In real estate, speed converts; the first agent to reply often wins half of all deals. Yet most buyers still wait more than half a day for a response. Agents who respond within five minutes are up to 100× more likely to connect than those who wait 30 minutes. Yet the typical agent still takes more than 1 hour to reply, even with a real estate CRM, giving competitors a head start.

Automation closes that gap. Set the rules once, and the system greets, qualifies, and nurtures prospects around the clock. To the buyer, a well-timed text feels personal; behind the scenes, software handles the heavy lifting while you sleep.

A quick reply sparks trust and frees your time for high-value work like tours and negotiations.

Quick Glance: Seven Platforms Side By Side

Need the facts fast? Start here.

Platform	Best for	Entry price*	Free trial	Stand-out automation
Buildout	CRE brokers & teams	$199 per user, monthly	Demo and module trials	One-click brochures plus portal syndication
Follow Up Boss	Residential agents & ISAs	$69 per user, monthly	14 days	Instant text-and-email “Action Plans”
ActiveCampaign	Email-heavy marketers	$15 per month (Starter)	14 days	Visual workflows with branching logic
PropertySimple	Solo agents on social	$149 per month (Autopilot)	7 days	AI listing videos plus scheduled posts
Buildium	Property managers	$58 per month (Essential)	15 days	Auto-syndicates vacancies to Zillow, Trulia, and Apartments.com
SharpLaunch	CRE marketing teams	$10–$100 per month †	Demo	Branded property sites plus lead analytics
Realvolve	Process-focused agents	$59 per month (1 user)	14 days	Pre-built deal-stage workflows

*Monthly, cancel-any-time pricing unless noted.
†SharpLaunch is quote-based; independent reviews place starter packages within this range.

1.  Buildout: Polished CRE Marketing Without The Agency Bill

Commercial deals demand slick materials, and Buildout’s Showcase plan produces them in minutes. Upload your property data once, click Showcase, and the software generates:

• A branded brochure, flyer, and single-property website
• One-tap syndication to Brevitas, theBrokerList, and six other CRE portals
• AI-drafted descriptions that highlight parking ratios, rent rolls, or projected IRR

Pricing watch

Showcase runs $199 per broker, plus a $275 platform fee each month. That lands near our $200 guidepost on a per-user basis for solo brokers or two-person shops. Full plan details are listed on Buildout.com

Why brokers like it

• Pipeline insight. Prospects who download an OM drop into a built-in CRM that tracks email opens, slide views, and time on page.
• AI time saver. Click “Generate description,” skim for accuracy, and publish—no late-night copy sessions.
• Negotiation signals. Move a lead to “Negotiation” and see exactly who is binge-viewing the virtual tour, so you know who is serious.

Limitations

Showcase can feel heavy for pure landlords, and multi-user brokerages pay the same platform fee plus per-seat charges, which can raise total spend above $200. If professional collateral is your credibility linchpin, Buildout is still the quickest route to agency-level polish without the agency invoice.

2.  Follow Up Boss – When Every Second Counts

Follow Up Boss exists for the five-minute window that wins leads. It pulls every inquiry—Zillow, Facebook, even open-house sheets—into one dashboard, then:

• Texts back automatically. Customers report 50–70 percent first-reply rates from the built-in “Action Plan” texts.
• Routes leads intelligently. Price point, ZIP code, or round-robin routing; set the rule once, and the algorithm handles distribution.
• Logs every call. Each user gets a local number for two-way texting and browser dialing, with recordings tied to the contact record.

How it works

Setup feels like installing an app: connect your lead sources, choose a starter sequence, and you’re live. Agents love the inbox-style view, where new leads stack like unread emails, while managers track response times and ROI in real time.

Pricing watch

The Grow plan costs $69 per user, monthly, making it the most direct fix under a hundred bucks a month.

Limitations

No flyer design or Instagram scheduler. Follow Up Boss is a conversation engine, not a creative studio. But if leads age out before you say hello, it’s hard to find a faster remedy.

3.  Realvolve: Your Playbook On Autopilot

Think of Realvolve as a marathon coach: it builds repeatable routines that carry a client from first handshake to years-later referral. The 4D Automation Engine ships with 21 pre-built workflows and more than 250 email or text templates that range from “Photo Day” checklists to 10-year nurture campaigns.

How it works

• Activate a workflow. Pick “New Listing,” “Inspection Week,” or another template, then tweak merge fields.
• Stay accountable. Miss a task, and it jumps to the top of your dashboard until you clear it.
• See context instantly. Contact cards show conversations on the left, timeline tasks on the right; Trello meets Gmail.
• Automate the finish. Move a deal to “Closed” and Realvolve sends a thank-you email, schedules a 30-day review request, and queues next-spring referral touches.

Pricing watch

Pricing is straightforward: $99 per user each month, with team bundles starting around $199 for five seats. If you want every transaction to follow the same winning script, Realvolve turns that playbook into code you can run on repeat.

1.  Activecampaign: Enterprise Muscle On A Starter Budget

Advanced nurture flows usually require a marketing ops hire. ActiveCampaign removes that barrier with a $15-per-month Starter plan for 1,000 contacts; you get the same drag-and-drop builder Fortune 500 teams use, plus seamless connections to real estate lead generation tools that feed your automations.

Picture the canvas: a lead downloads a seller guide → tag “prospect–seller” → wait one day → send CMA video → branch: opened? yes → remind you to call; no → schedule a follow-up SMS.

Why it resonates in real estate

• Real-time segmentation. Every click, open, or listing view updates the contact record, so condo seekers get walk-score tips while investors see cap-rate calculators.
• 1,000+ automation “recipes.” Search “open house follow-up” or “price-drop alert,” import, tweak, launch.
• 950+ integrations. Tie in IDX feeds, Facebook Lead Ads, or a Zapier connection from your sign-in sheet; they all fire the same automation logic.

2.  Propertysimple: Social Presence On Autopilot

Social feeds are today’s curb appeal. PropertySimple’s Autopilot plan ($149 per month with a seven-day free trial) turns your MLS photos into branded videos and schedules them across social channels—freeing up hours each week.

What it does

• Instant video posts. Connect your MLS, click Autopilot, and the platform turns photos into 30-second clips with price overlays, brand colors, and royalty-free music, then schedules them on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn for you.
• AI captions that match each network. Approve or tweak copy; most agents post as-is because it sounds human, not “bot-bland.”
• Built-in lead capture. When a swipe or ad returns a phone number, PropertySimple texts the prospect (“Saw you liked the Elm Street bungalow—want a tour?”) and drops the lead into a lightweight CRM with a power dialer, call recording, and voicemail drops.

Limitations

Workflow branching is basic, and the CRM won’t replace a full-fledged system like Follow Up Boss. Still, for consistent, polished social content without midnight Canva sessions, Autopilot delivers professional reach at less than half the cost of hiring a part-time social assistant.

3.  SharpLaunch: boutique-grade property sites at a bootstrap price

Great commercial listings deserve more than a PDF buried in an email. SharpLaunch creates a branded microsite with maps, floor plans, 3D tours, and gated due diligence documents in about 30 minutes. Independent reviewers place starter plans between $10 and $100 per user each month, depending on portfolio size.

What you get

• Build once, broadcast everywhere. Load your property data, and SharpLaunch populates the microsite, an HTML email blast, and a searchable portfolio widget for your main site.
• Lead intelligence. See who opened the rent roll, how long they lingered on photos, and which email links they clicked—perfect fuel for targeted follow-ups.
• Toggle-on extras. Require an NDA before downloading the OM or generate ownership-level dashboards with a click.

Limitations

SharpLaunch won’t manage your pipeline or leases; it’s built to market, and it does that job well. For mid-sized brokerages that need polished digital storefronts without heavyweight CRE software, SharpLaunch lands comfortably under our $200 cap.

4.  Buildium: Vacancy Syndication For Property Managers

Vacant units hurt cash flow, and Buildium’s Essential plan ($58/month) fills them fast by auto-syndicating listings to major portals:-

• Automatic listing push. Enter the unit once; Buildium syndicates to Zillow, Trulia, Apartments.com, and six more portals, then updates them if you change price or photos.
• Tenant CRM. Inquiries flow into a pipeline that tags each prospect by property, auto-replies with an application link, and tracks who toured or applied.
• Bulk resident email. Filter by lease status, send renewal nudges, holiday notices, or maintenance alerts, and let the system log every open.

Buildium is full property-management software, so you also get accounting, e-payments, and work-order tracking. That breadth helps managers oversee dozens of doors, though it may feel heavy for a two-unit Airbnb.

Pricing scales with door count, but most owners stay under our $200 ceiling until roughly 150 units. For portfolios in that range, Buildium is often the most affordable way to keep vacancies short and residents informed.

Five Questions To Lock In Your Choice

Ask yourself these five questions before you hit “Start free trial.”

• What’s the single bottleneck right now? If speed-to-lead is the pain, choose a follow-up CRM. If content consistency hurts, pick a marketing engine that publishes for you.
• Residential, commercial, or rentals? Templates and data fields differ by segment, and using the wrong dialect can mean weeks of rework.
• How many users on day one? Per-seat pricing favors solo agents, while flat-fee plans win as headcount climbs. Do the math so growth doesn’t sting later.
• Do you tinker or prefer turnkey? Visual workflow builders reward curiosity. Preset systems save time if you dread settings menus.
• What tools already power your business? New software flops in a data silo. Confirm native integrations or a Zapier bridge for your website, lead sources, and accounting stack.

Answer these questions, and the right platform usually jumps off the page.

Conclusion

Automation doesn’t replace relationships; it accelerates them. The faster you respond, the sooner trust forms, and trust is what turns listings into closings. Each platform here costs less than a tank of gas per week, yet handles hours of routine work for you. Pick the one that fits your workflow, set it live, and watch your pipeline fill while you focus on clients