Highrise vs Insightly: A Migration Guide, Not a Comparison
You're not comparing two CRMs. You're figuring out what to do after one of them died. Highrise stopped accepting new signups on August 20, 2018, and if you're still weighing Highrise vs Insightly in 2026, you're really asking: is Insightly the right place to land?
Let's answer that directly.
Highrise Is Dead
Basecamp pulled the plug on new Highrise signups on August 20, 2018. Jason Fried's parting message was blunt: "Today's version of Highrise is the forever version of Highrise." No new features, no active development. Highrise had over 10,000 customers when that announcement dropped. Existing accounts still function, but you're running a CRM that's effectively frozen in time - eight years frozen, to be exact.
One former user on Reddit described missing a decent replacement so badly they ended up building their own tool. Extreme, but the frustration tracks. Highrise was dead simple, and most modern CRMs aren't.
The 30-Second Verdict
Use Insightly if you need CRM plus project handoff in one platform. The Professional plan ($49/user/mo) is the minimum viable tier.
Use Zoho CRM or Freshsales if you want something affordable and straightforward. Zoho starts at $14/user/mo, Freshsales at $9/user/mo.
Skip both if you want free - HubSpot Free CRM exists. Whatever you choose, clean your contact data first. A Highrise export from 2018 is seven-plus years stale. Prospeo's free tier verifies and enriches emails so you're not importing dead contacts into a shiny new CRM.
Insightly in 2026
Insightly merged with Unbounce in July 2024 and continues operating as its own product line. It scores a 4.2/5 on G2 across 932 reviews, and PCMag gives it a 4.0/5 "Excellent" rating.
| Plan | Price/user/mo | Records | Automation | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plus | $29 | 100K | ❌ | 10 GB |
| Professional | $49 | 250K | ✅ | 100 GB |
| Enterprise | $99 | 500K | ✅ | 250 GB |
All prices billed annually. Plus and Professional offer 14-day free trials; Enterprise requires a sales conversation. Daily email sends range from 2,500 on Plus to 10,000 on Enterprise.
What Insightly Does Well
The killer feature is native Opportunity-to-Project conversion. You close a deal, and it flows directly into a project workspace for delivery - no Zapier glue, no manual handoff. For services businesses and agencies, that's genuinely useful and hard to find elsewhere.
Setup is fast, and G2 reviews frequently mention ease of use and feature richness. There's a learning curve, but once you're past it, the CRM-to-project pipeline is smooth.
Where It Falls Short
Here's the thing: the Plus plan at $29/user/mo doesn't include workflow automation. That means the plan most Highrise users would gravitate toward - the cheapest one - is missing the feature that makes Insightly worth choosing. AI Copilot is also gated: Professional gets 75 queries/month, Enterprise 100, Plus gets nothing. You're realistically looking at $49/user/mo minimum.
Need marketing automation too? That's a separate Insightly product starting at $99/account/month. AppConnect for deeper integrations starts at $249/month plus a $3,000 setup fee. Costs compound fast.
Trustpilot paints a rougher picture - 2.1/5 across 13 reviews, with recurring complaints about slow support and reporting limitations. One reviewer described support tickets taking "days - or even weeks." Small sample, but directional. G2 reviewers also flag a learning curve and time-consuming setup, which is the opposite of what Highrise users are used to.
PCMag's own assessment notes Insightly is "considerably more expensive" than comparable tiers from Zoho and Freshsales. When you're coming from Highrise - a CRM famous for simplicity and low cost - that price jump stings.
Your Highrise export is 7+ years stale. Before you pick Insightly, Zoho, or anything else, run that CSV through Prospeo's enrichment engine. You'll get updated job titles, verified emails, and direct dials - 50+ data points per contact at an 83% match rate. No stale data polluting your new CRM on day one.
Import clean contacts, not dead leads. Start free - no card required.
Side-by-Side
This table is more obituary than comparison, but it clarifies the gap:
| Feature | Highrise | Insightly |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Discontinued (Aug 2018) | Active |
| Rating | N/A | 4.2/5 (G2) |
| Price | N/A | $29-$99/user/mo |
| Automation | None | Professional+ only |
| Project Mgmt | None | Native |
One product is alive and the other isn't. The real question is whether Insightly is the right living product for you.
Better Alternatives for Highrise Users
Insightly isn't your only option, and for many former Highrise users, it's not the best one. Look - if your average deal value sits below five figures, you don't need Insightly-level complexity. You need something that stays out of your way, like Highrise did.
| CRM | Starting Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Zoho CRM | $14/user/mo | Best value all-rounder |
| Freshsales | $9/user/mo | Budget automation |
| HubSpot CRM | Free | Zero-cost start |
| Copper | $19/user/mo | Google Workspace teams |
| Bigin by Zoho | $7/user/mo | Closest to Highrise's simplicity |
Zoho CRM is the obvious pick if you want depth without Insightly's price tag. Freshsales gets you automation at $9/user/mo - less than a third of Insightly Professional. Those two cover 80% of former Highrise users we've talked to.
HubSpot Free CRM works if you genuinely need $0 out the door, but expect aggressive upsells once you're in the ecosystem. Copper is purpose-built for Google Workspace shops. And Bigin by Zoho at $7/user/mo is the closest spiritual successor to Highrise's "just track contacts" philosophy - we've recommended it to more former Highrise users than any other option on this list.
If you're also rebuilding your prospecting stack post-migration, start with a clean sales database and a reliable email lookup tool so your new CRM isn't filled with junk from day one.
Clean Your Data Before Migrating
Everyone forgets this step. Your Highrise contact list has been sitting untouched for years. People changed jobs, companies folded, emails bounced. Importing that raw CSV into any new CRM means polluting your fresh database on day one.
In our experience, the migration itself takes a day or two. The data cleanup is what eats a week if you're doing it manually - cross-referencing contacts against current company records, verifying emails one by one, guessing which phone numbers still work. Upload your export to Prospeo's enrichment engine and you'll get 50+ data points per contact at an 83% match rate: updated job titles, verified emails, direct dials. Real-time email verification runs at 98% accuracy, so you're only importing contacts that actually work. The free tier gives you 75 email verifications and 100 Chrome extension credits per month, no card required.
Insightly Professional costs $49/user/mo. Prospeo verifies emails at ~$0.01 each with 98% accuracy. Before you commit to any CRM, make sure the contacts you're importing are still real people at real companies. A week of manual cleanup or a 2-minute CSV upload - your call.
Verify your entire Highrise export before it ruins your new CRM.
FAQ
Is Highrise CRM still available?
Not for new users. Basecamp stopped new signups on August 20, 2018. Existing accounts still function, but there are no new features and no active development. If you're still on Highrise, plan your migration now - you're running on borrowed time with zero vendor support.
Can I migrate data from Highrise to Insightly?
Yes. Export your Highrise contacts as CSV, then import into Insightly. Clean and verify the data first to avoid importing stale emails and dead contacts. Expect the migration to take one to three days for a small team.
What's the cheapest Insightly plan worth buying?
Insightly Professional at $49/user/month billed annually. The Plus plan ($29/user/mo) skips workflow automation entirely, which defeats the purpose of upgrading from a discontinued CRM. If that's too steep, Freshsales at $9/user/mo gets you automation for a fraction of the cost.