Insightly vs Salesforce: Choose the Best CRM for You

Insightly is an affordable option for cost-conscious small and mid-size businesses. There’s also a free version, but it’s barebones and has a two-seat limit. For expanded functionality, choose one of Insightly’s three paid tiers, which range from $29 to $99 per user, per month. All plans include contact and project management tools; upgrades yield advanced automation and business intelligence. The best no-strings-attached way to try Insightly is to sign up for a free 14-day trial.

Salesforce’s high costs are geared toward medium-to-large businesses that can handle the expense. However, the entry-level Salesforce Essentials plan is slightly less than Insightly’s base tier at $25 per user, per month, but there’s a 10-seat maximum. Standard with all Salesforce plans are sales cycle management and custom reports; upgrades include deeper analytics plus unlimited workflows. The only way to use Salesforce for free is via a 14- or 30-day trial.

Insightly stands out for its integrated project management tools. Creating projects in Insightly is as simple as converting won opportunities, eliminating the need to manually re-enter sales data.  From there, users can track milestones, client activity, and deadlines in one central location. Insightly also has Insightly Voice, a built-in telephony service for call logging and call analysis, but it costs an extra $35 per month and isn’t available for its entry-level Insightly Plus plan.

Salesforce, on the other hand, is one of the most loaded CRMs on the market. Each plan comes with a wealth of contact, lead, and deal management tools, including 360-degree views of client and lead data so no detail is overlooked. That’s in addition to Salesforce’s rich analytics and sales forecasting, areas in which Insightly is lacking. Telephony can be added to any Salesforce plan from just $5 per month for features like call logging, forwarding, and caller ID.

Insightly will suit users who are already familiar with CRMs, but the barrier to entry is low enough that newbies won’t be too intimidated by its array of features. A colorful and visual UI, combined with a fairly simple setup, makes Insightly a more palatable option for businesses that neither have the time or resources to devote to in-depth training sessions. However, Insightly falls short when it comes to app integrations, which some users say are prone to breaking.

Salesforce’s customizable, complex UI will appeal to CRM power users, but even they won’t be spared the hours it’ll take to properly set up and learn it. And proper setup here is key, as any implementation missteps can translate to future errors. That’s the trade-off for being one of the most feature-rich CRM platforms on the market, but despite its steep learning curve, fans of  Salesforce also acknowledge that there are endless sales possibilities on the other side.

Insightly includes nine legacy reports that focus on opportunities and activities. These templates are a quick and simple way to run reports, so they’re extremely limited in their parameters. However, all plans include the option to generate unlimited custom reports using drag-and-drop filters. Custom dashboard cards can be created using Insightly data on the Professional and Enterprise plans; however, lower tiers only feature Insightly’s fixed standard dashboards.

Salesforce also includes pre-made and custom reports with all of its plans – and extends the ability to create custom dashboards to even its cheapest options. Better yet, Salesforce’s higher-tier plans offer more variables and deeper analytics than Insightly’s comparable tiers. Features like cross-filtering and bucketing will help businesses better manage their data while also granting them greater freedom in generating CRM reports most relevant to their goals.

All Insightly plans come with templated sequences called activity sets, which are used for creating automated tasks or events related to the sales pipeline. However, Insightly’s Professional and Enterprise plans allow for broader workflow sequences and more specific triggers, with a maximum of 50 rules permitted per object type. For more flexibility, developers can create custom actions in multiple coding languages via lambda functions (Enterprise only).

Salesforce’s point-and-click Lightning Flow Automation tool grants users the ability to automate nearly every sales function – no outside coding required. It can even automate internal administrative tasks such as expense reports, performance reviews, and employee onboarding. Salesforce Essentials and Professional both include a maximum of five workflow rules, while Enterprise and Unlimited don’t impose a cap on the amount of rules allowed.

Insightly has a free mobile app for iOS and Android that serves as a companion to its parent software. In addition to offering the project management tools present in the main CRM, the Insightly mobile app can also collect new contact data via a built-in business card scanner, record audio notes up to 60 minutes long, and log phone calls with no additional cost required. While Insightly’s mobile app is quite solid, it lacks offline access to data – a huge omission.

Salesforce’s free mobile app, also available on iOS and Android, does have offline access. It can cache data for up to seven items at once, including dashboards and opportunities. The Salesforce mobile app also includes AI-powered insights from Einstein Analytics – a feature that’ll be expanded upon in the near future with the introduction of the Einstein Voice Assistant, which will work with Siri and Google Assistant to help call up data and streamline tasks.

Insightly AppConnect offers more than 1,000 CRM app integrations – including native connections to Xero, PandaDoc, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp. Businesses that require integrations outside of those provided by Insightly can use a connector such as Zapier or develop custom apps if they subscribe to Insightly’s Enterprise tier.

The Salesforce AppExchange features over 7,000 apps, spanning a range of use cases and a variety of industries, from finance and real estate. Notable integrations include DocuSign, Slack, Asana, and Eventbrite. Companies that need a tailor-made app can build one on the Salesforce Web Services API, which is included with Salesforce Enterprise and Ultimate but costs an extra $25 per user, per month with Salesforce Professional.

Insightly offers a rudimentary support plan with all of its subscriptions that includes access to Insightly’s knowledge base and email-based assistance. To avail of phone support, faster turnaround times, and onboarding help, a standalone support plan is required and starts at $1,500 per year. Insightly support has a solid reputation overall, but it does come at quite a cost.

Every Salesforce plan comes with standard email and live chat support, as well as access to community forums, a knowledge base, and Salesforce Trailhead certification programs. There are also premium support plans available that add amenities such as 24/7 support, one-on-one coaching, and advanced diagnostics. Pricing for Salesforce’s premium support plans are available upon request.