Excel vs real estate CRM: Still selling from Excel and WhatsApp groups?
Most builders run their first project on a sheet and a few WhatsApp groups, and for one project and a small team that can be enough. Here is where it holds, where it starts losing buyers, and what changes in a CRM.
We use these details only to set up your trial and call you about it.
At a glance
- Priced
- Excel and WhatsApp: Free
- AuraStack: Per company
- Price
- Excel and WhatsApp: ₹0 extra
- AuraStack: Quoted on a call
- Partner logins
- Excel and WhatsApp: Shared sheets
- AuraStack: Included, buyers masked
- Portal leads
- Excel and WhatsApp: Copied by hand
- AuraStack: Lead sources only
How a sheet and WhatsApp groups usually run a sale.
01/07The short answer
Excel and WhatsApp or AuraStack: which one, when.
A sheet is not wrong. It is right for a while. Here is where the line usually falls.
Excel and WhatsApp are enough if
- One project, a handful of people, and one person who keeps the sheet honest.
- Few or no channel partners.
- Bookings are rare enough that collections fit in one tab.
Move to AuraStack if
- More than one person touches a lead, or partners bring buyers.
- A unit has been promised twice, or a hold was never released.
- Demand letters go out late, and nobody sees overdue payments until month-end.
- Nobody can answer “who changed this, and when?”
02/07Side by side
Excel and WhatsApp vs AuraStack, row by row.
The same fifteen jobs every builder’s sale has, done in a sheet and in a CRM.
How it is priced
Excel and WhatsApp
Already paid for, or free
AuraStack
Per company, not per user
Published price
Excel and WhatsApp
₹0 extra
AuraStack
Quoted on a short call
Time to go live
Excel and WhatsApp
Today
AuraStack
About a week, migration included
Units and holds
Excel and WhatsApp
A tab per tower, updated by hand; a hold is a colour someone has to remember to clear
AuraStack
Projects, wings and units, a live price matrix, six unit states and holds that expire on their own
Cost sheet
Excel and WhatsApp
A template copied for each buyer
AuraStack
Upload the cost-sheet PDF and the booking fills in the buyer, unit and agreement value
Payment plans and collections
Excel and WhatsApp
Another sheet, and reminders sent by hand
AuraStack
Eight-stage payment plan, demand letters, maker-checker payment verification
Channel partner logins
Excel and WhatsApp
Share the sheet and you share every buyer on it
AuraStack
Included: each partner sees only their own referrals, with buyer details masked
Brokerage
Excel and WhatsApp
Worked out when the partner calls to ask
AuraStack
Computed on confirmed bookings (slab, flat or percent), paid in batches, anything pending 30 days flagged
Calls
Excel and WhatsApp
On personal phones, never on the lead
AuraStack
Company Android phones sync call logs to the lead, with no telephony contract. No call recording
WhatsApp
Excel and WhatsApp
Personal chats and groups, outside any record
AuraStack
One-tap WhatsApp on every lead, and site-visit reminders on WhatsApp
99acres, MagicBricks, Housing.com
Excel and WhatsApp
Copied in from emails
AuraStack
Tracked as lead sources, not integrated
Buyer portal
Excel and WhatsApp
WhatsApp messages
AuraStack
Not offered today
Accounts and ERP
Excel and WhatsApp
Tally, separately
AuraStack
Not an accounting system: payouts export to Excel for finance
03/07What it costs
Excel costs nothing extra. The cost is in what slips.
A sheet has no price, and that is its real advantage. Its cost shows up elsewhere: a follow-up nobody owned, a unit promised twice, a demand letter that went out a week late, a partner who stops sending buyers because nobody can tell him what he has earned.
AuraStack is priced per company and quoted on a short call, and every company starts with a 30-day trial on its own project, so you can see what the sheet was missing before you pay.
30-day trial
One project, five users, the full product, no card.
Your own leads and units in it before you pay. Migration is included.
04/07Where Excel and WhatsApp are stronger
Where Excel and WhatsApp are the better pick.
We make AuraStack, so this part matters most. If one of these is what you need, it should decide it.
- 01
It costs nothing extra
Every office already has it, and there is no subscription to justify.
- 02
Everyone already knows it
No training, no new login, no habit to break.
- 03
You can bend it any way
Add a column, change a formula, start a new tab. No vendor in the way.
- 04
It works anywhere
Offline, on any laptop, emailed in a second.
05/07Where AuraStack differs
Where AuraStack is built differently.
One record per buyer
Every enquiry, call, visit and booking on the lead, whoever handled it, instead of in five people’s phones and three versions of the sheet.
Holds that let go on their own
A unit held for a buyer carries its own expiry, so stock never stays blocked by a rep who went quiet.
Collections you can see
An eight-stage payment plan, demand letters against it and maker-checker payment verification, with overdue amounts on the owner’s dashboard.
Partners without your buyer list
Each partner logs in and sees only the buyers they brought, with everyone else masked.
Every change on record
Old value, new value, the user, the role and the IP address, so “who changed this, and when?” is one search.
Switching from Excel and WhatsApp, in a week.
Migration is included. Nothing is switched off while you move, and a full export of your data is yours on request if you ever leave.
Day 1
Your data comes across
Lead sheets, CP list, visit history
Day 2–3
Inventory goes in
Projects, wings, units, price matrix
Day 4
Your words, your roles
Stages and permissions mapped
Day 5
The team is trained
On their own live data
Week 2
Monday happens in AuraStack
The spreadsheets stop opening
06/07Sources & method
Where every fact on this page comes from.
The left-hand column describes how a sale usually runs on sheets and WhatsApp groups. The AuraStack column restates what the product does, and what it does not: it does not integrate property portals directly, record calls, keep accounts or offer a buyer portal today.
Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will check it and correct the page.
Other comparisons
Sell.Do vs AuraStack
Pune’s builder CRM, part of Aurum PropTech: launch-day tools, a broker app and a buyer portal, priced per active user.
CompareLeadSquared vs AuraStack
Bengaluru’s sales platform for many industries, real estate among them: strong on calling and field teams, ₹2,500 a user a month.
CompareLeadrat vs AuraStack
Bengaluru’s real estate CRM for India and Dubai: one plan with every feature, ₹2,299 down to ₹1,499 a user a month.
CompareBuildesk vs AuraStack
Turbhe, Navi Mumbai, since 2019: CRM and ERP from one vendor, with reception, partner and customer apps.
Compare
07/07Straight answers
Excel and WhatsApp questions builders ask us.
When should a builder move from Excel to a CRM?
When a second person, or a partner, touches a lead.
Excel holds up while one person owns every lead on one project. It starts losing buyers once several people touch the same lead, channel partners bring walk-ins, units are held and released, or collections run against a payment plan. Those are the jobs a real estate CRM keeps on one record.
Is Excel enough for a single project?
Sometimes, for a small team.
For one project, a small team and few channel partners, a well-kept sheet can be enough. The usual breaking points are double-promised units, follow-ups nobody owned, late demand letters and brokerage disputes.
How long does it take to move off Excel?
About a week, with migration included.
About a week. Lead sheets, the channel partner list and site-visit history are imported and de-duplicated on day one; projects, wings, units and the price matrix go in on days two and three; stages and roles are mapped on day four; and the team is trained on its own data on day five. Nothing is switched off while you move.
Can we keep using WhatsApp?
Yes, from inside each lead.
Yes. AuraStack puts one-tap WhatsApp and calling on every lead and sends site-visit reminders on WhatsApp, so the conversation stays tied to the buyer instead of living in someone’s personal chats.
Not on the list? Ask us the awkward version — we would rather lose a deal on the call than on the third invoice.