Updated November 16, 2020; Originally published September 5, 2020.

Property management software has come a long way even in the short time since I first purchased my own rental in 2011.

Collecting rent online was a pain in the tush. As a small landlord with just a single unit, it didn’t make sense for me to spring for a software solution with a monthly subscription. All my profits would disappear!

But we’re in the 2020s, now, and there are completely free real estate software tools that are more than adequate to the task.

Some of these are free because they monetize you in other ingenious ways, like selling renter’s insurance. That is an easy win-win if I can get tenants onto renters insurance and in exchange get a free tool to manage my units!

As for features I look for besides auto-pay, tenant application, and some basic financial reporting for tax purposes, a tool that can syndicate my listing as far as possible is nice. I don’t want to have to sit there adding and updating a dozen different websites with my new vacancy posting.

Unfortunately, Zillow was once free to add listings online, but in 2019 they added their online rental property manager and began charging by the week for listings. It can be worthwhile to get a good rental manager software with syndication to Zillow and its portfolio of websites.

You can still use websites like Zillow or Redfin to get a quick rent estimate if you are struggling to decide what rent to ask for – and of course snoop their sites for other comparable rentals in the neighborhood.

Anyway. here are some good property management software solutions that are completely free!

TenantCloud

What it’s Got

The free plan includes online rent collection, accounting tools, automatic late fees, online lease agreements, roommates manager, maintenance requests, ability to screen potential tenants, and some financial reporting. It has decent listing syndication to get your rentals out on the web.

TenantCloud modernized its dashboard completely in 2020, making for a very smooth software experience.

What it’s Missing

TenantCloud is capable of doing a lot. Its free version, however, does not include auto-pay, which is likely a feature most property managers will want to spring for sooner rather than later.

Pricing

• FREE for Basic
• $9/mo for Standard
• $35/mo for Advanced

The free plan is available to up to 75 units.

Avail

What it’s Got

Formerly Rentulations, Avail is a small landlord property management software. It includes listing syndication, credit reports, lease signatures, rent payment, and more. Its target customer is a landlord with fewer than 10 properties.

It syndicates listings to an impressive variety of sites and the software has a good, usable layout.

Tenants can use the platform to purchase rental insurance from Lemonade.

What it’s Missing

Avail is one of the best free plans, but if you will likely outgrow its capabilities if you expect o grow to, say, 20-50 units.

Pricing

• FREE
• $5/unit for Unlimited Plus
• $30 credit screening

The upgraded plan adds next-day rent payments, custom apps and leases, and a property website.

Innago

What it’s Got

Innago is a new company founded in 2017. Their free software has no premium version and is designed for the DIY or small landlord. They have tools to support residential, commercial, and student housing management.

It has online rent payments, lease signing, tenant screening tools, and maintenance requests.

What it’s Missing

There are no tools for professional managers like tenant or owner portals, and it does not syndicate your property to any listing portals. You will still need to add and advertise rental listings to all those systems.

Pricing

• FREE
• $30-$35 credit reports
• $2 ACH fee and 2.75% credit card fee

Apartments.com

What it’s Got

Apartments.com has a Rental Manager designed for DIY landlords.

They purchased the very popular Cozy property management tool and are fully transitioning Cozy accounts to Apartments.com in 2021.

They have a mobile app, online leases with e-signature available, background checks, online payment, and automatically assessed late fees.

What it’s Missing

Apartments.com does not have an upgraded suite of tools that you can upgrade into as your needs or sophistication expands.

They also only syndicate to Apartments.com listings, meaning you would still have to separately add your listings to Zillow, Craiglist, etc, if you aren’t already syndicating to those companies through the MLS.

Pricing

• FREE
• $24.99/credit report
• Premium property placement upsell

Apartments.com doesn’t charge for using its system. They just want you to get your listings into their rental portal! They have affordable credit reports. The only upsell is on premium placed advertising for your listings on their portal.

Paid Software

None of the above solutions are adequate for professional property managers, with perhaps the exception of TenantCloud.

Instead, the top cloud based property management software for brokerages managing properties are:

• AppFolio
• Buildium
• Propertyware
• Yardi

The cheapest to start is Buildium at $50/mo. These are overkill versus these cheaper options unless you get to ~25+ units. These will have all the tools you need to manage tenant needs and service property owners.

Conclusion

I’m 100% sure one of these free rental manager software options will allow you to much more easily collect rent, track income and expenses, and profitably and efficiently manage your rental properties!