The Capsule CRM alternative you buy once
Capsule is a clean, approachable CRM out of the UK, and it earns its fans: a real free tier for tiny teams, GBP billing so UK buyers skip exchange-rate surprises, and an interface that doesn't try to do everything. The model underneath is still per user, per month, climbing through tiers as you grow, and your data lives only in Capsule's cloud. Nanobox CRM keeps the simplicity and changes the deal. Buy the license once, own the source, and self-host it.
Capsule CRM vs. Nanobox CRM
5-year cost
Capsule CRM: Per user, per month, rising through paid tiers as you add contacts and features, renewing forever
Nanobox CRM: $399 one-time for a single domain, or $1,999 for the agency license. No renewal, no seats
Per-seat pricing
Capsule CRM: Yes. Paid plans are billed per user, so cost scales with headcount
Nanobox CRM: No seats. One license covers the whole team
Data ownership
Capsule CRM: Your records live in Capsule's cloud; you export on their terms
Nanobox CRM: Your Postgres database on your server, full export and SQL access
Source access
Capsule CRM: Closed source SaaS
Nanobox CRM: Full source code ships with the license
Self-host
Capsule CRM: Cloud only; there's no self-hosted edition
Nanobox CRM: Self-host with Docker, or have us host it for a flat $29/mo
Contact & feature limits
Capsule CRM: Free and lower tiers cap contacts and pipelines, nudging you to upgrade as you grow
Nanobox CRM: No artificial caps; you're limited only by your own server
AI markup
Capsule CRM: AI features appear on higher tiers
Nanobox CRM: No AI features and no AI premium, by design
Free tier & onboarding
Capsule CRM: Genuinely useful: a free plan for up to two users and a polished, easy onboarding
Nanobox CRM: No free tier; it's a paid one-time license with optional done-for-you launch
Why teams switch
- One flat license instead of per-seat billing that rises through tiers as you grow.
- You own the source and the database, so caps and price changes can't reach you.
- Adding users and contacts costs nothing extra; the bill doesn't grow with the team.
- Self-hosting keeps your contacts and deals on infrastructure you control.
A tidy CRM, on a meter that never stops
Capsule gets a lot right by doing less. It's quick to learn, the pipeline view is clean, and the free tier is a real on-ramp rather than a crippled demo. For UK buyers, billing in GBP is a small but genuine kindness. None of that is in dispute. What the comparison turns on is the model: once you outgrow the free plan, you're paying per user, per month, and the contact and feature caps on the lower tiers are designed to walk you up the ladder as you grow. Your data, meanwhile, lives only in Capsule's cloud and exports on their terms.
Nanobox CRM keeps the simplicity and removes the meter. You buy the license once ($399 for a single domain, $1,999 for the agency license), get the full source code, and run it on your own VPS with Docker for a few dollars a month. There are no per-seat charges, so your third user and your thirtieth cost the same, and there are no artificial contact caps, just the limits of your own server. There are deliberately no AI features, so nothing to mark up.
Where Capsule still wins
We'll be fair about the on-ramp. Capsule's free tier and smooth onboarding make starting genuinely easy in a way a self-hosted product can't quite match, and a non-technical team can be up and running in minutes with no server to think about. Nanobox asks more of you upfront: stand up a Docker container yourself, or take the done-for-you launch for $1,500 if you'd rather we do it. The trade is clear. Capsule rents you a tidy CRM on a per-seat plan with caps that grow your bill. Nanobox sells you a focused CRM you own outright, host yourself, and never pay for again. If you'd rather skip the server entirely, we'll host it for a flat $29 a month, never per seat.
See the full Nanobox CRM overview and our one-time pricing. Running a specific workflow? Browse industry presets for real estate, clinics, and field service.
Nanobox CRM
Run your whole business on a CRM you own, tuned to your industry.
from $399 · one-time
See Nanobox CRMBuy a licenseQuestions, answered.
- Over a multi-year horizon, almost always. Capsule's paid tiers are per user per month and renew indefinitely, and the contact caps push growing teams up the ladder. Nanobox is one purchase plus your own hosting, so the crossover arrives in months for any team past the free tier.
- The on-ramp. Capsule's free plan for up to two users and its polished onboarding make it dead simple to start, and UK buyers get clean GBP billing. Nanobox has no free tier and asks you to stand up a server (or pay us to). If frictionless start-up matters most, Capsule wins there.
- Yes. Export your contacts, organisations, and opportunities from Capsule as CSV and import them into Nanobox. Because you own the Postgres database directly, a deeper scripted migration is also possible.
- No, and that's deliberate. AI add-ons are a common reason subscription CRMs creep up in price. Skipping them keeps Nanobox cheaper and simpler. If you want AI, you have the source to wire in your own model.