Sierra Interactive — premium IDX website and CRM on a 12-month term

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Notes worth reading before you sign:

1. 12-month agreement either way. The choice is annual prepay vs. monthly billing — not contract vs. no-contract.
2. Monthly billing carries a $500 one-time setup fee. Annual prepay has no setup fee, so the annual route saves twice: lower monthly rate and no setup charge.
3. The dialer is not included on Starter. Essential and Growth have it built in; Starter adds $100/mo flat for the dialer (flat, not per user — a two-person team on Starter pays the same $100 as a solo agent). A solo agent who wants to call or text leads from the CRM pays $399.95/mo on annual — not $299.95 (assuming the dialer add-on holds its published $100/mo rate on annual prepay — Sierra lists add-ons in monthly terms only). One phone question answered: Sierra's mobile app is listed as "Included with Dialer upgrade," so on Starter the app rides on that $100/mo add-on too — no dialer add-on, no app. Watch the usage caps, too: 1,500 voice minutes + 1,500 SMS segments a month on Starter (when you buy the dialer add-on) and Essential, versus 5,000 voice minutes + 15,000 SMS segments on Growth — a team that dials all day will outgrow the lower allotments. Ringless-voicemail drops are capped too: 250 on Starter (when you buy the dialer add-on) and Essential versus 500 on Growth (per Sierra's official pricing table, checked October 5, 2026) — a voicemail-drop nurture flow burns through the lower cap fast. One cap question the published pricing never answers: the allotments are never labeled per-user or pooled across the account — on Growth, is 5,000 voice minutes per agent, or for the whole team to share? Get it in writing before you sign. MMS is capped at 100 messages/month on Starter (when you buy the dialer add-on) and Essential (1,000 on Growth) — agents who text listing photos or flyers will burn through that MMS allotment first, so ask how MMS overage is billed. One segment is a 160-character chunk in plain text, but emojis or special characters shrink it to about 70 — and agent texts are full of both — so real-world segments burn faster than the simple math suggests. One more dialer wrinkle from the pricing table: Group Text — sending one text to a whole lead list, the classic open-house blast or price-drop play — is a Growth-only dialer perk; Starter and Essential can't send group texts from the dialer (per Sierra's official pricing table, checked October 5, 2026). One more texting caveat the pricing page doesn't mention: US carriers require 10DLC business-texting registration before your texts go out — day-one texting isn't plug-and-play, and we haven't verified whether Sierra handles the registration or what the carrier fees are, so ask on the demo call. One add-on question the pricing page never answers: once you add the $100/mo dialer and hate it after two months, can you drop it mid-term — or does it ride the full 12-month agreement? Ask before you add it.
4. Extra users are cheaper than a plan jump — except on Starter. A 4th agent on Essential is a $60/mo extra user (per Sierra's official pricing table, checked October 6, 2026), not a step up to Growth. But a 2-person team on Starter pays $299.95 + $75 = $374.95/mo on annual prepay for that second user — that $75 assumes the published monthly extra-user rate holds on annual prepay (Sierra lists extra-user rates in monthly terms only, same as the dialer above) — only $25 less than Essential's $399.95/mo annual rate, which bundles a third user and the dialer built in (a flat $100/mo add-on on Starter). If you need a second user, price Essential before you add one to Starter — and if that two-person team also needs the dialer, Essential wins outright: Starter two-person + the $100 dialer add-on = $474.95/mo, versus Essential's $399.95/mo with three users and the dialer built in. No 10-user cliff either — Essential drops to $25/user/mo from the 11th user onward; on Growth, users 6–10 run $20/user/mo, then $10/user/mo for users 11–49 ($5/user/mo at 50+), so a scaling brokerage already knows the per-user math before signing the 12-month agreement. One open question, same as Real Geeks's price-bracket rule: whether the 11th user re-prices every existing user to the lower rate or just prices the new users — that's a real swing on a growing team's bill, so get it in writing on the demo call. Model your real team size, not today's.
5. Lead Engage is Sierra's AI nurture add-on — $199/mo, not on Starter. If you want AI automatically working leads on Sierra, that's the Lead Engage add-on: $199/mo covering unlimited leads, available on Essential and Growth only. It belongs in your budget up front, not as an afterthought. One line item the published pricing leaves open: your plan also caps voice minutes and SMS segments (1,500 each on Starter/Essential) — confirm on the demo whether Lead Engage's AI follow-up draws from that same allotment or gets its own separate allotment, so a heavy nurture flow doesn't silently eat the minutes and segments your team needs for its own calling.
6. Listing marketing tools are add-ons on Starter. Seller lead sites (home-valuation capture pages) and single-property listing sites cost $25/mo per site on Starter — Essential includes 25 seller lead sites and 100 single-property sites, Growth doubles both (50 and 200). If your listing marketing runs on single-property sites, that's a per-site line item on Starter, not part of the website. Website design upgrades are add-ons too, on Starter and Essential: Pinnacle and Exec designs run $100/mo — though the official "$100/mo (Pinnacle, Exec)" wording doesn't say whether that's each or combined, so confirm on the demo call — Luxury $150/mo — only Growth includes all five designs at no extra charge (per Sierra's official pricing table, checked October 4, 2026). One more team-branding line item on Starter: agent subdomains ride on the $50/mo Agent Site Manager add-on (per the official pricing table, checked October 5, 2026) — a team wanting each agent's own subdomain pays that on top of the per-user math. Note the gap in the official table: the Agent Site Manager / subdomains rows are blank for Essential and Growth, so whether subdomains are included on those plans or still a $50/mo add-on is unconfirmed — ask it on the demo call (see the FAQ below). If the design in the demo is what sold you, confirm which tier it's on before you budget.
7. Size the plan for logins, not agents. A "user" here is a paid login — the pricing page shows no free admin-only or transaction-coordinator seat, so a team whose transaction coordinator (TC) or admin needs CRM access is buying one more user than its agent count. Confirm the seat policy on the demo call.

1. Is my MLS covered, and what's the $25/mo per extra feed math for my market?
2. What's my true monthly cost for my team size, on annual vs. monthly billing, including the dialer if I need it — and what do I pay when my team dials past the monthly voice/SMS caps (overage fees, or a forced tier jump)? If I'm buying ads through Sierra, get the ad management fee as its own line item in writing — Google PPC (pay-per-click) carries a 10% monthly fee on top of ad spend with a $500+/mo minimum spend (per Sierra's pricing page), and Facebook packs have their own fee structures.
3. What exactly is covered by the $500 setup fee on monthly billing — and can it be waived? If I already have a website, is migrating my content, domain, and SEO (redirects, existing rankings) part of the setup, or a separate project?
4. What happens to the website, its content, and its domain if I leave after 12 months — and whose name is the domain registered in, yours or the vendor's? A website you can't take with you is rent, not an asset.
5. If I cancel, how do I get my full contact database out — export format, and any fees? And when an individual agent leaves the team, who owns their contacts — the agent or the brokerage — and can they be reassigned to another agent?
6. How are price increases handled at renewal — is my rate locked for the agreement term?
7. If I leave before the 12 months are up, what's the early termination fee — the remaining balance, a flat fee, or nothing? Get the exact math in writing.
8. Speed-to-lead: how fast are agents notified of new leads — push notification, text, email? Routing rules only matter if the agent actually sees the lead in time.
9. Which timezone is the Actionable Window in — and can I change the 8 AM to 9 PM window for my market?
10. Beyond e-Alerts and Sierra's Action Plans — its name for automated drip sequences of emails, texts, and ringless voicemails (automated plans pause when a lead replies; traditional plans add call tasks — and ask how ringless voicemail stays compliant in your state, since the rules on ringless drops vary state to state), per Sierra's official site — how do I run nurture for my own sphere of influence — past clients, referrals, open-house contacts — on anniversary-style date triggers like a home-purchase anniversary or a 6-month check-in? Are drip sends email-only or text too, and are there send caps on my plan? And who handles opt-in/opt-out consent when an Action Plan texts contacts who never opted in — your past clients and referrals?
11. Transaction tools: does Sierra include any transaction-coordinator (TC) tools, or do I keep closing in dotloop or Skyslope — and what does the closing-file handoff look like once a deal goes under contract?
12. Rolling out to a whole brokerage: can I pilot Sierra with one office or a small group of agents before committing all 30 — what does the pilot cost, and what happens to the pilot data if we don't proceed? Ask who trains the agents during rollout (is onboarding included or billed), and whether onboarding can be staggered inside the 12-month agreement rather than day one for everyone.

Does Sierra Interactive require a contract?

Yes — 12 months, whether you pay annually or monthly. There is no month-to-month option.

Is the dialer included?

On Essential and Growth, yes. On Starter it's a flat $100/mo add-on — budget $399.95/mo (annual, assuming the dialer add-on holds its published $100/mo rate) if you're a solo agent who wants to call or text leads from the CRM. One more Starter wrinkle from the pricing table: the mobile app is listed as "Included with Dialer upgrade" — skip the add-on and there's no app either, and agents do most of their lead follow-up from their phones.

How many MLS feeds do I get?

One included; $25/mo per additional feed.

Are agent subdomains included on Essential and Growth?

Unconfirmed — Sierra's official pricing table lists the $50/mo Agent Site Manager add-on (the way to get agent subdomains) for Starter only and leaves the Essential and Growth columns blank. Don't assume it's bundled on the higher plans; ask on the demo call whether subdomains are included or still a $50/mo add-on per team.

Does Sierra charge a fee to run my ads?

Yes — digital ad management is a separate add-on, not bundled into any plan. Google PPC carries a 10% monthly management fee on top of a $500+/mo minimum ad spend; Facebook ads run $75/mo (Lite Pack: $125 setup fee, $250/mo minimum ad spend) or $200/mo (Full Pack: no setup fee, no ad-spend minimum) (all per Sierra's official pricing page, checked October 4, 2026). None of it is required — the IDX website and CRM work without ad spend — but if you're going to buy ads, budget the fee on top of the spend.

What's the real first-year cost for a solo agent?

Starter on annual: $299.95 × 12 = $3,599.40, no setup fee — but no dialer. Add the dialer and it's $4,799.40 (assuming the dialer add-on holds its published $100/mo rate on annual prepay). On monthly billing with the $500 setup, it's $4,819.40 before you add the dialer — and with the dialer it's $6,019.40. Compare that against your expected GCI (gross commission income) before signing.