It usually starts the same way. You set up a Trello board to track your deals. Then you may find documents are scattered across cards, emails, Google Drive and Dropbox. Compliance notes live in your head (or worse, nowhere). And every time you want to do something beyond Trello’s capabilities, you bolt on another app.
Before you know it, you may find yourself with a Frankenstack: ten different tools, none of which talk to each other, with you as the glue holding it all together. There’s another way.BrokerEngine is a purpose-built broker operating system designed specifically for how Australian mortgage deals actually work. One system. Everything in one place.
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If something’s out of date or incorrect, let us know. [ Last updated March 2026 ]
| Feature |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Annual: Month-to-month: Onboarding: |
Free plan available. Standard: Premium: No onboarding included. |
| Built for mortgage brokers | Yes, from the ground up |
No, it’s a general project management tool |
| Contact management | Full borrower profiles with employment, expenses, assets, liabilities, referrer relationships and loan history |
None. Cards have titles and descriptions. |
| ApplyOnline integration | Direct lodgement with 90%+ data accuracy (via BrokerEngine Plus) |
Requires third-party tools |
| Document collection portal | FinanceVault included: 2FA, TFN redaction, client-facing portal |
None. You’ll need a separate tool like FileInvite ($50–$100/month) |
| BID compliance tools | Compliance Wizard, Product Comparison, |
None |
| Workflow automation | Mortgage-specific workflows with conditional logic, pre-loaded templates |
Butler automation: generic rules and triggers. Free plan limited to 250 runs/month. |
| Email automation | Stage-based email workflows with merge fields and templates |
No native email. Requires a Power-Up like SendBoard ($8–$15/user/month extra). |
| Time to value | Weeks |
Months of DIY setup across multiple tools |
| Contract lock-in | None, cancel anytime |
None on monthly plans |
| Broker-specific Onboarding | 8-Week Kickstart Program with a dedicated Customer Success Specialist who understands broking |
None. Self-service only. |
Here’s the thing most brokers don’t realise until they’re deep into their Trello setup: Trello is a project management tool. It was built to help teams move cards across boards. That’s genuinely what it does, and it does it well.
But unlike purpose-built broker software, Trello has no native concept of a contact, a deal or a loan. You can structure cards to represent these things, but that structure has to be built and maintained by you — which means starting from scratch and keeping it consistent across your team.
…a brilliant task management tool. Kanban boards, drag-and-drop cards, colour-code labels. It’s simple, it’s visual and it’s easy to use.
But it has no idea what ApplyOnline is, what a conditional approval means, or why you need to document your rationale under Best Interest Duty. It’s a blank canvas that you have to paint yourself.
…built by brokers and used by 3,000+ Australian brokers every day.
Every feature, template and workflow comes from years of shared learning about what works. So you’re not configuring software, you’re switching on a system that already knows how your firm operates.
Trello’s free tier is appealing, but brokers may need additional tools to fully support an end-to-end mortgage workflow.
Trello’s core functionality is moving cards on a board. While Power-Ups extend what’s possible, mortgage-specific needs like document collection, compliance tools and loan lodgement typically require separate platforms. For everything else, you need another tool:
| Feature |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Deal pipeline | Included |
Trello board |
| Contact management / CRM | Included |
Separate CRM needed |
| Email automation | Included |
SendBoard or similar |
| Document collection | FinanceVault included |
FileInvite or similar |
| E-signatures | DocuSign integration included |
DocuSign direct |
| Compliance / BID tools | Included |
Spreadsheets or other manual methods |
| Loan product comparison | Included |
Manual / no solution |
| Lodgement (ApplyOnline) | Direct integration (Plus) |
No pathway |
| SMS automation | Included (via touchSMS) |
Separate SMS tool needed |
By the time you’ve bolted on email, document collection, e-signatures, compliance tracking and a proper CRM, your costs may approach — and in some cases exceed — what you’d pay for BrokerEngine, and you’ve still got a stack of disconnected tools with data sitting in silos. None of them talk to each other. You’re the integration layer, manually copying information between systems and hoping nothing falls through the cracks.
That’s before you factor in the time involved in keeping everything running smoothly across multiple tools. Time that could be spent writing loans.
BrokerEngine was built to track borrowers through the lending process and back again for their next loan. That means fields for employment history, living expenses, asset and liability positions, referrer relationships, lender preferences, loan structures and security details. Hundreds of fields that Trello doesn’t even have a concept for.
In Trello, a “contact” is a card with a title and maybe some text in the description. There’s no structured data or native contact history. While you can manually link cards and attach files, there’s no built-in way to associate a client with their deals, documents and referrer in a structured, searchable way — meaning retrieval depends on how consistently your team has labelled and organised things.
For a growing firm, that’s a fundamental limitation that gets more complicated with every client you add.
Both platforms give you a visual kanban-style pipeline with drag-and-drop cards. In fact, the visual similarity is probably why a lot of brokers end up in Trello in the first place.
The difference is what’s behind the cards. In Trello, you get a title, a description, some labels and a checklist. In BrokerEngine, each deal card pulls together applicant details, key dates, colour-coded urgency indicators, document checklists and a complete activity history. Your pipeline comes pre-loaded with the stages that mirror how loans actually move:
Your team works in a familiar structure from day one.
Trello has Butler, a no-code automation tool that can do things like “when a card is moved to this list, add a due date.” It’s handy for basic task management. But it has no understanding of mortgage workflows, and the free plan caps you at 250 automation runs per month — which can be reached quickly for active brokerages running deal-stage automations.
BrokerEngine workflows are built around how loans actually work, with conditional logic that adapts to each deal. Self-employed borrower? Request different documents. Lender is ANZ? Use a different checklist. Settlement booked? SMS the client and email the referrer. File stuck in conditional approval? Alert the broker.
These workflows come pre-loaded based on what actually works in high-performing brokerages. You’re not building from scratch, you’re switching on a system that’s already been refined across thousands of brokers.
BrokerEngine includes a Product Scenario tool that lets you compare up to five loan options side-by-side, highlighting the best rate, lowest fees and key differences. It handles splits, generates client-ready PDFs and feeds directly into your Loan Strategy Reports.
Trello has no product comparison tools. You’d be doing this in a spreadsheet.
BrokerEngine includes FinanceVault, a secure client portal for collecting documents. You send a request, your client uploads their payslips, bank statements and ID, and everything lands in one place with two-factor authentication and automatic TFN redaction.
Trello has no document collection functionality. Clients can’t upload to your board (unless you share board access, which creates its own problems). So you’re back to email attachments and Google Drive links, which may present cybersecurity risks.
BrokerEngine has purpose-built tools to manage the BID documentation burden: a Compliance Wizard for documenting your rationale, Interview Guides for capturing client goals, Product Scenario comparisons showing why you recommended what you did, and a Deal History Report that provides a complete audit trail if you ever need to demonstrate your process.
Trello does not include built-in mortgage compliance features. Users typically need to rely on external tools or manual processes to meet these requirements.
For AFG brokers, BrokerEngine Plus integrates directly with ApplyOnline. Data flows straight from your deal record to the lender, saving you time and minimising the errors that come from retyping the same information twice.
For BrokerEngine Standard users, we have partners who specialise in loan processing and can manage your deals through to lodgement via ApplyOnline, making this a fully hands-off process.
Trello has no ApplyOnline integration and no pathway to build one.
Mortgage brokers handle some of the most sensitive financial data there is: tax file numbers, bank statements, payslips, ID documents, complete financial profiles. This is serious stuff.
BrokerEngine’s FinanceVault has two-factor authentication enabled by default on every account. It includes automatic TFN redaction to protect clients’ tax file numbers, and all documents are collected through a secure, purpose-built portal.
Trello includes standard platform security, but has no specific features designed for financial data — such as TFN redaction, document access controls or compliance audit trails. Documents attached to cards are accessible to anyone with board access. There’s no 2FA on document collection (because there’s no document collection), no TFN redaction and no audit trail for compliance purposes. Brokers handling sensitive personal and financial information should carefully consider whether Trello’s general-purpose document storage and sharing features align with their compliance and security requirements.
Both platforms let you connect to other tools. Trello has Power-Ups. BrokerEngine connects via direct integrations and Zapier to thousands of apps including Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Microsoft and Google suites.
The difference isn’t how many integrations you can connect, it’s what the platform does with the data once it arrives. When your foundation is a project management tool with no concept of a loan, a client or a compliance obligation, even the best integrations in the world can only do so much. You’re still the one stitching it all together.
Trello offers self-service onboarding resources and templates, but there’s no guided program tailored to mortgage broking. You’ll need to build your own workflow structure from the ground up.
BrokerEngine’s 8-Week Kickstart Program is different. You get a dedicated Customer Success Specialist who understands broking. It’s not just education on the technology. It’s a structured program to get BrokerEngine working for your firm, based on what’s worked for 3,000+ brokers before you.
For more information on our 8-Week Kickstart Program, click here.
BrokerEngine has a network of certified partners who can help with:
Get set up faster with expert configuration
and training
Outsource lodgement so you can focus
on clients
Offshore support staff trained on
BrokerEngine workflows
Grow your brokerage with proven methods
As we have grown, we’ve found it more and more important to ensure we don’t sacrifice quality as we grow volume. BrokerEngine handles all the details so brokers can be more productive and clients can experience a better service.
We needed a system that was going to be able to assist us in streamlining our processes while maintaining high quality. BrokerEngine freed up our growth bottleneck so we could continue serving new clients.
This is mortgage broker software that has been built by a high-producing broker, not by someone at the administration level, and not at the aggregator level (non end-user). It keeps our brokers focused on the task at hand.
Auto-prioritised tasks remind you to follow up on certain deals if you haven’t heard back from the assessor. And the checklists ensure you never overlook important steps that may have an impact on settlement.
Being able to work more efficiently allows us more time to concentrate on growing our business and ensuring all our current clients are well looked after. Whether you are a part of a large broker group or work independently, BrokerEngine is a must-have.
In short, BrokerEngine has given me a strong platform to scale my business and achieve the targets I’ve set myself.
I expect to see large growth in my settlement volumes in the coming months and years!
You may spend hours configuring connections between tools, and you’ll still end up with data in silos. There’s no Power-Up that gives you BID compliance tools, loan product comparisons, FinanceVault or ApplyOnline integration. At some point, you may spend more time maintaining your tool stack than writing loans.
That depends on what “built” looks like. If your Trello setup genuinely handles deal tracking, document collection, compliance documentation, client communications and lodgement without gaps, then fair play. But if you’re honest about it, consider whether there are manual steps, workarounds and things falling through cracks that you’ve just learned to live with. The Kickstart Program is specifically designed to make the transition smooth, including migrating your existing deals and contacts.
BrokerEngine sits alongside your aggregator’s lodgement system, handling workflows, client communication, document collection and compliance that aggregator platforms weren’t designed for.
Export to CSV anytime. No lock-in contracts, no exit fees.
Your data stays with you. BrokerEngine sits alongside your aggregator, not inside it. So if you move, your client records, deal history and workflows come with you.
No. We offer live demos and a structured 8-week onboarding instead.
The Interview Guide captures what you need. The Loan Strategy Report serves as your client document. The Deal History Report generates an audit-ready PDF.
Trello is a great tool. But it isn’t designed to operate as a full mortgage brokerage system.
Setting all of this up can take considerable time, and ongoing maintenance typically involves manually moving data between systems and managing multiple disconnected platforms.
Or you can use a system already built by brokers, for brokers, designed specifically for how Australian mortgage deals actually work.
This comparison is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult your own tax, legal and accounting advisors based on your specific circumstances. Any opinions expressed are subjective and are not intended to be statements of fact. All product information, features and pricing referenced in this comparison are drawn from publicly available sources and are current as at the date specified, however, they may change without notice.
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