The short answer
For a solo consultant or a small advisory firm, Capsule, Pipedrive and HubSpot all do the core job of tracking leads and proposals in one place, but they suit different situations. Capsule tends to suit someone who wants something simple and UK-built without much setup. Pipedrive suits someone who thinks in pipeline stages and wants to see deals move through them clearly. HubSpot suits a firm that expects to grow into marketing and service features later, with a free CRM tier that can expand considerably, and in cost, as you add more. None of the three solves a solicitor's conflict check or a regulated adviser's compliance steps on its own, those need building in as stages, not assumed away.
Do you need a CRM, or just a pipeline?
Before comparing tools, it's worth asking the more basic question. If you're tracking a handful of live conversations at a time, a disciplined manual system, a simple list with calendar reminders for follow-ups, can genuinely work. The point where a proper CRM starts paying for itself is roughly when you're juggling enough proposals and conversations that you've lost track of at least one, or when a referral's gone quiet and you genuinely can't remember if you ever followed up. If that's not happening yet, the honest answer is you don't need one yet either.
What enterprise CRMs get wrong for one person
A lot of CRM software, and a lot of the advice written about it, assumes a sales team: multiple reps, a sales manager reviewing a pipeline, approval workflows, territory assignment. None of that applies when it's genuinely one person or a handful of people doing the work and the selling. The result, if you pick based on a generic "best CRM" listicle, is paying for and wading through features built for a problem you don't have, while the thing you actually need, a clear view of who you've spoken to and what's due a follow-up, gets buried under settings aimed at a sales director.
Capsule vs Pipedrive vs HubSpot
| Capsule | Pipedrive | HubSpot | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Simple contact and pipeline tracking without much setup | Visual, deal-stage-focused pipeline management | A firm expecting to grow into marketing and service tools too |
| Setup effort | Low | Low to medium | Medium, more to configure as you add modules |
| Pipeline view | Straightforward, project and opportunity tracking | Strong, built around moving deals through stages | Good, but part of a much larger platform |
| Where it can get complex | Stays fairly simple as you scale | Can need add-ons for marketing or advanced reporting | Easy to end up paying for and configuring features you don't use |
| Good fit for a solo consultant | Often yes | Often yes, if you like a visual pipeline | Only if you expect to need the wider platform soon |
Current plans and pricing move for all three, so check each vendor's own pricing page before deciding rather than relying on a figure here or anywhere else that might be out of date.
Getting LinkedIn conversations in without retyping
Most of a consultant's pipeline starts life somewhere that isn't the CRM at all, a LinkedIn message, a conversation at an event, an email that wasn't copied anywhere. The practical fix isn't finding a tool that magically captures LinkedIn automatically, none genuinely do that well, it's building a two-minute habit: the moment a conversation looks like it might turn into a proposal, it gets a one-line entry in the pipeline with a next step and a date. All three tools support this easily through a browser extension, a forwarded email, or a quick manual add. The tool matters less here than whether the habit actually sticks, which is usually a matter of how little friction it takes.
Fields solicitors and accountants need
A general CRM like any of the three above tracks contacts, deals and follow-ups well, but it doesn't understand a conflict check or an anti-money laundering requirement out of the box. For a solicitor or regulated adviser, the practical fix is adding custom fields or stages, "conflict check complete," "AML done," alongside the normal sales stages, so a lead can't quietly progress further than your own compliance process allows. This is a configuration choice on top of any of the three tools, not a reason to avoid them, though a solicitor running a large volume of conflict checks may eventually outgrow a general CRM into dedicated legal practice software, worth a separate look once you're at that scale rather than guessed at now.
Setting it up yourself vs paying someone
All three tools are genuinely usable without outside help if you've got an afternoon and a clear idea of your own process. Where it's worth paying for setup is less about the software being hard and more about the thinking it forces: deciding what your actual stages are, which fields matter, how a referral's cadence should differ from a cold lead's, and getting that right from day one rather than three months in when you've already built bad habits around a default setup nobody customised.
What it costs and how long it takes
Setting up a CRM around your actual process, rather than the vendor's defaults, starts from £900 and typically takes a few weeks. If you're bringing contacts and history in from spreadsheets, old inboxes or a notebook, importing them starts from £300 on its own. These are guide prices for a typical setup, with the fixed quote following a free 30-minute call once we understand how you actually work. The pillar page on enquiries slipping through the cracks covers the wider pricing picture, including the lighter enquiry pipeline option if a full CRM is more than you need to start with.
When to get help, and what we'd do
If you'd rather not spend an afternoon configuring a CRM only to discover the stages don't match how you actually work, our crm-setup work builds a CRM around your real process from the start, including any compliance stages a regulated adviser needs. Where your contacts currently live across old spreadsheets, a previous CRM, or a notebook, crm-import brings that history in properly rather than starting from zero. For the general version of this decision across any small business, see our guide to choosing a CRM for a small business, and for a sense of what a finished setup looks like, see our example project for a consultancy with an AI assistant for proposals and email.
Frequently asked questions
Which is genuinely best for a solo consultant, Capsule, Pipedrive or HubSpot?
For most solo consultants, Capsule or Pipedrive tend to fit better than HubSpot, since both stay simple without pulling you into a much larger platform you don't need yet. HubSpot is worth considering if you genuinely expect to need marketing or service tools soon, not as a default first choice.
Is a free CRM plan actually enough to start with?
Often, yes, particularly while you're still working out your own process and stages. The point to watch is what happens as you add contacts, users or features, since free tiers can become considerably more limited or costly once you grow past them, so it's worth checking current plan limits on the vendor's own site rather than assuming the free tier scales indefinitely.
Can a general CRM handle a solicitor's conflict check properly?
It can track that a conflict check has happened, as a stage or field alongside your normal pipeline, which stops a lead progressing too fast by accident. It doesn't run the conflict check itself. A high-volume solicitor's practice may eventually need dedicated legal practice software for that specific job, but a general CRM configured properly is a reasonable starting point for most small firms.
How do I stop LinkedIn conversations slipping through if I don't fancy manual data entry?
The realistic fix is a quick habit rather than full automation, logging a one-line entry the moment a conversation looks promising, with a next step and date. None of Capsule, Pipedrive or HubSpot reliably captures LinkedIn messages automatically, so the tool matters less here than making the two-minute habit stick.
Is it worth paying for setup if the software itself is meant to be simple?
Often yes, not because the software is hard to use, but because getting your actual stages, fields and follow-up cadence right from the start avoids the far more common problem: a CRM that's technically working but quietly ignored because nobody customised it to fit how you really work.