At 1,000 participants, the participant fee becomes the largest line, and the plan choice is decided by average active participants. Worked tables at three follow-up lengths, the break-even point, and the cost drivers that scale with sites, queries and diaries.
Free sandbox · No credit card · 21 CFR Part 11 aligned
Months live
42
Participant-months
12,000
Core total
$642,000
Full Platform total
$570,000
$42,000
$600,000
$210,000
$360,000
The short answer
Scale changes the question
The mechanics are the same as in the 500-patient worksheet: monthly fee times months live, plus the per-participant rate times participant-months. What changes at 1,000 is the proportion. The participant fee is now roughly 90 percent of the Core bill, so a small change in rate is worth more than the whole platform fee, and the lower rate Capture applies above 100 participants is the most valuable thing to pin down.
Scale also brings requirements a smaller study can skip. Large trials are typically multi-site and often multi-country, with stratified, blinded randomisation, drug supply and a sponsor-side trial master file. Those are the Full Platform features on the pricing page. Capture is suitable for Phase 1 to 3, and a large multi-site pivotal study is a normal use case; see EDC for Phase 3 trials.
Market context is in the EDC software pricing guide. Those are industry ranges, not Capture prices, and the tables here are separate list-rate arithmetic.
Worked examples
List-rate arithmetic. Participant-months = participants x follow-up months. Months live = enrolment months + follow-up months.
| Design | Months live | Participant-months | Core total | Core per patient | Full total | Full per patient |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enrol over 24 months, follow 6 | 30 | 6,000 | $330,000 | $330 | $330,000 | $330 |
| Enrol over 30 months, follow 12 | 42 | 12,000 | $642,000 | $642 | $570,000 | $570 |
| Enrol over 36 months, follow 24 | 60 | 24,000 | $1,260,000 | $1,260 | $1,020,000 | $1,020 |
Core = $1,000 x months live + $50 x participant-months. Full Platform = $5,000 x months live + $30 x participant-months. Full adds eTMF, CTMS, drug supply and stratified, blinded randomisation. The extra live-study fee for a second study is outside this table.
Choosing a plan
Setting the two totals equal gives 1,000m + 50p = 5,000m + 30p, so p = 200m: an average of 200 participants active each month. The first row sits exactly on that line (6,000 participant-months over 30 months live); everything denser or longer favours Full Platform on price alone. At 1,000 participants most designs with a year or more of follow-up are above it.
Feature need can override price. If the trial needs stratified, blinded randomisation, drug supply or a sponsor trial master file, the choice is made by the feature list, since Core offers simple randomisation only. See RTSM software for clinical trials.
Two definitions change the real figure and should be agreed in writing: when a participant starts counting (the pricing page says from screening) and when they stop counting after withdrawal or completion. At 1,000 participants, a month or two of difference on each participant is a large number.
| Core | Full Platform | |
|---|---|---|
| Under 200 active per month | Lower cost | Higher cost |
| Over 200 active per month | Higher cost | Lower cost |
| Stratified, blinded randomisation | ||
| eTMF and CTMS | ||
| EDC, ePRO and eConsent |
Scale cost drivers
Illustrative drivers, shown without prices because they depend on your sites, CRO and protocol. Use the right-hand column for your budget notes.
| Cost driver | How it scales | Does the EDC price move? | Control lever |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sites | More sites mean more users, training, start-up and monitoring visits. | Not per site on the pricing page; confirm for your tier. | Site-level enrolment targets and activation of only sites that can recruit. |
| Monitoring | Source data verification and visits grow with data volume. | No; SDV can be set per field in Capture. | Risk-based monitoring and SDV only on critical fields. |
| Query volume | Queries scale with fields x participants x visits. Late queries cost the most to resolve. | No. | Edit checks that raise an auto-query at entry, so errors are fixed when the site still has the participant. |
| ePRO volume | Diaries multiply entries per participant, and compliance management takes effort. | No; the participant fee is per month, not per entry. | Reminders and a burden-aware schedule. |
| Randomisation and supply | Stratified, blinded allocation and drug supply are needed once sites are many. | Yes: Full Platform includes them; Core is simple randomisation only. | Pick the plan by feature need. |
| Amendments | More sites and time mean more protocol changes. | Study teams edit forms and visits themselves. | Test changes in a draft before release. |
| Close-out | Data cleaning, lock, final exports and archive take longer at volume. | No setup or per-export lines on the pricing page; confirm in the quote. | Run cleaning listings throughout, not at the end. See the database lock checklist. |
The only drivers that change the Capture bill directly are months live, participant-months and the plan. The rest are trial costs the software helps you control.
Build the study in the free sandbox, then ask for the volume rate above 100 participants. No credit card, and you pay only once the first participant is screened.
Before the first call
Not published; get the figure for 1,000, and any tiers inside it, in writing.
Counted from screening per the pricing page; confirm screen failures, withdrawals and completers.
Model a 3 to 6 month enrolment delay; at 1,000 participants delay is expensive on either plan.
The pricing page lists no per-site fee or per-seat licence; confirm at your tier.
Stratified randomisation, drug supply, eTMF, CTMS, unblinded roles, branded portal.
SSO, a dedicated environment, SLA and QA supplier audit support are Enterprise items on the pricing page.
Final export, codebook and audit trail, and any archive fee.
Free tool
This planning aid places a study in a market pricing tier from sites, participants and months. It describes the wider market, not Capture's list prices.
Typical EDC license + setup, this size
$50,000 - $150,000
Mid-market (multi-site, 50-300 participants). Typical mid-market EDC license and build for a Phase 2 program.
With Capture
No setup fee and no per-seat license to negotiate. Build and test this exact study free, at any size, and pay only once you go live. That matters most with a longer study window, giving setup costs more time to pay off.
Based on commonly cited industry pricing research for enterprise, mid-market and small-trial EDC deals, not a quote for a specific vendor. A planning reference, not a quote.
Related reading
Even at $570,000 to $642,000 for the 12-month example, the software is a fraction of a 1,000-patient trial, where sites, monitoring and staff time usually dominate. See how much a clinical trial costs and the cost-per-patient calculator for the whole budget. For a quote you can send vendors, use the EDC quote request template, and for the smaller scales see the 100-patient worksheet.
At published list rates, 1,000 participants enrolled over 30 months and followed for 12 comes to about $642,000 on Core or $570,000 on Full Platform, or $642 and $570 per patient. Shorter follow-up costs less, and lower rates above 100 participants are not published.
Core is cheaper when average active participants are below 200 per month, Full Platform above that because its participant rate is $30 against $50. Most 1,000-patient designs with a year or more of follow-up are above the line.
The pricing page says rates are lower above 100 participants. The lower rates are not published; ask for them in writing. Enterprise is a custom price.
The pricing page lists none. Pricing is a monthly fee plus a per-participant monthly rate.
Yes. Both are included in Core and Full Platform, so there is no module line.
Yes. Capture is suitable for Phase 1 to 3. Large multi-site studies often need the Full Platform features: stratified, blinded randomisation, drug supply, eTMF and CTMS.
Yes. The free sandbox has every feature with no credit card and no time limit. You pay only once you go live with real participants.
Keep exploring
Pricing
Core, Full Platform and Enterprise.
EDC cost for a 500-patient trial
The same worksheet at half the scale.
EDC cost for a 100-patient trial
Small-study version.
EDC per-patient pricing explained
The per-participant arithmetic.
EDC quote request template
Ask vendors for comparable quotes.
EDC for Phase 3 trials
Multi-site pivotal studies.
Test free with every feature, then ask for the volume rate. You pay only once the first participant is screened.