Alternatives
Surefire CRM Alternatives for Mortgage Brokers
Surefire CRM, owned by ICE Mortgage Technology, was designed for large retail lenders running Encompass at scale. The Encompass sync is first-party, the automation library is deep, and the compliance posture holds up at a 500-LO national lender. The catch is everything you sign up for to get there: a custom enterprise quote, procurement cycle, dedicated admin, and an implementation that often runs 60 to 90 days. For a 3-LO broker shop, that is a tool aimed at a different customer. This page covers five Surefire alternatives sized for independent and mid-size brokers — Approvr included — with honest notes on who Surefire still fits.
The five CRMs we'd actually consider
Ranked on fit for Surefire CRM. Pricing as of May 2026.
| # | CRM | Rating | Best for | Starting price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Total Expert | ★★★★★ | Mid-size lenders building a retention engine on an in-force book | Custom (enterprise quotes only) | Strong on annual reviews and equity insights, but enterprise contracts and admin requirements still apply |
| 2 | ApprovrOur pick | ★★★★★ | Independent broker shops with 1-50 LOs wanting one stack on day one | $97/month | All-in-one CRM, AI conversations, pipelines, and calendars in one login — no procurement cycle |
| 3 | BNTouch | ★★★★★ | Retail LOs who want video email and marketing automation out of the box | $148/user/month | Per-user pricing climbs fast as the team grows |
| 4 | Jungo | ★★★★★ | Shops already running Salesforce in-house with a willing admin | $59/user/month | Deep Salesforce-based capability, but inherits Salesforce setup cost |
| 5 | Velocify | ★★★★★ | High-volume call-center mortgage shops focused on lead distribution | Custom (per seat, sales-led) | Dialer-first with CRM bolted on; UX is dated |
Why Surefire often does not fit smaller broker shops
Surefire's design center is the retail bank-style mortgage operation: hundreds of LOs, branch managers, compliance officers, an in-house Encompass admin, and an IT team to babysit the integration. For that buyer, Surefire is a defensible pick — the ICE-owned Encompass sync is the closest thing to first-party in the market, and the workflow library has been hardened over a decade. Independent brokers run a different shop. A 3-LO team has no procurement department, no implementation budget separate from the software fee, and no admin to assign to a 60-day rollout. The Surefire sales cycle alone — discovery call, technical scoping, proposal, security review, contract redlines — often takes longer than a small broker has patience for. The pricing is custom and only revealed late in the cycle, which means a broker cannot decide in 10 minutes whether the math works. The other tradeoff is feature surface area. Surefire ships hundreds of campaigns, dozens of compliance toggles, and reporting cuts a broker-owner of a 10-LO shop will never run. Paying for that surface area and configuring it through an admin is rational at 200 LOs. At 8 LOs it is overkill — the broker ends up using a fraction of the system and paying for the rest. The broker shops that leave Surefire (or evaluate it and walk away) usually land on one of two replacements: an all-in-one platform built for small and mid-size brokers, or a per-user CRM with mortgage-native templates. This list covers both ends.
What to look for in a Surefire alternative
Four capabilities define a Surefire alternative that holds up for small and mid-size shops. Mortgage-native templates without enterprise setup. Pre-built funnels and pipelines for FHA, VA, jumbo, refi, purchase, and non-QM — the kind of templates Surefire ships, but configured at a one-hour onboarding call instead of a 60-day implementation. Native LOS sync with Encompass, Arive, or LendingPad. Surefire's strongest argument is its Encompass tie. A real alternative needs a Custom Field ID mapping that works on day one, not a custom integration project. Approvr ships native two-way sync with Encompass, Arive, and LendingPad, configured at the onboarding call. Built-in AI conversation handling. Modern mortgage CRMs qualify inbound leads, book calls, draft follow-ups, and handle two-way SMS conversations without an add-on fee. The AI layer was not table stakes when Surefire was designed; it is now. Transparent self-serve pricing. The enterprise procurement model is the single biggest reason brokers leave the Surefire evaluation. A list price on the homepage with monthly billing, like Approvr's $97 Starter or $247 Pro, means a broker-owner can sign up Friday afternoon and have an LO using the system Monday morning. Founding-member rates lock in for life as long as the subscription stays active, with a one-hour personalized onboarding call to migrate contacts and set up the first automations.
Frequently asked questions
See Approvr in the workflow you actually run
- Waitlist members get the $97 Starter or $247 Pro rate locked in for life — even if prices rise later, you keep your original rate as long as your subscription stays active.
- Every waitlist member gets a one-hour personalized onboarding call to migrate contacts, set up pipelines, and configure their first automations.