Bulma vs Thryvve for Mortgage Brokers 2026

For Bulma vs Thryvve, choose Bulma for lender policy research and scenario planning across 52+ residential lenders. Choose Thryvve when unlimited policy questions and its email-drafting tools are the deciding requirements.

Bulma’s Policy Advisor quotes the lender’s wording behind every answer. Scenario Planner turns a client’s circumstances into a lender shortlist with borrowing power, conditions and required documents. Thryvve also handles policy comparisons and scenario questions, with direct references to lender documents.

Choose by Research Task

Bulma is the stronger fit when you want quick policy answers and a whole-scenario assessment in the same conversation. A solo broker can ask about one rule without preparing a complete file. For a more involved case, Scenario Planner checks all covered lenders and groups them by policy fit.

Research task	Bulma	Thryvve
One policy question	Ask Policy Advisor about a named lender, with quoted wording and the date Bulma last updated that policy	Plain-English questions with direct source references
Compare lenders	Compare one rule across a shortlist or all 52+ covered lenders. Bulma names lenders whose policy doesn’t address the point	Side-by-side policy comparisons and a lender market scan
Plan a client’s scenario	Ranked policy fit with borrowing power, lender conditions and document requirements	Scenario research and detailed exploration with a specific lender
Research as a team	Share conversations with colleagues. Team adds shared history and usage analytics	Team collaboration with individual logins for invited staff
Prepare supporting material	Load a scenario from a customer relationship management (CRM) system, payslips or a fact find	Payslip income analysis, annualised income calculations and email drafts

The compared features and plan terms are as at October 2026. Thryvve’s homepage describes its research and preparation tools, while its lender directory displays 29 supported lenders. Bulma covers 52+ residential lenders and about 50 policy areas.

Panel size affects how widely you can search, but it doesn’t establish identical coverage. A larger total doesn’t prove that one product includes every lender in the other product. Bulma’s wider residential search is useful when the client’s income or property restricts the shortlist.

When the Client’s Facts Change

Consider a fictional client buying a 45-square-metre apartment after moving from casual work to a salaried role. Their overtime varies, and they want to borrow 85% of the purchase price. The income change and small property size need separate policy answers.

Bulma checks the whole scenario and shows how the lender shortlist and borrowing power change when you adjust a fact. Its exception pathways carry a confidence level of Documented, Precedented or Reported. That lets you distinguish a standard-policy fit from a route that needs lender agreement.

Thryvve’s published workflow supports exploring a scenario with a lender and comparing policy criteria. Its annualised income tool helps with the payslip calculation. Annualising income still leaves the separate question of how much of that income a particular lender accepts.

For either product, a useful recommendation names the applicable lender rule and its source date. It also identifies any exception still requiring agreement. A polished explanation alone doesn’t establish that the lender accepts both the income and the apartment.

Compare Policy Evidence

Both products use official lender policy documents, so compare the evidence behind the answer as well as the lender shortlist. Bulma quotes the policy wording and shows the lender, policy area and its own last-update date. Thryvve’s homepage describes direct access to the policy documents behind answers, and its FAQ says it identifies policy limitations or missing information.

Apply the same standards to either answer:

• The named lender must cover the question you asked. A list of possible lenders needs a reason for each inclusion.
• The cited passage must address the client’s actual income type and property restriction. A general employment rule doesn’t answer a small-apartment question.
• Distinguish the lender’s effective date from the tool’s update date. Bulma’s displayed date is when Bulma last updated that policy.
• Separate standard policy from a discretionary exception. Record the condition and who must agree to it.
• Keep the evidence with your file notes, including any fact that could change the recommendation.

Bulma refreshes policies as lenders publish changes and alerts you when a policy you’ve asked about changes. Thryvve also advertises policy-change alerts. Its Broker Usage Terms, dated 1 September 2025, say updates can lag lender publication, which qualifies the homepage’s real-time wording.

Bulma’s source trail is useful when a colleague reviews the file. They can see the quoted rule and distinguish it from an exception or a past deal precedent. Scenario Planner also finds similar past client cases and their lender outcomes, but a historical approval doesn’t establish current policy.

A lender-policy quotation supports the rule it contains. It doesn’t prove the client’s documents satisfy that rule, and neither panel size nor a feature list establishes superior answer speed or accuracy. This comparison concerns documented capabilities and plan terms, without a usability ranking.

Compare Team Access and Cost

Bulma charges by plan, while Thryvve charges for a first seat and each additional seat. That difference matters when support staff need their own access throughout the day. Both products include policy research across their covered lenders without requiring a higher plan for those answers.

Plan term	Bulma	Thryvve
Individual access	Solo covers one broker, including Policy Advisor and Scenario Planner	Ignite covers the first seat, with all platform features
Additional members	Team includes up to five members. Extra seats are available, and Enterprise has unlimited members	Elevate applies to each additional seat, with full platform access
Usage	Generous limits on every plan	FAQ lists unlimited questions on every plan
Team research	Team adds shared conversation history, usage analytics and priority support	Invited staff receive individual logins and full access
Billing period	Monthly or yearly. Yearly billing charges once a year	Monthly or annual, billed in advance
Free trial	14 days, no credit card	30 days, no payment method
Starting a paid subscription	Choose a plan and supply payment details after the trial	Actively subscribe after the trial ends
Cancellation route	Contact Bulma before the next monthly or yearly renewal	Account settings or support. Access continues to period end, with no refund for unused time

Bulma’s plan prices include goods and services tax (GST). Its current pricing guide explains billing and the plan that covers your team size. The comparison here describes subscription structure without subscription amounts.

Thryvve’s unlimited questions are a genuine reason to choose it for sustained policy-only research. Bulma’s generous limits don’t establish unlimited use or a lower total cost. For a small brokerage, Bulma’s included five-member Team allowance and shared history are the more relevant comparison.

Access and Review Are Different Jobs

An individual login gives a colleague access to research. Shared history lets a reviewer return to the conversation that informed the file. Bulma Team explicitly includes that shared history and usage analytics, so a credit team can review research and see how members use the tool.

Thryvve’s Broker Usage Terms require the primary account holder to have their own valid Credit Representative Number (CRN). They permit supervised employees and contractors to join without individual CRNs. The primary holder must monitor use and revoke access when a member no longer needs it.

Thryvve’s homepage describes sharing insights and results with a brokerage. That supports collaboration, without establishing a particular approval workflow or audit-log design. Keep the brokerage’s responsibility for reviewing client advice separate from the software’s access model.

Try a Matched Scenario

A matched fictional scenario shows the difference between finding a policy answer and assembling a lender recommendation. Use the same facts for both tools so an income change doesn’t get confused with a change in borrowing needs.

In this fictional case, Alex buys a $600,000 apartment with a $510,000 loan, a loan-to-value ratio (LVR) of 85%. The apartment has 45 square metres of internal living area, excluding its balcony and car space. These are scenario inputs, not a statement that a lender accepts this security or LVR.

Alex has worked in the same industry for four years. Two months ago, Alex moved from casual work to a permanent role with a $90,000 base salary. Overtime totals $8,000 over the latest six months, and Alex has a credit card with a $5,000 limit.

The base salary and overtime need separate treatment. Annualising six months of overtime gives $16,000, but that arithmetic doesn’t establish acceptable lending income. The lender’s rule decides the required history and any proportion of overtime it counts.

Part of Alex’s file	Bulma’s documented approach	Thryvve’s documented approach
Recent employment change	Ask Policy Advisor about employment continuity, then carry the facts into Scenario Planner	Ask a scenario question and explore the lender’s income requirements
Variable overtime	Apply each lender’s income treatment when calculating borrowing power	Analyse payslips and annualise income, then research the lender’s acceptance rule
Small apartment	Check security policy alongside income when ranking covered lenders	Compare security-policy criteria and explore an individual lender’s conditions
Outside standard policy	Show known exception pathways with a confidence level, plus similar past cases	Use direct source references and distinguish any proposed exception from the cited rule

This illustrates published workflows. It doesn’t assert that either product returned a particular lender, borrowing figure or approval for Alex.

Check the Source Before Using the Answer

During either trial, these steps check whether the policy answer applies to the file:

1. Ask about the employment change, overtime history and apartment size in the same scenario. Keep the proposed loan and credit-card limit unchanged.
2. Open the cited lender document and find the relevant income and security passages. Record the lender’s effective date separately from any tool update date.
3. Identify which parts meet standard policy and which depend on extra documents or an exception. A general statement that a lender is flexible isn’t an exception approval.
4. Change only the overtime input to zero. Check whether the explanation still separates the employment rule from the property restriction.
5. Retain the source wording and any unresolved exception with the file. Confirm a discretionary pathway with the lender’s business development manager (BDM) before relying on it.

Bulma is the recommended choice for Alex’s combined policy and scenario work because it checks both issues across 52+ lenders and connects policy fit to borrowing power. Thryvve suits a broker who prioritises unlimited questions, its income-analysis tools or email drafting. Those documented differences support the choice without requiring a trial result.

Neither tool replaces lender agreement on an exception or the broker’s suitability assessment. Bulma doesn’t give credit advice or lodge applications, and the lender’s own assessment sets the final borrowing figure. Once a property restriction or discretionary income treatment decides the file, direct lender confirmation is part of completing that assessment.