Shape vs Surefire
CRM & Lead Management head-to-head · axis by axis, same rubric for both
CRM & Lead Management
ICE Mortgage Technology
| Axis | Shape | Surefire |
|---|---|---|
| Production impact | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Functionality & depth | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Integrations & ecosystem | 4.9 | 3.8 |
| Adoption & support | 5.0 | 4.6 |
| Return on spend | 4.9 | 3.8 |
| Overall | 4.9 | 4.6 |
Shape wins 3 of 5 axes. Same rubric, same weights, no sponsorships.
What each one is actually sold to do
Shape calls itself “The AI CRM your business has been waiting for” and sells into six verticals. Mortgage is one of them. Insurance, solar, education, debt settlement and small business are the others. The pitch is tool consolidation. Shape says it can “Replace 10+ tools. One connected platform.”
Surefire is narrower. ICE positions it to “Automate your mortgage marketing and deepen relationships through one powerful solution.” The content library carries the product. ICE cites more than 1,000 ready marketing pieces. Post-close nurture runs under the Client for Life label.
Ownership changes what you are actually buying
Surefire reached ICE through the Black Knight deal, and carried the Top of Mind brand before that. That parentage buys compliance tooling and a roadmap tied to Encompass. It also ties your marketing stack to one vendor’s release cycle.
In October 2024 ICE opened a pilot to retire the legacy Encompass CRM. Those users move onto Surefire. Customer self-migrations began in January 2025. Pilot joiners were offered current pricing locked for two years. Shape discloses no parent, so fewer bundling deals and fewer forced migrations.
Speed to lead against marketing at scale
Shape sells on contact speed. It ships a dialer with local presence, two-way SMS, and AI texting that books appointments. Lead scoring and pipeline priority sit on top. For a consumer direct desk buying internet leads, that is the whole game.
Surefire sells on staying in front of a database. Milestone-triggered campaigns, co-branded flyers and print pieces do the work. ICE publishes one case where newsletter open rates moved from under 20% to over 64%. That figure is vendor stated and unverified.
Integrations, and what each site is willing to name
Shape names its loan system partners outright. Encompass, LendingPad and Arive sync loan data, milestones and assignments both ways. LendingTree, Zillow, Bankrate, LoanSifter, iSoftPull, DocuSign, TrustEngine and Homebot are named too. A borrower portal for the 1003 is built in.
The ICE Surefire page names far fewer partners. MortgageCoach, MBS Highway, MonitorBase and Sales Boomerang appear. Third party directories list more, including Calyx Point, Floify, Blend and MeridianLink Mortgage.
Pricing, where only one side shows a figure
Neither vendor publishes a rate card. Shape’s pricing page lists Core, Complete and Enterprise without dollar figures. Annual billing saves up to 20%. Calling, texting and email are billed pay as you go, which matters at dialer volume. Capterra lists Shape from $119 per user per month.
ICE publishes nothing at all. Capterra lists Surefire as contact vendor, with no free trial and no free version. Ask ICE for the per seat rate, the seat minimum, and a written cap on renewal increases.
Public review depth is thin on both sides
Shape shows 4.8 from 165 reviews on its G2 seller page and 4.6 from 46 on Capterra. TrustRadius carries 7 out of 10 from two reviews. Shape’s own site claims 2,000+ verified reviews averaging 5.0 across platforms.
Surefire shows 4.5 from 55 Capterra reviews and 4.0 from 20 on G2. Software Advice breaks the Capterra sample out further. Ease of use scores 4.15, value for money 4.43, support 4.40.
The gap worth pressing on before you sign
Shape’s headline claims carry no published method. The site cites 41% more loans, 3.1x average ROI, and under one minute to contact. Treat all three as vendor stated and unverified. The 100,000+ customer figure spans every vertical since 2009, not mortgage seats.
On the ICE side, the Encompass SDK sunset now lands on 31 December 2026. It was pushed back from October 2025. Get any SDK-era dependency in your workflows documented.
Which one to pick
A consumer direct lender buying paid leads should shortlist Shape. Dialer, AI texting and routing are native, and an entry seat price is public. A retail bank or large IMB already standardised on Encompass should shortlist Surefire. Compliance controls and content volume matter more there than dial speed.
Ask Shape what pay as you go communications cost at 10,000 outbound minutes a month. Ask ICE whether Surefire pricing is locked at renewal, and what breaks if SDK dependencies lapse in 2026.
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 →