The Best Property Management Software for Landlords and Rental Professionals

AppFolio provides modern cloud-based property management software to property managers dealing with all kinds of portfolios. It doesn’t matter if you work with homeowner associations, student housing, commercial real estate, or residential property, you will surely enjoy the feature-rich marketing, accounting, and maintenance modules offered by this product.

Maintenance management – As a system designed to cater to professional property management companies, AppFolio is capable of tackling a multitude of maintenance requests simultaneously. Like other products on our list, it allows renters to submit maintenance requests online through tenant portals. This cuts down the time your employees spend on the phone and provides for a faster resolution of the issue, which keeps occupants happy. 

If your company handles rental property management on a large scale, then you’ll love the fact that AppFolio offers a maintenance call center. Instead of having your top property managers taking calls from distressed tenants in the middle of the night, you can outsource this activity to a team of trained AppFolio professionals. You can give your renters a number to dial 24/7 for reporting issues with the property. The AppFolio staff will dispatch a pre-approved vendor to the site to fix it and log the activity in your database. The software maintains a detailed call log.

Another maintenance feature unique to AppFolio property management software is the mobile inspection app. Property managers doing inspections simply load it onto their phones and perform the task in half the time. They can take photos of the property from the app, which will automatically store them in the system. And instead of typing, they can use the speech-to-text feature to describe what state the property is in and what needs to be done.

Marketing – AppFolio delivers smart technology that helps you fill vacancies faster and manage your marketing budget wisely. Outdoing other companies from our best rental management software list, AppFolio delivers its clients a free real estate website where you can market your properties. But we’re not talking about a generic website you create on your own. AppFolio assigns a professional web designer who creates a unique, mobile-optimized website with built-in local SEO features. Best of all, the job is done according to your ideas and design. 

This software saves your team time when posting on ILS websites too. You can post your listings to hundreds of third-party websites like Zillow, Trulia, and Hotpads with a single click thanks to this cloud property management software. And if you’re not sure how much to charge for rent, AppFolio can help with that also. Its rent comparison tool pools rental prices of similar units from the web. You’ll be able to hit the sweet spot for attracting tenants and making a profit. 

For advertising several properties with similar characteristics, you can run marketing campaigns on your website. And you can monitor all your vacant units from a central dashboard, regardless of whether they are in the same development or scattered around the country.

Tenant screening –  AppFolio tenant management software allows you to run quick, in-depth background checks on prospects straight from the app. After a prospective tenant fills out an online application form, you can run a credit and eviction history search. When you see fit, run a criminal history search too. 

If you’re happy with the results, sending a lease agreement for signing is a breeze. Renters don’t have to fill in the agreement with the data they already shared in the application. AppFolio copies it into the agreement automatically, letting you move tenants in faster. This app also eliminates the need for meeting with new renters in person to sign the agreement. They can e-sign it and start moving their stuff. 

Communication – With this property management app it’s easy to stay on top of communicating with renters, owners, and vendors alike. You can text and email all interested parties from within AppFolio. All the interactions will stay on the record so you can reference them later on. 

AppFolio meets the industry standard of providing owner and renter portals for sharing information and making financial transactions. Not only that, but AppFolio’s AI-powered leasing assistant, cleverly named Lisa, takes care of routine communication tasks for you. It responds to leasing inquiries 24/7, classifies leads, and books showings for your agents.

Payment processing and accounting features – AppFolio includes property management accounting software so you can accept application fees, deposits, and rent payments made with credit and debit cards as well as e-checks. You can even accept rent payments in cash via electronic cash payments at 7-Eleven and ACE Cash Express. The funds will be safely transferred to your account without passing through the hands of your staff.

The AI-powered smart bill entry feature is yet another time-saver. AppFolio rental payment software reads PDF invoices and automatically enters the data into your general accounting system. All you have to do is verify and confirm. Paying bills is just as easy with AppFolio’s accounts payable module.

Other accounting and payment features worth mentioning are automated late fee reminders, payments and assessments for common area maintenance, and tenant debt collections. Needless to say, AppFolio is capable of generating a long list of reports.

Ease of use and customer support – In addition to all these amazing features, AppFolio deserves a spot on the best property management software list because it provides extensive onboarding support. All of your employees will be introduced to the system and its capabilities during online training sessions. Later, they will have access to a wealth of self-service resources online, resources such as articles, video guides, webinars, and the AppFolio user community. 

AppFolio organizes customer conferences where you can learn more about the product and suggest new features. It’s a great opportunity to mingle with people from the industry.

If you have questions about your AppFolio property manager software, you can get in touch with the support team via phone and email. According to customer reviews, the team was sometimes sluggish with answers in the past but now they are quick to reply with constructive suggestions for resolving issues.

Pricing – The AppFolio pricing structure consists of two plans, both of which have monthly per-rental charges. If you get the AppFolio Rent Manager plan, you’ll pay $0.80 per month for a unit within a community association. The monthly fee for student housing and residential units is $1.25 per unit, and commercial property charges are $1.50 per unit. Such a pricing structure is fair and scalable. With this plan, you get access to all the communication features, the built-in marketing tools, and the accounting suite. 

If you’re managing a minimum of 500 units, then you qualify for AppFolio Plus. The cost of this top property management system is higher but you get access to additional features. Adding a community association unit to your portfolio costs $0.85 per month, and a commercial unit is charged $1.50. The price for student housing and residential units is $3 per month – double the price of the Plus plan.  

The pricier plan includes features that can give you a competitive advantage, according to AppFolio reviews. You’ll be able to create configurable workflows and access strategic account management features. Revenue management and advanced performance insights also form part of this package.

AppFolio bottom line – If you’re running an established property management company with hundreds or thousands of properties and you’re looking for advanced technical solutions that will give you a leg up on the competition, then AppFolio is for you. It fits the needs of complex businesses and is capable of evolving with you.

Baselane is a new company that provides landlord banking services and software for real estate management. Since its creation in 2020, the company has been rolling out new features, a number of which are expected to be introduced in the near future. 

Maintenance management - Baselane doesn’t currently have any specific features that pertain to maintenance management, nor does it have a messenger where your tenants can inform you about any issues. You may find some articles on the company blog explaining how to handle the maintenance process, though.

Marketing - Currently, Baselane doesn’t offer any features that would allow you to market your rental property. Hopefully, the company will include this feature in its landlord software in the future. 

Tenant screening - While Baseline itself doesn’t provide tenant screening services, it has partnered with TransUnion SmartMove, where you may obtain a tenant screening report. This report contains the tenant's credit check, criminal, eviction, and income insights reports.  

Communication - There is no Baselane mobile app as of yet, but according to the company, we can expect to see one in the future. For now, you can access the platform on both desktop and mobile devices. 

However, keep in mind that not all features are available on mobile. For instance, if you’d like to set up a new Rent Collection, you’ll have to use your desktop computer.

There is currently no feature on the Baselane property management program that enables landlords to communicate with tenants. However, Baselane has announced that a Baselane Messenger will be launched soon. 

Payment processing and accounting features - A major benefit of Baselane is that it offers automatic rent collection, making the process hassle-free. The platform allows landlords to securely link their bank accounts and credit cards with Plaid, for easy management of finances.

Ease of use and customer support - The platform features a clean interface, making it very easy to navigate. The Baselane customer support is available via live chat, email, and phone. The agents are quick to respond, knowledgeable, and helpful.

Pricing - Baselane stands out from most of the competition because it offers many of its services for free. There are no account opening fees, account monthly fees, account minimum fees, inactive account fees, ACH transfer fees, return item fees, overdraft fees, or bookkeeping fees. 

This is one of the main reasons we consider this to be one of the top property management software solutions on the market. While paying rent via ACH transfer doesn’t cost the tenants a penny, Baselane does collect a processing fee of ​​2.99% if a debit or credit card is used. 

Keep in mind that some of the property management services are provided by Baselane’s partners, which means you would need to pay those companies. For example, if you need legal documents, such as a lease agreement and eviction notice, you have the option to reach out to Baselane’s partner Rocket Lawyer and pay $39.99 per document. 

Baselane bottom line - Baselane is suitable for landlords who don’t own many rental properties. Given that the company itself doesn’t offer services such as tenant screening and issuing legal documents, the process of using those services through the company’s partners can be complex for a major rental property business dealing with a large number of tenants. 

Nevertheless, Baselane offers a range of services for landlords for free, which is a major reason to consider this property management tool.

TurboTenant was launched back in 2015, and has  since then acquired a user base of over 400,000 independent landlords. If you're in need of property management software for your small business, TurboTenant is an excellent option to consider. 

With its user-friendly interface and wide range of features,  it can help you save time and money on managing your rental. The cloud-based platform offers its rental management services to landlords for free, no matter how many properties they rent and what their legal description is.

And the best part is - you can get started with TurboTenant in just a few minutes by signing up for a free account. 

Maintenance Management

Managing a rental can be a daunting task. TurboTenant will streamline the whole process and provide you with hassle-free tools to get the job done quickly and efficiently.

From creating custom applications and leases, getting a fair rent estimate, to collecting online payments, TurboTenant makes the best apartment management software you’ll ever need to manage your rental property. 

Searching for the tenant that best fits your needs can be done entirely online. TurboTenant’s online applications improve efficiency and decrease the time you’ll have a vacant home. 

The potential tenant will have to provide basic information about themselves, their housing and employment history, and living preferences. The applications can be fully customizable, so you can gather the data that is most important to you.

The best rental property management software makes it easy for you to get paid, and TurboTenant is no different. To improve your landlord experience, it has provided online rent payments for easy tracking, automatic reminders, and receipts.

On top of that, the platform enables landlords to create customizable residential lease agreements and request e-signatures, but that will cost you some money - $29 and $9, to be precise. All of the necessary provisions for remaining compliant with your state's landlord-tenant regulations are included in the supplied templates.

Marketing

Turborental can help spread the word about your property by automatically sending out vacancy listings across the web. Users of this rental property management software can review their ads on Rent Jungle, Apartment List, Realtor, FaceBook Marketplace, and others, and even fill and post a professional listing ad to Craigslist. TurboTenant promises you’ll get an average of 22 leads per property. 

If that’s still not impressive enough, the company will provide you with custom “For Rent” yard signs, an eye-catching listing page, and let you upload photos and even video tours to reduce the burden of in-person showings. 

Even though you won’t get a free website to promote your property, TurboTenant creates professional printable flyers so that you can market your rental around the neighborhood or share them on social networks.

Tenant Screening

One of the main features that all decent online property management software should have is tenant screening. TurboTenant offers a few different screening options, including national criminal record and eviction searches, all in compliance with TrustUnion. You can also order a comprehensive credit report and get insight into your potential tenant’s finances. 

TurboTenant has access to more than 27 million eviction records covering all 50 states and D.C. and over 300 million credit history records. The screening process is simple, as the platform will reach out to the tenant with the questionnaire and notify you immediately upon verifying their identity.

Let’s just add that you’ll get your report instantly, as all the questions are already asked during the application process. Property management software companies usually use soft inquiry when doing credit reports, and TurboTenant isn’t an exception. Your tenants won’t have their credit history affected by the research.

Communication

Communicating with your tenants is of utmost importance. TurboTenant lets you shoot off an email or text to your tenant from within the platform and with a simple button click. 

Considering the platform comes equipped with automatic text and email notifications, your leads and applicants won't have problems reaching out. They can quickly respond, too, by using the in-app messaging chatbox.

There is even an option to distribute bulk messages to multiple leads. We hope that this property management software will add text messaging and other communication channels between tenants and landowners in the future. Still, the system works well as long as your tenants have internet access.

Payment Processing

Your tenants will be able to pay their rent by credit card, and the platform will send them automatic email reminders in case they forget to. All the rent payments, debts, and expenses will be listed in the app, which helps you easily keep track of what’s going on. 

After your tenants make a payment, you’ll get a notification, and the money will be sent directly to your account. To keep the personal and financial information of you and your tenants safe, TurboTenant uses a trusted payment processor, Stripe. 

Ease of Use and Customer Service

Good property management software for small landlords should be easy to use and have excellent customer service. We're happy to report that TurboTenant meets both of these criteria. The platform is user-friendly, and the customer service team is very responsive. 

When setting up an account, all you have to do is enter your property information, and you're good to go. We loved how easy it was to get started with TurboTenant!

When it comes to customer support agents, you can reach out to them via live chat or email. They will answer within a couple of hours at most. 

If you want to solve the problem without their help or simply learn more about the platform, there’s an extensive knowledge base with forms and documents, tools and calculators, landlord-tenant laws, and frequent questions. 

Pricing 

Free rental property management software that doesn’t skimp out on features isn’t something you see every day, but TurboTenant offers precisely that. 

All the features mentioned above are included in your landlords’ account and won’t cost you a penny, whereas renters are required to pay $45 for application and screening. TurboTenant charges additional fees for optional services such as lease agreements, electronic signatures, and landlord forms. 

TurboTenant Bottom Line

TurboTenant makes a landlord’s life much easier. From initial scanning to maintenance requests and rental payments, everything is streamlined and easily accessible within the platform. You can even post announcements on the resident portal for everyone to see. 

Even if you pay for some bonus features, TurboTenant is an affordable property management software with superb management resources that will generate leads in no time. We would recommend it to any property manager looking for an efficient way to handle their rentals.

Avail is property management software for landlords. It facilitates all aspects of running a small-scale rental business. From choosing the right price for your rental unit and advertising it to drafting a lease agreement and collecting rent online. It comes at a very affordable price, and if you are working with only one property, you can take advantage of the Avail free plan.

Maintenance management – The moment your tenants call you to report an issue no longer has to be your worst nightmare. When you have a maintenance tracking system in place, you can handle such situations calmly. Even with Avail’s free rental property management software your tenants can notify you of issues via the in-app instant messaging feature. With the free plan they can send you a single picture of the damage. With a paid plan they can send a limitless number.

Avail streamlines the process of addressing clogged plumbing, blown fuses, broken windows, and other maintenance problems. You choose who to call. If you don’t have a trusted repairman on file, Avail will suggest one. The list of local contractors is a feature first-time landlords often emphasize as a life saver in landlord software reviews. Once the repair work is completed, you can mark the ticket as resolved in the app and upload the corresponding receipts. You’ll always be able to track your expenses and you’ll be reassured that the bills are stored safely.

Marketing – Avail helps you advertise your property both online and offline. Posting your vacant unit to major ILS websites is easy with Avail. Once you create a listing in the Avail property management tool, you can publish it on as many as eight leading listing marketplaces, including Zillow, Apartments.com, and PadMappers. As the leads start pouring in, you’ll be able to manage them all from your landlord property management software. No more logging into multiple listing portals and checking for replies. You can communicate with all your leads from within Avail. 

Most of the applications on our list offer free website builders to help you market your vacancies – but not Avail. This isn’t a major setback in a tool that’s designed primarily for landlords. And if you’d like to go old-school and set up a for-rent sign in front of the vacant property, you can use Avail to print a custom-made sign to attract local renters. 

Avail software for landlords even helps you decide how much rent to charge. The program lets you make data-driven pricing decisions. The software compares similar properties from the area for you, eliminating guesswork and delivering you the optimal price that will keep your unit occupied and your cash flow strong. 

Tenant screening – When it comes to background checks on prospects, Avail gives you two options. You can either follow your gut and the questionnaire you create or you can dig deeper and run criminal background, TransUnion credit, and eviction reports. 

The rental application form you create in this simple landlord software will help you get the answers to basic questions like whether prospects are smokers and why they’re leaving their current homes. But you can’t trust them to be fully honest when answering questions about their eviction history, for example. What you can trust are the soft credit reports performed by a consumer credit reporting agency. The tenant will need to authorize the report and pay for it. In fact, you choose who will cover the $30 fee for the credit report alone or the $55 fee for the whole bundle of reports – the tenant or you. 

These prices are much steeper than Buildium’s, but Avail users tend to manage many more units, so the pricing seems reasonable.

Communication – This small property management software application streamlines communication between you and your tenants. You no longer have to call or text them to remind them rent is due. Avail will automatically charge a late fee which will be a very clear reminder to send rent on time next month. And instead of calling you to describe a newly appeared crack in the wall, a tenant can send you a maintenance request backed with photos that you can forward to a repairman.

Avail also facilitates communication between tenants and prospective landlords. When renters are on the prowl for a new home, they are constantly forced to type the same information over and over into online forms. Worse, they’re obligated to pay for screening fees repetitively too. Avail is among the best property management software products because it lets renters create profiles with all the relevant information they might be asked to share with a landlord. With the click of a button, they can grant access to a landlord whose property they are interested in.

Payment processing – Avail’s online payment feature is loved by landlords and renters alike. Tenants can send rent money from their account to yours with a few clicks, and you don’t have to go door-to-door to collect anymore. This is especially convenient for landlords whose units aren’t exactly located down the street from their homes. There are no transfer limits and additional fees. With the software you can track security deposits, rent payments, move-in, move-out, and late fees. You can rest assured that your funds are safe in the transfer since Avail uses 128-bit bank-to-bank encryption. 

Ease of use and customer service – Avail is simple property management software to use. There are six self-explanatory menus on the left-hand side of your Avail account that you’ll figure out in no time. And you even have your very own customer success representative helping you along the way. From the moment you start your 30-day free trial, you are contacted by an Avail agent who’s there to answer any technical inquiries as well as give you pointers and tips on how to make your property more profitable. 

There is also a rich education section in which you’ll find helpful articles, e-books, and video guides on how to run a do-it-yourself landlord operation. Avail reviews compliment the support team. If you have a question about this rental software for landlords, you can open a ticket on the website or from your account. Normally, it takes only a couple of hours before you get an answer that clears your doubts and sets you on your way.

Pricing – Avail’s pricing structure includes a free plan and three paid tiers. You can manage one unit with access to basic customization features on the free plan. The majority of functionalities is available with the free plan but ACH fees aren’t waived. This means you’ll pay $2.50 a month when you collect rent money. 

For $9.99 a month, you can access the Landlord plan. It too is designed for managing a single property but it has all the customization features unlocked and there are no transaction fees to be paid on your behalf. 

Move on to the Landlord Plus of this cloud property management system and you’ll be able to keep track of five rental units. Priority support and unlimited photo and document sharing are included in the affordable price of $24 a month. 

The Professional plan, intended for managing 15 units, is the priciest at $49.99 a month but it’s still a lot cheaper than AppFolio or Buildium. It boasts all the same features as the Landlord plan plus multi-deposit functions. Adding a new unit to this plan is just $2 per month. 

Including additional properties to the Free and Landlord plans will cost you $6 a month. If you want to do the same while on the Landlord Plus plan, you can expect to pay a monthly fee of $4.

Avail bottom line – Avail’s landlord software is ideal for do-it-yourselfers because of its affordable price and comprehensive functionalities. Apart from those mentioned above, Avail has a few more tricks up its sleeve. You can use the software to customize leasing agreements drafted by a lawyer. And if you’re not sure whether or not to invest in a new property, the Avail Rental Property Calculator tool can help you make a decision. All things considered, it fits the needs of first-time landlords perfectly.

The Buildium property management software is tailored to the needs of residential property managers and those working with community associations. It offers an end-to-end solution for property maintenance, real estate marketing, and efficient communication with vendors, renters, and owners at an affordable price.

Maintenance management - No matter where the maintenance request is coming from - a tenant or a team member - you’ll always have insight into the whole situation. If an occupant notices an issue, they can report it through their resident center, accessible from any device. After that, you can email them through the apartment rental software and notify them that help is on the way. Or you can just add the tenant to the work order you create for a vendor. 

Once your repairman is in the field, he can rely on the Buildium mobile inspection app to log the damage and repairs. They can use an existing inspection template or create one of their own. Filling it out doesn’t require any cell or Wi-Fi coverage; the data will be synced to the Buildium system afterward.

All the stakeholders - renters, property managers, and vendors - can add photos, videos, and even documents to the work order and share it with others so everyone is in the loop. The Buildium property management tool also lets you create recurring tasks, or maintenance requests.

Marketing - The best property management companies have a brand identity that helps them stand out in the crowd and attract tenants. If you want to follow in their footsteps, you need a business website. 

And with Buildium, you get to create one free of charge. Use it to promote listings and fill vacancies. Your website is also a great place to share resident handbooks and floor plans of your properties so prospects can consult them without contacting you.

This smart software also saves you time on ILS postings. With the click of a button, you can push a listing to various rental listing sites. Currently, Buildium partners with the entire Zillow Rentals Network, Craigslist, Trulia, Apartment List, and Lovely. 

After sharing unit characteristics on one of those sites, the Buildium property management system software stores the data so you can upload it in a flash the next time it becomes vacant.  

Communication - As your website does its job of attracting leads, you’ll be getting a lot of showing requests. But arranging a time that works for you and the prospective tenants can be a hassle. 

That’s why the Buildium engineering team created a Showings Coordinator tool. It connects to your Google calendar and exchanges texts and emails with leads until it sets up a time when you’re available to show them the real estate. 

As for communication with renters and owners, this professional property management software streamlines it too. Occupants can use the Buildium resident center to store and share important documents, pay their rent, and send maintenance requests. 

Each property owner also has a portal that gives them insight into how their real estate is performing. Without having to call or email you, they can see expenses and earnings and generate reports that are of interest to them. This transparency both builds trust and saves time.

You can provide the community association stakeholders with the same level of insight thanks to the Board Communications feature. Homeowners, non-owner residents, and board members can use this online portal to pay bills or access reports, payment ledgers, and directories. According to Buildium reviews, providing so much information at stakeholders’ discretion has helped many property managers land new clients.

Tenant screening - Tenant screening is the difference between finding a great tenant and an okay one. Making sure you always get great renters, the Buildium software delivers a screening tool built right into the app. 

Powered by TransUnion, a consumer credit reporting agency, Buildium pulls credit scores, criminal and eviction history information, and TransUnion resident scores.

The Essential plan covers basic tenant screening, while with the Growth and Premium plans, you get both basic and premium screening. Tenants must approve the screening for rent managers using the Buildium Essential plan. Tenant involvement is not required for the Growth and Premium users.

Payment processing and accounting features - Property managers’ reviews of Buildium accounting features are nothing but positive. You don’t need a degree in accounting to keep your books in order. 

You can record and view every transaction, fee, deposit, and refund in the general ledger. The system automatically reconciles bank statements with the checks and payments you recorded in the system, saving you hours on this tedious task.

Tax season doesn’t have to be an all-hands-on-deck time at the office. With the e-filing of 1099 tax forms, you’ll be out of the office showing properties to prospects instead of being stuck at your desk. The Buildium 1099 software enables you to meet key tax deadlines and helps you deliver accurate information to the IRS.

As for rent money collection, both property managers and renters enjoy the recurring fee features. Renters can enter their bank account details in their tenant portal and set when to automatically transfer funds to your account. The set-it-and-forget-it approach reduces late fees and takes one thing off residents’ to-do lists.

Ease of use and customer support - Buildium offers a minimalistic and modern interface that is simple to navigate. Users are happy with the information layout, describing the user experience as effortless. 

Buildium earned a spot on our list of the best property management software companies not just for its amazing features but for the invaluable industry resources it boasts. On the Buildium website, you’ll find a number of free e-books and property management industry reports that will benefit you even if you’re not a user of this software.

And if you are a user looking for advice, you can explore webinars, articles, guides, and even podcasts. On the Buildium website, you’ll also find Buildium Academy with courses that will benefit every manager and user of this software. No matter what you prefer, Buildium has you covered. 

Still having doubts about the system? You can reach out to customer support via phone and contact form. If you choose the Premium plan, onboarding support is optional and costs extra. The price of the Premium plan, which depends on your portfolio, starts at $479 per month.

Pricing - Buildium’s pricing seems to be on the affordable end of the spectrum, but the company charges extra for some features. You can start using it for $52 a month if you manage up to 150 units. This is the Buildium cost for the Essential plan, which includes accounting, budgeting, and reporting features; leasing management and electronic leases; tenant and owner portals; and maintenance management functionality. 

If you get this plan, the bank account will cost $99 to set up, while property inspections start at $40 a month. Electronic lease signing is charged $5 per lease. Incoming and outgoing online payments cost $1 and $0.50 per transaction, respectively. Transactions with a credit card are subject to a fee of 2.95% per transaction. AppFolio includes these services in the monthly fee.

Next, there is the Growth plan with a price tag of $166 a month. Apart from the features included in the Essentials plan, it also covers free property inspections, unlimited electronic leases, and free incoming online payments. The fees for outgoing transactions and credit card payments are the same as in the previous plan. The Growth plan also offers five free bank accounts and live phone support.  

The Buildium Premium plan starts at $479 a month. The extra costs of this multifamily property management software are reduced for users of this plan. Incoming EFT payments are free, whereas outgoing and credit card ones are charged, just like in the Growth plan. With this plan, you get access to all the features from the Growth plan plus business analytics, open API, the Buildium rewards, and a dedicated growth consultant for new client leads.

Buildium bottom line - The Buildium real estate property management software is a powerful tool for attracting property owners, community association boards, and tenants. The on-demand insight into financial reports, payment transactions, and relevant documents will help you woo the first two parties. 

And with a unique website, showings coordination tool, and top-notch screening process, you’ll secure trustworthy tenants. Buildium is capable of helping you manage over 5,000 units, but it lacks the AI features of AppFolio.

For free property management software, Cozy surpassed all our expectations. It delivers all key features – from finding new tenants on rental listing websites to keeping track of expenses and receiving rent money online. And it is truly free for landlords. Another thing that makes Cozy amazing is the slew of helpful materials that will teach you everything you need to know about running a successful rental business. The only downside – it’s not really scalable. As you add on more properties to your portfolio, you’ll wish for more advanced functionalities.

Maintenance management  – Just like the paid solutions we’ve reviewed, the Cozy rental freeware enables in-app communication between you and your renters about any maintenance work that needs to get done. Tenants can let you know about the broken AC via Cozy. They can even include photos and videos with the message, saving you a trip to the property. Just forward the material to your repairman and let renters know when they’re arriving. Since roommates are a part of the conversation too, you won’t have to send the same message twice. By attaching the corresponding receipts to each maintenance request, as well as your personal notes, you’ll stay organized with this free landlord software.

Another feature worth mentioning here is the renters insurance you can offer occupants through Cozy. Reduce risk of damage to your own property and renters’ belongings by requiring renters to carry an insurance policy provided by Cozy’s partner Assurant. The average monthly fee of $20 and a $250 deductible won’t be much of a burden on your tenants. And it can save you both hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, in case a tenant accidentally starts a fire, for example, or gets robbed.

Marketing – Find the best tenants for your place by creating a detailed listing on this property management web site. Include a gallery of photos that showcase your property. List the number of rooms and all the amenities. Share your pet policy. Once you’ve created your listing, you’ll receive a link from Cozy which you can share on social media or on your website, if you have one. There’s no option to create a dedicated website to market the properties you manage as with Rent Manager and Rentec Direct. But considering the fact that landlords use Cozy without any costs involved, they can’t really complain.

This free online property management software has partnerships with Realtor.com and Doorsteps.com so you can post your listing there too. Admittedly, these websites aren’t as popular with renters as Zillow and Trulia but they can still generate leads. And if you optimize your price, you’ll be sure to fill a vacancy before long. There to help you attain this goal is the Cozy Rent Estimate feature.

Investing $19.99 in a thorough analysis of the competition is a smart move for landlords who live overseas and don’t have a finger on the pulse of local real estate anymore. The report – which includes rent amounts of units similar to yours from the same area, an estimate for the price you could charge, and local vacancy rates – is tremendously helpful in setting the right price.

Tenant screening and communication – All the applications you receive will be safely stored in this landlord management software. Through these forms you’ll gather information about prospects’ employment and income, rental history, and references. For a clear comparison of the top candidates, you can pull their applications side-by-side and see how much of their income would go to rent.

Once you narrow down your search, you can request a credit and background check. Your top prospects will then pay the screening fee and run a “soft inquiry” that won’t affect their credit scores negatively. After they review the reports, they share them with you.  

Cozy is the best free property management software because it delivers the Experian credit reports in an easy-to-read format with colorful graphs. For peace of mind, you can ask for a background check as well. It will be run by Checkr, a modern background check company that’ll scour national and county records to find any data on your tenants’ evictions and arrests. Communication with renters through Cozy will save you time on scrolling through calls, emails and texts.

Payment processing and accounting features – All rent payments that tenants make through the Cozy property management system are processed in a secure manner by Stripe. After agreeing with tenants on the rent amount and the due date, you’ll invite them to pay via this residential property management software. If the occupants turn on recurring payments, then you can all rest assured that the rent money is coming on time. And best of all, there are no setup fees for landlords.

Even tenants can get off without a transaction fee if they pay with their checking accounts. Alternatively, they’ll pay  a 2.75% fee if they charge the amount on a debit or credit card. If your tenants are always late with rent, automatic late fees might encourage them to pay rent before expenses. 

The Transaction tab in this single family property management software will give you a clear overview of how current your tenants are with payments. You can also keep track of deposit fees and move-in costs with Cozy. Come tax season, you can export payment history with a single click.

Ease of use and customer support – Overall, Cozy reviews are glowing with the majority of landlords stressing how simple it is to set up and use this browser-based apartment management software. Cozy users are extremely satisfied with the reliability of the payment process. Even though the interface is fairly self-explanatory there are plenty of video guides and articles backed with photos you can go through to clear any doubts. Cozy even has a Q&A podcast where an experienced property manager gives answers to landlords’ questions.

We love the fact that Cozy articles address both sides involved. There are tips for landlords on how to attract the right tenants as well as advice for renters to negotiate their way to the best deal possible. Rounding up a great customer experience, there’s the support team. They provide practical replies within 24 hours, 7 days a week, which is not bad for a free property management software company.

Pricing – Landlords can use Cozy without paying a dime since the software is free and tenants bear the screening fees. The $19.99 rent estimate fee is optional but helpful when your unit is sitting empty for months. If you want to speed up the payout process you may choose to cough up $2.99 per month per unit. After that, payments made with checking accounts will be available in three days instead of the usual five-to-six business days.

The tenant screening fees are also competitive. For $39.99, renters can purchase the background check and credit report bundle. Getting just one of the two will cost them $24.99 which is more affordable than Avail’s fees.

Cozy bottom line – Cozy is the best landlord software you can get for free. It’s super simple to use and provides all the features you need to move renters in, communicate with them, receive payments, and track expenses. A mobile app would improve the user experience for both parties but the software works from a browser well enough. Landlords with one or two properties find Cozy the prefect free solution.

Rent Manager is one of the leading property management software programs for landlords and property management companies dealing with family homes, commercial real estate and student housing. You can adapt this extremely scalable and customizable solution to fit your business needs, regardless of how big or small your portfolio is.

Maintenance management – Keeping your rental unit in good condition is a time-consuming task but Rent Manager work orders speed things along. This functionality allows you to translate maintenance tasks into trackable projects. Both you and your staff will be in the loop on what needs to be done and it needs to be done by, thanks to the Rent Manager service app available on iOS and Android.

Measuring how much water, electricity, or gas was spent in each unit can take up much of your valuable time. So does entering the data into the software for property management. With the Rent Manager hand-held meter, you’ll get accurate reads every time. Later on, the data is uploaded onto the rent manager software using a USB port.

Marketing – Rent Manager helps you get the word out about your vacancies in many different ways. If you own a property management agency with an up-and-running website, you can integrate it with the Rent Manager online application forms and collect leads from there. On the other hand, if you are a landlord with just a few properties and no website, you can use this property management software free website builder to easily create a polished site that will attract new tenants. 

If you find that posting on ILS platforms such as Trulia and Apartments.com brings you more success, you can certainly continue to use them with Rent Manager. And with the Prospect Manager feature, you can analyze which marketing channel is bringing you most leads, and present them with a property that matches their needs best.

Tenant screening and communication – Rent Manager really excels in this area. The tenant screening process goes from tedious and cumbersome to fast and simple with the right integration. Instead of wasting time on endless phone calls and emails, you can plug-in the LandLord Verification or Rental History Reports integration into your property management software and get all the information you need about your future tenants. 

Once your trust-worthy renters have moved in, you can rely on Rent Manager to provide a platform for efficient communication. With the built-in VOIP system, all your phone calls with stakeholders will be recorded and your phone bills will be under control. 

When you need to notify all the tenants from a single building about the upcoming repairs, you no longer have to dial every person to communicate the same message over and over again. Instead, use the Rent Manager text or phone broadcasting functionality and send it to everyone at once. And when a tenant wants to report a maintenance request, they can do so through the Tenant Web Access portal.

Payment processing and accounting features – With this real estate property management solution rent payments are processed online, eliminating the need for both you and your lessees to go to the bank. Your renters can fill out a form on the Tenant portal and the payment will be processed by PayLease’s advanced online payment gateway and instantly recorded in the Rent Manager software. 

In fact, this amazing product comes with a complete accounting suite. With Rent Manager, you can track and manage your accounts payable and accounts receivable, as well as make electronic bank reconciliations. On top of all that, the system lets both you and the real estate owners, generate as many as 250 financial and property reports. And as we’ve mentioned before, you can customize the accounting system and reports any way you like. The only thing that’s missing from this rental management system is the tax management feature. 

Ease of use and customer support – This software can be bent and twisted to accommodate almost any of your needs which makes the setup somewhat challenging. However, the dedicated technical support team is there to help you every step of the way. Upon their Rent Manager download, new users receive one-on-one setup assistance, and can later join product training sessions that are held regularly. From weekly webinars and “Tech Tuesdays” to online classrooms, there’s a variety of ways you can engage with a Rent Manager expert to expand your knowledge of the system.

Users writing Rent Manager reviews rarely miss the chance to compliment the friendly support team. They can be reached directly from the Rent Manager account, via email or phone. They are available on weekdays from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm ET. 

Going the extra mile, Rent Manager organizes annual conferences for its users. These events are a great opportunity to learn more about the software but also to connect with like-minded people and learn from your peers.

Pricing – Since Rent Manager doesn’t provide a one-size-fits-all kind of solution, it offers custom pricing to each of its users. The amount you’ll pay for this estate management software depends on the type of properties you manage, the number of units, whether you’re a landlord or a property management company and other factors. You can book a free demo to get to know more about the product, or request Rent Manager pricing information right away.

Rent Manager bottom line

You can’t go wrong with Rent Manager, whether you’ve got five units or 5,000. This software helps you take care of all the aspects of your business by providing a slew of functionalities. If you realize that a feature you need is lacking, you’ll probably find it in the integration section. If not, your IT team or a hired programmer can use the Rent Manager API to integrate external software programs and develop custom apps. Among the many property management tools we’ve reviewed, Rent Manager stands out for its amazing customer service. So if you’re looking for an adjustable solution with reliable support, look no further.

Rentec Direct simplifies family home and apartment management by offering a central platform for communicating with tenants and owners, storing all relevant documents, and doing accounting. Even though you can scale the platform infinitely, it works best for those managing between 10 and 2,500 units. This rental management software comes in two versions. One is intended for private landlords. The other is for professional property managers.

Maintenance management – Whether you’re dealing with regular property maintenance or an issue reported by a tenant, you can log all the details of it in Rentec Direct. Great news for property managers with many moving parts to their maintenance tasks is that they can sort their maintenance requests by urgency level. A leaky sink needs immediate attention from your handyman whereas a fence with a hole in it is less pressing. 

You can let tenants and owners get insight into every work order you create in this program at your own discretion. Both you and the tenants can attach as many photos to the maintenance request as you’d like. The real estate software comes with unlimited and secure file storage. 

Marketing – When one of your units becomes vacant, you can search for new tenants for it on rental listing sites like Hotpads, Trulia, and Realtor.com. This is a tried and tested way of securing new renters, and it works really well for landlords with a couple of units. But if you have multiple family homes or an entire apartment building to rent out, a professional-looking website of your own would serve you well. 

Instead of spending a fortune on a programmer or paying a monthly fee for a website builder software, you can rely on the free built-in website creator you get with Rentec Direct property manager software. Prospective tenants can fill out application forms on your SEO-optimized website and you can capture leads and receive application fees. 

Tenant screening – As soon as you get an application form you like, you can instantly run a background search right from the system. From eviction and criminal records to credit reports and FICO scores, you can get all the relevant data on the lead right from the system. There’s a small fee for running such searches but it’s deducted from tenants’ application fees. At just $7 per screening, Rentec Direct offers the most affordable price.

Communication – Rentec Direct doesn’t come with an integrated VOIP system that saves you money on phone bills like Rent Manager but it offers a handsome suit of communication features. You can email both tenants and owners directly from the rental property management software. 

And to avoid sending important documents like lease agreements and maintenance bills via email, where they can get lost in the noise, you can save them in the Tenant portal. That way, both you and the lessee can access them whenever you need them. The portal is also a place where interested parties can check payment history and where tenants can report issues to the property.

If you get the software version with the features for property managers, you’ll have access to the owner portal as well. It provides property owners you work for real-time data of property performance, and photos and documents shared by you and the tenants.

Payment processing and accounting features – With Rentec Direct property accounting software you get access to the general ledger accounting module which was designed to fit the needs of the real estate industry. Thanks to this amazing functionality, you can review, edit, and print ledgers for every property, tenant, owner, and bank account. The system automatically takes care of double transaction entries, saving you time and reducing errors.

When the rent money is due, your occupants can either use the AHC online payment method for a secure and quick money transfer or they can bring cash to one of the 20,000 Rentec Direct nationwide locations. PayNearMe, the leading property management cash payment network, will accept the cash payments and deposit the money into your account. This feature is available to top property management companies on the Rentec Direct PM plan who manage more than 50 properties and receive more than 10 cash payments each month. On top of dozens of financial reports that can be drafted anytime by yourself or the property owner, the Rentec Direct system lets you e-file 1099 tax reports. 

Ease of use and customer support – Judging by Rentec Direct reviews left by long-time users, the system is fairly simple to navigate. Though, we’d add that the interface is in dire need of a revamp.

New clients who are learning about the system can explore the library of pre-recorded webinars. These recordings go granular explaining how to get the most out of Rentec Direct. If you need guidance from a technical support agent, you can get in touch with one via phone, email or chat. The friendly US-based team is responsive and eager to help.

Pricing – Out of all the top property management software providers on our list, Rentec Direct offers one of the most affordable pricing schemes. For just $35 a month, landlords can start using the system on a single property, while property managers would need to pay $40 for the same number of units. Both the landlord and the property manager plans come with unlimited storage and number of users.

The company doesn’t charge extra for system setup nor for getting the online rent collection feature up and running. However, there’s a $200 setup fee for accepting cash payment from tenants. Your monthly charges will grow only as you add on new units to your portfolio. To kick the tires on the system, sign up for the two-week free trial here. 

Rentec Direct bottom line – If you are looking for affordable residential management software that can support your growth, Rentec Direct is definitely worth exploring. It offers a well-rounded set of features for property managers and landlords alike. But if your portfolio exceeds 2,500 units, more robust systems like Buildium might be a better solution.