Alternatives to Highrise

Highrise is known for simplicity. Its user friendly interface allows new customers to learn how to use the entire software with little to no training. It offers basic online CRM tools that are found useful by many. After a business begins to expand however, many customers find that the simplicity of Highrise does not make up for the lack of features. Highrise’s avoidance of useful features in an effort to stay loyal to a simplicity based marketing campaign is beginning to bite back.

You Need A CRM That Will Be Saving You Time and Money

Many businesses have dynamic uses and goals when they use a CRM, but their reason for using the service overall is in common; they want to save time and money. They hope that by integrating a service into their daily business they can eventually become more efficient and save money in the short and long run. Therefore, when a CRM service is not saving you time and money, it is only logical to find something that can perform at a standard that will.

Highrise users often find themselves in a similar dilemma; they enjoy using Highrise and like its simplicity, but need more features. The lack of features in Highrise makes the platform seem more like a communication tool than a CRM application. If you need a CRM with all the sufficient features, you may find Highrise’s lack thereof to be a surprise:

 - No calendar feature
 - Inability to assign a task to more than one person at a time
 - No forecasting/reporting
 - No recurring tasks
 - No task templates
 - Inability to assign leads
 - No sales pipeline
 - No custom fields
 - The ability to assign groups, but no ability to lookup information by group

What If You Want More?

With no need for any of the above features you may find Highrise sufficient, but many have referred to the SaaS as
“A few features away from being useful.” Putting this aside, you may find yourself in another dilemma even if you do find Highrise’s features sufficient.

Once you have incorporated CRM into your business, project management applications and billing applications almost always follow. These are tools that help make all aspects of your business run in an efficient manner, from following leads and collaborating on projects to billing your customers at the end.


Many Highrise customers realize this and decide to purchase another one of 37Signals’ applications, a project management tool known as Basecamp. Basecamp is similar to Highrise in the sense that its most common appeal is simplicity. However many customers that have decided to combine these programs have noticed that the two don’t communicate so well. Here are a few examples:

 - Inability to sync Highrise with Basecamp
 - Double entry in many situations required
 - Can’t turn deals/leads into projects
 - No ability to access Highrise users/contacts from Basecamp

Don’t Work Hard, Work Smart

It would seem ironic to spend more on another application that would have you do even more work. Why not take the short cut and use WORKetc, a complete business management platform that combines all aspects of your business into one easy to use piece of software? WORKetc combines CRM, project management, and billing into one user friendly platform. It offers all of the above features that Basecamp and Highrise do not, and for a much better price.

The problem with having multiple different business management applications is trying to integrate them. They often integrate poorly resulting in much less efficiency while you still have to pay more per application. WORKetc combines all aspects of business management and is specifically designed to bring flow from one aspect of your business to the other. The intuitive and user friendly interface allows for many complex tasks to be completed in a simple manner. WORKetc offers a ton of customization options, and can do more than the majority of three different CRM/project management/billing applications combined – for half the price! For a more detailed look of WORKetc’s features compared to that of top competitors like Highrise, check out this comparison chart.

Here is what Chris Meidell of Modevation had to say about WORKetc:

“We have been evaluating ZohoCRM, SalesForce and Basecamp but decided on WORKetc. Here’s why... Fair Pricing... Awesome Interface... Complete Functionality...”

Isn’t it about time you stopped spending more money on extra applications while only becoming less efficient? Let WORKetc do the work for you, and notice the difference instantly.

Download and view the original CRM Comparison spreadsheet here (updated August 2010)