Capsule CRM is a UK-built option worth a look if you want a simple, affordable CRM priced in pounds rather than dollars, scoring 8.0/10 in our review. Built by Zestia Ltd in Manchester, it skips the FX-conversion guesswork of US-first tools and keeps its free tier and Starter plan genuinely low-cost.
Capsule runs four paid tiers from £14 to £42 per user per month, plus a free plan for 2 users and 250 contacts. This review covers pricing, features, where it falls short against Pipedrive and Zoho CRM, and who it actually suits. For the full shortlist, see our best CRM software UK guide.
If you’re still weighing whether a CRM is worth paying for at all, our free CRM software UK roundup and what is a CRM guide are good starting points before you commit to Capsule or any paid tier.
- Free tier covers 2 users and 250 contacts - includes 1 sales pipeline and 5 custom fields, with no time limit on the free plan.
- Paid tiers run £14 to £42/user/month - Starter, Growth and Advanced, all billed annually with contact limits from 30,000 up to 120,000.
- Ultimate tier is custom-priced for 5+ users - it adds a dedicated account manager and custom onboarding training.
- Genuinely UK-built - Zestia Ltd is based in Manchester, pricing is native GBP with no currency conversion surprises.
- Small but strong review base - Trustpilot 4.4/5 from 66 reviews and G2 4.7/5 from 449 reviews, though the Trustpilot sample is worth noting as small.
If Capsule’s lighter feature set below turns out to be too light for your team, Pipedrive is the more feature-rich, sales-pipeline-first alternative worth comparing before you commit – see our full Pipedrive review for how it stacks up.
What Is Capsule CRM?
Capsule CRM is a contact and pipeline management tool built by Zestia Ltd, a Manchester-based company, aimed at small UK businesses that want something simpler than Salesforce or HubSpot. It handles contacts, sales pipelines, tasks and basic reporting without the sprawling feature list of an enterprise platform.
Because Capsule is a UK company, its pricing page shows GBP by default for a UK visitor, with no currency toggle or conversion estimate to second-guess. That matters more than it sounds: several competitors in this space default to USD pricing and only show GBP once you’ve picked a country, which can produce a different number than the one you budgeted for.
Capsule offers a 14-day free trial with no card required, on top of its permanent free plan, so it’s possible to test the paid tiers properly before deciding whether to stay on the free plan or upgrade. Setup fees are zero across every tier.
Capsule CRM Pricing UK 2026
Capsule CRM’s pricing runs from a permanent £0 free plan through three paid tiers, Starter at £14, Growth at £27 and Advanced at £42 per user per month, all billed annually. A custom-priced Ultimate tier sits above Advanced for teams of 5 or more users.
Capsule’s free plan covers 2 users, 250 contacts, 1 sales pipeline and 5 custom fields, with no time limit on how long you can stay on it. Starter costs £14/user/month and raises the contact limit to 30,000. Growth, Capsule’s recommended tier, costs £27/user/month with a 60,000-contact limit and adds workflow automations, advanced reporting and AI enrichment. Advanced costs £42/user/month with a 120,000-contact limit and up to 50 project boards and 50 sales pipelines. Ultimate is custom-priced for teams of 5 or more users and adds a dedicated account manager plus custom training. All four paid figures are the annual-billing rate; Capsule states annual billing saves “up to 14%” against paying monthly, but the exact monthly per-user rate wasn’t captured in this pass, so treat it as structurally higher rather than a confirmed number.
| Tier | Price (Annual Billing) | Contact Limit | What It Unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | £0/user/month | 250 contacts | 2 users, 1 sales pipeline, 5 custom fields, no time limit |
| Starter | £14/user/month | 30,000 contacts | Email templates, shared mailbox, basic reporting |
| Growth RECOMMENDED | £27/user/month | 60,000 contacts | Everything in Starter, plus workflow automations, advanced reporting, multiple pipelines and project boards, AI enrichment |
| Advanced | £42/user/month | 120,000 contacts | Everything in Growth, plus up to 50 project boards and 50 sales pipelines |
| Ultimate | Custom (5+ users) | Custom | Everything in Advanced, plus a dedicated account manager and custom training |
Capsule also sells an optional marketing add-on, priced from $11/month, one of the few places its otherwise all-GBP pricing switches to US dollars. There are no setup fees on any tier, and the 14-day trial requires no card to start. For how Capsule sits against the rest of the UK CRM market on price, see our CRM software costs UK guide.
Capsule CRM Key Features
Capsule’s feature set is deliberately narrower than a full sales platform: contact and pipeline management on every tier, workflow automation and AI enrichment from Growth upward, and project boards for teams that track delivery work alongside sales. It’s built for simplicity rather than depth.
Contacts and Pipeline (All Tiers)
Every tier, including the free plan, includes contact management and a single sales pipeline. Starter adds email templates and a shared team mailbox, along with basic reporting, enough for a small team replacing a spreadsheet without needing automation yet.
Automation, Reporting and AI Enrichment (Growth)
Growth is Capsule’s recommended tier and the point where the product becomes genuinely useful for a scaling team: workflow automations, advanced reporting, multiple pipelines and project boards, and AI enrichment that fills in contact and company data automatically. This is also where the 60,000-contact limit gives most small businesses real headroom.
Project Boards and Scale (Advanced and Ultimate)
Advanced raises the ceiling to 50 project boards and 50 sales pipelines, useful for a business running several distinct sales processes or delivery workflows at once. Ultimate is custom-priced for 5 or more users and adds a dedicated account manager plus custom training, features aimed at teams that want hands-on onboarding rather than a self-serve setup.
Capsule CRM Limitations
Capsule’s main weaknesses are a lighter reporting and automation set than Pipedrive at similar money, a smaller integration ecosystem than the bigger US-built CRMs, and one pricing inconsistency: its marketing add-on is priced in US dollars, not GBP.
At £27/user/month, Growth costs less than Pipedrive’s equivalent Growth tier at £39/seat/month, but Pipedrive’s automation, AI multi-email tools and lead scoring go deeper. A team that expects to lean hard on automation may find Capsule’s Growth tier lighter than expected once they’re using it day to day.
Capsule’s integration marketplace is also smaller than Pipedrive’s 500+ or Zoho’s extensive app ecosystem, which matters if your business already runs on a specific email marketing, accounting or e-commerce tool and needs a native connection rather than a workaround. And the marketing add-on being priced in dollars, on an otherwise all-GBP pricing page, is a small but real inconsistency for a company that markets itself on native UK pricing.
How Does Capsule CRM Compare?
Capsule sits at the simple, affordable end of the UK CRM market: cheaper at the top tier than Pipedrive, and with a smaller permanent free plan than Zoho CRM’s 3-user allowance. Which one wins depends on whether you value simplicity and GBP pricing over deeper automation or a bigger free tier.
Capsule CRM vs Pipedrive
Pipedrive starts at £14/seat/month too, but its Lite tier has no free option at all, only a 14-day trial, where Capsule offers a genuine forever-free plan for 2 users. Pipedrive pulls ahead on depth once you’re paying: its Growth tier at £39/seat/month and Premium at £59/seat/month add full email sync, lead scoring and AI multi-email tools that go beyond what Capsule’s equivalent tiers offer. For a sales team that wants a dedicated, feature-rich pipeline tool and is happy paying more for it, Pipedrive is the stronger pick; for a small business that wants to start free and stay cheap, Capsule wins on price.
Capsule CRM vs Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM’s free tier covers 3 users against Capsule’s 2, and Zoho’s paid tiers run from £12 to £42/user/month, similar territory to Capsule’s £14 to £42. Zoho’s feature depth is greater at every tier, AI sales assistant, journey orchestration, custom functions, but Zoho’s Trustpilot profile is a merged score across its whole product suite rather than CRM-specific, which makes it harder to judge sentiment cleanly. Capsule’s narrower, UK-native focus suits a business that wants a straightforward pipeline tool without wading through Zoho’s much larger app catalogue to find what it needs.
Who Should Choose Capsule CRM?
Capsule suits UK sole traders and small teams of 2 to 20 people who want a simple, affordable CRM in GBP without the complexity of a full sales platform. It’s a weaker fit for teams that need deep automation or a large integration library from day one.
A sole trader or very small team with a limited contact book is a strong fit for Capsule’s free plan, and won’t outgrow the 250-contact limit quickly if they’re just starting out. Capsule also suits a UK business that specifically wants to avoid FX-converted US pricing and expects UK-hours support. See our best CRM for small business guide for how it ranks against other small-team picks.
Capsule is less suited to a sales team that wants deep automation, AI lead scoring or a large integration marketplace from the outset, or a business already committed to a specific tool stack that Capsule doesn’t natively connect to. Those teams will likely get more from Pipedrive or a broader platform, even at a higher monthly cost. Our best sales CRM UK guide is worth checking if outbound sales volume is the priority rather than simplicity.
Capsule CRM Pros and Cons
Capsule’s biggest strength is genuinely UK-native pricing and a real free tier with no time limit, backed by strong third-party ratings. Its main limitations are a lighter feature set than Pipedrive at similar prices and a smaller integration ecosystem overall.
Our Verdict
Capsule CRM earns an 8.0/10 in our review for being a genuinely simple, affordable, UK-native CRM that doesn’t overcomplicate the basics. It’s a weaker choice for a team that needs deep automation or a large integration library, but for a UK small business that wants clean GBP pricing and a real free tier, it’s a safe and easy starting point.
Capsule CRM is a strong pick for UK small businesses that want simple, affordable pipeline management in native GBP pricing with a genuine free tier. It's lighter on automation and integrations than Pipedrive at similar money, but the low cost, UK-based support and straightforward setup make it one of the easiest CRMs for a small team to adopt.
