Insightly vs. Salesforce Starter

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Insightly
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
Insightly is presented as a modern, affordable CRM that is easy to use, simple to customize, and that scales with companies as they grow, designed to solve common pain points that legacy CRMs can't. Available in any vertical, Insightly CRM customers can add companion products for marketing automation, customer service, and integrations in the same platform. Insightly has more than a million users worldwide.
$348
per year per user
Salesforce Starter
Score 8.9 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
Salesforce Starter (formerly Salesforce Essentials) is a small business CRM that replaces the former SalesforceIQ product. It is priced at $35 per user, on a monthly basis, or at $25 per month for if billed annually ($300) and can be tried free for 14 days on a trial.
$35
per month per user
Pricing
InsightlySalesforce Starter
Editions & Modules
Plus
$29
per month (billed annually) per user
Professional
$49
per month (billed annually) per user
Enterprise
$99
per month (billed annually) per user
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
InsightlySalesforce Starter
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
InsightlySalesforce Starter
Considered Both Products
Insightly
Chose Insightly
For me, Insightly works for the Basic price point subscription (lucky to have been on this subscription level before they closed it to new customers). Also, like the Gmail interface and the ability to manage both sales and projects.
Chose Insightly
Came down to one issue: cost. Honestly, we have already made such an investment in training staff persons and otherwise integrating Insightly with some of our other software that the cost has now become a barrier to entry for our first choice CRM (at least for now) since we'd …
Salesforce Starter
Chose Salesforce Starter
We selected SalesforceIQ over Insightly because of the email automation they offered. Their app also seemed to be a little more robust. I highly recommend a trial before you make a decision. The trial with SalesforceIQ is what sold us on the product.
Features
InsightlySalesforce Starter
Sales Force Automation
Comparison of Sales Force Automation features of Product A and Product B
Insightly
7.4
413 Ratings
5% below category average
Salesforce Starter
8.8
7 Ratings
13% above category average
Customer data management / contact management8.5395 Ratings7.87 Ratings
Workflow management7.2364 Ratings00 Ratings
Territory management7.783 Ratings7.77 Ratings
Opportunity management8.0361 Ratings9.07 Ratings
Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)6.8369 Ratings9.76 Ratings
Contract management6.521 Ratings00 Ratings
Quote & order management7.471 Ratings9.35 Ratings
Interaction tracking7.0324 Ratings8.36 Ratings
Channel / partner relationship management7.724 Ratings9.75 Ratings
Customer Service & Support
Comparison of Customer Service & Support features of Product A and Product B
Insightly
7.1
13 Ratings
7% below category average
Salesforce Starter
-
Ratings
Case management7.011 Ratings00 Ratings
Call center management7.28 Ratings00 Ratings
Help desk management7.19 Ratings00 Ratings
Marketing Automation
Comparison of Marketing Automation features of Product A and Product B
Insightly
6.6
322 Ratings
16% below category average
Salesforce Starter
7.8
6 Ratings
1% above category average
Lead management6.3308 Ratings7.86 Ratings
Email marketing6.9255 Ratings00 Ratings
CRM Project Management
Comparison of CRM Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Insightly
6.6
397 Ratings
15% below category average
Salesforce Starter
8.4
5 Ratings
9% above category average
Task management6.9385 Ratings9.45 Ratings
Billing and invoicing management6.039 Ratings6.95 Ratings
Reporting7.0333 Ratings9.05 Ratings
CRM Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of CRM Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Insightly
7.5
356 Ratings
1% below category average
Salesforce Starter
9.1
5 Ratings
18% above category average
Forecasting7.092 Ratings9.15 Ratings
Pipeline visualization8.1334 Ratings8.85 Ratings
Customizable reports7.5320 Ratings9.35 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
Insightly
7.3
358 Ratings
5% below category average
Salesforce Starter
7.7
6 Ratings
1% above category average
Custom fields8.0357 Ratings8.06 Ratings
Custom objects7.2116 Ratings8.05 Ratings
Scripting environment6.86 Ratings6.75 Ratings
API for custom integration7.2187 Ratings8.05 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Insightly
7.3
306 Ratings
14% below category average
Salesforce Starter
9.0
6 Ratings
7% above category average
Single sign-on capability7.3273 Ratings9.06 Ratings
Role-based user permissions7.3207 Ratings9.06 Ratings
Social CRM
Comparison of Social CRM features of Product A and Product B
Insightly
7.4
90 Ratings
0% below category average
Salesforce Starter
8.2
5 Ratings
10% above category average
Social data6.825 Ratings00 Ratings
Social engagement8.078 Ratings8.25 Ratings
Integrations with 3rd-party Software
Comparison of Integrations with 3rd-party Software features of Product A and Product B
Insightly
6.3
154 Ratings
16% below category average
Salesforce Starter
8.0
5 Ratings
7% above category average
Marketing automation7.5154 Ratings8.25 Ratings
Compensation management5.14 Ratings7.85 Ratings
Platform
Comparison of Platform features of Product A and Product B
Insightly
5.6
320 Ratings
29% below category average
Salesforce Starter
8.4
6 Ratings
11% above category average
Mobile access5.6320 Ratings8.46 Ratings
Best Alternatives
InsightlySalesforce Starter
Small Businesses
Salesmate
Salesmate
Score 10.0 out of 10
Salesmate
Salesmate
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.1 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.1 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
InsightlySalesforce Starter
Likelihood to Recommend
7.7
(433 ratings)
9.0
(7 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(34 ratings)
4.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
7.6
(169 ratings)
8.7
(4 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(25 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.9
(34 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(8 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.1
(26 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(18 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
8.6
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.0
(10 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.0
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Professional Services
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.1
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
InsightlySalesforce Starter
Likelihood to Recommend
Unbounce
If a business has a simple workflow for purchasing a product or service for a customer and they want to keep track of this workflow then Insightly is very useful. The more complex a business operation is then Insightly starts to become difficult to use. I would recommend Insightly for small and medium sized businesses. Large businesses might have issues delegating tasks across many different users in a large company
Read full review
Salesforce
If you own a business that has complex selling processes or requires integrations with 3rd party tools/systems, you should look at Professional, Enterprise, or Unlimited editions. Salesforce operates very well across pretty much every industry, but not all sales, marketing, and operational processes are created equal. If your marketing process requires a long list of sendable contacts then I would recommend adding on Pardot or Hubspot. Always start small and scale up, to avoid boxing yourself in down the road.
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Pros
Unbounce
  • The ability to set up filters to generate lists based on just the categories I am interested in.
  • It's integration with our sales data so we can see customer spending trends across multiple years and seasons.
  • The ability to circle back to previous email correspondence to refresh on past conversations with individual clients.
Read full review
Salesforce
  • Tracking phone calls is extremely easy when using the app on the iphone. After a phone call is complete it prompts the user to enter in call details.
  • SalesforceIQ also automatically logs emails for us. This has saved us time from entering in information manually.
  • SalesforceIQ was easy to set up and allowed us customization for fields that were relevant to our business.
Read full review
Cons
Unbounce
  • Once you are immersed in the platform, for all of its integration kudos, the platform became "intuitive" if that is the right word for it. There was some push back from staff on deployment.
  • The service and support team at Insightly was very responsive, but it seemed as if they had fielded similar complaints, and slower learning curves than we expected.
  • Unfortunately, while all has worked out nicely now and we are very happy with the platform, we had to have additional instruction time for all the staff during onboarding as workflows, dashboards, and pipelines were more time intensive than expected on the demo.
Read full review
Salesforce
  • Table views can be sorted by column. Filters can be applied, but only to one column. Multi-column filtering like Excel allows would be extremely useful and a big improvement.
  • The ability to quick copy data in a table view would also be helpful, like (ctrl ') in excel.
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Likelihood to Renew
Unbounce
Insightly offers a great product; it's the right fit for our company at this time. We were, however, considering moving to Contactually due to their cost effective automation features. However, they lacked the project management capabilities of Insightly. As our company grows, we would love to stay with Insightly - and if they can nail the automation and add the ability to customize a little bit more, it would be the perfect solution for us. For a larger company with a more involved sales team, you might find the metrics/reporting to be a bit basic. Insightly offers great customer service even to free customers
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Salesforce
No answers on this topic
Usability
Unbounce
Some items are not easily accessible as an admin, and the number of available resources is outdated (video from 2017). For basic tasks such as updating prospects or contacts, it is fine. However, when you change the screen size, the system becomes less responsive, with tables often being difficult to read.
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Salesforce
The system is very user-friendly on a desktop but lacks mobile friendliness. The Customer relationship manager disappears after the deal is signed. We struggled to get the system in a usable format, which was not cost-effective. The CRM system on desktop was great but way more complicated than it should be.
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Reliability and Availability
Unbounce
The provider is 100% available, with no downtime, maintenance, or unexpected outages. We have been able to perform solid continuous services for 12 months without any interruptions. We have backups as well, unlike the in-house backup that they keep on their end. I believe they have a very good redundancy and backup infrastructure in case they get any outages.
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Salesforce
No answers on this topic
Performance
Unbounce
Pages normally load quickly, but every now and then, as entering updates to fields, it take a while to update. Sometimes even after refreshing the screen, we have to exit and go back in to get the fields or queries to update.
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Salesforce
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Unbounce
We have used Insightly for almost 2 years now. We have always been able to get in touch with support for a variety of reasons and they have never disappointed us. The support staff have always been very understanding. They have assisted with answers to our questions and have provided great tech support. We would highly recommend them.
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Salesforce
No answers on this topic
In-Person Training
Unbounce
Well, we didn’t get the chance to do this in-person training but rather one-on-one online training with HR in-house. There were PowerPoints to discuss as well as video instructions on how to use the app, so it was okay. We were able to play around with it during the training or onboarding session.
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Salesforce
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Unbounce
I've used Insightly's online training &/ or learned as I went. I've found the blogs and online written material helpful. I've also attended a few webinars, which can be useful if you use a J-I-T approach so as not to overwhelm you (or your staff) with functionality that you are using just yet. The fact that it's all available on their website and you can learn at your own pace is invaluable
Read full review
Salesforce
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Unbounce
did not participate in the implementation of this product did not participate in the implementation of this product did not participate in the implementation of this product did not participate in the implementation of this product did not participate in the implementation of this product did not participate in the implementation of this product
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Salesforce
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Unbounce
Insightly is significantly better than Zendesk. It is easy to use, pleasant to look at, and makes sense. However, I don't think Insightly is fair now compared to Salesforce. Insightly can do many of the same things as Salesforce, but I've only started on some of these features. Insightly has excellent potential, and its support team drives me to make it what I believe it can be. For the price, I believe Insightly is worth it.
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Salesforce
more expensive but as an industry leader and go, the learning curve pays for itself in ROI in lost time in onboarding
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Unbounce
I don’t have the exact answers for this, but our accounting or finance department negotiates this. They always handle this kind of stuff and negotiate yearly licenses. Usually, they purchase 10 licenses in bulk and ask for a discount in bulk. Other than that, if there are any issues encountered on the app, they account for that. If it’s broken, that’s also taken into consideration when renewing the contract.
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Salesforce
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Unbounce
(+) Being able to download my LinkedIn connections was a huge benefit. (+) I use the task function to stay on top of my follow-up activity which is another positive feature. (+) The sorting capabilities also help me pinpoint the contacts that I need to stay on top of. (-) When I add a new lead from an existing organization, I would like the organization's information to automatically populate the fields like address, website, description. I enter all that information manually. (-) My mass mailing experience has been tedious due to the email function being interrupted and crashing due to bad email addresses in some of my records. (-) Many of my leads do not have current email addresses. I wish Insightly offered a tool to help find email addresses. I spend too much time researching to find email addresses.
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Salesforce
No answers on this topic
Professional Services
Unbounce
Our Customer Success Manager was great. A real professional and knowledgeable about the features and how they worked with our requirements
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Salesforce
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Unbounce
  • Positive Impact>Visibility is critical when it comes to taking proactive measures within the organization. The Insightly Tool has helped use with that which minimizes costs when it comes to rework. We can proactively plan for upcoming growth and identify areas of improvement.
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Salesforce
  • It made the job more efficient for staff so they can spend time doing other tasks rather than configuring and maintaining Salesforce Starter.
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ScreenShots

Insightly Screenshots

Screenshot of Insightly's lead status and activity tracking, available so that nothing falls through the cracks.Screenshot of the reporting feature, which provides insight into sales and productivity performance.Screenshot of the Insightly Opportunities dashboard.Screenshot of Insightly on mobile.Screenshot of Screenshot of

Salesforce Starter Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of