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Insurance · head to head

Better Agency vs Ivans

B

Better Agency

Insurance

Agency management for digital-first agencies

From
$199/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Ivans logo

Ivans

Insurance

Carrier to agency data exchange infrastructure that sits under most US insurance agency management systems

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Better Agency better Agency's own vendor domain is betteragency.io, not betteragency.com as listed in the catalogue; betteragency.com is an unrelated web design firm (archived pricing captured at 4 April 2025); Ivans applied Systems owns both Ivans and competing agency management systems, so the neutral infrastructure that every AMS depends on is controlled by one of the AMS vendors, a conflict that rival vendors have complained about for years.
  • They diverge on capability: Better Agency covers Policy management, Ivans covers Ivans Download.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Better Agency and Ivans actually diverge.

Attributes where Better Agency and Ivans differ
AttributeBetter AgencyIvans
Starting price$199/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWeb, Ios, AndroidWeb
Founded2018Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Insurance).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Better Agency

  • Policy management
  • Client portal
  • Workflow automation
  • Reporting
  • Document management
  • Mobile app
  • API access
  • Integration library

Only in Ivans

  • Ivans Download
  • Ivans Exchange
  • Ivans Distribution
  • Market Appetite
  • Download analytics for carriers
  • Commission download

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Better Agency

  • Automationnot Ivans
  • Customer engagementnot Ivans

Ivans

  • An agency evaluating a new management system that needs to confirm, carrier by carrier and line by line, which data will actually download before it signsnot Better Agency
  • A carrier launching a new line that wants agency systems to receive policy data automatically rather than by rekeying from a portalnot Better Agency
  • An MGA that wants its book visible to retail agencies in the same download flow as admitted carriersnot Better Agency
  • An agency operations lead auditing why commission reconciliation keeps failing, which usually turns out to be a missing or misconfigured download connectionnot Better Agency

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Better Agency

  • Better Agency's own vendor domain is betteragency.io, not betteragency.com as listed in the catalogue; betteragency.com is an unrelated web design firm (archived pricing captured at 4 April 2025)
  • Base plan is $149 USD monthly and includes only 3 users; each additional user costs $35 USD per month on top (archived pricing page, 4 April 2025)
  • Paying annually is required to get a 10 percent discount off the monthly rate, with no other discount tier published (archived pricing page, 4 April 2025)

Ivans

  • Applied Systems owns both Ivans and competing agency management systems, so the neutral infrastructure that every AMS depends on is controlled by one of the AMS vendors, a conflict that rival vendors have complained about for years.
  • Download coverage is decided by carriers, not by Ivans or your AMS, so a carrier that does not publish a line simply does not download it and no amount of configuration in your system will fix it.
  • Eligibility requires that you are appointed and writing the line in that state, meaning newly appointed agencies wait on carrier-side setup with little visibility into where the request sits.
  • Data quality varies sharply by carrier, and agencies routinely find that some carriers send incomplete or oddly mapped policy data that then has to be cleaned inside the AMS, undermining the point of automating it.
  • Pricing is opaque and largely invisible to agencies because it is bundled into AMS and carrier agreements, which makes it impossible to judge what the network actually costs your business or to negotiate it.

Pricing, plan by plan

Better Agency

$199/month
  • Starter$199/month
    • Policy management
    • Client portal
    • Automation

Ivans

On request
  • Ivans$undefined/year
    • Ivans Exchange is provided to agencies at no additional charge, with a possible fee for Citizens of Florida business
    • Carrier and MGA participation, Ivans Distribution and appetite products are quoted
    • Pricing is generally embedded in the agency management system or carrier agreement rather than billed separately to the agency

Which should you pick?

Choose Better Agency if

  • You need policy management.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want client portal.
Better Agency review

Choose Ivans if

  • You need ivans download.
  • You also want ivans exchange.
Ivans review

Questions people ask

Is Better Agency or Ivans better?
Neither clearly leads. Better Agency starts at $199/month and Ivans at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Better Agency or Ivans?
Better Agency starts at $199/month and Ivans at On request.
Does Better Agency or Ivans run on more platforms?
Better Agency runs on Web, Ios, Android. Ivans runs on Web.
What is Better Agency best used for?
Better Agency is most often used for automation, customer engagement. Of those, automation and customer engagement are not what Ivans is typically brought in for.
What can Better Agency do that Ivans cannot?
Better Agency covers Policy management, Client portal, Workflow automation, Reporting. Ivans covers Ivans Download, Ivans Exchange, Ivans Distribution, Market Appetite.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Ivans: Do agencies pay for Ivans?

Ivans Exchange is provided to agencies at no additional cost, with a noted exception for business written with Citizens of Florida. The economics sit with carriers and with the agency management system vendors.

Ivans: Why is a carrier not downloading?

Almost always eligibility or carrier-side publication: you must be appointed and writing that line in that state, and the carrier must publish that line for download. Check the connection status in Ivans Exchange first.

Ivans: Is Ivans owned by Applied Systems?

Yes. That matters because Applied also sells Applied Epic and EZLynx, so a competing AMS depends on infrastructure run by a competitor.

Ivans: Can you switch AMS and keep your downloads?

Connections have to be re-pointed to the new system, which is a per-carrier request through Ivans Exchange and is a common source of migration delay.

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