Highrise CRM: Pricing, Reviews, Pros and Cons in 2026
You've been using Highrise for years. It still works - the same way it worked in 2018, because nothing's changed since then. Basecamp stopped accepting new customers on August 20, 2018, froze development, and told existing users this was the "forever version." With a 4.5/5 rating from 130 reviews and thousands of legacy accounts still active, Highrise occupies a strange spot: a CRM people genuinely liked that its own creators decided to stop building.
Quick version: If you're an existing user whose needs haven't changed, there's no urgent reason to leave. If you need reporting, automation, or integrations that work with modern tools, it's time to migrate.
What Is Highrise CRM?
Highrise was built by Basecamp (formerly 37signals) as a deliberately simple CRM used by 10,000+ businesses. The core product does three things well: contact management, task tracking, and email logging via a BCC/forwarding system that drops correspondence directly into contact records. The "Good Morning dashboard" surfaced daily tasks and upcoming follow-ups - a small touch users consistently praised.
It connects to Mailchimp for email campaigns and supports API-based integrations. There's no pipeline visualization, no automation engine, no AI anything. That was always the point. Highrise was the anti-Salesforce.
Is Highrise Still Supported?
Here's the thing: "supported" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in this context. Jason Fried's official statement is clear - "Today's version of Highrise is the forever version of Highrise." The product isn't going away. Basecamp has committed to keeping it running with ongoing security and infrastructure updates, citing 99.99% uptime.
But TrustRadius labels Highrise as "discontinued", which is technically accurate from a development standpoint. No new features. No roadmap. You're running on a product that's been in maintenance mode for about eight years. Most users who were going to leave already did.
Highrise Pricing Breakdown
These are legacy prices for existing customers only - you can't sign up for a new account. But if you're evaluating whether to stay, here's what you're paying:
| Plan | Price/mo | Users | Contacts | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 2 | 250 | No files |
| Solo | $29 | 1 | 20,000 | 5GB |
| Basic | $24 | 6 | 5,000 | 5GB |
| Plus | $49 | 15 | 20,000 | 15GB |
| Premium | $99 | 40 | 30,000 | 30GB |
| Max | $149 | Unlimited | 50,000 | 75GB |
Deal limits vary by plan: Basic caps at 10 deals, while Solo and above get unlimited. All paid plans originally included a 30-day free trial.
The flat-rate model was genuinely ahead of its time. $99/month for 40 users is unheard of in modern CRMs - most tools charge $20-100 per user per month. But you're paying for a product that'll never improve. At some point, the value equation flips.
A note on conflicting numbers: Some review sites incorrectly list Highrise as per-user pricing. TrustRadius even shows "$4 per user per month." The official model is flat-rate per plan, as shown above.
Highrise's flat-rate pricing was great - until development stopped and your contact data started decaying. Before you migrate to a new CRM, run your exported CSV through Prospeo. You'll get 98% verified emails, current job titles, and 50+ enriched data points per contact at ~$0.01 per email.
Stop importing dead contacts into your shiny new CRM.
Pros and Cons
Across 130 Capterra reviews, the sub-ratings tell the story:
| Dimension | Rating |
|---|---|
| Ease of Use | 4.55/5 |
| Value for Money | 4.49/5 |
| Customer Support | 4.43/5 |
| Functionality | 4.20/5 |
That functionality gap has only widened since development stopped.
What Users Still Love
- Dead-simple UI with virtually no learning curve. You're productive on day one.
- Email logging via BCC/forwarding saves hours of manual data entry.
- Tasks and reminders tied directly to contacts keep follow-ups visible.
- Flat-rate pricing means no per-user cost surprises as your team grows.
Where It Falls Short
- No usable reporting. One reviewer put it bluntly: the data "does not have a useable report."
- Development stopped in 2018 - no new features, period.
- Broken integrations that won't be fixed. Reviews mention Highrise "used to interface with gmail" but that connection stopped working and won't receive upgrades.
- Zero automation or workflow triggers. Every follow-up, every status change, every task assignment is manual.
Stay or Leave?
Stay if you're a solo freelancer or tiny team tracking contacts and follow-ups. Your needs haven't changed since 2018. The simplicity is the feature, and you're not bumping into the walls.
Leave if you need reporting, automation, pipeline management, or integrations with modern tools. We've seen this play out repeatedly: a team's been on Highrise for six years, it still works, but someone asks for a pipeline report and the room goes quiet because there isn't one. That's your signal.
Look, Highrise's flat-rate pricing was a decade ahead of the industry. But a cheap tool that can't grow with you isn't cheap - it's a trap. The migration cost only increases the longer you wait.
How to Export Your Data
Getting your data out of Highrise is straightforward:
- Make sure you have export rights (or ask your admin to grant them).
- Navigate to Contacts, then Export.
- Choose CSV or Excel. Pick "Streamlined" for only populated columns, or "Complete" for everything.
- Under 100 contacts? The download starts immediately. Over 100? Highrise emails the file from system@highrisehq.com.
- Use tags and filters to export specific segments rather than your entire database.
Here's what most migration guides skip: your Highrise contacts are years old. Job titles have changed, people have moved companies, and email addresses have gone stale. Importing dead data into a shiny new CRM is a recipe for bounced sequences and damaged sender reputation on day one.
Before you import that CSV anywhere, run it through Prospeo's bulk verification. At roughly $0.01 per email with 98% accuracy, it's cheap insurance. Upload your exported CSV and you'll get verified emails plus 50+ enriched data points back - current job titles, company info, direct dials. The free tier handles 75 emails per month, which covers smaller lists. We've seen teams skip this step and torch their domain reputation within a week of launching on a new platform. Don't be that team.
Your Highrise contacts are up to eight years old. People changed jobs, companies folded, emails bounced. Prospeo's bulk enrichment returns verified emails, direct dials, and current company data with a 92% match rate - refreshed every 7 days, not frozen since 2018.
Verify every contact before your first outbound sequence goes live.
Best Alternatives to Highrise
| Alternative | Starting Price | Free Tier | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| HubSpot CRM | ~$20/mo | Yes (generous) | Most Highrise migrants |
| Capsule CRM | ~$18/user/mo | Yes (limited) | Simplicity lovers |
| Pipedrive | $14/user/mo | No | Pipeline-focused teams |
HubSpot CRM is the easiest transition for most teams. The free tier includes contact management, deal tracking, reporting, and email integration - basically everything Highrise does plus everything it doesn't. You'll outgrow the free tier eventually, but it buys you time. HubSpot's free tools page has the full breakdown.
Capsule CRM is the closest philosophical match to Highrise. Deliberately simple, actively developed, and built for teams that don't want a bloated CRM. If you loved Highrise's "just enough" approach but need modern integrations and actual reporting, Capsule is the move.
Pipedrive is for teams that outgrew Highrise's nonexistent pipeline management. It's visual, pipeline-first, and the per-user pricing stings compared to Highrise's flat rate - but you're getting a tool that's actually being built. Pipedrive's pricing page lays out the tiers.
None of these match Highrise's flat-rate pricing. That era is over. You're trading a few extra dollars per month for a product that'll still exist in a meaningful way five years from now.
If you're comparing options, it helps to look at a few examples of a CRM and pick based on your workflow.
FAQ
Can you still sign up for Highrise CRM?
No. Highrise stopped accepting new customers on August 20, 2018. Existing accounts remain active indefinitely - Basecamp has committed to keeping the product running - but there's no way to create a new account.
Is Highrise CRM free?
There's a free plan with 2 users, 250 contacts, and no file storage, but it's only available to existing customers who already have accounts. Paid plans range from $24 to $149/month with flat-rate pricing - no per-user fees.
What's the best Highrise alternative for small teams?
HubSpot CRM's free tier covers most teams migrating from Highrise - it adds reporting, automation, and modern integrations at no cost. Capsule is the pick if you want Highrise's simplicity with active development. Before migrating, clean your exported contacts with a bulk verification tool to avoid importing stale data into your new CRM.
How do I avoid bounces after migrating from Highrise?
Export your contacts as CSV, then run the file through a verification tool before importing into your new CRM. Stale Highrise data - we're talking contacts that haven't been updated since 2018 or earlier - will wreck your sender reputation fast. Verify first, import second.