A solo coordinator's software bill usually has three parts. A transaction management platform to hold the file and the deadline checklist, e-signature, and a document store plus email and calendar. The platform is where the spread is widest: coordinator-specific tools tend to price per active file or in monthly tiers, and at under ten files a month you're generally in the lowest tier. Budget in the range of $30 to $80 a month for that, roughly $15 to $30 for e-signature if it isn't bundled, and $10 to $20 for a business email and file storage. Confirm the current numbers with each vendor, because tiers and per-file pricing change and demo-gated pricing usually means it's negotiable.
On overlap, you often do pay twice, and it's usually worth it. The brokerage platform is the broker's system of record, and their compliance file has to live there. Your own tool is where your checklist, your templates, and your client-facing status updates live, and you keep access to it when a client leaves. Work in the broker's platform when a specific broker requires it, and keep your own as the thing that follows you between clients.
The cost people forget is a phone line and a way to send things the way agents actually want them sent. If your clients text, you need a business number you can hand off later rather than your personal cell. That's small money, and it's the difference between a client list you own and a client list living in your own contacts.
