5 Best Mortgage Broker CRM Software Platforms in the UK (2026)

Most sole traders and small mortgage and protection firms end up in one of two places. Either they're paying for a platform built first for large networks and using a fraction of it, with a sales-led sign-up process to match. Or they're running the advice process itself, fact-find, documents, suitability, protection, across a sourcing tool's CRM module, a shared drive and a Word template for the suitability letter, because nothing in between was built for a one-to-three-person firm specifically.

That gap decides how much of your week goes to advising clients versus rekeying the same information into three different systems, and it's what a compliance file review or a Consumer Duty check tests in practice. This guide compares five platforms UK mortgage and protection advisers weigh up against each other on that basis.

One disclosure up front: Cleera is the company publishing this guide, and it sits below alongside the other four: Mortgage Brain, Twenty7tec, Smartr365 and 360 Lifecycle. Every claim about a platform other than Cleera comes from that vendor's own published material or UK trade press, not a competitor's marketing about a rival. Every claim about Cleera is something we can point to directly in the product, not a general assertion.

In a hurry? Here's the shortlist:

• Cleera – best for sole traders and small firms (1-3 advisers) that want a compliance-grade advice file rather than a pipeline, mortgage and protection cases on one workflow, and AI that drafts and flags from the real case data. Built to sit alongside your existing sourcing and back-office tools, it doesn't bundle a sourcing engine of its own
• Mortgage Brain (CRM Brain) – best for firms wanting CRM bundled with sourcing, criteria and affordability tools from one long-standing vendor
• 360 Lifecycle – best for firms of any size wanting one end-to-end system for the whole client journey
• Twenty7tec – best for firms already sourcing through Twenty7tec who want CRM in the same relationship
• Smartr365 – best for firms wanting an established, large-scale platform with AI-assisted admin automation

What UK mortgage and protection advisers actually need from case management software in 2026

Two decisions sit underneath almost every CRM choice a small firm makes, and most comparison articles skip past both.

Does it produce a defensible file, or just track a deal? MCOB 4.7R requires advisers to gather sufficient information before making a recommendation and to be able to show why that recommendation was suitable. Consumer Duty, in full effect since 31 July 2023 for open products and services, adds a further requirement to evidence good outcomes against four specific outcomes: products and services, price and value, consumer understanding, and consumer support. A pipeline view showing a deal is "at application stage" doesn't answer any of that. A case management system holding the fact-find, the suitability rationale, the documents and a time-stamped audit trail in one place does.

Does it replace what you already run, or fit alongside it? Most small firms, and every firm on a network, are already committed to at least one other system: a sourcing platform, and often a back-office or compliance-recognised platform the network mandates, commonly Intelliflo Office, one of the most widely used practice management platforms in UK financial advice and, by its own count, in use by over 29,000 advice professionals. The realistic question for a CRM isn't "does it do everything" but "does it make the part you own, the advice file itself, better, without forcing you to rip out something you're already required to run."

"Better" is worth being specific about, because it's where most comparison articles go vague. A fact-find that's genuinely complete when the case reaches underwriting, instead of missing a section nobody noticed until a lender queried it. A suitability rationale drafted from the client's real data instead of a blank page under time pressure, with the gaps in what's known made visible instead of quietly papered over. Documents checked as they arrive, name against applicant, figures against what's already on file, instead of discovered incomplete weeks later. And a record that updates itself as the case moves, who did what and when, instead of depending on someone remembering to log it after the fact. That's the difference between a file that exists and one that would hold up if a supervisor, a network compliance officer or the FCA pulled it.

Does it make the day-to-day simple, or add another system to manage? Compliance depth counts for little if it comes wrapped in a clunky interface an adviser avoids, or if a single document request turns into three emails and a phone call. The best case management software cuts admin time instead of adding to it: automating the repetitive parts, chasing a missing document, reminding a client what's still outstanding, generating a signature request, so an adviser's time goes into advising, not admin. A real chunk of this process also happens in front of the client directly, uploading documents, signing forms, checking progress, so that side needs to feel as considered as the back office does. A clunky client portal reflects on the firm running it as much as the vendor who built it.

That's the frame we used to evaluate the five platforms below:

• FCA compliance and audit trail. Can the platform produce a complete, time-stamped record of a case if a supervisor or the FCA asks for one, including suitability rationale under MCOB 4.7R and evidence against the four Consumer Duty outcomes?
• Case management depth versus pipeline tracking. Does it hold the fact-find, suitability analysis, communications, documents and audit trail in one place, or is a stage label all you get?
• Mortgage and protection in one workflow. Protection carries real advice value, yet many platforms treat it as a bolt-on instead of a first-class case type.
• Where the AI sits. Built into the case record itself, checking and generating the documentation an adviser produces, or sold as a separate layer alongside the core workflow?
• Ecosystem versus fit. One module inside a wider suite from the same vendor, or a focused tool designed to plug into a sourcing system and a back-office platform a firm already runs?
• Process efficiency and client experience. Does day-to-day admin, chasing documents, requesting signatures, keeping clients updated, happen on its own, and does the client-facing side feel professional and easy to use, or is the back office the only thing that's compliant?

The five platforms at a glance

This table uses the same criteria set out above, so you can see where each platform genuinely lands rather than how it's positioned.

Platform	Best for	AI inside the case file	Protection as a first-class case type	Fits alongside your existing sourcing/back office
Cleera	Sole traders and small firms (1-3 advisers) wanting a compliance-grade advice file, AI-assisted, with mortgage and protection on one pipeline	Yes: drafts suitability notes and flags document/figure mismatches for adviser review; case risk flags are rule-based, not AI	Yes: own case type, own compliance rigour, Consumer Duty prompt on completion	Yes: no sourcing engine by design, works standalone or syncs into Intelliflo Office, more integrations on the way
Mortgage Brain (CRM Brain)	Established firms wanting CRM bundled with sourcing, criteria and affordability tools from one vendor	Not stated	Not stated	No: CRM is one module inside its own five-product suite
360 Lifecycle	Firms of any size wanting one end-to-end system for the whole client journey	Not stated	Not stated	No: sourcing runs through its own end-to-end system
Twenty7tec	Firms already sourcing through Twenty7tec wanting CRM in the same relationship	Not stated	Not stated	No: CRM is secondary to its own sourcing platform
Smartr365	Firms wanting an established, large-scale platform with AI-assisted admin automation	Partial: Azure AI speeds up admin tasks, not the case file itself	Not stated	No: sourcing and submissions run through its own platform

"Not stated" means we found no public claim either way, not that the feature doesn't exist, only Cleera's row above is something we can point to directly. If you're evaluating one of the other four, ask them the same three questions directly.

1. Cleera

Best for: sole traders and small firms that want mortgage and protection cases on one pipeline, AI that works from the data sitting on the case, and a system built to fit alongside whatever sourcing and back-office tools the firm already runs instead of replacing them.

Most CRM "AI" is a chat box bolted onto a pipeline tool: useful for answering a general mortgage question, but disconnected from the case file an adviser has to produce and defend. Cleera's AI works the other way round. It's built directly against the structured data already on the case, employment history, self-employed income across multiple tax years, dependants, debts, monthly outgoings, protection cover already in place, the lender product being recommended, and uses that data for specific, checkable jobs instead of general-purpose assistance.

Client data and AI is a fair thing to be cautious about, so it's worth addressing head on. Cleera applies data minimisation before anything reaches the AI model: sensitive identifiers, date of birth, full postcode, National Insurance number, are stripped or reduced, down to age, outward code and so on, before the case context is ever built into a prompt. Requests to the AI provider run under a no-retention arrangement, so case data isn't stored by them or used to train any model. Nothing the AI produces is used unreviewed either: under Cleera's own terms, AI output is assistive only, a drafted note, a flagged mismatch, a surfaced risk, and an adviser reviews it before it becomes part of the file. The system doesn't decide anything on its own.

Key features:

• The suitability note drafts itself from what's already on the case. The note generator pulls the client's financial position, employment, dependants, existing protection and the recommended lender product from the case itself, and writes the rationale against that data. Where something hasn't been captured yet, it says so explicitly instead of filling the gap with a plausible-sounding guess, which matters given the note is what a supervisor or the FCA will read.
• One click checks every uploaded document against the case. When identity documents, payslips or bank statements come in, an adviser runs Cleera's AI check against them: it compares the name on the document against the applicants registered on the case and flags a mismatch for review. For self-employed and limited company cases, it compares the turnover and net profit on submitted accounts against the figures already recorded and flags anything that differs by more than roughly 5% or £1,000, whichever is greater, for the adviser to look at. It also flags whether what was uploaded covers what was asked for, catching a gap like two of three requested months' bank statements before the case reaches submission instead of at underwriting. The adviser makes the call, and triggers the check, not the system.
• A fixed set of risk rules checks the case the moment an adviser opens it, without anyone running a report. LTV above what most lenders accept, LTV above typical buy-to-let limits, a target completion date that's already passed, or close while the case is still early-stage, adverse credit on file, a chain combined with deadline pressure, no adviser activity in two weeks, client documents that have expired or are about to. This is straightforward rule-based logic, not an AI model, so none of it sends case data anywhere near an AI provider. The flags surface on the case itself, not in a separate report someone has to remember to pull.
• Protection gets its own case type, with its own compliance trail. A protection case carries its own detail, policy type, cover basis, indexation, waiver of premium, trust status, instead of a generic "policy" note. Consumer Duty evidencing is built into the mortgage workflow itself: when an adviser tries to complete a mortgage case, purchase, remortgage, product transfer or further advance, Cleera checks whether a protection conversation was ever recorded. If not, it prompts them, with one-click buttons to record cover as discussed and declined or discussed and not interested, or a pointer into the case's own protection section to log interest or open a linked protection case. It doesn't block completion, but it stops the conversation from being skipped by accident.
• The case record outlives the transaction it started from. The client's full financial picture stays together in one place, employment, protection cover, the mortgage taken out, the lender and the date the current deal ends, so when that client comes back for a remortgage, a product transfer or a protection review, the adviser starts from real history instead of a blank fact-find or a hunt through old emails. Kept together like this, that history is what a repeat conversation actually runs on, and it's what turns a single completion into an ongoing relationship.
• A protection-interest signal turns into a task, on its own. When a client shows interest in protection cover during a mortgage case, Cleera doesn't just record it as a field, it creates a follow-up task assigned to the adviser with a due date, so that opportunity doesn't go cold once the mortgage completes. That task then surfaces as an in-app reminder on the adviser's own dashboard for as long as it's due, instead of relying on memory or a personal tickler list. Firms can control how this task automation behaves at an organisation level.
• Reaching the wider client bank doesn't need a separate marketing tool. Alongside individual follow-up tasks, Cleera lets a firm send mailshots and newsletters to its whole client bank directly, so staying in touch with past clients is built in rather than bolted on.
• Every sensitive action gets logged the moment it happens. Secrets are redacted automatically, and the log is queryable by case or by category, with the acting user visible on every entry, so a file is reconstructable for a supervisor review or a complaint without piecing it together from memory.
• Clients get a portal built around what they need to do next. A branded, mobile-responsive portal shows what's needed in plain language instead of compliance jargon, lets someone upload documents and sign paperwork in the same place, and tracks progress so they're not emailing to ask what's happening. Outstanding documents and forms get chased on the adviser's behalf, and the coverage check above catches an incomplete upload, like two of three requested months' bank statements, before it turns into a back-and-forth. Firms that work with referral partners also get an introducer portal, so partners can track the cases they've referred without chasing the adviser for updates.
• Sending a case to Intelliflo Office takes one click, not a re-type. For firms on a network that mandates Intelliflo Office, an adviser sends structured client data, case notes and documents across with a single confirm, instead of typing the same case into both systems by hand. Firms that aren't on Intelliflo lose nothing: Cleera works as a complete standalone case management system, and more integrations are on the roadmap. Got a specific system yours needs it to work with? Get in touch. More on exactly how the sync works below.

One live customer review puts it this way: "Completely modernised way of working. It simplifies the entire client journey, cuts out unnecessary admin, and gives more time to focus on clients." That's Stafford D., Mortgage and Protection Adviser at Moneybox Financial Management.

Cleera is deliberately not a sourcing platform. It's built to pair with whatever sourcing tool a firm already uses or its network mandates, so firms keep the sourcing relationship they trust while getting a case management layer built specifically around the advice file itself.

2. Mortgage Brain (CRM Brain)

Best for: established firms that want CRM, sourcing, criteria checking and affordability tools from one long-standing vendor.

Mortgage Brain is one of the longest-standing names in UK mortgage technology. CRM Brain is its case management product, sold as part of a wider suite alongside Sourcing Brain, Criteria Brain, Affordability Brain and Submissions Brain.

Key features:

• Client and introducer portals. Two-way case visibility for clients and referral partners.
• Automated administrative tasks. Reduces manual steps across the case lifecycle.
• Five integrated products from one vendor. Sourcing, criteria, affordability and submissions all connect back to the same case record.

CRM Brain is one module within that bigger system, rather than a product built end to end around case management alone.

3. Twenty7tec

Best for: firms already sourcing through Twenty7tec that want CRM in the same relationship, with live market data feeding into it.

Twenty7tec has built its position on data as much as on CRM. Its RESEARCH sourcing platform tracks live adviser search activity and product data, feeding INSIGHT and ADAPT, which monitor market and lender trends and are increasingly picked up directly by UK trade press.

Key features:

• Live sourcing data. Adviser search behaviour and product monitoring in real time.
• CRM for intermediaries. Case management available within the same platform relationship.
• Lender and product trend analytics. Feeds directly into the CRM rather than sitting in a separate tool.

Its CRM is a smaller part of the business than its sourcing tools by its own published user figures, so most of its adviser base knows it primarily as a sourcing platform first.

4. Smartr365

Best for: firms wanting an established, large-scale platform with AI-assisted admin automation.

Smartr365 describes itself as the UK's largest mortgage broker platform by user base, and has built a partnership with Microsoft around using Azure AI to speed up parts of the advice process.

Key features:

• Azure AI partnership. Aimed at cutting case admin time across the platform.
• Client onboarding and compliance in one system. Covers the process from first contact through submission.
• Lender submission tools. Built for firms managing high case volumes.

It's built first for scale, with an enterprise-oriented infrastructure and a sales-led onboarding process aimed at larger operations.

Another platform worth knowing

One more name comes up often enough in this market that it's worth a mention, even in brief.

360 Lifecycle, run by 360 Dotnet, is an end-to-end system covering leads and enquiries, fact-find, sourcing integrations, documents and compliance records, and commission administration, built to serve firms of any size from solo advisers to larger advice networks and call centre teams.

How Cleera fits alongside what you already use

Most firms evaluating this list aren't choosing a CRM in a vacuum. If you're on a network, you're very likely already required to run a specific sourcing platform and, in a lot of cases, a back-office or compliance-recognised system too, commonly Intelliflo Office. Ripping either of those out isn't usually realistic, and it's not what most firms evaluating a CRM want to do.

Cleera is built around that reality, not against it. It doesn't include a sourcing engine, so it sits alongside whichever sourcing platform a firm already uses or its network mandates. Where a firm runs Intelliflo Office, Cleera connects to it directly: each adviser connects their own account, and can send structured client data, case notes and a service case, with an optional document upload, from Cleera's case record with a single confirm instead of rekeying it by hand. Re-sending an update to a case that's already synced won't create a duplicate record on the Intelliflo side.

Intelliflo Office is the back-office integration built and live today, because it's what the largest share of the firms we talk to are required to run, not because Cleera needs it. Firms that aren't on Intelliflo lose none of the compliance depth or AI features above, and more back-office and sourcing integrations are on the roadmap. If there's a specific system your firm needs Cleera to work alongside, get in touch and tell us, that's exactly the kind of thing that shapes what gets built next.

The result is a firm running its sourcing through whatever tool it already trusts, its network-mandated compliance record through Intelliflo where that's required, and its day-to-day case work, the fact-find, the suitability note, the document chasing, the AI-assisted drafting and flagging, the protection conversation, through Cleera, without treating any of the three as something to tear out and replace.

How to choose the right mortgage CRM for your firm

1. Check what's already mandated. If you're on a network, find out in writing what sourcing and back-office systems you're required to run before evaluating anything else. That narrows which of the bundled options, if any, fit alongside what you have.
2. Decide bundled or focused. A single-vendor suite (Mortgage Brain, Twenty7tec, Smartr365) reduces the number of supplier relationships you manage. A focused case management tool (Cleera) usually goes deeper on the advice file itself, at the cost of not covering sourcing.
3. Check how protection is handled, specifically. Is it a genuinely separate case type with its own compliance rigour, or a note field on the mortgage case?
4. Ask where the AI sits. Request a demonstration of exactly what it touches: does it draft or flag something that ends up in the file a supervisor would review, or does it summarise a call or speed up a search without changing what's in the record?
5. Ask what happens if you leave. Get a straight answer on what exports and what doesn't before you commit, not after.
6. Sit in the client's seat. Ask to see the client portal or app, not just the adviser side. If it looks like an afterthought, it probably was one, and your clients will notice before you do.
7. Ask how AI handles client data. Get specifics from any vendor: is sensitive data minimised before it reaches a model, is anything retained or used to train it, and does an adviser review the output before it's relied on? A vague answer is itself useful information.

The real question this comparison answers

Across the platforms above, two patterns repeat. Sourcing, CRM and compliance are usually bundled together from one vendor, which suits a firm that wants a single supplier relationship but also means the CRM is rarely the primary product, more a module inside something bigger. And AI, where it exists, tends to sit around the workflow, summarising a call, speeding up sourcing, instead of inside the case record an adviser has to produce and defend.

That's the real choice here: one vendor bundling sourcing, CRM and compliance together, or a focused case management system built around the advice file, with AI that flags document and figure mismatches for adviser review, surfaces case risk on its own, won't let a protection conversation go unrecorded by accident, syncs into the back office a network already requires instead of fighting it, and hands clients a portal they'll want to use rather than a login they avoid. Firms that want the former have several strong, established options above. Firms that want the latter are who Cleera is built for.

Frequently asked questions

What's the best CRM for a sole trader mortgage broker in the UK?

For a sole trader, the deciding factor is usually whether you want sourcing, CRM and compliance bundled from one vendor, or a case management system built around the advice file that you pair with whatever sourcing tool you already use. Cleera is built for the second approach, with mortgage and protection cases on one pipeline and AI built into suitability notes, risk flagging and document analysis from day one.

Do I need a separate mortgage sourcing system as well as a CRM?

It depends on the platform. Mortgage Brain, 360 Lifecycle, Twenty7tec and Smartr365 all bundle or integrate sourcing alongside CRM from the same vendor relationship. Cleera takes a different approach by design: built to pair with whatever sourcing tool a firm already uses or its network mandates, so the case management side doesn't depend on switching sourcing providers.

Can I use Cleera alongside my network's compliance system or Intelliflo Office?

Yes. Cleera doesn't require a firm to give up a network-mandated back office. Each adviser connects their own Intelliflo Office account, and can send structured case data, notes and documents from Cleera through with one click, so the compliance record a network requires stays current without retyping it. If your network mandates a different back-office system instead, Cleera still works fully as a standalone case management tool, and more integrations are on the way, get in touch and tell us what you need.

Do I need dedicated mortgage CRM software, or can I use a generic tool like a spreadsheet or a general CRM?

A generic CRM or a spreadsheet can track a pipeline, but it won't prompt you to complete a Consumer Duty evidence check, flag a missing AML document, or hold a defensible suitability rationale in a structured, retrievable format. For an FCA-regulated advice practice, the real cost isn't the software price, it's the time spent maintaining workarounds and the risk of an incomplete file at review.

What does a mortgage CRM need to do to support Consumer Duty?

Consumer Duty took full effect on 31 July 2023 for open products and services, and 31 July 2024 for closed products no longer on sale. In practice, a CRM needs to capture and retain evidence against the four Consumer Duty outcomes (products and services, price and value, consumer understanding, and consumer support), not just log free-text case notes, and needs to make that evidence retrievable quickly if a supervisor asks for it.

Can I switch mortgage CRM without losing my case history?

All five platforms here support some form of data export or migration, but the practical difficulty varies by how much of your existing data is structured versus stored as free text or attachments, and by how deeply your current CRM is tied into a wider vendor ecosystem, whether that's Mortgage Brain's suite, 360 Lifecycle's end-to-end system, or Twenty7tec's or Smartr365's sourcing integrations. Ask any vendor you're evaluating for a straight answer on what migrates and what doesn't before you commit.

Does better compliance mean more admin for clients?

No, and if it does on a particular platform, that's a product decision, not a requirement of doing compliance properly. The two goals aren't in tension: a well-built case management system automates the repetitive admin, chasing a missing document, sending a reminder, requesting a signature, so the compliance depth comes with less manual work, not more. On the client side, a branded portal that shows what's needed next in plain language and lets someone upload a document or sign a form in one place is both a better experience and fewer emails for the adviser to answer. Ask to see the client-facing screens before assuming compliance and simplicity are a trade-off.

Why does it matter whether AI sits inside the case record or alongside it?

Because the output that matters for a mortgage file, the suitability note, the risk assessment, the audit trail, is what a supervisor or the FCA would review. AI that summarises a call or speeds up sourcing is useful, but it doesn't change what ends up in the case file. AI built against the case data itself does more specific, checkable work: flagging a mismatch between the name on an uploaded payslip and the applicants registered on the case, surfacing a difference between submitted company accounts and the figures already recorded, or flagging whether uploaded bank statements cover the period requested, each one a flag for the adviser to review, not an automatic decision. That's a different kind of AI to a chat assistant answering questions alongside the workflow, and it has a more direct effect on the file an adviser would have to defend.

Is it safe to use AI features with client financial and personal information?

It's a reasonable question to put to any vendor. On Cleera specifically: data minimisation is applied before anything reaches the AI model, stripping or reducing sensitive identifiers, date of birth, full postcode, National Insurance number, before a prompt is ever built. Requests to the AI provider run under a no-retention arrangement, so case data isn't stored by the provider or used to train any model. AI output is never the last word either: under Cleera's own terms, it's a drafted note, a flagged mismatch or a surfaced risk that an adviser reviews before it becomes part of the file, not a decision the system makes alone. Case risk flags sit apart from all of this, rule-based logic rather than AI, so they never involve an AI provider.

Does Cleera help with client retention and repeat business?

Yes, concretely. Every case keeps the full relationship together, fact-find, mortgage, protection cover, the current deal's end date, in one retrievable record, so the information an adviser needs to spot a client worth a follow-up already lives in the system instead of a spreadsheet or an old email thread. On top of that, when a client shows interest in protection cover, Cleera creates a follow-up task for the adviser with a due date, so that opportunity doesn't lapse once the mortgage completes, and that task surfaces as an in-app reminder on the adviser's own dashboard for as long as it's due. Beyond individual cases, Cleera also lets a firm reach its wider client bank directly with mailshots and newsletters, so staying in touch with past clients doesn't need a separate marketing tool.

See it on your own cases

If mortgage and protection cases living on one pipeline, with AI that drafts and flags directly from your real case data instead of sitting in a generic chat box bolted on top, and a system that fits alongside your existing sourcing and back office instead of replacing it, sounds like the gap in your current setup, take a look at how Cleera handles a real case from first enquiry to completion.