Looking for the best small rental property management software? Are you a tenant searching for the best free property management software for small landlords? You’ve come to the right place. Though traditional software might work well, there are many online rental property management software options too. You may be wondering about the best free property management software for small landlords, or what other people recommend. If so, you’re in the correct place!
If you are into property management for some time now, then chances are that you’re curious about what software is best for your business. A lot of property managers work with multiple software to manage many aspects of their business. If you manage properties, you need software to help you manage this aspect of your business. You will also find your online presence a lot more effective and user friendly once you get the right property management software.
Real estate is a huge market and seems to be a lucrative investment opportunity. With so many renting houses and their other rental properties, the revenue they generate is quite substantial. But having a lot of rental businesses means having to deal with a lot of paperwork – including maintenance, inspections, lease renewals, and other legal tasks. That’s why almost every landlord out there uses some small or large property management software for handling their business. The question is which one should you use?
It’s not easy being a landlord, managing properties, paying bills, and making sure that your tenants are happy. The good news is, there’s a software for that! Problem is, there’s too many to choose from and it’s hard to figure out which is best for you as a small landlord. That’s why I created this list of the top free small property management software so that you can easily figure out which one is best for your situation.
How Much Does Rental Property Management Software Cost?
Most property management software programs charge between $1 and $2 per unit under management. It’s important to note when you’re shopping for a program, most providers will charge you a monthly minimum fee, usually in the $200 to $250 range, even if you don’t have enough properties to warrant that high of a fee. Most programs charge the landlord team, but TurboTenant is a notable exception, pushing its costs onto the tenants. With TurboTenant, and almost all other property management software companies, there are also optional features for both the landlord and the tenant to pay for and use.
Buildium
Built by property managers for property managers, Buildium’s comprehensive service allows property owners to control every aspect of their business remotely, making it the best overall choice for both residential and association property managers.Pros
- Built by property managers for property managers
- Automatic rent collection through a tenant portal
- Online ticket support during business hours
- A lot of training materials offered
Cons
- Expensive pricing plans
- Some customer support complaints
- Not a fit for single property managers
Buildium, our overall best, is a comprehensive software that allows rental managers to control everything from online rent payments, vacancy management, maintenance cycles, and accounting. Through accounting, business operations, leasing, and community association management features, Buildium streamlines the whole property management process. It facilitates the lead-to-rent collection cycle through tenant and lease tracking, automated rent and fee reminders, complete general ledger accounting, and on-demand reports. Among its features, Buildium also has a specialized tenant portal that allows property managers to receive online payments automatically.
While there is no free version, they offer a free 15-day trial. Pricing is based on the number of units you manage and starts at $50 per month for up to 150 units. The more units you have, the lower the cost per unit with a maximum number of 5,000 units. Buildium also has a 10% discount for anyone that signs up for annual billing.
As it streamlines the whole process, Buildium is fairly simple to use, although basic users may not be able to maximize all of its features. To help users find their way through it easier, Buildium has a ticket-based customer support system, although there were some complaints about the slow responses clients received from it.
To support its features, Buildium integrates with several outside software platforms, including Apartment List, Apartments.com, Forte, HappyCo, HotPads, Lovely, TransUnion, RevSpring, MSI, Nelco, Tenant Turner, Happy Inspector, PayNearMe, Trulia, Zillow, and Zumper.
The idea began between 2002 and 2003 when Michael Monteiro & Dimitris Georgakopoulos started their rental property business and realized they needed software that will help them manage their properties easier. In 2004 they founded Buildium, which quickly grew to 10,000 customers by 2014, receiving many awards and recognitions to date from G2, SoftwareAdvice, and Capterra.
TurboTenant
TurboTenant’s pricing model puts all of its costs on the tenants, making it the best free option for landlords.Pros
- Free regardless of the number of units managed
- Great for DIY landlords
- 24/7 customer support through phone and online
Cons
- Tenants have to pay for it
- Limited advanced features
A lot of rental property management software platforms have free trial options, but often for only a limited number of units or a limited period of time. This is not the case with TurboTenant, which will remain 100% free no matter the number of units you manage. While many free rental property management software platforms leave a lot to be desired, TurboTenant is pretty straightforward to use with a simple interface and setup.
While TurboTenant is free for landlords, tenants pay a fee of $45 for application and screening, a credit card rent payment fee of 3.49%, and an optional renters insurance monthly fee starting as low as $8. Landlords can purchase a few optional services for a one-time fee, such as state-specific lease agreements for $29, an unlimited number of electronic signatures for $9, and 32 common landlord forms for $99.
TurboTenant has several features designed to facilitate tenant management for landlords, including managing applications and screening tenants online, creating dedicated listing pages, and sending bulk tenant messages from one inbox. By integrating with Craigslist, Meta, Realtor.com, Rent.com, Apartments.com, and other rental listing sites, landlords can advertise a vacant property with a single click across multiple platforms.
You can then screen tenants through TransUnion, send and sign all documents online via the platform, and send payment and maintenance requests online. Payments are made through ACH with no fees or by credit card for a 3.49% charge.
Although it’s a free, cloud-based platform, it has been featured and praised by Reuters, USA Today, and Forbes. Considering there are over 400,000 landlords using their software, the reliability and support provided by TurboTenant’s online tools have been proven and endorsed since their founding in 2015.
The company’s strong reputation has earned them three rounds of venture capital investment from four different firms, totaling $10 million.
AppFolio
AppFolio, popular among landlords with large rental portfolios, offers the best advanced features to control your units remotely, and additional support and resources to grow your business and maximize its efficiency.Pros
- Pay only for the features you need and use
- Supports all types of units
- Has a mobile app
Cons
- Has a minimum monthly fee
- Not fit for a small number of properties
Besides supporting all types of units, AppFolio has developed à la carte features a landlord would need to operate and grow their business remotely, earning our top vote for best for advanced features.
Because it doesn’t have tiered pricing, but rather an onboarding fee and then a monthly fee based on the number of units, AppFolio is best for those that have multiple properties. Although each advanced feature is pay-as-you-go, there is a minimum monthly fee of $280, which means smaller property managers would have to pay a higher cost per unit if they manage fewer than 166 commercial units or 200 residential rentals.
To set up an AppFolio account, you would need to pay a at minimum $400 onboarding fee, after which the cost of each property is as follows:
- Residential: $1.40 per unit monthly
- Commercial: $1.50 per unit monthly
- HOAs: $0.80 per unit monthly
- Student Housing: $1.40 per unit monthly
AppFolio supports multiple property types, including residential properties, commercial buildings, student housing, and community associations. Each of the features is designed for the specific property type you’re using, so AppFolio has everything a landlord would need—accounting software, rent collection features, maintenance requests, marketing tools for multiple platforms, utility billing, and customizable online leases.
Optional advanced features include a leasing assistant powered by artificial intelligence, professional websites for your properties, premium leads, tenant screening, insurance for landlords and renters, online payments, maintenance contact center, utility management, automated accounts payable, and tenant debt collections.
Founded in 2006, AppFolio has over a decade of experience in providing property management services to clients. Their property management software was the first product they developed, so it’s what they take the most pride in and continuously develop. With over $140 million in revenue in 2017 and an additional $60 million of investment in 2019, AppFolio is confirmed to keep developing and growing in the future.
Landlordy
If you’re looking for a simple solution that you can take with you on your smartphone, Landlordy is a good option.
They have both an iOS and Android app version and a decent enough UI (though not the best), but as you’ll see, compared to some of the other options we review later, the feature set of Landlordy is minimal.
Still, if you’re simply looking for something that helps you manage rent payments and you’re willing to give up some of the more powerful features in the typical property management software, it’s worth a look.
Landlordy pricing
Landlordy offers a 100% free version, though it’s limited to only a few basic features.
For $14.99, you can pay for a premium version and get access to a few more basic accounting features and data backup.
However, Landlordy still doesn’t come close to some of the more robust features on this list, even with those add-ons.
Avail
Avail is another good option that offers a more comprehensive feature set than Landlordy while also offering a free plan.
Unlike Landlordy’s affordable premium plan, however, Avail’s paid plan isn’t cheap.
Other pros and cons include a decent UI that’s easy to maneuver. It can be challenging to get started because Avail doesn’t offer good tutorials or a competent knowledge base for learning how the software works.
Features include:
- Online rent payments
- Work order management
- Tenant screening
- Automatic listings
Avail pricing
Avail offers a free plan with an unlimited number of units. However, their Unlimited Plus paid plan is pricey even compared to some of the higher-end options on this list. If you want to get many of their more valuable features, it will cost you $5 per unit, per month.
TenantCloud
TenantCloud offers a free plan most similar to Landlordy’s, being free up to 75 units. It’s not unlimited, but it will suffice just the same if you have a small portfolio.
If you’re looking for a convenient app you can take with you on the go– that offers a free plan– Landlordy is likely still the best option.
However, the one benefit TenantCloud has over Landlordy is that its feature list on both its free and premium plan is better.
Features include:
- Online rent payments
- Work order management
- Vendor payments
TenantCloud pricing
TenantCloud has a free plan of up to 75 units. If you need something more or are looking for more features, they offer a Standard plan for $12 up to 150 units and a Growth plan for $40 up to 150 units.
However, you’ll need to opt for their $40 Growth plan to get a decent list of features comparable to the other options on this list.
Landlord Studio – for Beginner Landlords
We handpicked Landlord Studio for landlords who have less than 3 units under their management. It’s clear, easy to work with, and gets the job done well.
| Cost | $5.99/month. Extra units cost $1 each (Up till 3 units). |
| Mobile app | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes |
What Landlord Studio can do for you (basic plan)
- Income Tracking
- Financial Dashboard
- Tenant Screening
- Online Rent Collection
- Tenant Portal
- Email Reminders
- Smart Receipt Scan
- Secure Cloud Storage: 10 Documents
- Customizable Emails
Why this app is a winner
The first unit is free
The $5.99 a month fee includes your first property. You know what that means, right? For all landlords who’re managing a single rental property, this is the perfect app. Simply pay $5.99 a month and forget about all your worries.
No upfront fees
A lot of property management software have onboarding costs. Other software, usually meant for property managers, have an upfront cost which isn’t worth it for most landlords.
No minimum order
This is the reason why we picked this software, to begin with. As a landlord who doesn’t manage a thousand properties, it’s impossible to start off with software like Appfolio, which requires you to pay a minimum of $250 a month.
Automatic rent collection
We weren’t expecting this functionality for a beginner-level software like this, but it’s all the more welcome. Your tenants will be able to pay you online, and if they wish, you can charge them automatically – saving time for both.
Where Landlord Studio falls short
High-level reporting is lacking
While Landlord Studio does a good job with keeping you up to date with whatever’s going on with your rental investment, you might feel irked if you want high levels of detail. This is definitely where the platform could improve.
Limited documents on the basic plan
The limited number of notices that you can give to your tenants on the basic plan can also pose an issue, but that’s a tradeoff we’re happy with if you consider the low $5.99 payment a month. Most of us spend more on a single coffee!
Our verdict on Landlord Studio
For most landlords looking to save time and automate managing their rental investments, this may just be the perfect software. It has everything you could possibly want in a compact platform where it’s hard to get lost. The company takes feedback actively and is constantly improving their app, so any issues you might face with them could disappear within months of you mentioning them to Landlord Studio.
How We Chose the Best Rental Property Management Software
We reviewed 15 rental property management software companies to decide on the best for these common categories. Lower costs and minimum fee requirements fared better than more expensive programs. We also preferred programs that earned high ratings and testimonials for their ease of use and setup. The software we recommended needed to have a good reputation for responsive customer service, integrations to expand and streamline the rental management process, and a comprehensive offering of features to accommodate efficient and affordable property management.
Conclusion
The way we do business is constantly changing, and the best ways of doing things are often born out of a desire to create efficiencies. This used to be especially true in terms of industries and businesses that did paperwork on paper, using copious amounts of time and resources.
Small property management software is very common in property management industry. After getting such software, it reduces the burden of wandering through a large number of houses and makes work easier.