Updated October 25, 2026. Independent editorial; how we research.
Who this is for
A commercial brokerage or team of about 5 to 20 agents with a coordinator, doing leasing and investment sales, that wants shared records instead of each agent's own spreadsheet. Totals assume 10 agents.
Jobs the stack must cover
Shared CRM and pipeline
One record per owner, tenant, property and deal, visible to the whole team.
Deals and commissions
Deal records, splits, commission tracking and a shared listings database.
Listing marketing
Brochures, OMs and email campaigns produced by a coordinator for every agent.
Listing exposure
Syndicating listings to the marketplaces buyers and tenant reps search.
Ownership research
Owner lookups and call lists for systematic prospecting.
Deal rooms
NDAs, OM downloads and buyer activity for investment sales.
The stack at a glance
| Tier | Job | Tool | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start with | Shared CRM and pipeline | 
ClientLook (LightBox) Annual plan, 10 users | $890/mo |
| Start with | Deals and commissions | 
TotalBrokerage Lite, 10 seats | $100/mo |
| Start with | Listing marketing | 
CREBuilder Pro, billed annually, 3 seats | $145/mo |
| Start with | Listing exposure | 
Crexi Free listings | Free |
| Add when | Ownership research | 
PropertyShark Pro, billed annually, 2 seats | $100/mo |
| Add when | Deal rooms | 
FirmRoom 2 GB | $395/mo |
| Add when | Land and development prospecting | 
Plotzy Starter, 1 seat for the land or development lead | $180/mo |
| Skip until | Comps and market data | 
CoStar | Pricing on request |
| Skip until | Shared CRM and pipeline | 
DealCloud | Pricing on request |
| Lean total (Start with) | $1,135/mo | ||
| Fuller total (Start with + Add when) | $1,810/mo | ||
Start with
The essentials for day one. These make up the lean total.
ClientLook (LightBox) Annual plan, 10 users
A CRE CRM with published per-user pricing, so the bill scales predictably as you hire. Contacts, properties, listings and deals live in one shared database.
Alternatives: AscendixRE (Salesforce-based CRE CRM, $79 per user per month billed annually per our listing; the vendor site blocks automated checks); Apto (Salesforce-based CRE CRM, pricing on request)
TotalBrokerage Lite, 10 seats
A commercial back office for deal records, commissions and a listings database. Lite is a fixed price for 10 seats, month to month; the full modular platform starts at $150/mo on a 1-year contract.
Alternatives: CommissionTrac (commission and deal management, pricing on request); Dealius (brokerage operations platform, pricing on request)
CREBuilder Pro, billed annually, 3 seats
Templates for flyers, OMs and email, with deal rooms included. Coordinator seats are free (they cannot own documents), so pay only for the people who publish.
Alternatives: Buildout (the standard at many CRE brokerages, from $125 per user per month); SharpLaunch (property websites, plans from $399/mo on annual billing)
Crexi Free listings
Free to list, widely searched. Combine with LoopNet's free basic listing and decide on premium placement listing by listing.
Alternatives: LoopNet (free basic listings, paid tiers by quote)
Add when
Worth buying once the trigger applies. These, minus anything they replace, make up the fuller total.
PropertyShark Pro, billed annually, 2 seats
Add when the team prospects owners as a weekly system rather than one-off lookups.
Two research seats usually serve a team better than ten casual ones. Group subscriptions are priced by quote; the figure here is two individual Pro seats.
Alternatives: Reonomy (pricing on request)
FirmRoom 2 GB
Add when you run several investment sales at once with NDAs, OMs and buyer tracking.
Unlimited users and one active data room on the 2 GB plan (5 GB allows 3 rooms for $795/mo). Check first whether CREbuilder Pro's deal rooms already cover you.
Alternatives: DealRoom (priced by deal volume on an annual commitment)
Plotzy Starter, 1 seat for the land or development lead
Add when the team builds a land, industrial outdoor storage or development practice and needs a repeatable way to source sites for buyers.
One seat for whoever runs land and development deals: zoning-aware parcel search across 3,200+ counties, owner contacts, folders and CSV export into the team CRM. Caveats: it is in beta at pre-launch pricing, owner contacts are metered (25 a month on Starter, 100 on Production at $300/mo), and it has no comps or debt data.
Alternatives: Regrid (nationwide parcel data app and API; plan prices load only after sign-in); LandID (parcel and owner maps from $7 per user per month billed annually, best for rural land)
Skip until
Tools newcomers are often sold too early, and what has to be true before they pay off. Not included in either total.
CoStar
Most established teams end up with CoStar, but it is sold by quote per market and seat. Buy it when your clients and deal sizes demand its comps, not because a new team feels it should have it.
DealCloud
A relationship and deal platform built for capital markets and investment banking groups, with quote pricing and a real implementation project. A 10-agent brokerage gets more from a CRE CRM it can set up in a week.
Monthly cost
Assumptions: 10 agents plus 1 marketing coordinator; Annual billing where it is offered and cheaper; US prices before tax.
Totals are rebuilt from each line's published price whenever the site is published, and exclude tax, payment processing, onboarding fees and hardware. How we built these stacks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a small commercial brokerage team buy first?
A shared CRE CRM and a back office for deals and commissions. At published prices, ClientLook for 10 agents ($890/mo billed annually), TotalBrokerage Lite ($100/mo for 10 seats) and CREbuilder Pro for 3 publishing seats ($145/mo) come to $1,135 a month, with listings on Crexi and LoopNet at no cost.
Should every agent get their own data subscription?
Usually not at first. Two dedicated research seats, run by the people who build call lists, tend to get used more than ten seats that sit idle. The fuller stack adds two PropertyShark Pro seats, a FirmRoom deal room and one Plotzy seat for the land or development lead, for $1,810 a month in total.
Is Buildout worth it for a team?
It is the common choice for CRE marketing at larger shops and publishes a starting rate of $125 per user per month. For a team where one coordinator produces most materials, a tool that charges only publishing seats can cost less; compare both on your real seat count.