Highrise CRM

Highrise CRM is a simple contact-management CRM originally developed by 37signals (the maker of Basecamp) in 2007 and one of the early influential SaaS CRMs of its era. The product was retired from new sales in 2018 when 37signals refocused on Basecamp as its single product, and the existing Highrise customer base was transferred to a legacy operational mode under a separate entity (Highrise HQ) that continues to maintain the service for paying users. New buyers cannot subscribe today — Highrise is profiled here as a reference and migration-target context for DACH SMBs that still operate the product or are evaluating migration to a modern alternative. The product's historical positioning was deliberately minimal: a contact database, communication log, simple task tracking and shared notes for small teams who found Salesforce, HubSpot CRM or the larger platforms too heavy.

Functional scope

Highrise covers contact records, company records, communication history (calls, emails, meetings), tagging, simple deal tracking, task assignment, shared notes and a basic activity feed. The product was deliberately scoped as a minimal CRM with a tight feature set rather than a pipeline-management or marketing-automation platform. Email-forwarding into the contact record was the primary inbound-communication capture mechanism. Reporting was intentionally minimal. The product did not evolve significantly after 2018; the legacy operational mode preserves the existing functionality rather than developing new capabilities.

Migration path for existing users

Existing Highrise customers face a strategic question about migration timing. The legacy operation is stable and the vendor has communicated no end-of-life date, but the product is not gaining features and the integration ecosystem is not being expanded. Typical migration targets for DACH SMBs are HubSpot CRM (free tier sufficient for many ex-Highrise use cases), Pipedrive (similar minimal-CRM philosophy), Zoho CRM (broader feature scope at SMB pricing) or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales (for Microsoft-stack-aligned buyers). Migration tooling is limited and is typically a CSV-export-and-import exercise with manual reconciliation of communication history and tags.

DACH context and GDPR

Highrise was an English-language product without DACH-specific localisation, and the data hosting was historically in the United States. Existing DACH users should evaluate the EU GDPR position of their Highrise data carefully — the standard contractual clauses and the post-Schrems-II data-transfer assessment apply, and the legacy operational mode of the product does not necessarily prioritise EU data-residency improvements. This is a meaningful migration argument for DACH SMBs that prefer EU-hosted CRM alternatives such as HubSpot (with EU hosting tier), Zoho (EU hosting), Pipedrive (EU hosting) or a DACH-native CRM.

Pricing model for legacy users

Existing Highrise customers continue on their original subscription terms under the legacy operational mode. New subscriptions are not available. The historical pricing model was a simple per-account monthly subscription with bundled user seats up to a threshold, well below the per-user pricing of the modern CRM platforms. For DACH SMBs comparing migration cost: modern CRM alternatives in the same minimal-CRM philosophy (HubSpot CRM free tier, Pipedrive starter tier) typically deliver broadly comparable functional coverage at comparable or lower total cost, with the additional benefit of an actively developed product.

Selection considerations

For new buyers, Highrise is not a selectable option — it is not accepting new subscriptions. For existing users, the strategic question is migration timing rather than whether to migrate. The closest functional successors are HubSpot CRM (free tier), Pipedrive and Zoho CRM. Buyers attached to the minimal-CRM philosophy that Highrise represented may also evaluate Streak (Gmail-anchored), Less Annoying CRM or Capsule CRM. For DACH SMBs the EU GDPR data-residency angle is an additional argument for migrating to an EU-hosted alternative sooner rather than later.

Also consider:act!CRM · Salesforce

Vendor homepage of Highrise CRM

Current view of the website https://highrisehq.com/

Screenshot of the homepage of Highrise CRM

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Häufig gestellte Fragen

What does Highrise CRM cost?

The licence costs of Highrise CRM depend on the number of users, the selected modules and the deployment model (cloud/on-premise). A reliable cost estimate requires a specific requirements analysis — see our ERP cost overview for realistic ranges. Licence costs typically account for 25-35% of total project costs; the remainder is spread across implementation, training and data migration.

What alternatives to Highrise CRM are there?

Specific alternatives depend on industry fit, budget and company size. The software overview lists 300+ ERP systems for the DACH market; the comparison pages offer pairwise head-to-head comparisons. The exact details depend on the industry, company size class and customising depth of the specific ERP setup.

Does Highrise CRM offer mobile apps?

Modern ERP systems offer at least a responsive web UI; many also provide native iOS/Android apps for sales, warehousing and approval workflows. The specific mobile features are documented in the vendor profile. The exact details depend on the industry, company size class and customising depth of the specific ERP setup.

Is there a community or support forum for Highrise CRM?

Cloud vendors usually run their own community platforms plus documented API forums. Open-source solutions (Odoo, ERPNext) have particularly active communities. Vendor support is typically available via tickets, phone and premium SLAs.

Can Highrise CRM be connected to other systems such as CRM or DMS?

Yes — via REST APIs, iPaaS platforms (Lobster, MuleSoft) or prebuilt connectors. More on CRM integration: ERP vs CRM; on DMS: DMS software. The exact details depend on the industry, company size class and customising depth of the specific ERP setup.