best crm software for real estate: FUB vs HubSpot

The Decision Framework

Choosing the best CRM for real estate is not a “more features wins” decision. It is a workflow fit decision: lead speed-to-contact, agent accountability, and team coordination usually matter more than long feature lists.

Here is the fast decision snapshot first.

Tool	Best For	Not For	Budget Tier	Complexity
Follow Up Boss	Real estate teams that run paid portals, need fast lead routing, and want simple agent adoption	Companies needing deep multi-department CRM customization beyond sales	Mid to high for teams; predictable for brokerages	Low to medium
HubSpot Sales Hub	Brokerages or proptech-adjacent teams that need sales + marketing + service in one system	Teams wanting real-estate-native workflows with minimal setup	Starts low, scales expensive with seat/onboarding choices	Medium to high

Fact vs interpretation

• Fact: Follow Up Boss positions around real-estate lead management, includes unlimited contacts/integrations, and advertises 250+ integrations.
• Fact: HubSpot Sales Hub offers free and paid tiers, seat-based pricing, and broad ecosystem depth.
• Interpretation: If your bottleneck is lead follow-up discipline, Follow Up Boss is usually the safer default. If your bottleneck is system unification across functions, HubSpot may outperform despite setup overhead.

Assumptions used in this comparison:

1. You are a US-based real estate team of 2 to 50 users.
2. You care about conversion workflow more than accounting/transaction-closing depth.
3. You can tolerate switching costs during the first 30 to 90 days.

Step 1: Define Your Primary Use Case

Start here. The right CRM changes by motion, not by brand reputation.

1. High-volume internet lead response (Zillow, Realtor.com, PPC, website forms)

   • Pick: Follow Up Boss
   • Why: Native emphasis on lead routing, action plans, call/text/email workflow, and real-estate-specific onboarding.
   • Tradeoff: Less flexible for non-sales departments than a horizontal platform.
   • Risk: If you later need complex custom objects and advanced cross-team governance, migration to a broader CRM can be painful.

2. Small team, low budget, wants to start free and grow gradually

   • Pick: HubSpot Sales Hub
   • Why: Free CRM entry, then seat-based upgrades as process matures.
   • Tradeoff: Cost ramps when automation and premium seats become necessary.
   • Risk: Teams under-invest in implementation, then conclude “CRM doesn’t work” when the issue is process design.

3. Brokerage needing standardized activity tracking and coaching across multiple agents

   • Pick: Follow Up Boss
   • Why: Team inboxes, call reporting, and role-relevant real-estate workflows are packaged for day-to-day agent operations.
   • Tradeoff: You may still need adjacent tools for broader marketing operations.
   • Risk: If lead source mix changes quickly, workflow rules can drift without regular admin review.

4. Hybrid business with real estate sales plus broader B2B partnerships or service motions

   • Pick: HubSpot Sales Hub
   • Why: Stronger cross-hub model for sales, marketing, and service data continuity.
   • Tradeoff: More admin burden and steeper learning curve for agents.
   • Risk: Field adoption can drop if you over-customize before core habits are stable.

One-line summary: prioritize the CRM your agents will use every day, not the one with the longest feature catalog.

Step 2: Compare Key Features

The table below focuses on what changes outcomes in real estate teams.

Capability	Follow Up Boss	HubSpot Sales Hub	What It Means in Practice
Lead capture and routing	Built around real-estate lead intake and distribution logic	Strong generic lead management; routing depth improves on higher tiers	If lead response time drives revenue, Follow Up Boss is faster to operationalize
Agent communication workflow	Calling/texting/email in CRM; automation plans built for follow-up cadence	Email, calling, sequences, and automation available; depends on tier and setup	HubSpot can match many workflows, but setup takes longer for real-estate-specific patterns
Collaboration model	Team-centric for broker/agent structures, inbox and coaching features in paid tiers	Enterprise-grade collaboration across functions and roles	Real estate teams usually adopt FUB faster; mixed-function orgs gain more from HubSpot
Integrations ecosystem	250+ integrations advertised; open API and real-estate ecosystem focus	Very large marketplace (1,500+ integrations referenced across HubSpot materials)	HubSpot wins breadth; FUB wins relevance for common real-estate stack decisions
Reporting and forecasting	Practical team performance reporting, lead-source visibility	Deeper reporting and customization potential with higher tiers	If you need board-level analytics and custom models, HubSpot has more ceiling
Onboarding friction	Lower for real-estate operators; guided onboarding and support emphasis	Higher variance by plan and configuration depth	Time-to-value is typically shorter with FUB for pure sales teams
Mobile and day-to-day usability	Built for agent workflow speed	Capable mobile experience, but process complexity can leak into daily use	Simpler systems usually win in field adoption when team discipline is uneven

Interpretation:
Follow Up Boss has a narrower product thesis and that is an advantage for most real estate teams. HubSpot’s feature ceiling is higher, but only teams with strong RevOps habits reliably capture that upside.

Step 3: Check Pricing Fit

Pricing is where many CRM decisions fail. Teams compare starter plans, then buy pro workflows six months later and miss the true total cost.

Date checked for all prices below: February 17, 2026.

Follow Up Boss (official pricing page)

• Grow: $69/user/month monthly, or $58/user/month annual; calling add-on listed separately.
• Pro: $499/month includes 10 users (monthly), additional users extra.
• Platform: $1,000/month includes 30 users (monthly), additional users extra.
• Practical math:
  • 5-agent team on Grow monthly: about $345/month before add-ons/tax.
  • 12-agent team on Pro monthly: $499 + user overage, often cheaper than per-seat plans at this size.
• Source: https://www.followupboss.com/pricing

HubSpot Sales Hub (official legal catalog + product pages)

• Sales Hub Starter: starts at $20/seat/month.
• Sales Hub Professional: starts at $100/seat/month.
• Sales Hub Enterprise: starts at $150/seat/month and $3,500 one-time onboarding (as listed in catalog).
• Practical math:
  • 5 paid seats on Starter: about $100/month baseline.
  • 10 paid seats on Professional: about $1,000/month baseline, before any required adjacent hubs/seats.
• Sources:
  • https://legal.hubspot.com/services/hubspot-services-descriptions
  • https://www.hubspot.com/products/sales-software-for-beginners

Pricing interpretation

• If you need basic CRM now and can operate with tighter automation limits, HubSpot can start cheaper.
• If you need real-estate team workflow depth quickly, Follow Up Boss usually has better cost-to-value despite higher apparent entry pricing.
• Main risk in both tools: underestimating implementation and behavior-change cost, which often exceeds license deltas.

Step 4: Make Your Pick

Use this logic directly.

1. If your top KPI is speed-to-lead and conversion from portal/web leads, choose Follow Up Boss.
2. If your top KPI is unifying sales, marketing, and service data in one platform, choose HubSpot Sales Hub.
3. If your team is under 5 agents and cash-constrained, start with HubSpot Sales Hub Starter only if you can tolerate more process setup.
4. If your team is 5 to 30 agents and needs immediate execution consistency, choose Follow Up Boss Pro/Platform based on headcount.
5. If compliance, custom objects, or deep admin controls are non-negotiable, choose HubSpot Sales Hub Enterprise and budget onboarding from day one.

Final recommendation for most readers: Follow Up Boss wins for the majority of real estate teams because adoption speed and real-estate workflow fit beat theoretical flexibility.

Quick Reference Card

Question	Choose Follow Up Boss	Choose HubSpot Sales Hub
Primary motion	Real-estate lead conversion and team follow-up	Cross-functional CRM across sales/marketing/service
Team profile	Agent-heavy team, broker-led operations	Mixed roles with internal ops/admin maturity
Setup speed	Faster	Slower
Feature ceiling	Focused but strong for real estate	Higher ceiling for customization and reporting
Integration posture	250+ with real-estate relevance	Broad marketplace scale (1,500+ referenced)
Price shape	Mid-tier entry, good team packaging	Low entry, can escalate with seat/onboarding complexity
Biggest tradeoff	Less horizontal flexibility	More admin burden and potential adoption drag
Best default for most real estate teams	Yes	No

If you are a 10-agent buyer team running heavy internet leads and need predictable follow-up this quarter, choose Follow Up Boss.
If you are a multi-function organization with dedicated RevOps and a mandate to consolidate GTM systems, choose HubSpot Sales Hub.