BUYER'S GUIDE
Best CRM & Marketing Software for Commercial Real Estate (2026)
Updated February 2026 · 14 min read
TL;DR
Most CRMs weren't built for CRE and it shows. The ones that work understand deal stages, property types, and the fact that a single deal can take 18 months. Buildout is the best all-in-one for brokerages. VTS owns the landlord side. RealNex is the veteran's pick. If you're a residential agent who wandered in here, BoomTown and CINC are what you want.
CRE professionals have a love-hate relationship with CRMs. You need one because tracking relationships across hundreds of contacts, properties, and deals in your head (or a spreadsheet) doesn't work past a certain point. But most CRMs were designed for SaaS sales reps, not for someone juggling lease expirations, building tours, and 9-month deal cycles.
We went through 60+ CRM and marketing tools in our directory. The honest truth is that most of them are residential-focused platforms that slapped "commercial" somewhere on their features page. A handful were actually built for CRE workflows from the ground up, and those are the ones worth looking at.
The marketing side is just as fragmented. Some platforms handle property flyers and offering memorandums. Others focus on lead generation through paid ads. A few try to do everything. Here's what actually works.
Quick Comparison
| Product | Best For | Starting Price | Free Trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buildout | CRE brokerages (all-in-one) | Contact for pricing | No |
| VTS | Landlords / leasing teams | Contact for pricing | No |
| RealNex | Solo brokers / small teams | Contact for pricing | Yes |
| DealCloud | Investment firms / deal teams | Contact for pricing | No |
| HqO | Landlords focused on tenant retention | Contact for pricing | No |
| BoomTown | Residential teams wanting leads | $1,000+/month | No |
| Placester | Agents needing a website + CRM | $59/month | Yes |
The 7 Best CRM & Marketing Platforms for CRE
1. Buildout
Best for: CRE brokerages that want one platform for prospecting, CRM, and marketing
Buildout is the closest thing CRE has to a purpose-built brokerage platform. It started as a marketing tool for creating property flyers and OMs, then acquired Rethink CRM (which was Salesforce-based) and added prospecting tools. The result is a connected platform where your prospecting, client relationships, and marketing all live in one place.
The AI features are newer and still maturing, but the core product is solid. The main downside is that pricing isn't published anywhere, and you'll need to talk to sales. Buildout is modular, so you can start with just marketing or just CRM, but the real value comes from using the full suite.
What's good
- Purpose-built for CRE brokers, not adapted from generic software
- Strong marketing tools for flyers, OMs, and email campaigns
- Modular approach lets you start small and expand
- AI prospecting features save real time on deal sourcing
What's not
- No published pricing across any product
- Best suited for brokerages, not landlords or investors
- Newer AI features still being refined
- Less suited for small individual brokers
Pricing: Modular, quote-based. Start with one product or bundle them. Contact sales for specifics.
2. VTS
Best for: Landlords and leasing teams managing large portfolios
VTS sits on 13 billion+ square feet of CRE data, which gives it a market intelligence advantage nobody else can match. If you're a landlord or asset manager trying to understand leasing velocity, tenant demand, and market trends, VTS has more data than you'll find anywhere. Their platform unifies leasing, marketing, and tenant experience into one system.
The flip side: VTS is enterprise software with enterprise pricing. Small brokerages and individual brokers aren't their target customer, and the platform isn't designed for them. If you manage a significant portfolio and need a single platform for your leasing operation, though, VTS is the market leader for a reason.
What's good
- Largest CRE dataset in the industry (13B+ SF)
- Unified leasing, marketing, and tenant experience
- AI features that actually solve real problems
- Strong market intelligence and benchmarking
What's not
- Enterprise pricing with no transparency
- Not for small brokerages or solo brokers
- Steep learning curve for teams switching from spreadsheets
- Requires buy-in across the organization to get full value
Pricing: Quote-based enterprise pricing. Contact VTS for a custom proposal.
3. RealNex
Best for: Solo CRE brokers and small teams wanting an all-in-one suite
RealNex has been around for a while, and it shows in both good and bad ways. On the good side, it's the most complete all-in-one suite for CRE brokers: CRM, financial analysis, marketing, and transaction management in a single platform. Their RX Data product with predictive analytics can identify likely buyers and sellers, which is genuinely useful for prospecting.
On the less good side, the interface feels dated compared to Buildout and other newer competitors. If slick UI matters to you, RealNex might feel like stepping back in time. But if you care more about depth of features than aesthetics, it packs a lot into one subscription. The free trial is a nice touch that most CRE tools don't offer.
What's good
- Most complete all-in-one suite for CRE brokers
- Predictive analytics for identifying motivated sellers
- 60+ professional report and flyer templates
- Free trial available
What's not
- UI feels dated compared to newer competitors
- Smaller market share means less community and integrations
- Pricing not publicly listed
- Learning curve to use the full platform
Pricing: Subscription-based. Free trial available. Contact for specific pricing.
4. DealCloud
Best for: Investment firms and deal-driven teams
DealCloud (by Intapp) is built for firms where the deal is the center of everything. Private equity, investment banks, and CRE investment firms use it because it understands deal flow in a way generic CRMs don't. The AI eliminates about 95% of manual data entry by automatically capturing relationships from emails and meetings, which means your pipeline data is actually current.
The no-code configuration is a real advantage. Business teams can customize fields, workflows, and reports without calling IT. The trade-off is that it's enterprise-priced and can be complex to implement. If you're a small brokerage, this is overkill. If you're running a CRE fund or investment shop, it's worth the conversation.
What's good
- Purpose-built for deal-driven firms
- AI automates 95% of data entry
- No-code customization for business teams
- Strong relationship mapping across contacts and deals
What's not
- Enterprise pricing, geared toward mid-to-large firms
- Complex to implement and configure fully
- Bundled with other Intapp products, which adds complexity
- Not designed for traditional brokerage workflows
Pricing: Enterprise subscription. Contact for pricing.
5. HqO
Best for: Landlords focused on tenant engagement and retention
HqO approaches CRM from the landlord's perspective: how do you build and maintain relationships with the tenants in your buildings? Their platform combines tenant experience management with analytics that tell you which tenants are engaged and which might be flight risks. It's a different angle than traditional CRM, and it works well for portfolio-level tenant relationship management.
The platform is enterprise-focused and may be complex for smaller landlords with just a building or two. But if you're managing a portfolio of commercial properties and want to understand tenant satisfaction beyond just renewal conversations, HqO gives you data that traditional CRMs can't.
What's good
- First CRM built specifically for CRE tenant relationships
- AI-powered analytics for tenant sentiment and engagement
- Unified portfolio management across properties
- Connects tenant experience data with business intelligence
What's not
- Focused on tenant experience, not broader CRM needs
- Enterprise platform may be complex for smaller landlords
- Requires training and change management
- Quote-based pricing
Pricing: Quote-based. Contact for custom pricing.
6. BoomTown
Best for: Residential teams that need lead generation + CRM
BoomTown is the #1 user-rated real estate CRM for good reason: it combines lead generation (they manage your PPC ad spend) with a CRM that's built around converting those leads to closings. Their Success Assurance team monitors and engages leads on your behalf, which is a nice touch if your agents aren't great at follow-up.
The big caveat: BoomTown is residential-focused. If you're in commercial real estate, this isn't for you. It's on this list because our directory covers the full real estate software spectrum. For residential teams and brokerages, though, it's hard to beat. Just know that the $1,000+/month starting price (plus ad spend) means you need deal volume to justify the cost.
What's good
- #1 user-rated real estate CRM
- Managed lead generation with expert PPC campaigns
- Success Assurance team handles initial lead engagement
- Scales from solo agents to large brokerages
What's not
- Expensive: $1,000+/month plus ad spend
- Long-term contracts typically required
- Residential-focused, not for CRE
- ROI depends heavily on follow-up and local market
Pricing: Launch starts at $1,000+/month plus ad spend. Grow and Advance tiers for larger teams. Long-term contracts common.
7. Placester
Best for: Agents and small brokerages needing a website + CRM combo
Placester does one thing really well: it builds you a professional real estate website with IDX integration and wraps a CRM around it. Their AI can generate a custom site in minutes, and with 600+ MLS integrations, listings show up automatically. The 4.9/5 rating from 1,600+ reviews is hard to ignore.
The downside is that Placester is primarily residential. The CRM works fine for managing contacts and leads, but it doesn't have CRE-specific deal tracking, lease analysis, or investment features. At $59/month for the agent plan, though, it's one of the more affordable options for agents who just need a web presence and a basic CRM to keep track of clients.
What's good
- AI builds a professional website in minutes
- 4.9/5 from 1,600+ reviews
- 600+ MLS integrations
- Affordable starting at $59/month
What's not
- Residential-focused, limited CRE features
- Team management requires higher-tier plans
- CRM is basic compared to dedicated CRE tools
- Can be pricey for brand-new agents
Pricing: Agent plan from $59/month ($566/year with 20% discount). Broker and team plans available at higher tiers. Free trial available.
How We Evaluated These Tools
We focused on what actually matters when picking a CRM or marketing platform for real estate:
- Is it built for CRE or adapted from something else? Purpose-built tools understand deal stages, property types, and industry workflows. Adapted tools always have gaps.
- Does it handle the full workflow? The best platforms connect prospecting, relationship management, and marketing so data flows between them without manual entry.
- Will your team actually use it? The most powerful CRM is worthless if brokers refuse to log their activities. Mobile experience and ease of use matter more than feature count.
- What does it cost relative to what you get? We looked at total cost of ownership, not just list price. Some "affordable" tools require add-ons for basic features.
- How good is the data? For prospecting and marketing tools, the underlying data quality determines whether you're reaching real prospects or wasting time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a CRE-specific CRM or can I use Salesforce?
You can use Salesforce, but you'll spend a lot of time and money customizing it for CRE workflows. CRE-specific CRMs like Buildout, RealNex, or DealCloud come pre-built with deal stages, property fields, and comp tracking that Salesforce doesn't understand out of the box. For most CRE firms, a purpose-built tool gets you productive faster and costs less in the long run.
What's the biggest reason CRM implementations fail in CRE?
Adoption. Brokers don't use it. The tool gets bought by management, configured by IT, and ignored by the people who are supposed to enter data. The fix is choosing software that's easy to use on mobile (since brokers are always in the field), shows individual brokers the personal benefit (not just management reporting), and gets buy-in from the team before purchase, not after.
How much should I expect to pay for CRE CRM software?
Mid-market CRE CRMs run $50-150/user/month. Enterprise platforms like VTS and DealCloud are significantly more. Marketing tools like Buildout charge based on listing volume and features. Budget $100-200/user/month for a good CRE-specific CRM, and more if you want integrated marketing and prospecting.
Should I pick a CRM with built-in marketing or use separate tools?
Integrated is usually better for CRE. When your CRM and marketing tools share data, you can see which properties your contacts engaged with, which emails they opened, and which deals came from which campaigns. Running separate tools means manual data sync and broken analytics. Buildout and RealNex both offer integrated CRM + marketing for this reason.
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