Polly vs Mortech

Venture-funded stack against a Zillow-owned utility

Polly is venture-funded and sells pricing, trading and analytics together. Mortech is a Zillow Group business selling pricing plus consumer rate distribution. A secondary desk chasing execution and a consumer-direct desk chasing conversion will read these two very differently.

Both handle agency and jumbo product. Neither publishes depth on private credit or investor property lending. So the split is about what happens either side of the pricing call.

What Polly is selling past the pricing screen

Polly’s engine covers rule configuration, version control, historical repricing, best execution and margin rules. Lock desk automation includes extensions, re-locks, reprices, price exceptions and float downs. The loan trading exchange is hedge-agnostic and connects buyers and sellers of loans.

Lender Intelligence, launched in March 2024, benchmarks pricing against competitors and tracks origination margin. Polly AI helps loan officers convert scenarios that come back ineligible. New American Funding and Movement Mortgage were named as early users of that tool.

What Mortech does that Polly does not publish

Mortech pushes live offers into consumer marketplaces its parent helps run. Named outlets include Zillow, Trulia, LendingTree, Bankrate, NerdWallet, Credit Karma and Own Up. It also sells Mortech Protection, a retention product built on Zillow data.

For a consumer-direct lender buying leads, that loop shortens the path from quote to lock. Polly publishes no equivalent rate table distribution network. Mortech’s secondary side adds a centralized lock pipeline and a handoff to hedging partners.

Named integrations on each side

Mortech’s partner page names LOS platforms from Ellie Mae, Calyx, BYTE and Integra. Newer entries include Vesta, Blend, BeSmartee, Maxwell and nCino. Its CRM column carries Total Expert, Surefire, Jungo, Bonzo, Relcu and Tabrasa. Six mortgage insurance providers are named. Correspondent and wholesale investors appear on a public page, split by channel.

Polly’s announced partners include nCino, Vesta, LendingPad, Cordless and Uplist. It says the engine carries product from hundreds of investors without naming any. For a lender committed to a specific CRM, Mortech’s published list is easier to verify before signing.

Development pace, read from public evidence

Polly’s newsroom shows regular releases through 15 May 2025 and nothing newer at the time of writing. Those included partner announcements with Vesta, LendingPad and Uplist early that year. Mortech’s blog stops at 25 April 2022 and its news items carry no dates.

Mortech’s footer reads 2026 and its investor page says new investors are constantly added. Neither pattern proves anything on its own. Both deserve a direct question about shipped features and dates.

Money, ownership and risk

Polly raised $25 million in September 2024 led by 8VC, joined by Menlo Ventures, Meritech, Khosla Ventures and Fifth Wall. HousingWire reported roughly $57 million raised before that round. Venture funding buys speed and carries renewal risk if growth stalls.

Mortech was founded in 1987 in Lincoln, Nebraska. Zillow announced the acquisition in November 2012, reported at $17 million. A public parent brings stability and portfolio priorities you do not control.

Neither posts a price

Neither company publishes cost information anywhere on its site. Ask Polly for cost per lock and whether trading and analytics carry separate licences. Ask Mortech for per-user pricing and any charge tied to rate table distribution. Both should quote implementation and ongoing rule maintenance separately.

Public review data will not help you here. Mortech’s G2 entry shows no score or review count. The G2 listing named Polly belongs to a different company selling workplace polls. Reference calls with lenders at your volume are the better test.

Which one to pick

A correspondent seller focused on execution and hedging should start with Polly. The trading exchange and analytics are the reason to pay for a standalone engine. A consumer-direct lender living on rate tables should start with Mortech. Distribution into Zillow properties is the differentiator.

Ask Polly which investors are live on its engine today, by name. Ask Mortech for pricing engine release notes covering the past year.

Also in this category

Also in this category: Lender Price vs LoanPASS and Lender Price vs MeridianLink PriceMyLoan.