Insightly vs Salesforce Sales Cloud Comparison

Why choose Insightly

• Higher Ease of Use score (6/10 vs 4/10)
• Higher Cost score (4/10 vs 2/10)
• Better fit for small business (7/10 vs 5/10)

Why choose Salesforce Sales Cloud

• Has a free plan (Insightly does not)
• Lower estimated cost for 10 users: $250/mo vs $290/mo
• Higher Scalability score (10/10 vs 5/10)
• Higher Analytics score (9/10 vs 5/10)
• Better fit for enterprise (10/10 vs 3/10)

Insightly

Pros

• Won opportunities convert straight into projects with tasks and milestones, so services firms can manage delivery without a separate PM tool.
• SOC 2 Type II certification, SSO, two-factor authentication and HIPAA and GDPR compliance are listed on the product page.
• Native iOS and Android apps and bidirectional email sync come with every CRM tier.
• AppConnect and prebuilt connectors cover Microsoft, Google, QuickBooks, NetSuite, DocuSign and Shopify.

Cons

• Required onboarding ($1,500) and premier support (at least $3,000 a year) add substantially to the per-user license price.
• Workflow automation and AI Copilot are not included in Plus and require the $49 Professional tier or higher.
• Reviewers report recurring support problems and limited reporting across multiple objects.
• Users note slow performance with large datasets and a busy interface with many navigation tabs.
• There is no email sequencing in the CRM, and marketing automation is a separate product priced per account.

Salesforce Sales Cloud

Pros

• AgentExchange (formerly AppExchange) and built-in Slack integration give it the widest ecosystem of add-on apps and connectors among CRMs.
• Admins can tailor objects, Flow automation and dashboards in great depth, and reviewers on Capterra and SoftwareFinder repeatedly praise its customization and reporting.
• It scales from a free two-user suite to enterprise editions with sandboxes, high API allowances and security tooling such as Security Center and Data Detect.
• Agentforce AI is built in, with prospecting agents, pipeline forecasting insights and call coaching added in the Winter 27 release.
• Gartner has named it a Leader in CRM Sales Platforms for 20 years in a row, according to Salesforce.

Cons

• List prices rose again in September 2026. Core costs $195 and Advanced $395 per user per month, roughly 11 and 13 percent above the Enterprise and Unlimited editions they replaced.
• Many capabilities are paid extras, including API access on Pro, Agentforce, Sales Dialer and Revenue Intelligence, so the real budget is well above the entry price.
• Pro Suite and higher editions require annual contracts, and analysts note that downgrading mid-contract is difficult.
• Reviewers say small businesses often need an in-house admin or paid partners to run it, and that they use only a fraction of the features they pay for.
• Capterra gives it 4.0 out of 5 for ease of use, and G2 reviewers cite a steep learning curve for new users.