REAL Broker VS eXp Realty (2024 In-Depth Comparison)
Cloud brokerages are clearly the future of the real estate industry!
Every year more and more agents are leaving traditional franchise brokerages and independent brokerages to join a cloud brokerage. This chart below from MikeDP.com shows a pretty clear trend of what real estate brokerages lost the most agents in 2023 and which ones gained the most. source.
Currently, there are about half a dozen cloud brokerages available in Norther America, out of all of them there are only two cloud brokerages that are in all 50 states and only two that are publicly traded on the NASDAQ. That is eXp Realty and REAL Broker who are also the two largest.
When I was deciding what cloud-based brokerage I personally wanted to join, I dove in pretty deep researching and talking with agents at several. This article is the product of my intensive research.
So in this article, I want to do a side-by-side comparison of REAL Broker VS eXp Realty to help real estate agents make an educated decision on which cloud-based brokerage to join.
NOTE: All numbers & stats were taken from this EXP Realty Presentation and this REAL Broker Sign Up Page.
Today we are going to do a side-by-side comparison of the following categories:
Historical Growth
Commission Cap
Commission Splits
Fee’s
Stock Bonuses
Revenue Share
Software Included
Company Branding
I also got much of this information from these two REAL Broker vs eXp Realty Agent Debates I have done.
REAL Broker VS eXp Realty Growth
Another thing to consider is the potential growth of these two companies.
At the time of this writing, eXp Realty is about 89,000 agents and REAL Broker has about 18,000 agents.
REAL Broker only just got into all 50 states in Q4 of 2023. Interestingly, this is also the first quarter ever that eXp Realty experienced negative growth and actually ended the quarter 2,000 agents smaller than at the start of the quarter.
Below is agent count growth by % for both companies:
eXp Realty
2020: eXp Realty agent count grew by 63% to 41,313 source
2021: eXp Realty agent Count grew by 72% to 71,137 source
2022: eXp Realty agent count grew by 21% to 86,203 source
2023: eXp REALTY agent count grew by 2% to 87,515 source
Q4 2023: eXp Realty agent county loss of 1.8% from Q3 2023 to 87,515 source
Q1 2024: eXp Realty agent count loss of 2% from Q4 2023 to 85,780 source
REAL Broker
2020: REAL Broker agent count grew by 38% to 1,475. source
2021: REAL Broker agent count grew by 161% to 3,850 source
2022: REAL Broker agent count grew by 113% to 8,200 source
2023: REAL Broker agent county by 66% to 13,650 source
Q4 2023: REAL Broker agent count grew by to 12% from Q3 2023 to 13,650
Q1 2024: Real Broker Agent Count grew by 22.% from Q4 2023 to 16,680
REAL Broker vs eXp % Growth
I think these trends paint a pretty clear picture about the two companies’ growth. Although both companies’ % growth hit peaks in 2021, eXp Realty’s growth has come to a complete halt and even entered negative territory in Q4 of 2023.
There are some macro factors at play here. 2023 for example was a hard year for many real estate agents with the higher interest rates and we saw hundreds of thousands of agents exiting the industry as a whole. This will affect the growth of all real estate companies.
2023 also saw the rise of several new and smaller cloud brokerages such as LPT Realty which is the cheapest cloud brokerage out there. (see my complete breakdown of the cost of being an agent at REAL Broker vs eXp Realty vs LPT Realty)
I think the growth of a company is something important to consider for two reasons.
If you are trying to recruit agents to a company that is seeing negative growth, it’s going to be next to impossible. You are going against macro trends which you can’t control.
The growth of the agent count will also ultimately influence the revenue of a company, the total number of home sales, and the value of the stock. So if you are joining a company to earn stock, you want to choose a company who’s stock is going to grow in value, not shrink.
REAL Broker VS EXP Realty Commission Cap
Being that both brokerages are cloud-based, the companies save a huge amount of money every year compared to franchise-based companies and can pass those savings on to their agents in the form of lower commission caps.
EXP Realty has a $16,000 a year cap
REAL Broker has a $12,000 cap
REAL Broker VS EXP Realty Commission Splits
Commission splits percentages may not be relevant to agents who do a good bit of volume and know they are going to cap every year. All this really affects is WHEN in the year you will cap.
However, having a more generous split can take off some of the financial pressure your business may feel at the start of the year.
However, Splits are VERY relevant to newer agents or part-time agents who may not cap at all.
If someone is only doing 3–4 transactions a year and never fully caps, having a better-split percentage means they keep MORE MONEY in their pockets.
EXP Realty has an 80/20 split
REAL Broker has a 15/85 Split.
REAL Broker VS EXP Realty Fee’s
Fee’s are another sneaky way brokerages make money off of their agents and it is important to pay attention to all the fees a brokerage is charging its real estate agents.
On top of its annual cap, EXP Realty also charges:
$149 Start-Up Fee
$85 A Month Cloud Brokerage Fee
$25 Transaction review fee
$60 Risk Management Fee Per Transaction (Caps at $500)
$250 Transaction Fee After You Cap
On top of its annual cap, REAL Broker also charges:
$249 Sign-Up Fee
$700 Annual Fee
$285 Transaction Fee After You Cap
$30 BEOP Fee Per Transaction
REAL vs eXp Cost Comparison
Scenario 1
Let’s assume at both companies you were to sell 10 homes a year. At eXp Realty, this would cost you $18,481 in fees and cap. At REAL Broker to sell 10 homes a year, that would cost you $14,385 a year in fees and cap.
So you would save $4,096 a year by being at REAL Broker compared to eXp Realty.
This savings of $4,000 a year continues in most scenarios no matter how many homes you sell. After you hit Elite Agent at REAL Broker and Icon Agent at eXp, the savings per year dramatically increases because REAL’s stock award is higher.
Scenario 2
In this scenario, we are counting the stock awards for Elite and Icon agents as “cash equivalent”. If you were to sell 28 homes a year at eXp Realty, factoring the $16,000 in free stock for Icon agent, it would cost you only -$7,606 a year. At REAL Broker, if you sell 28 homes a year and factor in the $24,000 in free stock, it would not cost you anything a year. In fact, you will be a net positive of +$3,945 a year.
This means, if yo are selling 28 homes a year, you will save $11,551 a year at REAL Broker, compared to selling 28 homes a year at eXp Realty.
Note: * Capping is based on the average price of $450,000 with a 2.5% commission which is about 7 transactions a year at each company
REAL Broker VS EXP Realty Stock Bonuses
Both companies are publicly traded companies and offer their agents multiple ways to earn free shares of the company by hitting certain milestones in their businesses.
eXp Realty offers its agents 5 ways to earn free stock within the company.
You earn $200 on your first transaction of each year
You earn $400 when you cap
You earn $400 when an agent you sponsor completes their first transaction
Earn up to $16,000 worth of stock by hitting their Ion Agent Award
You can put 5% of your commissions towards buying eXp stock and get a 10% discount
REAL Broker offers its agents 5 paths to earning free stock in the company.
You earn 150 shares of stock by capping each year (worth $609 at current stock price)
You earn 75 shares of stock when an agent you attract closes their first transaction (worth $304 at current stock price)
You can earn $24,000 worth of stock by hitting their Elite Agent Award
Before capping, you can put 5% of your commissions towards purchasing stock & receive 10% free additional shares on top of your purchase.
After capping, you can put 10% of your commissions towards purchasing stock & receive 20% free additional shares on top of your purchase.
Both brokerages have very similar stock incentive programs. The biggest difference is that REAL Broker’s Elite Agent award of $24,000 in free stock is $8,000 more a year than eXp Realty’s Icon Agent Award of $16,000
REAL Broker also gives you up to twice as much free stock with the stock purchase plan than eXp Realty does with their 20% bonus compared to eXp’s 10% discount. This can add up significantly, especially for high-producing agents.
Stock Performance
The performance of the stocks is also something you will want to consider.
As of the time of this writing, REAL Broker’s stock, REAX, is up 243% over the last 12 months. See the current price here.
In this same time period, eXp Realty’s stock, EXPI, is down -13%. See the current price here.
REAL Broker VS EXP Realty Revenue Share Programs
Revenue share is essentially a company taking their marketing budget and instead of spending it on traditional marketing like ads or billboards, they give that marketing budget back to the agents who are helping grow the company one agent at a time.
There are several benefits to this growth model for a company.
1. The majority of agents who join have a sponsor and already know at least one person at the company who can provide support.
2. This provides and additional stream of income for agents into their real estate businesses.
3. This improves agent retention at the brokerage for both new agents and their sponsors.
eXp Realty Rev Share 2.0 Explained
As of May 2024, eXp Realty has updated its revenue share model significantly. The changes make it easier to unlock tiers but also make it harder to project how much revenue share you can expect to receive. With their new model, instead of a % of an agent’s commission, you get a % of the pool of revenue share eXp pays out each month.
eXp pays out up to 50% of its monthly revenue back to agents in the form of revenue share. Historically, If the amount of revenue share owed that month exceeds 50%, they reduce everyone’s revenue share that month until the amount owed is below 50%. With their new Rev Share 2.0 they will be hitting this upper limit far more often and give you a % of that pool of rev share they pay out.
With eXp Rev Share 2.0, for an agent in your downline, you receive a “Top % Revenue Share Pool On Transactions in Each Tier Group”. So out of the 50% of the monthly revenue share, you will get a % of the total revenue share pool for that tier. Because the “rev share pool” will change each month depending on how many agents are owed rev share, it is hard to project an exact amount of how much you can expect to earn per capping agent.
Tier 1 = 17.5% of Rev Share Pool
Tier 2 = 20% of Rev Share Pool
Tier 3 = 12.5% of Rev Share Pool
Tier 4 = 7.5% of Rev Share Pool
Tier 5 = 5% of Rev Share Pool
Tier 6 = 12.5 of Rev Share Pool
Tier 7 = 25% of Rev Share Pool
With eXp Rev Share 2.0, your first three tiers of benefits are automatically unlocked. You then only need 5 “Front Line Qualifying Agents” to unlock tier 4, 10 to unlock tier 5, 15 to unlock tier 6 and still need 30 to unlock tier 7.
So this does make it easier to unlock tiers and most likely increase the amount of rev share eXp pays out to their agents compared to their Rev Share 1.0 model but this is also going to make it far more common for them to hit that maximum 50% threshold which reduced everyone revenue share. It’s possible they may hit that 50% every month with this new model.
eXp Realty Tier 1 First Year Bonus
eXp Realty is also launching a first-year bonus for tier 1 agents where you will earn 5% of an agent GCI for their first year at eXp. If they pay a full cap, this is a maximum of $4,000.
eXp Realty Rev Share 2.0 Dollar Amounts
Assuming the maximum amount you can earn from revenue share for each tier stays the same as eXp’s “Rev Share 1.0”, then the following are the max you can earn per tier assuming eXp does NOT hit their 50% of monthly revenue threshold.
Half Cap Team Member
Tier 1 = Maximum of $1,400 yr/
Tier 2 = Maximum of $1,600 yr/
Tier 3 = Maximum of $1,000 yr/
Tier 4 = Maximum of $600 yr/
Tier 5 = Maximum of $400 yr/
Tier 6 = Maximum of $1,000 yr/
Tier 7 = Maximum of $2,000 yr/
Full Capping Agents
Tier 1 = Maximum of $2,800 yr/
Tier 2 = Maximum of $3,200 yr/
Tier 3 = Maximum of $2,000 yr/
Tier 4 = Maximum of $1,200 yr/
Tier 5 = Maximum of $800 yr/
Tier 6 = Maximum of $2,000 yr/
Tier 7 = Maximum of $4,000 yr/
eXp Realty Assumable Revenue Share Program
At eXp Realty, if you earn revenue share and you pass away, it is possible for your dependent to assume your position in your revenue share network. The person assuming your network will have to become a real estate agent and join eXp Realty.
REAL Broker Revenue Share Program
REAL Broker’s revenue share model is simplified. They have an easy-to-understand 5,4,3,2,1 model where they pay out the most on your tier 1 and the least on your tier 5.
At REAL Broker, for any tier 1 agent you have, you will earn 5% of every commission that agent earns until they cap which is a maximum of $4,000 a year for a capping agent.
You will earn 4% of every commission for your tier 2 agents until they cap which is a maximum of $3,200 a year, 3% for every tier 3 agent which is a maximum of $2,400 a year, 2% for every tier 4 agent which is up to $1,600 a year and 1% of every tier 5 agent which is a maximum of $800 a year.
Unlocking Tiers at REAL Broker
At REAL Broker, your tier 1 benefits are automatically unlocked and you need to unlock your tier 2 through 5 benefits. You do this by having a certain number of producing agents in your tier 1. 5+ producing agents to unlock your tier 2, 15+ to unlock your tier 3 benefits, 20+ to unlock your tier 4 benefits, 25+ to unlock your tier 5 benefits.
What is a “producing agent”?
At REAL Broker, they define a producing agent for the purpose of unlocking tiers as any agent in good standing with the company who has earned at least $3,000 in commissions in the previous
6 months.
REAL Broker Co-Sponsorship Explained
REAL Broker Revenue Share structure is unique in that they offer “co-sponsorship” where an agent can name 0, 1 or 2 agents as their sponsor into the company. By doing this, the revenue share earned for those agents will get split between them.
One of the reasons for this program is that often agents are talking to multiple agents at REAL before joining. It is not uncommon for agents to get “analysis paralysis” about who to name as their sponsor which delays them joining.
Another benefit is that more agents will receive some revenue share in the company.
REAL Broker’s Willable Revenue Share Explained
REAL Broker’s revenue share is also fully willable. Which means you can designate a recipient who will continue to receive your monthly revenue share if you pass away. This recipient does not have to be a licensed agent and can be a child.
REAL Broker Retirement Plan Explained
At REAL Broker, you are required to be a producing agent yourself in order to receive revenue share. So you must earn at least a $3,000 commission every 6 months to qualify to be a producing agent. These commissions can come in the form of referral checks, team leader splits, rentals or sales.
However, if you are a producing agent for at least 3 years at REAL Broker, you can step out of producing and continue to receive your revenue share indefinitely.
REAL Broker leadership says they want this requirement to ensure the company is full of producing agents, not just full-time recruiters.
REAL vs eXp Revenue Share Differences
When comparing REAL Broker’s revenue share plan to eXp Realty’s, the first thing you’ll notice is that REAL Broker’s is simpler and easier to understand. At REAL, you earn a % of your network’s commissions until they cap whereas at eXp, you earn a % of the “Revenue Share Pool” which changes from month to month making it difficult to project how much you will actually earn per agent.
REAL Broker % per tier is simpler to understand with them paying the most on tier 1 and the least on tier 2. eXp on the other hand, pays more on tier 2 than tier 1 and pays out the least on tier 5 and the most on tier 7.
At eXp Realty it is easier to unlock tiers with their new Revenue Share 2.0 and you do have the potential of 2 additional tiers REAL Broker does not pay out on.
At REAL Broker, they pay out more on your first 5 tiers than eXp Realty. REAL pays out $1,200 more on tier 1, $400 more on tier 3, and $400 more on tier 4.
I have run a lot of different scenarios on spreadsheets comparing different downlines at REAL and eXp and my finding is that if you have a smaller or medium-sized network, you will probably earn more at REAL Broker than eXp Realty. However, if you have a larger network and unlock your 7th tier, you will probably earn more at eXp Realty than REAL Broker.
A few other things to consider are that REAL Broker offers a genuine Willable Revenue Share where your family members can continue to receive the revenue share you earned after you have passed. At eXp, they claim to have “willable revenue share” but “assumable” would probably be a better term to use as they require the person who receives it to be a real estate agent and at eXp Realty. So this means, you can’t will it to children.
Another thing to point out is that the reason why REAL Broker is on average $4,000 a year cheaper for agents is because they eliminated the 7th tier of revenue share eXp offers which is $4,000 a year. So if you do have a larger network of agents and unlock your 7th tier, you may make more at eXp in revenue share but keep that in mind it is because the agents in your network are being charged more.
REAL Broker VS EXP Realty Company Branding
Another thing to consider is branding. Whatever company you work for, you are going to have to incorporate their name and branding in all of your market, signs, advertisements, and business cards. It is important you choose a brand that can integrate with your personal brand well.
This obviously is a matter of personal preference, but take a feel look at the two companies branding and decide for yourself which one compliments your own branding.
REAL Broker VS eXp Realty Software Included
Fee’s, stocks, and revenue share is obviously not the only things you should consider when choosing a real estate company. What software and tools they give you is really important in today’s world if you want to remain competitive and have an advantage over other agents in your market.
Both companies also utilize Workplace. This is a platform created by Facebook but only used by agents in an organization. On workplace, you can create or join groups, just like in Facebook, and you can message anyone in the company. This is a great tool to connect with other agents.
eXp Realty Software
eXp Realty uses Skyslope for transaction management. This is where you will submit your contracts for compliance and review by your broker.
eXp uses Inside Real Estate & KV Core for their agent's CRM and websites.
eXp also has its eXp World software. This is their virtual world where you have an avatar who you walk around a campus in. This is the primary way in which eXp agents receive training and support at the company. As of 2024, eXp world is now browser-based.
REAL Broker Software
REAL Broker on the other hand offers its agents access to Lofty (formerly known as Chime) for their CRM and Website needs.
REAL Academy is where REAL houses all of its online classes and live streams. This platform is browser-based which means they can watch or listen to training on their phones as well.
reZEN is REAL Broker’s proprietary software built by our tech teams which gives agents access all of their data for their businesses. This is also where agents will handle transaction management in a platform similar looking to Skyslope.
reZEN also has a robust agent app with almost all of the same features as the browser version.
Within reZEN, you will also find REAL signature which is our proprietary digital signature software.
REAL Broker also has their One REAL Mortgage app for consumers to get pre-approved on and get updates on during the duration of the purchase process.
REAL Wallet is the next app REAL will be launching in 2024 along with the REAL Debit card and REAL Credit card. READ my full article explaining the REAL wallet here.
Final Thoughts
After reviewing and comparing eXp to REAL Broker, I personally decided to join REAL Broker.
For me, REAL’s technology is more impressive and streamlined than what I have seen at eXp. REAL is more generous with the free stock they provide to their agents. Their revenue share program is more lucrative for the vast majority of agents because they pay out the most at the top and give agents up to 60% of their monthly revenue compared to eXp’s 50%. I also like that REAL Broker is $4,000 a year cheaper on average for agents. This does not just impact me but also the agents who I bring into the company.
Also, I personally feel like I resonate with the culture and core values of the company way more.
If you think REAL Broker may be a good fit for you, let’s schedule a 1-on-1 zoom call with myself and talk about how REAL can change your business and answer any of your questions.
