Follow Up Boss vs Cinc: Which CRM Fits Your Team in 2027

Follow up boss vs cinc: the short answer

For most small teams weighing follow up boss vs cinc, the real choice is between a CRM that publishes its prices and one that asks you to request them. Follow Up Boss publishes its prices. Grow plan: $69 per user per month according to Follow Up Boss (2026), and its Pro plan is $499 per month for up to 10 users. The same page advertises a 14-day free trial with no contract. CINC lists every tier as "Request Pricing," so you need a sales conversation before you can total its base cost.

Our category decision: choose Follow Up Boss if you want a visible monthly number and already have lead sources to connect. Choose CINC if you want lead generation, landing pages and transaction tools in one platform and you can accept a quote. Neither is the wrong category, but for a team that phones its leads, the cost gap usually sits in calling and add-ons rather than the base seat price.

Key Takeaways

• Follow Up Boss is the easier choice when you need a published per-user price before any sales call.

• CINC is the stronger candidate when you want lead generation, landing pages and transaction tools bundled, and you will accept a quote.

• Calling and AI add-ons, not the base seat, drive most of the cost difference for a team that phones its leads.

• Neither public pricing page gives a complete total for a team until you add calling, texting and AI, so model that before you compare.

• Follow Up Boss documents its webhooks; we did not find a public CINC developer reference, so ask CINC before you scope any automation.

• Whichever you pick, put a human review step and a retry plan around automated follow-up.

What each product is and who owns it

A real estate CRM is software that keeps every lead, contact, task and message in one record, so an agent can follow up on time and a manager can see what happened. Both products sell into that category, but they start from different places.

Follow Up Boss is built around lead follow-up. Its pricing page says every plan includes unlimited contacts, lead sources and integrations, and it lists customizable lead distribution on the Grow plan and calling and texting on the higher tiers. The footer shows only "© FUB 2026," but Follow Up Boss belongs to Zillow Group, which announced the deal in November 2023 and said Follow Up Boss would stay an independent brand with about 100 employees joining Zillow, according to Real Estate News (2023).

CINC describes itself on its About page as "An enterprise solution for rapidly expanding brokerages." The same page says "CINC was acquired by Fidelity National Financial (FNF)," which it calls "the nation's largest title insurance company," according to CINC. It gives no acquisition date. Trade press from December 2016 supplies that context: HousingWire described Commissions, Inc. (CINC) as a Fidelity National Financial subsidiary that had been acquired earlier that year, according to HousingWire (2016). So the business behind the CINC name appeared as Commissions, Inc. in 2016 trade press. In the sources we opened, neither product has been merged into another or discontinued.

How we evaluated these two CRMs

We weighted seven criteria to match the decisions a small team actually makes. The weights are our analysis, not vendor data, and they are set out in the table below so you can change them to fit your own priorities.

Lead intake carries the most weight because speed to lead is the outcome most teams are buying a CRM to improve. Public ratings carry the least weight because they are dated, often undated, and vary in sample size, which the sections below show.

Feature matrix, side by side

Each row below is a decision factor, and each cell answers the same question for both products. "Not stated" means the public page we opened did not give the item, which is not the same as proof that the feature is missing.

Two rows deserve a second look. The CINC feature comparison on its pricing page is partly garbled in the text we could read, so the Landing Pages and Seller Suite entries are only confirmed as listed, not as included in a specific tier. Ask for the written inclusion list by tier before you rely on either one.

What the published prices add up to

Follow Up Boss publishes three plans and a calling add-on. CINC publishes only its add-ons. Follow Up Boss lists its prices plus tax where applicable, so the totals in this section exclude tax.

Pricing checked November 13, 2026. The Follow Up Boss figures above come from its pricing page, and the CINC figures come from its pricing page as well. CINC add-on: AI starts at $200 per month according to CINC (2026), and its dialer is $75 per month for three lines. CINC's base tiers carry a "Request Pricing" button rather than a dollar figure, so every CINC base price in the table is Quote-based.

The table shows the first thing a buyer should notice: Follow Up Boss's Grow plan is priced per user, so calling is the decision that moves the total. Follow Up Boss's Pro plan includes unlimited calling and texting for all users, which changes the arithmetic once a team reaches a certain size.

Here is an illustrative six-person team that wants calling on every seat. On Grow with calling at monthly billing, the cost is 6 users × $108 ($69 plus $39 for calling), or $648 per month and $7,776 a year. Pro covers up to 10 users with calling and texting at $499 per month, so the same team would pay $149 less each month, or $1,788 less over a year. At five users, Grow with calling costs $540 per month against $499 on Pro, so Pro becomes the cheaper option from the fifth seat onward on monthly billing.

The last row excludes the CINC base plan, which is not published, so the $275 figure is add-ons only. Read the Follow Up Boss rows as a model you can rerun with your own headcount, not as a quote.

Follow Up Boss: best fit, limits and setup

Best fit: agents and teams that generate leads from several sources and need one record for calls, texts and email. G2 reviewers highlight integrations, an easy-to-use interface, and handling calls, texts and emails in one place. G2 rating: 4.6 out of 5 from 118 reviews according to G2 (2026), and reviewers also flag a heavy real estate focus, a slow mobile app and contact search that could be more efficient.

Limits: a review on The Close lists "No free plan" and "No native IDX website or landing page builder" as cons, and notes that setup "can take time with a large database." The same review, dated September 21, 2026, says a solo agent "with a small database may find it difficult to justify the cost," according to The Close (2026). If you need a website on the same bill, Follow Up Boss will not supply it.

Implementation: the webhook model is the part to plan for. Only the account owner can create, update or delete webhooks. Each system can register two webhooks per event, and the callback must be HTTPS. Primary evidence: Follow Up Boss pricing and the Follow Up Boss webhook reference.

CINC: best fit, limits and setup

Best fit: brokerages and teams that want lead generation, a consumer-facing site and transaction tools in one subscription. The pricing page labels its Pro tier "Most Popular" and sizes it for up to 49 users, which places CINC closer to growing brokerages than to a team of six. Its tiers only make sense once you have a quote in hand.

Limits: SelectHub reviewers describe a learning curve, with the interface "overwhelming for new users," and say the pricing structure "may be a deterrent for smaller businesses." Reviewers also report limits on tailoring the platform, concerns about support responsiveness, and add-ons that are "not budget-friendly." CINC satisfaction: 73% from 42 user reviews according to SelectHub, an undated listing, so treat that figure as directional rather than current.

Implementation: because the base price is Quote-based, the implementation work starts before the contract. Ask for a written inclusion list by tier, confirm the user cap for your tier, confirm whether landing pages and the Seller Suite are included, and ask for API and export access in writing. Primary evidence: CINC pricing and the CINC About page.

Automation and integration: a proposed Follow Up Boss workflow

Automation is where the two products differ most in what you can verify from public material. Follow Up Boss documents its webhooks, so a team can design an outside workflow against them. US Tech Automations would configure this as a proposed workflow for review, not a live deployment, and the steps below describe a design rather than a result from any customer.

The trigger is a peopleCreated event, which fires when a new person record is created and posts to an HTTPS callback URL. The action is that the endpoint verifies the FUB-Signature header against the raw payload, returns a 2XX status within 10 seconds, and then fetches the full record using the event's URI with an admin API key. The output is a row in a speed-to-lead queue showing the lead source, the timestamp, and a suggested agent based on the team's own routing rules. A person approves the assignment before anything reaches an agent's phone. The Follow Up Boss docs show the integration side of the same setup: a proposed peopleCreated webhook would arrive with a fub_account query parameter in the callback URL, which the official sample uses to identify which account a callback belongs to.

Prerequisites come first. An account owner must create the webhook, the endpoint must be HTTPS, and it must accept duplicate deliveries. Follow Up Boss says a failed delivery is retried up to 5 times and that it can keep retrying "for up to 8 hours," according to Follow Up Boss developer docs (2026). The docs state both limits without reconciling them, so confirm the retry window in your own account before you rely on either. Human review points are an operations lead who approves routing rules before go-live, a weekly review of the failed-delivery queue, and an agent who approves any outbound message. The eventId payload key lets the endpoint recognize a duplicate delivery and skip it.

Zapier, Make, n8n or an in-house build

The alternative most teams actually weigh is stitching this together in Zapier, Make or n8n, or building it in-house. Those routes can be configured for run histories, retries, error branches and audit evidence, and for a small team they are often the cheapest way to start. Zapier's help center says Autoreplay "works to retry any failed steps in a Zap run," and that it is an account-wide setting for Professional plans and higher. The same article says Zapier auto-pauses a Zap at 95% errors over 7 days according to Zapier (undated help article), which means a broken automation can go quiet without anyone noticing unless someone watches the run history.

In every one of those routes, the buyer still owns idempotency, escalation paths, access controls and maintenance. A proposed US Tech Automations design would configure the same trigger, action and output as the Follow Up Boss workflow above, plus a named reviewer for failed deliveries and a written escalation to a person when a lead is not claimed within a time limit that the team sets. The trade-off is ownership. An external workflow adds a system someone must watch, while a native CRM rule has fewer moving parts and is easier to hand to a new hire.

Who this is for

Choose Follow Up Boss if you have several lead sources, you want published per-user prices and a trial before you speak to sales, and you do not need a website from the same vendor.

Choose CINC if you want lead generation, landing pages and transaction tools in one subscription, your headcount fits its tiers, and you are willing to take a quote before you can budget.

Red flags: Follow Up Boss is the wrong fit if you need a free plan or an IDX website from the same vendor; CINC is the wrong fit if you need a fixed monthly total before a sales call or if you cannot get API access in writing.

Common mistakes when comparing these CRMs

• Comparing base seat prices and skipping calling, texting and AI add-ons, which is where most of the total cost sits.

• Assuming the tier names map to the same team size. Follow Up Boss's Pro plan covers 10 users, while CINC's Pro tier covers up to 49, so the names do not line up.

• Trusting an undated rating. Check the date on every review before you use it to decide.

• Building webhook automation without an endpoint that answers within 10 seconds and handles duplicate deliveries.

• Forgetting that only the account owner can create Follow Up Boss webhooks, which stalls a build that starts with a developer who has no owner-level access.

Decision checklist

• Write down your team's user count and whether every seat needs calling.

• Run the 12-month total on both billing cycles for Follow Up Boss, and request a total from CINC for the same headcount.

• Ask CINC for a written inclusion list by tier, plus API and export access, before you compare.

• Confirm the trial length and contract terms inside Follow Up Boss before you start, because the pricing page and third-party reviews are not always identical.

• Name the person who owns webhooks, routing approvals and failed deliveries before you turn anything on.

• Weigh ownership: Zillow Group owns Follow Up Boss and Fidelity National Financial owns CINC, so check what each parent relationship means for your brokerage's data and lead-source choices.

When a simpler tool wins

When NOT to use US Tech Automations: if your need is one follow-up sequence inside a single CRM, the CRM's own automation is simpler and cheaper to run than a custom webhook service. If you have four or fewer active users and want calling, the Grow plan with calling is cheaper than Pro on monthly billing, based on the arithmetic above. If you have no operations or developer owner to watch a workflow, a native CRM rule is safer than any external automation layer, because a workflow nobody reviews fails quietly.

Frequently asked questions

Is Follow Up Boss cheaper than CINC?

You can compare Follow Up Boss directly because it publishes its prices, while CINC's base tiers are Quote-based, so no complete side-by-side total is possible from public material. On the published numbers, a six-person team with calling on every seat pays less on Pro than on Grow with calling, and the gap is $149 a month at monthly billing.

Does CINC offer a free trial?

The CINC pricing page we read does not state a trial, so ask CINC in writing before you assume one exists. Do not budget around a trial that the vendor has not confirmed.

Does Follow Up Boss have a website builder?

No, a review on The Close lists "No native IDX website or landing page builder" as a con, so plan for a separate site tool if you need one.

Can a non-developer build automations on Follow Up Boss webhooks?

Not on their own. The account owner must create the webhook, the callback must be HTTPS, and the endpoint must verify signatures and handle retries, so most teams need a developer or an automation partner to build it.

Which should a solo agent choose?

A solo agent with a substantial database or a steady stream of internet leads can justify Follow Up Boss, while a small database makes the cost hard to justify, according to the reviewer on The Close. CINC's Solo tier is for one user, but its price is Quote-based.

Do I need a separate automation tool with either CRM?

Not always. Native CRM rules handle simple follow-up sequences, while Zapier, Make or n8n help when you connect several apps and need run logs and error handling you can audit.

Is the G2 rating current?

It is current as of the page we read, which showed 4.6 out of 5 from 118 reviews and was stated as April 2026. Check the date again before you quote it internally.

Where this leaves a small team

If you want a published monthly number and a trial before you talk to anyone, Follow Up Boss is the easier place to start, and its webhook documentation gives you a clear route to build follow-up automation. If you want lead generation, landing pages and transaction tools in one platform and you are comfortable with a sales conversation, CINC is the candidate to quote. Either way, total the calling and AI add-ons for your own headcount, put a person in charge of the workflow, and ask for the written inclusion list before you sign. To see how one proposed design handles retries, duplicate deliveries and human approval, see how US Tech Automations configures this.