LionDesk vs Follow Up Boss: Which CRM is Better for Real Estate Agents?

Choosing the right Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is one of the most critical decisions a real estate agent can make. Your CRM is the engine of your business, managing leads, nurturing relationships, and streamlining transactions. Two of the most prominent names in the real estate CRM space are LionDesk and Follow Up Boss. The debate over LionDesk vs Follow Up Boss often comes down to specific business needs, team size, and budget, making a direct comparison essential before you commit.

Both platforms promise to organize your contacts and automate your follow-up, but they approach this goal with different philosophies and feature sets. LionDesk positions itself as an all-in-one solution with a strong emphasis on video messaging and affordability, while Follow Up Boss is renowned for its powerful integrations, team collaboration features, and speed-to-lead capabilities. This guide breaks down every critical aspect to help you decide which platform will best serve your real estate business in 2026 and beyond.

What You'll Learn

• Core Differences: LionDesk is often favored by individual agents and small teams for its all-in-one features and budget-friendly pricing. Follow Up Boss excels for larger teams and brokerages that need advanced collaboration tools and extensive third-party integrations.
• Feature Strengths: LionDesk's standout features include built-in video email/texting and a Power Dialer. Follow Up Boss shines with its robust lead routing, action plans, and a superior mobile app experience.
• Pricing Structure: LionDesk offers simpler, more inclusive pricing tiers that provide significant value from the start. Follow Up Boss uses a per-user model that can become more expensive but offers scalability for growing teams.
• User Experience: Follow Up Boss is widely praised for its clean, intuitive interface and minimal learning curve. LionDesk is feature-rich but can feel more complex for new users to navigate initially.

An Overview of LionDesk and Follow Up Boss

Before diving into a feature-by-feature breakdown, it's important to understand the core identity of each platform. They were built to solve the same problem—managing real estate leads—but their origins and focus areas have shaped them into distinct tools.

What is LionDesk?

LionDesk was founded with the goal of providing a comprehensive and affordable CRM solution for real estate professionals. It's designed to be an all-in-one platform, bundling contact management, marketing automation, transaction management, and unique communication tools like video email and texting into a single subscription. This approach appeals to agents who want to avoid patching together multiple software tools.

The platform's core philosophy is to give agents everything they need to manage their business from lead to close without breaking the bank. Its inclusion of a Power Dialer and extensive video marketing capabilities at a competitive price point makes it a strong contender, particularly for individual agents or those just starting to build their tech stack.

What is Follow Up Boss?

Follow Up Boss started with a laser focus on one thing: lead conversion. The platform is engineered for speed and efficiency, ensuring agents can respond to new inquiries instantly. Its tagline, "Never Lose Another Lead," reflects its core mission. It's not trying to be an all-in-one marketing suite; instead, it aims to be the absolute best central hub for all your leads, integrating seamlessly with hundreds of other tools you already use.

This integration-first approach makes it incredibly powerful for teams and brokerages that use various lead generation sources (Zillow, Realtor.com, Facebook Ads, etc.). Its clean interface, advanced team features like lead routing and agent leaderboards, and a highly-rated mobile app make it a favorite among top-producing teams who prioritize performance and collaboration over an all-inclusive feature set.

LionDesk vs Follow Up Boss: At a Glance Comparison

Feature	LionDesk	Follow Up Boss
Best For	Individual agents, small teams, budget-conscious users	Growing teams, brokerages, tech-savvy agents
Core Strength	All-in-one features, video marketing, affordability	Lead consolidation, team collaboration, integrations
User Interface	Feature-dense, can have a steeper learning curve	Clean, modern, and highly intuitive
Pricing Model	Tiered plans with generous feature inclusions	Per-user, per-month subscription model
Standout Feature	Built-in video email & texting, Power Dialer	Action Plans, Smart Lists, robust lead routing
Mobile App	Functional for basic tasks	Highly rated, full-featured for on-the-go work
Integrations	Good, covers major platforms and Zapier	Excellent, extensive native and API integrations

Key Features Comparison: A Deep Dive

This is where the real differences emerge. While both CRMs cover the basics, their execution and advanced capabilities vary significantly. A detailed liondesk comparison with Follow Up Boss reveals distinct strengths.

Lead Management and Nurturing

LionDesk offers solid lead management tools. You can import leads, have them auto-populate from connected sources, and segment them using tags. Its drip campaigns are effective for long-term nurturing, allowing you to create multi-step email and text sequences. The platform also includes lead distribution rules to assign incoming leads to team members, though the options are more basic compared to Follow Up Boss.

Follow Up Boss excels in this area. Its "Smart Lists" are a dynamic way to organize contacts based on their last activity, lead source, or any custom criteria, ensuring you always know who to call next. The platform's Action Plans are more advanced than standard drip campaigns, allowing you to create multi-channel follow-up sequences that include calls, texts, emails, and tasks for the assigned agent. This focus on actionable steps is a key part of its high-performance design.

Communication Tools: Email, Texting, and Video

This is a major win for LionDesk. It is one of the few CRMs that has native video email and video texting built directly into the platform. This allows agents to send personalized video messages to leads and clients without needing a third-party service like BombBomb. This feature alone can significantly improve engagement and help agents stand out.

Furthermore, its plans often include a generous number of emails and texts, plus a Power Dialer to streamline outbound calls.

Follow Up Boss provides excellent communication tools, but with a different approach. It features a collaborative team inbox where all texts and emails with a contact are visible to the team, preventing duplicate outreach. It also has a built-in dialer and texting capabilities. However, it does not have native video messaging; you would need to integrate a tool like BombBomb to achieve that functionality.

Automation and Drip Campaigns

LionDesk's automation is straightforward and effective. You can set up campaigns that trigger based on a new lead's source, a change in status, or a specific tag. These campaigns can include a mix of emails, text messages, and tasks over a set period. It's a powerful tool for ensuring no lead falls through the cracks, especially for agents managing a high volume of contacts.

Follow Up Boss takes automation a step further with its Action Plans and Automations. You can trigger sophisticated workflows based on nearly any data point, such as a lead visiting your website or viewing a specific property. For example, an automation can apply a specific Action Plan, notify an agent, and add a tag the moment a lead from Zillow arrives. This level of granular control is ideal for optimizing lead conversion processes at scale.

Pro Tip: When evaluating automation, think about your specific follow-up strategy. If you rely heavily on video, LionDesk's native tools are a huge advantage. If your strategy involves complex, multi-source lead routing and task assignments, Follow Up Boss's advanced automations will be a better fit.

User Interface and User Experience Analysis

The best features in the world don't matter if the software is difficult to use. The daily user experience is a critical factor in the LionDesk vs Followup Boss debate.

The LionDesk Experience

LionDesk packs a tremendous number of features into its dashboard. For a new user, this can feel slightly overwhelming at first. The interface is functional and gets the job done, but it doesn't have the modern, polished feel of some newer software. There is a learning curve involved in understanding where everything is and how to set up campaigns and automations effectively.

However, once you are familiar with the layout, the platform is quite powerful. The main dashboard provides a good overview of your daily tasks, new leads, and campaign activity. Agents who take the time to complete the training and customize their dashboard will find it to be a capable command center for their business.

The Follow Up Boss Experience

This is an area where Follow Up Boss consistently receives high praise in almost every follow up boss review. The user interface is exceptionally clean, modern, and intuitive. From the moment you log in, the platform is designed to show you exactly what you need to do next. The Smart Lists, tasks, and appointments are front and center, creating a clear, action-oriented workflow.

Most users report a very short learning curve, allowing them to get up and running quickly. The mobile app is also a reflection of this design philosophy—it's fast, easy to navigate, and provides access to nearly all the functionality of the desktop version. For agents and teams who value simplicity and ease of use, Follow Up Boss has a clear edge.

Pricing Plans and Subscription Options

Budget is a major consideration for any real estate agent or team. The pricing structures of LionDesk and Follow Up Boss are fundamentally different and cater to different types of users.

Disclaimer: Pricing for software changes frequently. Please visit the official websites for the most current and accurate pricing information.

LionDesk Pricing

LionDesk generally offers several tiered plans that are billed per user. Its strength lies in the value packed into its lower and mid-tier plans. Even the starter plans typically include core CRM functionalities, email and text campaigns, and even the coveted video messaging features. Higher tiers add more advanced tools like the Power Dialer, more texts/emails, and enhanced support.

This all-inclusive approach makes it very attractive for individual agents and small teams who want predictable monthly costs without paying extra for essential features. The value proposition is strong, as you get a wide array of tools for a single subscription fee.

Follow Up Boss Pricing

Follow Up Boss structures its pricing on a per-user, per-month basis, with different tiers unlocking more advanced features. The entry-level plan, "Grow," is designed for individual agents. The "Pro" plan is built for small teams and adds features like the team inbox and basic lead routing. The top-tier "Platform" plan is for larger teams and brokerages, offering advanced lead routing, call reporting, and dedicated support.

While the per-user cost can add up quickly for larger teams, the model allows for scalability. You only pay for the users you need, and the feature set at each level is carefully curated for its target user. Top-producing teams often find the cost is justified by the efficiency gains and increased conversion rates the platform enables.

Customer Support and Resources

When you're running your business on a piece of software, reliable support is non-negotiable.

LionDesk offers support through a ticketing system and a comprehensive knowledge base filled with articles and video tutorials. They also host regular webinars to help users master the platform. Phone support is typically reserved for users on higher-tier plans. The resources are extensive, but getting immediate, live help might depend on your subscription level.

Follow Up Boss is known for its responsive and knowledgeable customer support team, available to all users via phone and email. They are consistently praised for their quick response times and helpfulness. In addition to a detailed help center, they offer daily live webinars and a thriving Facebook community where users can share tips and best practices.

Integration Capabilities with Other Tools

A CRM's ability to connect with other software is crucial for creating a streamlined workflow. This is perhaps the biggest point of differentiation between the two platforms.

LionDesk has a solid set of direct integrations with major real estate platforms like Zillow and Realtor.com. It also integrates with Zapier, which allows you to connect it to thousands of other applications. For most agents, its integration capabilities are sufficient to build an effective tech stack.

Follow Up Boss, however, is in a league of its own when it comes to integrations. The platform is built with an API-first mentality, meaning it's designed from the ground up to connect with other systems. It has deep, native integrations with over 200 real estate lead sources, marketing tools, and transaction management systems. This allows for a truly seamless flow of information, making it the undisputed central hub of an agent's technology ecosystem.

Target Audience and Use Cases

So, who should choose which platform? Let's break down the ideal user for each.

Pros and Cons of LionDesk

LionDesk is the best choice for:

• Individual Agents: The affordability and all-in-one feature set are perfect for solo agents managing their own database and marketing.
• Small Teams on a Budget: It provides essential team features without the high per-user cost of other platforms.
• Agents Focused on Video Marketing: The native video email and texting is a powerful differentiator that can't be overstated.

Pros

• Excellent Value: Offers a wide range of features, including video and a dialer, at a very competitive price.
• All-in-One Solution: Reduces the need for multiple software subscriptions.
• Unique Video Tools: Built-in video messaging helps agents build stronger connections with leads.

Cons

• Steeper Learning Curve: The feature-rich interface can be intimidating for new users.
• Less Modern UI: The design feels less intuitive and polished compared to Follow Up Boss.
• Fewer Native Integrations: Relies more heavily on Zapier for connections outside of major lead sources.

Pros and Cons of Follow Up Boss

Follow Up Boss is the ideal solution for:

• High-Performing Teams: The collaboration, lead routing, and reporting tools are built for team environments.
• Brokerages: Provides the oversight and accountability features needed to manage a large group of agents.
• Tech-Savvy Agents: Users who want to build a best-in-class tech stack with seamless integrations will love FUB.

Pros

• Intuitive and Easy to Use: A clean, modern interface and shallow learning curve mean faster adoption.
• Superior Team Features: The collaborative inbox, advanced lead routing, and agent leaderboards are top-notch.
• Unmatched Integrations: Connects flawlessly with hundreds of other real estate tools.

Cons

• Higher Cost: The per-user pricing model can become expensive for larger teams.
• More Focused Feature Set: Lacks some built-in features like video email, requiring third-party tools.
• Not an All-in-One Platform: You will need to pair it with other software for things like transaction management or advanced marketing.

Case Studies: Success Stories from Users

While features on paper are important, real-world feedback provides the best insight. A look at online communities reveals common themes.

In a discussion on the [r/realtors](https://www.[reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/realtors).com/r/realtors) subreddit, agents often praise Follow Up Boss for its simplicity and power. One user mentioned, "FUB is clean and just works. My whole team was up and running in a day, and our response time to new leads dropped by 80%." This sentiment highlights its core strength in speed and team adoption. You can find many similar discussions on platforms like the BiggerPockets forums, where investors and agents debate their favorite tools.

Conversely, agents in Facebook groups dedicated to real estate marketing frequently recommend LionDesk for its value. A common comment is, "For what I pay, getting a CRM, dialer, and video email in one place is unbeatable. It does everything I need it to do to close deals." This speaks to its appeal for agents who want maximum functionality for their investment.

FAQ: LionDesk vs Follow Up Boss

Here are answers to some of the most common questions agents ask when comparing these two CRMs.

Is Follow Up Boss the best CRM?

Follow Up Boss is considered one of the best CRMs specifically for real estate teams focused on lead conversion and collaboration. Its intuitive design, powerful automations, and extensive integrations make it a top choice for high-performers. However, "best" is subjective; for an individual agent who needs built-in video marketing on a budget, LionDesk might be the better option.

Is LionDesk a good CRM?

Yes, LionDesk is a very good CRM that offers exceptional value. It provides a comprehensive suite of tools that covers nearly every aspect of a real estate agent's workflow, from lead generation to transaction management. Its unique features like video email and an integrated Power Dialer make it a powerful and affordable choice, especially for solo agents and small teams.

How much is Follow Up Boss for one person?

Follow Up Boss offers a specific plan for individual agents, typically called the "Grow" plan. While you should check their website for the most current pricing, this plan provides all the core CRM features an individual agent needs to manage their leads and automate follow-up. It's priced competitively for the solo agent market, though it may be higher than LionDesk's entry-level offering.

Does Follow Up Boss generate leads?

No, Follow Up Boss is not a lead generation platform. It is a lead management and conversion system. Its purpose is to consolidate all the leads you generate from other sources (like your website, Zillow, Facebook, etc.) into one central place and give you the tools to convert them into clients efficiently. You still need to have a separate lead generation strategy.

Final Thoughts: Making the Right Choice for Your Business

Ultimately, the choice in the LionDesk vs Follow Up Boss showdown depends entirely on your business structure, goals, and priorities. There is no single "winner" for everyone. The key is to honestly assess your needs and choose the tool that aligns with them.

If you are an individual agent or run a small team and your priority is having a powerful, all-in-one platform with unique marketing tools like video email at an affordable price, LionDesk is an outstanding choice. It provides incredible functionality for the investment and gives you everything you need to manage and grow your business under one roof.

If you are part of a growing team or a brokerage where speed-to-lead, seamless collaboration, and deep integration with a wide array of other tools are paramount, then Follow Up Boss is likely the better investment. Its clean user interface, advanced team features, and robust integration ecosystem are designed to help high-volume teams operate at peak efficiency. It costs more, but for the right user, the return on investment is undeniable.