BNTouch vs Surefire
CRM & Lead Management head-to-head · axis by axis, same rubric for both
CRM & Lead Management
ICE Mortgage Technology
| Axis | BNTouch | Surefire |
|---|---|---|
| Production impact | 4.5 | 5.0 |
| Functionality & depth | 4.6 | 5.0 |
| Integrations & ecosystem | 4.4 | 3.8 |
| Adoption & support | 5.0 | 4.6 |
| Return on spend | 5.0 | 3.8 |
| Overall | 4.7 | 4.6 |
BNTouch wins 3 of 5 axes. Same rubric, same weights, no sponsorships.
One vendor is owned by your LOS, the other is not
Surefire belongs to ICE Mortgage Technology, which also owns Encompass. It came across in the Black Knight deal, and traded as Top of Mind before that. BNTouch names no parent company and markets hard on that.
Ownership cuts both ways. ICE can wire Surefire into its own loan data. It also sets the roadmap by its own priorities rather than yours. BNTouch says it has operated independently since 2003 and is bootstrapped. That funding claim is vendor stated and unverified.
A published rate card against a quote-only wall
BNTouch publishes the whole thing. Individual is $165 per month with a $125 activation fee. Team is $95 per user per month with a $95 per user activation fee. Both include 5,000 records per seat.
Record overage runs $5 per additional thousand. Text and voice includes 100 segments each month, then $0.03 per segment. Records go uncapped if you send through your own SMTP server.
Surefire publishes no price anywhere. Software Advice lists one custom quote plan, available on request. Ask ICE for the seat minimum, the term length, and the annual uplift cap in writing.
Integration lists that do not match the marketing
BNTouch names five LOS platforms across its marketing pages: Encompass, Calyx, BytePro, LendingPad and Floify. Its own integrations page names LendingPad alone. That gap deserves a direct demo question.
Surefire’s ICE product page names four sales tools: MortgageCoach, MBS Highway, MonitorBase and Sales Boomerang. No LOS, POS or pricing engine appears on it. Third-party directories name Blend, Floify, MeridianLink Mortgage and Calyx Point instead.
The 600,000 message incident, and why it still matters
A Surefire error in May 2024 sent more than 600,000 unauthorized emails and texts. Recipients included contacts held on terminated accounts of lenders no longer using the platform. ICE called it a branding mix up and resolved it the same day.
For a compliance officer that is a TCPA question, not a marketing question. Ask ICE which deployment approval controls changed afterwards, and who signs off on send scope now.
The migration roadmap you would be joining
ICE is retiring Encompass CRM and moving those customers onto Surefire. Pilot participants were offered two years locked at their old Encompass CRM rate. Self-migration opened in January 2025.
Separately, ICE pushed the Encompass SDK sunset to 31 December 2026. After that, SDK access needs approval and monthly fees, and partners must move to Encompass Partner Connect. Integrations you depend on may get rebuilt mid-contract.
What reviewers report about daily use
Surefire holds 4.5 stars from 55 Capterra reviews and 4.0 from 20 G2 reviews. Recurring complaints cover slow support response, cost, software bugs, and weak LOS connectivity. One reviewer reported support tickets going unanswered for weeks.
BNTouch holds 4.5 stars from 98 Capterra reviews and 4.5 from 68 G2 reviews. Neither sample is deep enough to settle an enterprise decision alone. Ask each vendor for three references at your loan volume and channel mix.
What neither vendor puts on the page
BNTouch publishes prices but not contract length, cancellation terms, or uptime commitments. Its comparison pages claim a 30-day parallel run and full productivity within 14 days of cutover. Those numbers are vendor stated and unverified.
Surefire publishes no commercial terms at all. Its ICE page also skips seat counts, onboarding time, and support response targets. Get the term, the seat floor, and the data export format in writing before signing.
Which one to pick
A branch or broker team under 30 loan officers should take BNTouch. Published seat pricing and a known activation fee make cost per funded loan calculable before purchase.
A retail lender already running Encompass at volume should take Surefire. The content library and proximity to ICE loan data matter more than independence once pull-through depends on milestone timing.
Ask BNTouch which LOS connections run in production today, by name and version, and what the sync writes back. Ask ICE for the per-seat rate, the minimum term, and the send approval controls added since May 2024.
Also in this category
Also in this category: BNTouch vs Bonzo and BNTouch vs Insellerate.
Both tools are scored on the same weighted rubric, production impact carries the most weight. Comparisons are never sponsored. Disclosure →