Best property management software for small landlords

Rental property management software, priced

Ten products, each read from its own pricing page on 2026-10-23. The screening column is what an applicant or landlord pays per report; the plan columns are what you pay.

Billing terms are each vendor's own: a yearly price is shown where the page leads with it. Tenant bank-transfer and card fees are in the matrix and the sections below.

Three landlord apps, feature by feature

Most small landlords end up choosing between these three. They do the same jobs: listings, applications, screening, leases and online rent. The difference is who pays for them and how the bill grows.

A dash means the plan does not offer it. The 10-unit year: TurboTenant Essentials for 1–10 units, Avail Unlimited Plus at $9 a unit for twelve months, RentRedi's annual plan at $12 a month.

Free property management software, and who pays instead

A free plan moves the cost to the tenant or to a bank account. That can be a fair trade, but you should know what the trade is before you list a unit on it.

• Avail Unlimited costs $0 per unit and keeps state-specific leases with digital signing, online rent, maintenance requests and income tracking. Tenants pay $2.50 per bank transfer and 3.5% on a card. Unlimited Plus, at $9 a unit a month, removes the bank-transfer fee and adds faster payouts.
• TurboTenant Free costs $0 a month. The renter pays a $2 bank-transfer fee and a $55 screening fee. On the $199-a-year Pro plan, the transfer is free to the renter and screening drops to $45.
• Hemlane Starter is free for listings, screening and accounting, but rent collection with late fees sits on Basic, at $2 a unit plus a $28 monthly platform fee. Screening is $40, charged to the tenant.
• Stessa Essentials and Baselane Core are free too, but they start from the bank account and the books rather than the lease. Both collect rent online.

Flat-price property management apps

RentRedi sells one plan with every feature and unlimited properties, tenants and teammates. It costs $12 a month billed annually, $20 on a six-month term or $29.95 month to month, with a 30-day money-back window. Screening is charged to the tenant: $39.99 for credit, criminal and eviction reports, or $49.99 with income verification. That flat price is why it is our pick: it is $144 a year whether you own one door or forty, and nothing in the bill grows with the portfolio.

TenantCloud starts at $15 a month billed yearly ($180), with a 14-day trial. Its pricing page shows two different month-to-month prices, so check that figure at checkout. Watch the lease limits: Starter holds 10 leases, Growth ($29.17 a month yearly) 30 and Pro ($50 a month yearly) 60. Tenants pay $1.95 per bank transfer on Starter, falling to $1.50 on Pro.

TurboTenant's subscription plans are priced by bands of units, not per unit: Essentials is $149 a year and Pro $199 for one to ten units, rising to $199 and $399 for eleven to thirty. The two head to head are in TurboTenant vs RentRedi.

When the books matter more than the leasing

If your tenants are long-term and settled, you may need rent collection and clean tax records more than listings. Baselane Core is $0 and includes property bank accounts, rent collection, an accountant tax package and Schedule E reports. Its Smart plan is $20 a month on an annual plan. Stessa Essentials is free with unlimited properties, but its Schedule E report starts on Manage, at $12 a month billed annually; Pro is $28. The full side-by-side is in Stessa vs Baselane, and what the reports feed into is in landlord tax deductions.

Property management systems: Buildium, DoorLoop and AppFolio

These are full property management systems, sold to companies that manage for owners and have staff. They do the property accounting, owner statements and work orders that landlord apps leave out, and they price it accordingly.

• Buildium publishes Essential from $62 a month, Growth from $192 and Premium from $400, with a 14-day trial. Per-transaction fees sit on top: on Essential, $2.35 per incoming bank transfer and a $99 setup fee per business bank account. Screening is $17 a report, or $35 charged to the applicant.
• DoorLoop One is $2.50 a unit a month billed yearly ($3.00 month to month), with a $199 monthly minimum ($239 month to month). At $2.50 a unit, that minimum is the bill for about 80 units, so a 10-unit landlord pays the minimum.
• AppFolio Core starts at $1.49 a unit a month, but sells by quote with a minimum spend and a 50-unit minimum. Below 50 units it is not an option.

Real estate management software at this level earns its cost when you manage for other owners, pay someone to help, or need owner statements and work orders. A self-managed portfolio of a few doors gains little from it. The two biggest names are compared in Buildium vs AppFolio.

When a spreadsheet is still enough

With one or two units, a tenant who pays by bank transfer and a lease you already have, software adds little. What you do need is a record: every rent payment dated, every deposit held, every repair costed. The free rent ledger template and rent receipt template cover that, and the rental property cash flow calculator shows what a subscription does to your margin. Move to an app when you start screening strangers, when a tenant asks to pay online, or when tax time takes more than an afternoon.

How to choose rental management software