In our independent editorial review of retail CRM solutions, learn about the top options along with their primary use cases.
Insightly is a popular CRM with extensive project management tools, a user-friendly interface, and affordable pricing. It'll suit most small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) wanting an accessible way to track post-sale activities, but it won’t meet the needs of larger companies seeking a CRM with myriad customization options and advanced forecasting and analytics. Read our in-depth Insightly review to learn about its core features, pricing, and ideal use cases.
Insightly CRM boasts a comprehensive set internal and external project management tools. Its user-friendly interface will appeal to new CRM users, but companies seeking a highly adaptable platform will find it too rigid.
Price Range: Free to $99 per user, per month (14-day trial)
Ratings only tell one part of the story. Also consider scenarios where Insightly could be a successful solution — and learn why it may fall short in some situations:
If the above points sound good to you, visit Insightly to compare individual plans according to cost and features. All paid plans come with a 14-day risk-free trial.
Should Insightly not align with your sales goals, head to our roundup of the best CRM software for a complete look at other CRMs according to cost, functions, and use cases — or skip down for a list of Insightly alternatives.
Insightly’s free-for-life plan includes all of its core project management tools, but it’s limited to two users. For access to a broader range of features plus unlimited seats, choose one of its three paid plans from $29 per user, per month. A 14-day free trial is available with its Plus and Professional plans. (The Enterprise tier only available via demo.) Full pricing details are below:
| Free | Plus | Professional | Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Plan Monthly Rate | $0 for up to 2 users | $29 per user, per month | $49 per user, per month | $99 per user, per month |
| Monthly Plan Monthly Rate | N/A | $39 per user, per month | $59 per user, per month | $129 per user, per month |
| Key Features | Basic project management tools, custom reports, Outlook add-on, Gmail sidebar | Kanban view, mobile business card scanner, Mailchimp auto-import, standard user support | Workflow automation, lead assignment rules, custom objects, unlimited email templates | Unlimited records, storage, and dashboards — plus support for custom functions on AWS Lambda |
| Record Limit | 2,500 records | 100,000 records | 250,000 records | Unlimited records |
| File Storage | 200MB | 10GB | 100GB | Unlimited storage |
| Mass Email Sends Per Day | N/A | 2,500 sends per day | 5,000 sends per day | 10,000 sends per day |
| Custom Fields | 2 custom fields per record type | 50 custom fields per record type | 100 custom fields per record type | 200 custom fields per record type |
| Scheduled reports or smart alerts | N/A | 25 scheduled reports or smart alerts | 100 scheduled reports or smart alerts | 250 scheduled reports or smart alerts |
Unlike a lot of popular CRMs, Insightly is sparse with the paid add-ons, which can be a good thing if you’re hoping to keep overall costs down. However, there are a couple of paid extras worth purchasing for telephony functionality and fully-automated app integrations.
Insightly offers two add-ons: Insightly Voice (a telephony service) and Insightly AppConnect (an expanded app integrations platform). Prices start at $35 per user, per month for Insightly Voice, and range from $249 to $3,499 per month for AppConnect.
Insightly Voice is an add-on for Insightly’s Professional or Enterprise plans that allows users to call leads and contacts from within the CRM. It also adds call routing, missed call notifications, incoming call forwarding, and call activity tracking. Insightly Voice costs $35 per user, per month and includes 500 minutes of talk time (inbound and outbound). Extra talk time can be purchased monthly at 4 cents per minute (unused minutes don’t roll over).
Insightly Voice
Insightly AppConnect streamlines integrations by enabling users to to build automated workflows between Insightly CRM (Professional or Enterprise) and third-party applications without extensive coding. It includes hundreds of pre-built connectors and enables Insightly CRM to integrate with over 1,000 apps total. Prices range from $249 per month for 25,000 tasks to $3,499 per month for 500,000 tasks. A $2,500 onboarding fee applies.
Insightly AppConnect
Meanwhile, Insightly All-in-One is a comprehensive platform that combines Insightly CRM with Insightly AppConnect, Insightly Marketing, and Insightly Service. Plans range from $349 per month (for two users) to $2,999 per month (for 10 users), with the option to add extra seats from $29 per user, per month.
Insightly is a collaborative CRM with a focus on project management, but its core CRM features offer ways to manage contacts and leads, build custom reports, and trigger basic workflows. Upgraded plans add advanced automation, email marketing tools, and customizable dashboards. Learn more about Insightly's features below:
Insightly eases the burden of tedious data entry for busy salespeople by allowing you to convert won opportunities into post-sale projects with just a couple of clicks. Stay organized and updated by tracking milestones, metrics, deadlines, client activity, and related tasks all in one place. The user-friendly, drag-and-drop kanban interface makes it simple to move projects from one stage to the next.
Insightly earned a spot on our list of the best CRM software as the top platform for managing internal and external projects.
Insightly offers a 360-degree view of your contact data — including associated projects, social media handles, recent activity, and local time. Import 500 to 50,000 contact records at once (depending on your plan) from Gmail, Outlook, Mailchimp, and Excel. Keep your contact database tidy with Insightly's SmartMerge feature, which automatically detects duplicate information that you can either delete or merge with an existing record.
All Insightly plans come with real-time lead activity tracking and automatic social media enrichment, which adds relevant Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter handles to lead profiles. You’ll also be able to generate leads (and filter spam) with webforms that you can add to your site or WordPress blog. Upgrade your Insightly plan to add features like drag-and-drop kanban pipelines, automatic duplicate detection, and lead assignment and routing.
Insightly is a top analytical CRM for the breadth of reporting capabilities available in its paid and free tiers. All plans include a library of 10 legacy reports based on opportunities and contact activities, along with a custom drag-and-drop report builder for tailored CRM metrics on projects, tasks, events, and more. Insightly’s two highest plans add report scheduling with automatic delivery to colleagues, managers, and clients.
Find out which reports your sales team should be running, and how to set them up in your desired CRM, with our complete guide to CRM reporting.
All Insightly plans include three standard dashboards (opportunities, projects, and leads) that contain four to 10 reports each. However, outside of their layouts these dashboards can’t be altered. Upgrade to Insightly Pro or Enterprise to build custom dashboards and access over 40 data visualizations based on trends, comparisons, sources, and goals. Dashboards on the Enterprise plan allow for unlimited insight cards, while Professional has a 100-card limit.
Dashboards can help you develop, manage, and meet actionable sales goals. Learn more in our comprehensive article to CRM dashboards.
Insightly is one of the top Mailchimp CRMs for its tight integration with the email marketing platform. For instance, you’ll be able to trigger a welcome email via Mailchimp when a closed deal becomes a project, then create a drip campaign to keep customers informed. Meanwhile, Insightly comes with its own native email marketing tools, including customizable templates, activity tracking (click and open rates), and scheduled email sends.
Insightly is the best operational CRM for project-related workflows. All plans include templated activity sets for automating basic pipeline-related tasks and events. However, upgrade to Insightly Professional or Enterprise for access to broader workflow sequences and more precise triggers. For ultimate workflow flexibility, Insightly Enterprise allows developers to create custom actions in multiple coding languages through lambda functions.
Maximize your CRM's automation capabilities so you can concentrate on building relationships (and revenue). Our comprehensive guide to CRM automation will show you how.
Insightly integrates with hundreds of outside apps. Only a handful of native integrations are available (like MailChimp and QuickBooks). Most apps connect to Insightly via third-party APIs or Insightly’s Public API – including Google Drive and Evernote. Expand Insightly’s integrations with a connector (like Zapier), custom app development (Enterprise only), or by subscribing to Insightly AppConnect for direct access to over 1,000 apps (from $249/month).
Learn which apps you should add to your CRM — and how to deploy them — in our in-depth guide to CRM integration.
The Insightly mobile app is free to download for iOS and Android. It features the same project management tools as its parent software but adds mobile-exclusive functions like a built-in business card scanner, audio note recorder, and call logging. (Note that call logging and card scanning are for paid Insightly subscribers only.) Unfortunately, despite multiple software updates over the years, the Insightly app still lacks offline access.
Compare Insightly to other mobile CRMs in terms of features and accessibility in our independent review of the best mobile CRMs.
Insightly allows you to manage files and documents related to specific contacts or projects within your account. You get 10GB of storage on the Plus plan, 100GB on the Professional plan, and unlimited storage on the Enterprise plan. You can also expand your storage capacity while streamlining operations by integrating Insightly with Google Drive, OneDrive, Box, or Dropbox.
Insightly's free plan offers access to project management tools, but it can only be used by two people and has limited functionality otherwise. Upgrade to one of its paid subscriptions for more features, expanded data storage, and increased contact record limits.
Insightly combines an intuitive interface with a rich feature set to satisfy novice and experienced CRM users alike. Colorful kanban boards and a straightforward layout will help CRM newbies feel at ease, while CRM veterans will appreciate Insightly’s rich suite of sales and project management tools, particularly in its highest tiers.
However, Insightly doesn’t allow for much flexibility when it comes to customization, outside of integrations and custom fields. This is advantageous for companies wanting a turnkey platform. (Plus, it’ll result in fewer moving parts breaking during CRM implementation, although some users claim that app integrations are prone to errors.) On the other hand, niche industries seeking a bespoke platform might find Insightly too rigid.
Insightly has three customer support tiers. All plans include access to Insightly’s knowledge base, webinars, and live chat (a hybrid of a chat bot and a human representative). Below is a breakdown of what each support plan entails:
| Free Plan Support | Standard Plan Support | Premier Success Support | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Included with free plan | Included with paid plans | 20% of subscription ($3,000 minimum) |
| Knowledge Base | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Webinars | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Live Chat | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Email Support | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Phone Support | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
| Dedicated Support Manager | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
Guided onboarding is also available for $1,500 and includes implementation guidance plus ongoing CRM support. It’s a requirement for businesses that subscribe to the Insightly Premier Success Support plan as it’s their introduction to the customer success manager (CSM) who’ll provide dedicated support post-onboarding.
Insightly’s user service has a generally favorable reputation, although some customers have reported a lack of timeliness and professionalism with support reps. Opting for a Premier Success Support plan will yield faster turnaround times via email and phone, although this can be costly for small to medium businesses. However, Insightly's self-service knowledge base is comprehensive and user-friendly, and should suffice for most support needs.
Reviews for Insightly are mostly positive. Per Capterra, 62% of Insightly users would recommend the platform to others. Below is a brief look at how sales professionals rate Insightly across three of the most well-known software review aggregate sites:
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| 4 / 5 stars | 4 / 5 stars | 4.2 / 5 stars |
| 500+ total reviews | 700+ total reviews | 700+ total reviews |
Insightly has an average rating of 4.1 stars (out of 5) from a combined 1,900 users. However, we like to go beyond the score so we analyzed individual reviews from current and former Insightly customers for a comprehensive overview of its benefits and shortcomings. Here’s what people like about Insightly — and what it wish it did better:
Fans of Insightly praise its ease of use, minimalist UI, and streamlined organization of sales data. Project managers appreciate Insightly’s robust project management tools for allowing them to track real-time activity and share progress with colleagues and clients. Other reasons why people like Insightly include seamless data entry; tight integration with Mailchimp, Gmail, and Outlook; and good value for money.
Several customers say Insightly’s search engine is finicky, yielding unrelated results or oversights that could potentially lead to duplicate records. Some users have also experienced lag or logouts when dealing with large volumes of data. Meanwhile, Insightly’s simple interface, combined with its lack of customizable features, is a disadvantage for sales leaders who need a more flexible CRM.
Insightly is an excellent CRM, especially when it comes to project management. However, your organization may need something different — whether that’s a scalable free platform, AI-powered tools, a more malleable interface, or a diverse mix of sales and marketing functions. If Insightly isn’t ticking the right boxes for you, take a look at the five best Insightly alternatives below:
Pipedrive is a sales-centric CRM with a focus on pipeline management. It’s priced similarly to Insightly, with plans ranging from $14.90 to $99 per user, per month. However, Pipedrive also offers a variety of paid extras (from $7 per month) that add project management, marketing, and productivity features. Pipedrive is a great choice for teams new to CRMs thanks to its intuitive UI plus 24/7 access to user support.
Read our detailed Insightly vs Pipedrive comparison to see which of these two CRMs would be a better fit for your sales needs.
Salesforce is a better option than Insightly for most medium to large businesses because of its highly-customizable platform and robust suite of features — including advanced analytics, sales forecasting, and automations for nearly every sales process. The entry-level Salesforce Essentials plan starts at $25 per user per month for up to 10 users; advanced plans range between $75 and $300 per user, per month.
Our breakdown of Insightly vs Salesforce further highlights the differences and similarities between these two CRMs.
HubSpot CRM has a free version that supports an unlimited number of users and offers a comprehensive suite of sales and inbound marketing tools — making it an ideal solution for small businesses seeking a scalable CRM. However, upgrading to a paid HubSpot Sales Hub plan can be more expensive compared to Insightly, with prices ranging from $45 per month (for two users) to $1,200 per month (for 10 users).
Check out our complete HubSpot CRM review to find out more about this popular sales and marketing software, and discover how it could help your business.
Freshsales is the best Insightly alternative for companies wanting access to AI-powered sales tools and built-in telephony at an affordable cost. (Plans range from free and $69 per user, per month.) It also provides plenty of room for customization while sporting one of the cleanest interfaces on the market, although it’s not as visually-based as Insightly.
If you’re curious to know more about this CRM, take a look at our in-depth Freshsales review.
Zoho CRM is known for its tight social media integration, AI automation, and high level of personalization. It's a more affordable alternative to Insightly — paid plans range from $14 to $52 per user, per month, and a limited free version is also available. However, a steep learning curve and mediocre quality of customer support make it a less desirable option for CRM newbies.
If your sales and marketing teams often work together, give our Zoho CRM review a read and find out if it’s best for your business.
For more on these options and additional competitors, check out our Insightly alternatives article, where you'll find each platform's pricing, features, use case, and more.
Insightly has a price point and user interface that’ll appeal to small businesses new to CRM software, as well as a comprehensive set of project management tools and workflow automation options for growing companies. However, do your homework before deciding on Insightly — read hands-on reviews (such as this one), seek feedback from past and current customers, and try the platform out for yourself via free trial or a demo.
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