A peridynamics (PD)–extended finite element method (XFEM) coupling strategy for brittle fracture simulation is presented. The proposed methodology combines a small PD patch, restricted near the crack tip area, with the XFEM that captures the crack body geometry outside the domain of the localised PD grid. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method on a Mode I crack opening problem is examined. The study focuses on comparisons of the J integral values between the new coupling strategy, full PD grids and the commercial software Abaqus. It is demonstrated that the proposed approach outperforms full PD grids in terms of computational resources required to obtain a certain degree of accuracy. This finding promises significant computational savings when crack propagation problems are considered, as the efficiency of FEM and XFEM is combined with the inherent ability of PD to simulate fracture.