Highrise was a simple contact and deal CRM from 37signals that stopped taking new customers in 2018. Existing users still run on the product, but the roadmap is frozen, the integrations are aging, and the mobile app has not kept pace with modern expectations. Strkr is a modern replacement that keeps the clarity Highrise users loved and ships the primitives Highrise never had: full pipeline forecasting, native marketing automation, AI assist, open API, and transparent per-seat pricing.
A Highrise user migrating in 2026 has specific needs. The team loved the clean contact and task view. The team outgrew Highrise's thin pipeline. The team needs the integrations that stopped maintaining 5 years ago. The team wants AI that reads the record. The team wants modern mobile. These are the gaps a replacement has to address.
Highrise stopped taking new customers in August 2018. Existing accounts continue to work but the product is in long-term maintenance mode. New features do not ship, integrations age, security posture freezes, and the mobile app drifts behind modern expectations. Teams still on Highrise are running on a maintenance-mode product.
Highrise's deal object captured the basics (deal name, status, value, probability) but did not model stages, SLA, weighted forecast, forecast risk, or manager roll-up. Teams that scaled past 2 or 3 reps outgrew the deal object quickly. A modern replacement needs real pipeline primitives.
Highrise did not ship a marketing module. Users stitched Mailchimp or Campaign Monitor via custom integration, which produced the familiar silo problem: open rates in one tool, pipeline stages in another, attribution broken. A modern replacement should ship marketing on the same record.
Highrise's integration ecosystem froze with the roadmap. Zapier triggers that worked in 2019 fail or lag in 2026 as upstream tools evolve. Teams running Highrise plus Zapier plus 4 other tools spend Friday afternoons debugging bridges that will not get fixed.
Highrise's UX reflects 2017 CRM expectations. Modern users expect AI that drafts outreach from record context, summarizes long email threads, triages inbound messages, and preps weekly reports. Highrise never shipped these. Teams migrating in 2026 want the AI layer as a baseline.
Highrise's iOS and Android apps work but feel dated: thin feature set, slow sync, no offline queue, limited gestures. Field teams and outside reps who worked from mobile in 2026 found the Highrise mobile experience constraining. A modern replacement should ship first-class mobile.
Teams migrating from Highrise fall into a consistent profile: they value clarity, speed, and a single-pane view. They do not want to trade those for feature bloat. The replacement should feel familiar at first touch and quietly offer more under the surface.
Strkr's contact view opens with the full relationship on one page: timeline, deals, tasks, notes, email threading, and account context. The layout reads like Highrise's clean one-page approach rather than a 15-tab enterprise CRM. Highrise users feel at home immediately.
Deals carry stage, value, probability, and expected close. Forecasting rolls up weighted deal value and highlights risk indicators. The pipeline view keeps the clarity of a simple list and layers forecast primitives for teams that need them.
Marketing campaigns, segmentation, lifecycle cadences, and event-triggered sequences run on the same contact and account records as the CRM. The old Highrise plus Mailchimp patch collapses to one tool with one timeline.
Strkr AI drafts outreach from record history, summarizes long email threads, triages inbound by intent, and preps weekly reports. The AI reads live record context rather than demo data. Highrise users who left for AI-forward tools get the layer they wanted without losing the clarity.
Open REST API with webhooks, SDK libraries, and documented endpoints available on every paid tier. The integration layer is a product feature with ongoing maintenance, not a frozen bridge. Teams migrating from Highrise get a stable integration platform.
Native iOS and Android apps with full feature parity: record edits, pipeline work, call logging, email send, note capture, mobile dashboard. Offline queue syncs on reconnect. The mobile experience matches 2026 expectations rather than 2017 constraints.
For Highrise users who ran Basecamp alongside, Strkr's native projects module handles client delivery, onboarding, and internal operations on the same records as the CRM. Teams can run the full business-side operation without a separate project tool.
Flat per-seat pricing with the full product on every paid tier. No per-contact escalators, no per-feature add-ons, no surprise invoices. The pricing shape reflects the 37signals ethos of clean, predictable billing that Highrise users were used to.
Highrise supports a native export. Strkr's import tooling reads the Highrise export format directly for contacts, companies, deals, tasks, notes, and tags. The migration completes in days rather than weeks, with historical structure preserved.
Across teams that moved from Highrise to Strkr, the migration follows a predictable two-week pattern. Here is the honest playbook.
Export Highrise contacts, companies, deals, tasks, notes, and tags. Create the Strkr tenant and invite admin users. Review the default data model and plan any custom fields needed to carry the Highrise structure.
Run the Highrise import against the Strkr import tool. Contacts, companies, and deals map directly. Custom fields map through the Strkr custom-object configuration. Review the mapped records and spot-check for consistency.
Tasks and notes migrate with the Highrise export. Timeline history imports as structured activity. The migrated records feel familiar immediately because the structure matches Highrise's one-record view.
Define pipeline stages that fit the team's actual sales motion. Set up basic automation (lead-assignment routing, task reminders, deal-stage progression). Load Strkr AI assist and run first test drafts from real record history.
For teams migrating from Highrise plus Mailchimp, consolidate the marketing cadences into Strkr's native marketing module. Lifecycle sequences, broadcast templates, and event-triggered flows run on the imported record set.
Switch team daily usage to Strkr. Run a half-day training session for the admin and the users. Sunset the Highrise subscription at month-end. Keep the Highrise export archive accessible for compliance and reference.
Across teams that migrated from Highrise to Strkr, five reasons come up in exit conversations with the Strkr onboarding team. Here is the honest list.
Highrise's one-page record view was its most-loved feature. Strkr keeps that pattern: the record opens with the whole relationship on one page, with the modern primitives (pipeline, marketing, projects, AI) available in-context rather than in separate tabs.
Highrise priced on a simple per-user basis with no surprise escalators. Strkr prices on the same shape: flat per-seat, full product on every paid tier. The invoice-predictability that Highrise users were used to carries through.
Highrise never shipped marketing. Users stitched Mailchimp or Campaign Monitor. Strkr's native marketing module eliminates the stitching and runs lifecycle on the same record. The feature Highrise users wished Highrise had.
Strkr AI drafts outreach from record history, summarizes long email threads, and preps reports. Highrise users who felt the lack of AI assist on the old product get the layer without changing the clarity they loved.
Strkr's mobile apps run with full feature parity and offline queue. Field teams and outside reps work on the device they actually use. The mobile gap that frustrated Highrise users on-site disappears.
Highrise is in maintenance mode. Strkr ships weekly updates, publishes a public roadmap, and takes feature requests from paying customers. Teams migrating get a product that is still being built around their needs, not one that stopped evolving in 2018.
For teams on Highrise evaluating a modern replacement, the differences land in roadmap status, module breadth, AI, mobile, pricing, and integration maintenance. Here is the side-by-side.
| Feature | Strkr | Highrise CRM (37signals, maintenance mode) |
|---|---|---|
| Product roadmap | Weekly updates, public roadmap | Maintenance mode since 2018 |
| Pipeline forecasting | Weighted forecast with risk indicators | Simple deal list with status |
| Native marketing module | Included on every paid tier | Not available; stitch Mailchimp |
| Native projects module | Included for client delivery | Separate (Basecamp) |
| Native SMS messaging | Included with consent capture | Not available |
| AI assist | Reads record history | Not available |
| Open API | Every paid tier, actively maintained | Available but aging |
| Mobile UX | First-class with offline queue | 2017-era feature set |
| Cross-object reporting | Native, CSV, scheduled | Thin reporting layer |
| Pricing | Flat per-seat, full product | Legacy pricing, no new signups |
Across teams that moved from Highrise to Strkr, five migration stories show up as representative. Here is the honest look.
A 7-person consultancy ran Highrise plus Mailchimp plus Basecamp plus a Zapier spine. Strkr absorbed Highrise, Mailchimp, and Basecamp onto one record. The team dropped two subscriptions, the Zapier spine disappeared, and cross-object reporting became possible for the first time. Monthly tool spend fell 40 percent.
A boutique marketing agency with 500 contacts and 180 deals on Highrise migrated to Strkr in 12 days. The Highrise export imported cleanly; the pipeline stages were set up in a day; the Strkr AI drafted outreach from the imported record history by the end of the first week. The agency owner reported that the first week on Strkr felt like Highrise but with the features they always wanted.
A professional services firm on Highrise since 2014 had never had real forecasting. The team ran deal probability in a spreadsheet alongside the Highrise deal list. Strkr's native pipeline forecasting with risk indicators replaced the spreadsheet. The managing partner saw forecast risk early enough to intervene; the quarterly forecast accuracy improved measurably.
A software startup with 3 outside sales reps had been frustrated with the Highrise mobile experience. Reps logged activity in an end-of-day batch rather than in real time. Strkr's mobile app with offline queue made real-time logging possible. Activity volume climbed, response times improved, and the manager's view of the field motion became accurate.
A direct-to-consumer brand running Highrise for wholesale accounts had always stitched Klaviyo for marketing. Strkr absorbed both: wholesale pipeline on the CRM module, lifecycle marketing on the marketing module, all on the same account records. The wholesale team saw the marketing engagement history for the first time, which changed how they ran account expansion.
Start a 14-day trial with CRM, Marketing, Projects, Messaging, and Docs enabled from day one. Import your Highrise export, run Strkr AI on the record history, and feel the modern mobile app in a day.
Highrise stopped taking new customers in August 2018. Existing accounts continue to run but the product is in long-term maintenance mode. 37signals (now Basecamp) focused on Basecamp and Hey.com, with Highrise maintained but not actively developed. Teams migrating from Highrise in 2026 are responding to the frozen roadmap, aging integrations, and lack of modern features (AI assist, modern mobile, native marketing automation) that newer tools ship.
Jason Fried and the 37signals team made a strategic decision in 2018 to focus on Basecamp and later Hey.com rather than continue investing in Highrise. The decision was published openly on the 37signals blog at the time. Highrise continues to serve its existing customers but does not take new signups and does not receive new features. The honest signal for existing customers is that the roadmap is frozen; a migration decision is a question of when, not if.
Strkr is a modern, actively developed CRM with the same one-record clarity Highrise users loved plus the primitives Highrise never had: real pipeline forecasting, native marketing automation, native projects module, native SMS messaging, Strkr AI assist, first-class mobile with offline queue, open API on every paid tier, and cross-object reporting. The pricing shape (flat per-seat, full product every tier) matches the 37signals-style predictability Highrise users were used to.
Highrise supports a native export of contacts, companies, deals, tasks, notes, and tags. Strkr's import tooling reads the Highrise export format directly. Most migrations complete in 2 weeks: week 1 for data export, import, and record review; week 2 for pipeline configuration, automation setup, marketing cadence configuration, and team training. Strkr's onboarding support (included on every paid tier) covers the migration playbook step by step.
Yes. Strkr's default record view opens with the full relationship on one page, which matches the Highrise one-page approach that teams loved. Advanced features (pipeline forecasting, marketing cadences, AI assist, cross-object reporting) are available but not pushed in the UI; they surface when the team is ready. The migration keeps the clarity of the Highrise experience and layers the modern primitives on top.
Highrise's legacy pricing (Solo, Basic, Plus, Premium, Max tiers) ranged from $29 to $149 per month in 2018 pricing. Strkr's per-seat pricing with the full module stack (CRM, Marketing, Projects, Messaging, Docs) on every paid tier typically prices comparably for a small team and includes modules Highrise users previously bought separately (Mailchimp, Basecamp, SMS tool). For a 7-person team, Strkr's Growth tier usually costs less than the Highrise plus Mailchimp plus Basecamp combination the team was running.
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