Comparison
Exa vs Follow Up Boss
The real-estate CRM built around portal leads and team follow-up, compared with a general AI CRM that works for agents too.
Last reviewed · Sources
The short answer
If your business runs on portal leads from Zillow, Realtor.com and similar sources, Follow Up Boss is purpose-built for it — 200+ lead-source integrations, IDX website partners, team calling with ring groups and texting safeguards. Exa is a general CRM that suits agents who want an AI receptionist for after-hours calls, WhatsApp alongside SMS and email, and an AI assistant that acts after you confirm — but it has no portal or MLS/IDX integrations.
Who it's for
Who each tool is best for
Exa is best for
- Agents whose leads come mainly from their own website, referrals and calls
- Agents who want after-hours calls answered and showings booked by AI
- Agents with clients who prefer WhatsApp
- Businesses that sell more than real estate and want one CRM
Follow Up Boss is best for
- Real estate teams and brokerages that buy portal leads
- Team leaders managing agents and ISAs with shared inboxes and calling
- Agents using an IDX website that sends property activity to the CRM
- Teams that want a real-estate integration ecosystem of 250+ apps
Feature by feature
Exa and Follow Up Boss compared
What each product offers today, based on Follow Up Boss's public product pages and help docs. Features can depend on plan, edition or add-ons — check with each vendor for your case.
| Feature | Exa | Follow Up Boss |
|---|---|---|
| Real-estate lead-source integrations | PartialNo portal integrations; connect sources via the lead API, forms or webhooks | Yes200+ lead sources incl. Zillow, Trulia and Realtor.com, plus email lead parsing |
| MLS / IDX integrations | Not offeredNot offered | PartialThrough integrated IDX partners such as Showcase IDX and RealSavvy |
| AI assistant that acts with confirmation | YesAnswers questions with charts and record links; every change waits for your confirmation | YesSummaries, suggested tasks and drafted texts you review; Smart Actions in beta |
| AI voice receptionist & outbound AI calls | YesVia your Vapi account: answers, qualifies, books; transcripts and summaries saved | PartialThrough partners such as Vocaly and Mod Ai |
| Call recording, transcripts & AI summaries | PartialFor AI calls via Vapi; no recorder for Zoom, Meet or Teams meetings | YesCall recording with AI transcripts and summaries (off by default) |
| Built-in calling / dialer for reps | Not offeredNo rep dialer; calls are AI voice calls via Vapi | YesFUB calling with call lists, ring groups and live transfer |
| Unified inbox (email, SMS, WhatsApp, calls) | YesOne thread per contact across email, SMS, WhatsApp and Vapi calls | PartialInbox for calls, texts and email; WhatsApp not available |
| Two-way SMS | YesFrom your own Twilio numbers | YesNative two-way texting, including group texts |
| WhatsApp messaging | YesWhatsApp Business Cloud API, approved templates, 24-hour window enforced | Not offeredListed in its help center as under consideration |
| Multi-step email & SMS follow-up | PartialAutomations with wait steps and messages; no dedicated sequence builder | YesAction Plans and drip emails that can stop when a lead replies |
| Visual Kanban pipeline | YesMultiple pipelines, stage probabilities, rotting alerts | YesBuyer and seller deal pipelines with commission tracking |
| Workflow automations | Yes25 triggers incl. quote and invoice events; actions incl. messages, tasks, waits, webhooks, AI calls | YesAutomations 2.0 with triggers such as stage, tag and property viewed |
| Built-in messaging compliance (consent, STOP, quiet hours) | YesPer-channel consent, STOP/START/HELP, quiet hours — enforced server-side on every send | YesAccount-wide STOP opt-outs, 10DLC registration, after-hours texts queued until 8am |
| Appointments & calendar sync | YesAvailability slots, double-booking protection, two-way Google Calendar, ICS feed | YesAppointments with Google and Microsoft 365 calendar sync |
| Native iOS & Android apps | YesNative iPhone and Android apps | YesNative iOS and Android apps |
| Reporting & forecasting | YesKPI dashboard, monthly revenue forecast, funnel, rep and lead-source reports | YesAgent activity, lead source, deal and goal reports |
| API & webhooks | YesREST API, scoped API keys, HMAC-signed webhooks with retries | YesOpen API and webhooks |
| Multiple workspaces, roles & audit log | YesFive roles, record visibility, audit log with old/new values | PartialAdmin, manager, agent and assistant permissions; multiple teams on Platform |
| App marketplace | Not offeredFocused native integrations plus API and webhooks | Yes250+ integrations |
Pricing: plans and prices change and differ by region, so we don't quote them here. SeeExa pricing andFollow Up Boss's pricing page.
Key differences
How Exa and Follow Up Boss differ
Built for real estate vs. built for follow-up
Follow Up Boss is designed around how real-estate teams work: leads arrive from 200+ sources including Zillow, Trulia and Realtor.com, IDX website partners send property views and saves, and deals live in buyer and seller pipelines with commission tracking. Exa is a general CRM with realtor workflows on top. It covers the follow-up — instant replies, nurture automations, a timeline per contact, buyer and listing pipelines — but it has no portal, MLS or IDX integrations, so leads come from your forms, imports, calls, messages or the lead API.
Calls: team phones vs. AI reception
Follow Up Boss includes calling with call lists, ring groups and live transfer, plus call recording with AI transcripts and summaries; AI answering services come from partners such as Vocaly. Exa has no rep dialer. Its strength is the AI receptionist: with Vapi connected, it answers when you’re at a showing, captures buyer criteria, qualifies budget and timeline and books into your available slots — saving the transcript and summary on the lead.
Texting and WhatsApp
Both have native two-way texting with real compliance safeguards. Follow Up Boss’s help center lists WhatsApp as under consideration for the future. Exa includes WhatsApp through the Business Cloud API, in the same inbox as SMS, email and calls.
AI
Follow Up Boss’s AI summarizes, suggests tasks and drafts messages you review, and its Smart Actions (beta) can suggest — or, if an admin chooses, apply — stage and appointment updates from calls. Exa’s assistant answers questions about your pipeline with charts and record links and proposes every change as a confirmation card.
Making the call
Which one should you choose?
When to choose Follow Up Boss
- You buy leads from Zillow, Realtor.com or other portals and want them flowing in automatically — Exa has no portal integrations.
- Your IDX website should send property views, saves and searches to the CRM — Exa has no MLS or IDX integrations.
- You run a team with agents and ISAs who need calling, ring groups and live transfers — Exa has no rep dialer.
- You want a CRM where everything — triggers, reports, deal pipelines — is designed around buyers, sellers and commissions.
When to choose Exa
- Most of your leads come from your own website, ads, open houses and referrals, and you want instant replies by text.
- You want an AI receptionist (via Vapi) to answer calls while you're at a showing, capture buyer criteria and book appointments.
- Your clients message on WhatsApp, and you want it in the same inbox as SMS, email and calls.
- You want an AI assistant that answers questions like “who needs follow-up?” with record links and proposes tasks or messages for your confirmation.
- You also sell other services and want one CRM rather than a real-estate-only tool.
Migration
Switching from Follow Up Boss to Exa
Follow Up Boss lets owners export contacts to a spreadsheet. Import them into Exa with column mapping and duplicate handling, set up separate buyer and listing pipelines, and send leads from your website and other tools through Exa forms or the lead API. Portal leads that rely on Follow Up Boss's direct integrations would need another route, such as the lead API.
- 1
Export your data from Follow Up Boss
Export the people and companies you want to keep from Follow Up Boss to CSV files. Keep the column headers — Exa uses them to suggest a mapping.
- 2
Import with column mapping and duplicate handling
Upload a CSV as leads or contacts, preview the rows and check the suggested mapping (custom fields included — create them first). Choose whether rows that match an existing record are skipped, update it, or are created anyway. Progress, counts and row errors are shown as the import runs.
- 3
Rebuild your pipeline and price book
Create pipelines with your own stages, probabilities and rotting rules, then recreate open deals by hand or through the REST API — CSV import covers leads and contacts, not deals. If you send quotes, add your products, services and tax rates to the price book, and connect QuickBooks Online if you use it.
- 4
Reconnect your lead sources
Embed Exa forms on your website, and send leads from other systems to the server-to-server lead API with a scoped API key — a lead with a matching email or phone is updated instead of duplicated. Signed webhooks push CRM events to your own tools.
- 5
Connect channels and invite your team
Connect Twilio for SMS, the WhatsApp Business Cloud API, Postmark or SMTP for email, Vapi for AI calls, Google Calendar and QuickBooks Online, then invite teammates as owner, admin, manager, rep or viewer. Exa only texts people with SMS consent (or who texted you first), so plan how you will record consent for imported contacts.
Questions about moving over? Our team is happy to help.
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FAQ
Exa vs Follow Up Boss: common questions
Quick answers for teams weighing Exa against Follow Up Boss.
Still have questions?
Start a free trial and see Exa with your own leads and pipeline, or email our team.
Is Exa a real estate CRM?
Exa is a general CRM with workflows for realtors — buyer and listing pipelines, an AI receptionist for showings, nurture automations and texting compliance. It doesn't have the real-estate-specific integrations Follow Up Boss offers, such as portal lead sources and IDX partners.
Can Exa receive Zillow or Realtor.com leads?
Not through a built-in integration. Exa accepts leads from its embeddable forms, CSV imports, calls, inbound messages and a server-to-server lead API with scoped keys — which another tool can post to. If portal leads are central to your business, Follow Up Boss's native integrations are the simpler choice.
Does Exa integrate with MLS or IDX websites?
No. Exa has no MLS or IDX integrations.
How does texting compliance compare?
Both take it seriously. Follow Up Boss handles STOP opt-outs account-wide, requires 10DLC registration and queues first texts sent overnight. Exa tracks consent per channel with evidence, handles STOP/START/HELP, applies quiet hours in the recipient's time zone to texts and calls, and enforces the rules on the server for every send.
Can I move from Follow Up Boss to Exa?
Yes. Export your contacts to a spreadsheet, then import them into Exa, mapping columns (including custom fields) and choosing how duplicates are handled.
Sources
Follow Up Boss details were checked against Follow Up Boss's own website and help documentation. Last reviewed . Spotted something out of date?Let us know and we'll correct it.
- Follow Up Boss — Platform (lead sources, integrations, teams)
- Follow Up Boss — Zillow integration
- Follow Up Boss — IDX integration (developer docs)
- Follow Up Boss — AI features
- Follow Up Boss — Smart Actions
- Follow Up Boss — Vocaly AI integration
- Follow Up Boss — Call recording, transcripts and summaries
- Follow Up Boss — Calling
- Follow Up Boss — Team Inbox
- Follow Up Boss — Inbox Apps overview (WhatsApp)
- Follow Up Boss — Texting opt-in and opt-out
- Follow Up Boss — After-hours queued texts
- Follow Up Boss — Connect your email and calendar
- Follow Up Boss — Deals
- Follow Up Boss — Automations 2.0
- Follow Up Boss — Mobile apps
- Follow Up Boss — API docs
- Follow Up Boss — Export contacts
- Follow Up Boss — Pricing
Product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Comparison based on publicly available information as of October 2026. Exa is not affiliated with or endorsed by Follow Up Boss.
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