which is great if you want one tool for both sales and lightweight marketing.
The real cost story is in the add-ons. Need quotes and invoices? That's $67/month. Want prospecting via Nutshell IQ, which taps a 200M+ contact database? Starts at $37/month. Advisor services run $199-249/month. A team that starts at $13/user can easily end up paying double once they bolt on the features they actually need. Trial it for 14 days (no credit card required) and map out your true cost before committing.
If you’re building outbound lists alongside your CRM, see our guide to a sales prospecting database.
Freshsales
Freshsales starts at $9/user/month (annual) with a 21-day trial, and a free plan is available. It's the budget pick for AI-powered lead scoring and basic workflow automation without jumping to a $30+/user platform.
The interface is clean, though reporting can feel overly complex for very small teams who just want to track contacts and deals. If that sounds like you, Bigin (below) is probably a better fit than a full sales suite.
If you’re weighing CRM depth vs. enterprise complexity, our Freshworks vs Salesforce comparison can help.
EngageBay
EngageBay is the all-in-one budget option - CRM, marketing, and support in a single platform. Free plan available, paid from $13.79/user/month on an annual contract. It carries a 4.7/5 rating on G2 across 617 reviews and a 4.7 on Software Advice across 907 reviews, with particularly strong marks for customer support at 4.8/5.
Let's be honest: it can feel overwhelming at first due to the sheer number of modules crammed into one product. But the value-for-money ratio is hard to argue with if you're a small team that genuinely needs CRM, email marketing, and helpdesk under one roof.
If you plan to run outbound from the same stack, pair it with solid sales follow-up templates.
Bigin by Zoho CRM
Bigin is PCMag's Editors' Choice pick for small business CRM - approachable, low-cost, and built for teams that don't need enterprise complexity. If you're already using any Zoho product (Books, Desk, Projects), Bigin plugs in natively and shares data across the ecosystem without extra configuration. For solo operators or micro-teams, it's the simplest option on this list.
If you’re still deciding what “counts” as a CRM for your workflow, browse these examples of a CRM.
Migrating from Highrise means dragging years of stale contacts into a shiny new CRM - unless you clean house first. Prospeo's enrichment engine matches 83% of your existing contacts with fresh, verified data: 98% accurate emails, direct dials, job titles, and 50+ data points per record. Upload your Highrise export as a CSV, get it back enriched in minutes.
Don't poison your new CRM with dead data from 2018.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Tool | Starting Price | Free Plan/Trial | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less Annoying CRM | $15/user/mo | 30-day trial | Highrise simplicity |
| Pipedrive | ~$14/user/mo | 14-day trial | Visual pipelines |
| HubSpot CRM | Free | Free forever | Zero budget |
| Nutshell | $13/user/mo | 14-day trial | Built-in marketing |
| Freshsales | $9/user/mo | 21-day trial + free | Budget AI/automation |
| EngageBay | $13.79/user/mo | Free plan | All-in-one on a budget |
| Bigin by Zoho | ~$7/user/mo | Free plan available | Absolute simplicity |
How to Migrate Off Highrise
Don't just pick a new CRM and dump your data in. Your Highrise contacts are six to eight years stale. A sloppy migration means starting your new CRM with garbage data, which defeats the entire purpose of switching.
Step 1: Export everything. In Highrise, go to Contacts, then Export, then Download all notes & emails. Alternatively, visit My Info and select Download this Data. Highrise emails you a download link with a CSV file. Export time ranges from seconds to a few minutes depending on database size.
Step 2: Clean and enrich your data. This is the step most people skip, and it's the one that matters most. Contact data decays at roughly 30% per year. That means a Highrise database untouched since 2018 has churned through most of its original records - people changed jobs, companies rebranded, domains expired. Importing that raw CSV into a new CRM means starting with a database full of bounced emails and disconnected phone numbers.
Run your export through Prospeo's enrichment before importing anything. Upload the CSV, and 83% of contacts come back with updated emails, verified mobile numbers, and 50+ data points per record. Email accuracy sits at 98%, so you're not trading one set of bad data for another. The free tier gives you 75 emails and 100 Chrome extension credits per month - enough to test the workflow on a chunk of your list before committing. No contract, no sales call required.
If you want to compare vendors before you pick one, start with our roundup of data enrichment services.
Step 3: Import into your new CRM. Most tools accept a clean CSV upload directly. If you chose Less Annoying CRM, their import2 integration handles Highrise-specific data including notes, pipelines, and history.
Every CRM on this list is only as good as the data inside it. Prospeo refreshes 300M+ profiles every 7 days - so the contacts you import on day one are still accurate on day ninety. At $0.01 per verified email, cleaning your entire Highrise database costs less than one month of most CRMs.
Start your new CRM with contacts that actually connect.
How to Choose the Right One
Most small teams don't need a CRM with 200 features. They need a CRM with 12 features that actually work. Highrise proved that for years - it just stopped evolving. The right alternative depends on which of these three questions matters most to you.
Want Highrise-level simplicity? Your shortlist is Less Annoying CRM or Bigin. Everything else adds complexity you don't need.
Outgrew Highrise's manual workflows? If you need automation, lead scoring, or multi-stage pipelines, look at Pipedrive or Freshsales. They're built for teams that actually run a sales process, not just a contact list.
Budget is the primary constraint? HubSpot and EngageBay both offer usable free tiers. Start there and upgrade only when you hit a wall.
Trial three, pick one. And whichever Highrise alternative you choose, don't import garbage data - clean your export first.
FAQ
Is Highrise still working in 2026?
Yes. Basecamp promised "the forever version" with ongoing security and infrastructure updates. No new features, no new integrations, no new signups. If your workflow hasn't changed since 2018, you're fine. If it has, you've already outgrown it.
How do I export my contacts from Highrise?
Go to Contacts, then Export, then Download all notes & emails - or visit My Info and select Download this Data. Highrise sends you an email with a download link containing a CSV file. Export time ranges from seconds to a few minutes depending on database size.
Should I clean my data before importing into a new CRM?
Absolutely. Highrise contacts are six to eight years stale, and contact data decays at roughly 30% per year. Run your CSV through an enrichment tool to verify emails and update phone numbers before importing. Starting a new CRM with dead data defeats the purpose of switching.