Comparison · TOTAL by a la mode
Keep TOTAL. Add the office it doesn't include.
TOTAL is great at what it does — writing reports. It was never built to run the business around the reports. Appraisal Ally is. Use both. Pay one fair price for the layer in between.
No card to join · No forms migration · First access this summer.
Subject
9820 Antelope Ridge Dr
Borrower
S. Patel
Lender
Wells Fargo
Value
$612,000
Form
URAR 1004 (UAD 3.6)
Effective Date
06 / 02 / 2026
Sales Comparison Approach
Representative form layout. TOTAL by a la mode is the reference; we do not embed screenshots of the product.
Process
Pending
2Leads — drag onto a stage to convert →
5540 Copper Ridge Dr
Colorado Springs, CO
128 Aspen Grove Ln
Monument, CO
Research & File Creation
24127 Maple Ridge Dr
Colorado Springs, CO
892 Birchwood Ln
Monument, CO
Pick Comps
39820 Antelope Ridge Dr
Falcon, CO
215 Sycamore St
Colorado Springs, CO
3608 Eastwood Ct
Fountain, CO
Before Inspection
37715 Oak Hollow Rd
Peyton, CO
1208 Cedar Park Way
Colorado Springs, CO
5031 Highland Pl
Manitou Springs, CO
After Inspection
29624 Willow Creek Dr
Colorado Springs, CO
418 Magnolia Ave
Monument, CO
Finals
32240 Riverbend Ln
Colorado Springs, CO
1576 Pinehurst Dr
Falcon, CO
830 Brookside Blvd
Colorado Springs, CO
Revisions
26011 Stonegate Cir
Security-Widefield, CO
337 Hawthorne Ct
Colorado Springs, CO
No data leaves TOTAL. No forms migration. Plug it in tomorrow.
Category positioning
We're not a TOTAL replacement. We're the layer around it.
Two tools, two jobs. Keep TOTAL for the report. Add Appraisal Ally for the business around the report.
Keep TOTAL for
Writing the report.
- UAD 3.6 conventional forms
- FHA forms and case-number workflow
- Mercury Network delivery
- The field workflow you already know
- Your saved templates, signature blocks, and stamps
Add Appraisal Ally for
Running the business.
- Client and AMC CRM
- Kanban pipeline with team visibility
- Calendar and inspection scheduling
- Stripe-native invoicing and payments
- Branded client portal
- Paired-assistant team accounts
- Feasibility, narrative, and consulting work tracked as itself
Credit where it's due
What TOTAL does well.
These are not the things we're trying to replace. Keep using all of them.
Mature forms library.
Decades of refinement on the URAR, 1004D, 2055, FHA forms, and the long tail of GP report types.Mercury Network integration.
Native delivery into Mercury Network is built in and well-tested. Most AMC workflows live downstream of this pipe.TOTAL for Mobile.
On-site sketching, photo capture, and field data collection that syncs back to the desktop file.
The gap
What TOTAL isn't built to do.
Six jobs every appraiser has to do anyway. TOTAL doesn't do them, so most offices duct-tape six other tools together. We replace those six.
Client / AMC CRM.
TOTAL knows about reports. It doesn't know about your clients, their fee splits, or who owes you what.Visual team workflow.
No kanban. No board. No way for an assistant to see what's queued, who has it, and what's stuck.Calendar / inspection scheduling.
Inspections live in Outlook, iCal, Google — and one of them is always wrong.Stripe-native collection.
TOTAL doesn't process payments. Most appraisers send PDF invoices and hope for an ACH transfer.Branded client portal.
There's no place for an AMC or a private client to log in, see status, and download the report — or for a private client to pay you by card on the spot.Multi-user team accounts with pairings.
TOTAL is a desktop tool. The notion of an assistant paired to one appraiser, with scoped visibility, isn't in scope.
Side by side
Head to head, then together.
Three columns: TOTAL alone, Appraisal Ally alone, and the combo. The combo is the row that wins.
| Feature | TOTAL alone | Appraisal Ally alone | TOTAL + Appraisal Ally |
|---|---|---|---|
| Report production | |||
| URAR / FHA / GP forms | |||
| Mercury Network deliveryStays with TOTAL — we don't intercept it. | |||
| TOTAL for Mobile field app | |||
| Office layer | |||
| Client / AMC CRM | |||
| Kanban pipeline with team visibility | |||
| Calendar with Google Calendar sync | |||
| Stripe-native invoicing and payment collectionReal card processing on PRO and MAX, not just status tracking. | |||
| Branded client portal | |||
| Multi-user team accounts with pairings | |||
| Engagement letters tied to the assignmenta la mode has offered engagement-letter templates for years — as a document inside the report file. Appraisal Ally generates them per assignment, linked to the client, fee, and pipeline. | Static templates in the report | ||
| Non-form assignments tracked as themselvesFeasibility studies, narrative work, and consulting get their own report type — or a label you type yourself — on the board, the list, the invoice, and the export. TOTAL still writes whatever document the job calls for; this is about your office not filing the job as “Other.” | |||
| Cost | |||
| List pricePublicly-listed prices only. Your actual stack cost will vary — see the cost section below. | TOTAL Elite: $1,599 / yr¹ | Appraisal Ally PRO: $1,990 / yr | Two subscriptions, one office layer |
Showing
TOTAL + Appraisal Ally
- URAR / FHA / GP forms
- Mercury Network deliveryStays with TOTAL — we don't intercept it.
- TOTAL for Mobile field app
- Client / AMC CRM
- Kanban pipeline with team visibility
- Calendar with Google Calendar sync
- Stripe-native invoicing and payment collectionReal card processing on PRO and MAX, not just status tracking.
- Branded client portal
- Multi-user team accounts with pairings
- Engagement letters tied to the assignmenta la mode has offered engagement-letter templates for years — as a document inside the report file. Appraisal Ally generates them per assignment, linked to the client, fee, and pipeline.
- Non-form assignments tracked as themselvesFeasibility studies, narrative work, and consulting get their own report type — or a label you type yourself — on the board, the list, the invoice, and the export. TOTAL still writes whatever document the job calls for; this is about your office not filing the job as “Other.”
- List pricePublicly-listed prices only. Your actual stack cost will vary — see the cost section below.
- Two subscriptions, one office layer
Report production
Office layer
Cost
1 TOTAL Elite annual price quoted from a la mode's publicly-listed price page. We do not publish estimated competitor prices we cannot source — see the next section for how we handle non-published stack components.
The real cost comparison
What the typical stack actually costs.
Left: TOTAL plus the duct tape. Right: TOTAL plus Appraisal Ally. Every non-published number is labeled as an estimate with the source linked.
Six things, six bills, six logins.
TOTAL + the typical stack
TOTAL Elite
$1,599 / yr
Forms, sketcher, Mercury delivery
Publisheda la mode published price
CRM (HubSpot Starter, Pipedrive, or similar)
≈ $180 - $720 / yr
Client and AMC tracking
Estimatevendor published list prices, single seat
Scheduling tool (Calendly, Acuity, or similar)
≈ $120 - $240 / yr
Inspection booking
Estimatevendor published list prices, single seat
Invoicing / accounting (QuickBooks, Wave, or similar)
≈ $360 - $1,080 / yr
Invoices and payment tracking
EstimateIntuit QuickBooks Simple Start - Plus published list prices
Payment processor (Stripe, Square, PayPal Business)
≈ 2.9% + 30¢ per card transaction
Pay-per-transaction fees, not a flat subscription
PublishedStripe published pricing
Client portal add-on (XSites or similar)
≈ $96 - $480 / yr
Static client-facing site
Estimatethird-party review estimates
Annualized total
≈ $2,355 - $4,119 / yr + per-card fees
Excluding implementation time, switching costs, and the productivity tax of keeping six tools synced by hand.
Two tools. One fair price for the office layer.
TOTAL + Appraisal Ally PRO
TOTAL Elite
$1,599 / yr
Forms, sketcher, Mercury delivery — unchanged
Publisheda la mode published price
Appraisal Ally PRO
$1,990 / yr
CRM, kanban, calendar, Stripe-native invoicing, client portal, unlimited team seats
Publishedappraisalally.com/pricing
Office layer add-on
+ $1,990 / yr for the office layer
One subscription replaces the CRM, scheduler, invoicing tool, and portal add-on on the left — unlimited team seats and Stripe-native card collection included, and nothing else to keep synced by hand. Cancel monthly, anytime, with a full CSV + PDF export.
Comparisons made against publicly-listed prices and third-party review estimates. Your actual stack cost will vary based on which tools you currently subscribe to and whether you process payments by card or ACH.
Jeff Prewitt
Certified Residential Appraiser
Certified Residential Appraiser · Colorado Springs, CO
I still write every report in TOTAL. That's not changing. What changed is everything around the report — the spreadsheet, the Outlook folder, the QuickBooks file, the sticky notes on my monitor. All of that lives in Appraisal Ally now. TOTAL writes the report. Appraisal Ally runs the business. One subscription replaces the four things I used to duct-tape together.
Migration risk: zero.
Three steps. Nothing leaves TOTAL.
No forms migration. No data risk. Plug it in tomorrow.
1. Keep TOTAL installed and unchanged.
Nothing about your reports, your templates, your signatures, or your Mercury delivery changes. TOTAL stays exactly where it is.2. CSV-import your operational data.
Clients, AMCs, fee schedules, and calendar — dropped into Appraisal Ally's import wizard. Most appraisers finish the import in one afternoon.3. Run them in parallel, every day.
TOTAL writes the report. Appraisal Ally runs the office around it. Two tools, one fair monthly price for the layer in between.
Most appraisers finish the operational data import in one afternoon with the CSV wizard — and we're happy to work through the migration with you. Email support and we'll set up a call.
Questions from TOTAL users
What people ask before plugging it in.
Have a question not covered above?
Email supportKeep your forms. Get the rest of the business under control.
14-day free trial when we open. No card to join. Nothing about TOTAL changes — keep using it exactly the way you do today.