Nutshell Plans: Free vs Paid and Qualifying Tiers

Map must-haves to Nutshell plan names before you compare starting tiles.

1. Write your day-one must-haves as a list, in outcome language.
2. Beside each one, write the lowest Nutshell plan that research shows carries it. Plan-gated in research: forecasting (Pro, Business, Enterprise); AI assistance (Growth, Pro, Business, Enterprise).
3. Highlight anything unclear and check it on /pricing/nutshell/ or in the trial.
4. Note add-ons separately.
5. Ask which plan any demo runs on before you use it as evidence.

Worked example: a 12-person B2B advisory team needs contact management and lead management, email sync, and weekly reporting from Nutshell. Two of those sit on the entry tier in research; the highest-gated one sets the plan, so they stop comparing anything cheaper.

Read these as capability tiers — not good / better / best marketing.

1. Foundation — Entry tier. Research shows it carries contact management, lead management, pipeline management, and deal management. Choose it only when every must-have on your sheet appears here — otherwise its price is irrelevant to you.
2. Growth — Adds AI assistance in our research on top of Foundation. Choose it when at least one of those is a day-one must-have — not because it sits comfortably in the middle. Snapshot records a 14-day trial.
3. Pro — Adds forecasting in our research on top of Growth. Choose it when at least one of those is a day-one must-have — not because it sits comfortably in the middle.
4. Business — Research shows the same capability list as Pro in our snapshot, so step up only for a reason you can name: seats, scale, governance, or support. Confirm what changes on the pricing page.
5. Enterprise — Research shows the same capability list as Business in our snapshot, so step up only for a reason you can name: seats, scale, governance, or support. Confirm what changes on the pricing page.

Worked example: a 12-person B2B advisory team drops Foundation once must-haves sit higher, and compares only the Nutshell plans that clear every gate.

1. No free Nutshell plan in our snapshot — the question is trial vs Foundation. Our pricing snapshot records a 14-day trial on Growth — confirm current terms on the Nutshell pricing page before you build a schedule around it.
2. Do must-haves sit on Foundation? If no, entry price is irrelevant.
3. Can you prove the loop in the trial window with real deals? If no, ask for an extension in writing.
4. Prefer monthly while fit is unproven over a long annual term.

Worked example: a 12-person B2B advisory team runs a scoped trial with two sellers, then buys the qualifying plan — not Foundation — for 12 seats.

Hand this five-line algorithm to anyone on the buying team.

1. List must-haves (M1…Mn).
2. For each Mi, find the lowest Nutshell plan that carries it.
3. Take the highest of those — that is the qualifying plan.
4. Check capacity. Confirm Nutshell seat/record caps on the pricing page. If you do not fit, move up one tier.
5. Count seats honestly (sellers, managers, ops, paid viewers).

Then estimate that plan in the Cost Calculator; add admin / migration / training as categories, not invented totals.

Worked example: a 12-person B2B advisory team lands on a Nutshell qualifying plan set by their highest-gated must-have, counts 12 seats plus ops, and prices only that combination.

1. Stay on the cheapest qualifying plan when must-haves and seats fit.
2. Step up when one must-have sits higher — buy the tier, skip the forever workaround.
3. Walk when the qualifying Nutshell plan breaks a written constraint. Research: stronger for Small-business sales teams and Buyers wanting transparent per-user CRM pricing; weaker for Free-CRM seekers and Enterprise complexity buyers.
4. Write plan name, must-have that set it, and re-check date.
5. Use the worth-it guide for fit — not invented payback maths.

Worked example: when the cheap Nutshell tier missed a must-have, a 12-person B2B advisory team bought the qualifying plan or shortlisted Pipedrive and HubSpot — they did not pretend the workaround was free.