Most Australian real estate agencies run on four kinds of software: a CRM for sales (Rex, Agentbox, VaultRE, MyDesktop), property management with trust accounting (PropertyMe, PropertyTree, Console Cloud, Ailo), marketing tools (Realhub, ActivePipe), and the two big listing portals (realestate.com.au and Domain). Very few agencies use a single platform for everything. The usual setup is one tool from each group, connected, so the right choice depends on whether your agency is sales-led or rent-roll-led and on how well each tool talks to the others.
This list sorts the 12 platforms by what they're for rather than ranking them. A "number one" doesn't mean much when a CRM and a trust accounting system do completely different jobs.
The 12 platforms at a glance
| Platform | What it's for | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Rex | Sales CRM, listings and marketing | Sales teams that want CRM and campaign marketing in one place |
| Agentbox | Sales CRM and listing management | Agencies wanting an established cloud CRM for the sales team |
| VaultRE | Sales CRM and listing management | Agencies comparing modern cloud CRMs |
| MyDesktop | Sales CRM and listing management | Agencies that value a long-established local platform |
| PropertyMe | Cloud property management and trust accounting | Rent rolls of most sizes moving to, or already on, the cloud |
| PropertyTree | Property management and trust accounting | Property management teams wanting a long-standing system |
| Console Cloud | Property management and trust accounting | Larger property management departments and groups |
| Ailo | Property management with owner and renter apps | Agencies that want owners and renters in the same platform |
| Realhub | Marketing campaign management (print, signboards, digital) | Agencies running lots of vendor-paid campaigns |
| ActivePipe | Automated, personalised email marketing | Agencies nurturing large contact databases |
| realestate.com.au | Listing portal and agent tools | Every agency selling or leasing residential property |
| Domain | Listing portal and agent tools | Every agency selling or leasing residential property |
Sales CRMs
The CRM is where your sales team lives: contacts, appraisals, listings, buyer matching, and the campaign trail from listing to sold. All four below are cloud platforms built for the Australian market, and all push listings out to the portals.
1. Rex
Rex is a CRM and listing platform for sales agents with a strong focus on marketing listings. It suits agencies that want the CRM and the campaign side of a listing handled in one product rather than stitched across several.
Worth checking in a demo: how campaign marketing works day to day, and how Rex connects to the property management system you already use.
2. Agentbox
Agentbox is a cloud CRM for agency sales teams covering contacts, listings, and portal and website feeds. It's a common choice for agencies that want a mature, widely used CRM.
Worth checking: which integrations your agency relies on are already supported, and what migration looks like from your current CRM.
3. VaultRE
VaultRE is a cloud CRM for real estate covering contacts, listings and the sales pipeline, with reporting on agent activity. It's often on shortlists for agencies replacing an older desktop-era system.
Worth checking: the reporting you actually need (not the reporting in the demo), and how it handles your rentals team if they share contacts with sales.
4. MyDesktop
MyDesktop is one of the longest-running agency CRMs in Australia, covering contacts, listings and portal uploads. Its appeal is familiarity: plenty of agents have used it somewhere before.
Worth checking: the parts of the interface your team will use every day, and the roadmap for the features you care about most.
Property management and trust accounting
If your agency has a rent roll, this is the system that matters most. It holds the tenancies, the arrears, the maintenance, the inspections and the trust account. Every state has its own trust accounting rules, so treat the trust accounting and audit reporting as the first thing you evaluate, not the last.
5. PropertyMe
PropertyMe is cloud property management software with trust accounting, owner and tenant portals, and a mobile app for inspections and work on the go. It's widely used by small and mid-sized rent rolls.
6. PropertyTree
PropertyTree is property management and trust accounting software that has been used by Australian agencies for a long time. It suits property management teams that want an established system and a large community of other users to learn from.
7. Console Cloud
Console Cloud is property management and trust accounting software that's often chosen by larger property management departments and multi-office groups.
8. Ailo
Ailo is a property management platform that puts property managers, owners and renters in the same system, each with their own app, alongside trust accounting. It suits agencies that want owners and renters to self-serve more of the routine questions.
Worth checking for all four: how the switch-over works (migrating a trust account mid-month is the part to plan carefully), how inspections run on a phone, and what owners and renters see.
Marketing
9. Realhub
Realhub manages listing marketing campaigns: print, signboards, digital ads and the artwork that goes with them, with the agency's branding and suppliers built in. It suits agencies that run a high volume of vendor-paid campaigns and want them ordered and approved in one place.
10. ActivePipe
ActivePipe automates personalised email marketing for agencies. It connects to your CRM and sends contacts property and market content based on what they've engaged with, so a large database stays warm without someone writing every email.
Listing portals
11. realestate.com.au
realestate.com.au is one of Australia's two major national listing portals, and it also sells agent and agency products: listing upgrades, appraisal and lead tools, and profiles. For most agencies it's not optional, so the question is which paid products are worth it.
12. Domain
Domain is the other national listing portal, with its own agent and agency products. Most agencies list on both, and both receive listings automatically from your CRM.
How to choose
Feature lists all look similar. These questions separate the platforms faster.
1. Start with the system of record. For a rent-roll-heavy agency, that's property management and trust accounting. For a sales-led agency, it's the CRM. Choose that one first and pick the rest to fit around it.
2. Check the connections, not the logos. "Integrates with" can mean anything from a live two-way sync to a nightly export. Ask each vendor what data moves, in which direction, and how often. Our PropTech integration guide covers the questions to ask.
3. Watch your own team use it. Run a trial with the people who'll use it every day: a sales agent on a Saturday, a property manager doing an inspection. A platform your team avoids is the expensive one, whatever it costs.
4. Plan the migration before you sign. Ask how contacts, listings history, documents and (for property management) the trust ledger move across, who does it, and what a cut-over week looks like.
5. Ask what owners, vendors and renters see. Portals and apps for clients are a big part of how an agency comes across. Get logins for the client-facing side, not just the admin side.
6. Get pricing in writing for your size. Pricing usually depends on users, offices or rent roll size, and changes over time. Get a quote from each vendor rather than relying on published or second-hand figures.
What we've seen building for this industry
We don't sell agency software, but we build for real estate on both sides of the Pacific. In Australia we designed and built Real Estate Jobs Australia, a job marketplace for the industry where agencies post roles and candidates keep a Career Passport for their licences and CPD across states. In the US we build websites and a CMS, TaliCMS, for REALTOR® associations including Texas REALTORS® and Columbus REALTORS®.
A few things carry across:
- Real estate software has to fit the regulation, not the other way round. Licensing and CPD rules differ by state, which is why the Career Passport tracks them per state rather than as a single checkbox. The same thinking applies to trust accounting: generic tools rarely get the state-by-state detail right.
- The connections matter as much as the platform. On Real Estate Jobs Australia, new contacts flow into the client's CRM tagged as business owner or candidate, with suburb and state, so their team can segment and follow up without exporting spreadsheets. Agencies feel the same thing with their own stack: the value is in what moves between tools automatically.
- Industry-specific beats general when the work is specific. Big general job boards sell volume. An agency hiring a property manager needs someone licensed and current, which is why a niche marketplace exists. The same logic is why most agencies run real-estate-specific CRMs and property management systems instead of general ones.
If none of the platforms above fits a workflow that's central to your business, that's usually the signal to look at something built for it. Our guide to building custom real estate software covers when that's worth it.
FAQ
What software do most Australian real estate agencies use?
Usually a sales CRM (such as Rex, Agentbox, VaultRE or MyDesktop), a property management and trust accounting system (such as PropertyMe, PropertyTree, Console Cloud or Ailo), and listings on realestate.com.au and Domain. Many add a marketing tool like Realhub or ActivePipe.
Is there one platform that does everything for an agency?
Some platforms cover more than one area, but most agencies still combine a CRM, a property management system and the portals. Check how well the pieces connect before chasing a single all-in-one product.
What's the difference between a real estate CRM and property management software?
A CRM manages contacts, appraisals, listings and the sales pipeline. Property management software manages tenancies, rent, maintenance, inspections and the trust account. Sales teams live in the first, property managers in the second.
What should a small agency prioritise?
The system your income depends on. A small rent roll should get trust accounting and the property management workflow right first. A small sales team should pick a CRM the agents will actually use, then connect the rest.
How much does real estate software cost in Australia?
It depends on users, offices and rent roll size, and vendors change their pricing over time. Ask each vendor for a written quote for your agency rather than relying on published or second-hand figures.
Need software that fits a workflow off-the-shelf tools don't? Talk to us about building it.
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