The best alternative to Zoho CRM for most Australian mortgage brokers is a CRM built for broking. Choose your aggregator’s platform, or BrokerEngine if you want one that works with any major aggregator. Both come with loan file stages, client document collection and compliance records, so you stop building and maintaining them in Zoho yourself.
A general CRM still suits some brokerages. HubSpot is easier to run when enquiries and marketing take more of your time than loan files. Salesforce Financial Services Cloud fits a large brokerage with the budget for an implementation partner. Capsule CRM suits a small team that wants a plain contact list and pipeline.
Choose a Replacement by Your Reason for Leaving
Start from the problem that made you look, because each replacement fixes a different gap in Zoho.
| Reason for leaving Zoho | Replacement to shortlist | What you gain |
|---|---|---|
| Maintaining your own loan stages, fact finds and compliance fields takes too much admin time | Your aggregator’s CRM | Broker file stages, lodgement and compliance records come built in |
| You want broker workflow that doesn’t depend on which aggregator you use | BrokerEngine | Prebuilt mortgage workflows, task checklists and a client document portal |
| Your team spends more time on enquiries and follow-up than on loan files | HubSpot | A free starting point with fewer settings to maintain |
| You run a large brokerage that needs detailed access rules and custom data | Salesforce Financial Services Cloud | A financial services data model configured by a partner |
| You are a small team and Zoho feels heavier than the job | Capsule CRM | Contacts, pipelines and tasks with little to set up |
Keep Zoho when the gap is a setting you haven’t used. A missing approval stage, a field staff can see but shouldn’t, or an automation that emails clients at the wrong stage can usually be fixed inside Zoho. The Zoho CRM setup guide covers those changes. Keep it too when other Zoho apps, such as Zoho Books, depend on the CRM and a move would break those connections.
Trail commission software doesn’t replace any of these CRMs. Track My Trail analyses the commission reports your aggregator issues, so it sits beside whichever CRM you choose and keeps working through the switch.
Identify the Gap That Must Improve
Decide first whether Zoho can’t do the job or whether your account isn’t set up to do it. A product limit justifies a move. A configuration or process problem follows you into the next CRM unless you fix it.
Check your edition before you blame the product. Zoho’s complete feature list shows that Blueprint, which forces a record through set stages, isn’t on Standard. Professional allows 3 Blueprints and Enterprise allows 50. Profiles, roles and workflow rules also grow with each edition: Standard allows 5 profiles and Professional allows 15. If a higher edition solves the problem, compare that upgrade with the cost of moving.
These signs point to configuration or process:
- Staff enter the same borrower twice because nobody owns the duplicate check.
- Files stall because the team never agreed who moves a loan to the next stage.
- An automation fires at the wrong time because its trigger watches the wrong field.
These signs point to a product limit for a brokerage:
- You want lodgement, credit guides and privacy consent in the same file as the client, and your Zoho account only reaches them through custom fields and integrations someone built.
- The person who built your Zoho account has left, and nobody can change it safely.
- You want a vendor whose support and training cover broker files and aggregator processes.
Turn your reason for leaving into criteria you can put to every vendor:
| Criterion | What to compare | Question for each vendor |
|---|---|---|
| Required records | How borrowers, co-borrowers, deals, consents, documents and tasks link to each other | Which of our Zoho modules have a matching record type? |
| Staff effort | Who maintains stages, templates and automations after go-live | Do we build workflows or adjust ones you supply? |
| Permissions | Access by role, by file and by document | Can a support user be kept out of files they don’t work on? |
| Support | Hours, channels and broker-specific training | Who helps when a file is stuck at lodgement? |
| Export coverage | Records, attachments and notes you can take out later | What does a full export include, and in what format? |
Compare Practical Zoho Substitutes
Each replacement below takes over Zoho’s job of holding client records, deals and tasks. For a wider ranking of every option, see the mortgage broker CRM guide.
| Replacement | Best for | Gain over Zoho | Main trade-off | Pricing model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your aggregator’s CRM | Brokers who want file handling built in | Lodgement and compliance records come with the platform | Access depends on your aggregator membership | Set by each aggregator |
| BrokerEngine | Growing brokerages on any major aggregator | Prebuilt mortgage workflows and a client portal | A separate subscription and a one-off setup fee | Per user, per month |
| HubSpot | Enquiry-led teams that want simple administration | Free CRM to start, with paid seats added later | No mortgage file stages or lodgement | Free CRM, then per seat |
| Salesforce Financial Services Cloud | Large brokerages with their own technology staff | A detailed data model and access controls | Partner-led build that isn’t specific to broking | Per user, per month, billed annually |
| Capsule CRM | Small teams with simple pipelines | Few settings to maintain | Permissions and automations start on a paid plan | Free plan, then per user, per month |
Your Aggregator’s CRM
Most aggregators supply a broker CRM, and for a broker leaving Zoho it is usually the shortest route to a file built for broking. Connective describes Mercury Nexus as one platform for client management, compliance, application lodgement and analytics. Connective members get access at no extra cost.
LMG’s MyCRM tracks each deal from lead to settlement, with automated document collection, follow-ups and best interests duty (BID) notes. Finsure’s in-house team develops Infynity, which has a client centre, marketing tools and compliance functions.
Salestrekker reaches brokers through aggregators such as Astute, SFG, outsource Financial, YBR and Purple Circle. It bills per user per month, each aggregator sets its own price, and add-ons such as eSignatures and ID verification cost extra.
The gain is that loan stages, fact finds and compliance records already exist, so you stop maintaining custom Zoho modules. The trade-off is that access comes through your aggregator. If you change aggregator later, you move CRM again. You also work within the aggregator’s workflow and fields instead of designing your own.
For the migration, ask your aggregator’s onboarding team which Zoho fields and documents they can import. Agree which open files finish in Zoho before you start.
BrokerEngine
BrokerEngine calls itself mortgage broker software for growing firms and supports all major aggregators. Its prebuilt workflows set prioritised tasks, checklists, emails and SMS for each stage, and colour-coded stages flag deals at risk. Clients send fact finds, credit guides and bank statements through its FinanceVault portal at no extra cost. A Reviews dashboard prompts client reviews at events such as a fixed-rate or interest-only expiry.
BrokerEngine pricing is per user per month, with Broker User and Support User seats, monthly or annual billing and no fixed-term contract. A one-off Kickstart fee per broker group includes migrating current and settled deals. AFG brokers can choose BrokerEngine Plus, which adds direct lodgement to ApplyOnline.
The trade-off is a separate subscription on top of any CRM your aggregator includes. Support User seats also come without integrations. Because the Kickstart migration covers current and settled deals, decide where Zoho leads and marketing contacts go before the import.
HubSpot
HubSpot suits a brokerage leaving Zoho because administration takes too long and most CRM work is enquiries and follow-up. The HubSpot CRM is free with no expiry for up to two users and 1,000 contacts, with deal pipelines, imports and reporting dashboards. Paid seats add permission sets on Starter, duplicate management on Professional and field-level permissions on Enterprise.
HubSpot’s CRM page lists no mortgage file stages or lender lodgement, so loan files still run through your aggregator’s platform. For a side-by-side view of the two products, read the HubSpot vs Zoho CRM comparison.
For the migration, HubSpot’s multi-object import brings in companies, deals and activities and links them to each other. Importing association labels needs Professional or Enterprise. HubSpot also points anyone moving from another CRM to its self-service transfer tool.
Salesforce Financial Services Cloud
Financial Services Cloud is Salesforce’s CRM for banks, wealth managers and insurers, with prebuilt applications, automation and integrations. A Digital Origination add-on covers loan origination. Salesforce lists partners such as Deloitte Digital and Accenture, and existing Salesforce customers can switch it on in their current account.
It fits a large brokerage or sub-aggregator that has its own technology staff and needs detailed records and access controls. Licences are per user per month, billed annually, across editions from Sales Core to Sales Max.
The trade-off is that it is built for financial institutions, not for Australian broker files. Aggregator lodgement and broker compliance steps need configuration or another platform. Treat the migration as a partner project and budget for data mapping as well as licences.
Capsule CRM
Capsule CRM is a general CRM for contacts, sales pipelines, projects and tasks, with integrations including Xero. Its free plan covers two users, 250 contacts and one pipeline. Roles and permissions, and workflow automations, start on the Growth plan, which is priced per user per month.
It suits a solo broker or small team that uses Zoho mostly as a contact list and pipeline. Like HubSpot, it doesn’t run loan files or lodgement. Because it has fewer record types than Zoho, decide before the import which custom modules become fields or notes and which you archive. The Capsule CRM review covers its fit for brokers in more detail.
Preserve Broker Files and Handoff Ownership
Map every Zoho record type to its new home before you import, then prove each one arrived. The table below is an illustrative example: a fictional borrower file as a brokerage might have built it in Zoho.
| Zoho record (illustrative) | What it holds | Where it goes in a broker CRM | Check after import |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact: Sam and Alex Taylor | Both borrowers, contact details and referrer | One client or household record | Both borrowers link to the same deal |
| Custom module: Consent | Privacy consent and credit guide sent | The compliance or consent section | Original consent times survive, not the import time |
| Attachments | Payslips, bank statements and ID | The client’s document store | Each document opens and only the file’s team can see it |
| Tasks | Assigned staff member and due date | Tasks on the new deal | Each task belongs to a current user, not the person who ran the import |
| Deal stage: Submitted to lender | Where the loan stands | The matching stage | Open loans land at the same stage |
Zoho gives you the data in two ways. A module export produces a CSV or XLSX file for one module at a time, up to 200,000 records per CSV. Only users whose profile has the Export permission can run it.
A full data backup covers every module and its attachments, as CSV files in separate ZIP folders for data and attachments. It leaves out email content and email attachments, Zoho Documents and data from integrations. Its download link stays active for 7 days at most, so download it straight away.
Paid editions include two free backups a month, and Ultimate includes four. Run the final backup after the last change anyone makes in Zoho.
Name one owner for every open file during the change. Decide whether each file finishes in Zoho or moves at a stage boundary. A simple rule is that files already submitted to a lender finish where they are, and files before submission move.
Lodgement and commission records sit with your aggregator, not in Zoho, so the CRM change doesn’t move them. Name the person who confirms that each open file’s submission still shows on the aggregator’s platform after the switch.
Reconcile receipt by comparing the record count for each module in the export with the count in the new CRM. Then open a few sample files end to end and check their documents, tasks and stage.
Keep the old records reachable after go-live. ASIC’s RG 273 sets out the records that show how each recommendation met the best interests duty. Store the final Zoho backup securely and save client emails separately, because the backup leaves them out. The full CRM migration runbook covers cutover in more detail.
Make the Switching Decision
Choose by your original reason for leaving, and move only when the gain outweighs a migration project.
- If maintaining broker stages and compliance fields in Zoho is the problem, move to your aggregator’s CRM. Built-in file stages and lodgement end the rebuilding each time a process changes.
- If you want broker workflow that stays when your aggregator changes, choose BrokerEngine. The Kickstart migration and per-user subscription buy a CRM you keep through an aggregator move.
- If administration and enquiry follow-up are the problem, move to HubSpot. Its free CRM lets you test the fit before paying, while loan files stay on your aggregator’s platform.
- If you need detailed access rules and custom data across a large brokerage, choose Salesforce Financial Services Cloud, but only when that control is worth a partner-led build.
- If Zoho is more system than a small team needs, move to Capsule CRM and accept a simpler file.
- If none of these gaps is a product limit, keep Zoho and fix its configuration.
Retire Zoho only when the new CRM meets these four outcomes:
- Related records link as they did in Zoho: every borrower, co-borrower, deal and task on your sample files.
- Restricted access works: a support user can’t open files or documents outside their permissions.
- The export is complete: record counts match for every module, and every attachment in the backup opens in the new CRM or sits in your archive.
- A file handoff works: one new file runs from enquiry to lender submission through your aggregator without anyone returning to Zoho.
