11 Best Free Property Management Software Platforms in 2023 | Avail

Managing a rental property comes with many responsibilities — you’re in charge of determining rent price, listing your rental online, screening potential tenants, collecting rent, handling sudden maintenance requests, and more. With so many tasks to complete and no property manager, it’s important to have the right rental property software in place to make the whole process easier.

But knowing which to go with and what to look for can be difficult for any DIY landlord. That’s why we reviewed the eleven best free property management software platforms designed for landlords to help you determine which is the best for you.

What Is the Best Free Property Management Software?

1. Avail (Part of Realtor.com®)

Avail (part of Realtor.com®) is free rental property management software that enables landlords to advertise their rental property listing across a dozen sites, screen tenants with customizable questions, request in-depth background checks, create and sign state-specific leases, collect rent, and more — all online. 

You can access services expensive property management companies offer but without the hefty price tag. What makes Avail stand out is its ease of use, comprehensive services, and landlord benefits designed to make the renting process hassle-free for landlords and tenants. 

You can create a free landlord account and utilize Rent Price Analysis reports, explore an extensive library of educational content, and list your rental right away. Rental listings are posted across the top rental sites like Zumper, Apartments.com, Realtor.com®, PadMapper, Apartment List, Walk Score, and Doorsteps at once. Avail is free for unlimited units, but if you’re looking to also create a property website or build a custom lease, you can easily upgrade to Unlimited Plus.

There are a few property management software platforms that offer a referral program, but the Avail Referral Program can save landlords money on screening, background checks, and other management tasks. Landlords can earn  $500 in account credit once 10 people they’ve invited create an account. 

2. Apartments.com Rental Manager (Cozy)

Apartments.com Rental Manager (Cozy) is a free rental property management software that allows landlords to carry out regular tasks such as collecting rent, screening and communicating with tenants, and handling maintenance requests. They also offer an expense tracking tool to help manage your expenses by property. Landlords can assign each rental to a specific tax category and keep relevant documents like receipts, invoices, bank statements, and more in one place.  

While they’re known to be a budget-friendly option, there are limitations as to what you can and can’t do on the platform. Apartments.com Rental Manager allows landlords to post rental listings to five sites in total, which can limit the chances of your property catching a tenant’s attention. To combat this and increase the amount of people seeing your listing, you’ll need to manually post the listing on other sites or share the listing link across your social media accounts. 

Now that tenants are looking to improve their credit while renting, more and more landlords are providing them with ways to report rent payments to contribute to their credit health. 

Apartments.com Rental Manager used to offer the ability for renters to report on-time payments through Experian, however, this feature is no longer available. So while this may be an affordable option, you might find yourself working outside of the platform to access the full scope of rental tools you need.

3. TurboTenant

TurboTenant is a property management software designed for landlords with up to 100 rental properties in their portfolio. Landlords can collect rent online, utilize rental advertising tools, and store important documents at no additional cost.

You can create an account for free, but drafting lease agreements and requesting electronic signatures require a small investment. When you’re onboarding a tenant for your rental property, you will want software that provides state-specific lease templates that comply with local regulations to ensure all agreements are legally binding. Landlords can utilize TurboTenant’s state-specific templates for $39 per tenant and have those same documents electronically signed for $9 — but this comes to almost $50 to carry out one lease agreement. 

If you’re hoping to offload some of this cost through referral credits, TurboTenant won’t be much help, either. Rather than providing a landlord with credits to use within the platform, landlords using TurboTenant can earn a $25 Amazon gift card when they refer a friend.

4. TenantCloud

TenantCloud is a property management software that offers three monthly subscriptions at varying price points. Landlords can create a free account in the form of a “Forever free trial,” but you’ll need to invest in their Standard subscription for $9 or Advanced for $35 to use all their services. 

It’s important to note that services intended to make landlording easier are not included in the free account. To get software basics like listing lead management, e-signature capabilities, and accounting services, you’ll need to upgrade your subscription to either Standard or Advanced.

With the Advanced subscription, landlords can sync their Quickbooks account to TenantCloud to track all accounting, but for $420 a year. This cost excludes tenant screening and any rental reporting to help determine a fair rent estimate, which means you’ll pay even more to manage your rental property. 

Because of the number of capabilities they offer, managing more than one property on TenantCloud might take some time for those getting familiar with the system itself. In the end, you might find a more user-friendly platform with more options and a smaller price tag. 

5. Rentler

Rentler connects landlords with tenants from all over the nation in just one place. Landlords can also list and advertise their properties, collect online rent payments, and track maintenance requests through the platform.

Rentler is free for landlords and tenants to use, but it’s important to note that rental listing capabilities cost anywhere from $15 to $25 per day, and only the first one is free. While this cost may be manageable, rental listings are a common part of managing your property and most rental property software platforms offer this capability at no additional cost.

If you need to access state-specific legal forms for your property, like for a lease agreement, you’ll need to pay an extra $25 to access Rentler’s document library. 

6. Buildium

Buildium is a rental management software intended for landlords with a minimum of 50 properties in their portfolio. While it offers the same capabilities as some of the software we covered, you can only use the free trial for 14 days. An account with Buildium costs anywhere from $50 to $460 per month and depends on the number of properties you own.

Landlords can screen tenants, receive standard reports, and more with an account. Still, going with Buildium means, you’ll be paying anywhere from $540 to $600 annually on property management software alone, which may not make sense with landlords with a smaller number of units. 

7. Appfolio

Similar to Buildium, Appfolio is a cloud-based property management software that requires a minimum portfolio of 50 properties to qualify for their subscriptions. The minimum monthly fee begins at $280 per month, which means a good portion of your rental income will go towards paying for your management software alone.

8. Zillow Rental Manager

Zillow Rental Manager is an easy-to-use property management software on a major real estate marketplace. Landlords can post a rental listing on Zillow, Trulia, and HotPads. You can also screen tenants with online applications, e-sign rental leases, and collect rent payments and other fees. 

There are no limits to how many rental listings you can publish, but only the first listing is free to publish — additional listings cost $9.99/week. The platform also lacks certain conveniences, like a way to manage maintenance requests, so you may have to use additional software to help with your landlording needs.  

9. DoorLoop

DoorLoop is an all-in-one property management software that lets landlords lease properties, automate accounting, manage work orders, and more. To make use of the tools the platform offers you’ll need to sign up for either the Starter, Pro, or Premium plan. The Starter plan costs $49/month when billed yearly, while the Pro and Premium options will run you $79 and $109 a month. 

While DoorLoop’s ease of use is appealing, the platform is lacking in certain areas compared to Avail. For example, you won’t be able to use lease agreement templates with DoorLoop, but Avail can help you save time once you’ve found a tenant for your rental.  

10. RentRedi

A property management solution for landlords and real estate investors looking for help managing their rentals. You’ll be able to post listings to Realtor.com® and Doorsteps, collect rent payments online, and sign and store leases through the platform. It’s worth noting that RentRedi requires a subscription plan, and users can choose an annually-billed subscription for $9/month, a $15/month semiannual plan, or a $19.95/month pay-as-you-go option. 

Before investing in RentRedi, be sure to review the differences between RentRedi and Avail. With some key features missing from the former, you may find managing your property with Avail is the more ideal option. 

11. Rentec Direct

If you own less than 10 properties, Rentec Direct’s basic plan is a free platform that helps you stay organized with rental property accounting and online file management. Unfortunately, several other features are only available through a paid plan. Monthly costs for Rentec Pro depend on the number of properties you manage. One to 10 units will cost $35/month, 11 to 25 units cost $45/month, and so on. Users can opt into an annual billing cycle for a 10% discount, but this could still prove costly for landlords with larger portfolios.   

Because there are substantially more benefits to a paid plan, you may need to outsource additional tools to help you manage your rental. Remember that the larger your portfolio, the greater the monthly subscription cost can be on Rentec Direct. 

Get the Best Property Management Software With Avail

Whether you’re a DIY landlord managing your first rental property or a seasoned professional looking for new property management software, Avail is for everyone. What used to take tons of time and manual tracking can all be done in one place without breaking the bank.

Create an account today to use the best free property management software to manage your rentals.

Share

0

Shares