Insightly review September 2024: A scalable CRM solution for small and midsized businesses
Bob Haegele covers small business, investing, insurance, and credit cards. Bob studied information technology, finance and economics, and has leveraged his knowledge to help people manage their businesses and their money. His work has been featured in publications like Business Insider, TIME, USA Today, and Newsweek.
Cassie is the business and banking editor at Fortune Recommends. She obtained her degree from Northern Kentucky University and is a certified SCRUM master. Prior to joining the team at Fortune Recommends, Cassie was a deputy editor at Forbes Advisor and a Central Operations Project Manager at Fit Small Business.
Insightly is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform that is easy to use and provides plenty of customization options and integrations. A self-proclaimed midsize business solution, Insightly has CRM, marketing, and customer service solutions. Insightly is scalable, offering everything from free to enterprise plans with few limits or caps.
According to recent reports, Insightly has over 1.5 million users worldwide. The CRM is generally well-liked, with positive reviews highlighting its ease of use and simple customization. Although Insightly is suited best to medium-sized businesses, it has plans for small businesses, startups, and enterprises. While its higher tiers are pricey, teams with the budget will appreciate Insightly’s simplicity and ease of use.
Insightly CRM
Base price: | Starting at $29 per user, per month (with annual billing) |
Free trial length: | 14 days |
Free plan available: | Yes |
Pros
- Integrates with hundreds of apps, such as Google Workspace, Slack, and Amazon apps
- You can automate workflows, emails, tasks and reports (may vary by tier)
- Lets you send 2,500 bulk emails or more, starting with Plus plan
Cons
- No phone support for the free plan
- May lack some customization options needed by larger enterprises
- Can be expensive, especially at higher tiers
Insightly CRM service plan overview
Insightly offers a free plan and three paid tiers. As is usually true with tiered pricing, each tier includes all the features of the tiers below it. The Plus and Professional plans are eligible for a 14-day free trial.
Plans | Pricing | Free Trial or Plan Available? | Features |
---|---|---|---|
Plus | $29 per user, per month | Yes | Track and manage leadsTask managementCustomizable reports |
Professional | $49 per user, per month | Yes | Customizable dashboardsEmail schedulingComplete workflow automation |
Enterprise | $99 per user, per month | No | Unlimited dashboard cardsDeploy custom apps across platformsDynamic page layout rules |
Plus | |
---|---|
Pricing | $29 per user, per month |
Free Trial or Plan Available? | Yes |
Features | Track and manage leadsTask managementCustomizable reports |
Professional | |
Pricing | $49 per user, per month |
Free Trial or Plan Available? | Yes |
Features | Customizable dashboardsEmail schedulingComplete workflow automation |
Enterprise | |
Pricing | $99 per user, per month |
Free Trial or Plan Available? | No |
Features | Unlimited dashboard cardsDeploy custom apps across platformsDynamic page layout rules |
Best Insightly CRM plan for small businesses: Professional
Insightly’s Professional plan is the best choice for small businesses because it gives you the best combination of features and relative affordability. At $49 per user, per month, with annual billing, this plan is not exactly cheap. However, it includes useful features you don’t get with Plus or the free plan, such as dashboard customization and workflow automation. It also includes 100GB of storage (Plus has 10GB).
The best thing about using Insightly’s Professional plan is how much you can do with minimal effort. With just a few clicks, you can convert leads into contacts and contacts into organizations quickly. From the relevant tabs, you can manage contact information and even see what the weather is like where your contacts are located.
When you want to communicate with your contacts or leads, you’ll have premade templates for cold emails and job application responses. Of course, you can schedule emails for later or send them in bulk. You can also see open rates for each template. While placing calls within Insightly is possible, this requires an add-on.
The biggest downside to Insightly’s Professional plan is that it’s nearly twice as expensive as Plus, with a price of $49 per user, per month. The Plus plan is $29 per user, per month. It’s also limited in some ways compared to the Enterprise, such as a limit of 100 sales insight cards for your dashboard. No such limit applies to the Enterprise plan.
Other services Insightly CRM offers
Insightly offers powerful features to track and manage leads. However, it has many other features to help you get things done. These include:
- Project management: Track projects through various pipeline stages, assign tasks automatically, and convert opportunities to projects after the deal is closed.
- Email integration: Insightly integrates with popular email systems, including Gmail, Outlook, and Office 365. You can also add a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) email account.
- Email marketing: With Insightly’s Mailchimp integration, you can manage email marketing campaigns, send mass emails, and export your contacts’ information to a comma-separated values (CSV) file.
- Workflow automation: Automate repetitive tasks and reduce human error. These include email, follow-up reminders, and lead assignment.
- Custom dashboards and reports: Insightly’s dashboards are anything but static. You can generate custom reports for insights into your sales performance and customer behavior.
- Voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) integration: You can use Insightly’s AppConnect to integrate VoIP platforms, such as Dialpad and RingCentral.
While certain features, such as VoIP, aren’t included natively, there are options to integrate third-party solutions. This lets you expand Insightly’s functionality to cover most of your business’s daily needs.
The Insightly CRM platform and customer support
Insightly’s platform is easy to navigate, with tabs on the left side to access everything you need, such as dashboards, tasks, contacts, projects, emails, and reports. Everything is laid out cleanly, and the screen is not overly busy. If you are having trouble locating something you need, there is always a search bar at the top of your screen. You’ll see pertinent information on each screen, such as your leads’ contact information and each project’s stage.
Insightly has several support options, including an online chat, social media channels, and phone support. However, phone support is not available for free users. For those with a paid license, phone support is available from Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pacific time. Email response is within 24 hours. However, for premium support customers, phone support is available 24/5, and email response is within four hours.
Is Insightly CRM secure?
Insightly takes security seriously, allowing you to keep your data safe on the platform. It has a 99.95% uptime, so you’ll have access to your contacts, projects, and sales pipelines when you need them. The provider is compliant with SOC 2 Type II, which reports on security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality or privacy. In addition, Insightly is compliant with international standards, such as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Insightly CRM user reviews
Insightly reviews are generally positive, with users appreciating its ease of use, wide variety of integrations, and comprehensive features. For instance, they say Insightly is very easy to use, helping their teams stay organized and able to keep track of their sales pipelines effortlessly. They say appreciate the huge number of integrations it has, such as with Gmail, Outlook, and business applications. They also say Insightly has a nice selection of features, with an emphasis on areas, such as contact and project management, reporting, and automation.
Of course, Insightly isn’t perfect. Some users have had issues with performance, especially when attempting to load a large amount of data. Others say that while they appreciate how many customization options Insightly has, it took a while for them to get the hang of it. Compared to the pros, these concerns are relatively minimal, showing the reviews are positive overall.
Compare Insightly alternatives
Is Insightly right for you?
Insightly can be the right fit for businesses of all kinds, but it’s generally the best match for small to mid-size businesses. This is due to its relatively low cost, ease of use, and large number of customization options. As smaller businesses expand they’ll find that Insightly’s scalability crucial as it allows for increasing numbers of records, storage, and emails. Its integrations and project management tools are also ideal for businesses wanting an all-in-one solution.
However, Insightly isn’t right for all businesses. Large enterprises with complex business models that need extensive customization may find Insightly’s options a bit limiting. Those looking for a free solution should look elsewhere too as Insightly’s free plan is limited to two users and 10 emails per day. Finally, businesses that prioritize performance may find Insightly isn’t snappy enough for them and should consider the alternatives.
Frequently asked questions
What are the benefits of Insightly CRM?
Insightly CRM is easy to use and integrates with numerous email platforms and business tools. It has a clean yet highly customizable interface. In addition, it features strong automation and project management features, allowing you to do more than manage sales pipelines. It also has a mobile app that lets you manage your business effectively from anywhere.
Is Insightly cloud-based?
Yes, Insightly is cloud-based. A cloud-based CRM allows businesses to forego costly hardware, software, and information technology (IT) professionals all in service of maintaining an on-premise CRM. Some providers still offer on-premise CRMs, but Insightly is 100% cloud-based. Another benefit of a cloud-based CRM is it means businesses don’t have to be responsible for the security of their data.
What is AI-based CRM?
AI-based CRMs use technologies, such as large language models (LLMs), machine learning (ML), and data analytics to improve the efficiency of the CRM and reduce the potential for human error. For instance, they might allow you to use AI to draft or summarize emails or to identify sales patterns.
About the contributors
EDITORIAL DISCLOSURE: The advice, opinions, or rankings contained in this article are solely those of the Fortune Recommends™ editorial team. This content has not been reviewed or endorsed by any of our affiliate partners or other third parties.