Great landlords look to incorporate new tools into their rental businesses. Property management software is one such tool with a variety of features and benefits.
However, with so many platforms and options to choose from, it’s easy to become overwhelmed searching for the best fit.
If you’re shopping for property management software, you have several decisions to make. First, you should decide which features and functions are your priorities. While most software platforms offer a dozen or more features, many require extra fees to access. Knowing which features will most benefit your rental business helps you narrow down your options.
Next, consider pricing. How big of an investment are you willing to make for property management software? How do you want to pay—monthly? By the unit? If you’re uncertain about the software, choose a platform with a free trial version so you can test it before making a commitment.
The following is a review of two top software options: Appfolio and Innago. Learning about the features, prices, and ratings for these two choices is a good start to your research.
Appfolio
Features
Appfolio is a popular property management software solution. It offers key management features, including tenant communication, accounting and reporting, maintenance, staffing and training for your team members, and digital marketing.
Appfolio also has several integration partnerships, including Zillow, CodeBox, Blue Moon Software, SmartRent, and more. Integrations help you seamlessly link, migrate data from, or coordinate with other software.
If you’re new to property management software or want a little extra help during setup, Appfolio might be a good option. The company offers a dedicated onboarding team to help you through the initial setup, the training period, and data migration.
Pricing
Appfolio combines unit-based and feature-based pricing in their monthly subscriptions. Appfolio’s Core package, designed for small to mid-sized portfolios, costs $1.40 per unit/per month. This plan includes all the basic property management features, such as accounting, marketing, leasing tools, maintenance, and a mobile app.
The Plus plan is for landlords with $1,000+ units. For $3 per unit/per month, you get access to all the Core features plus performance insights, revenue management, and data export capabilities.
Ratings
Appfolio is widely used by landlords in all shapes and sizes of rental businesses. Founded in 2006, Appfolio has a loyal and large client base.
On the three major software review sites (Capterra, G2, and TrustPilot), Appfolio is rated at 4.6, 4.5, and 3.7, respectively. Appfolio has also accumulated many reviews on these sites: 1,733, 211, and 490, respectively. Several of these sites require reviews to verify their identities and proof of purchase, so these numbers suggest that Appfolio’s clientele appreciate the software enough to go through with this process.
Innago
Features
Innago offers many of the same basic features as Appfolio. Its primary features include online rent collection, tenant screening, maintenance management, lease signing, and tenant communication.
Innago also offers secondary features. Notably, these features come at no extra cost as they might on Appfolio and other platforms. Secondary features include multi-user management, a mobile app, rental property advertising, /listing syndication, renter’s insurance, and responsive support.
Pricing
Pricing is the most significant difference between Innago and other property management software companies. Innago is completely free to use for landlords.
How is this possible? You might wonder how a company like Innago can profit without charging users for their services. Innago does make money—just not from landlords. Instead of charging you to use the software, Innago distributes charges among your tenants. This money comes from small fees required when tenants make purchases on the software, such as renter’s insurance.
These fees are more than enough to sustain the growing software company, and they cost nothing to you.
Ratings
Despite being founded in 2017, Innago’s popularity is quickly growing to vie for a top property management software position. On the three major review sites, Innago scores 4.9, 4.8, and 5.0, respectively.
Since Innago has only had a few years to accumulate reviews, it has fewer total reviews than some of its competitors. However, this isn’t an indication of lower quality. In fact, Innago users report high satisfaction with their software. The company’s affordable (free) pricing and exceptional user experience make this option an excellent choice.
The Best Property Management Software for your Business
Remember, there’s no such thing as the overall best software. Each landlord has different needs, preferences, and priorities for their rental business, and these will dictate which platform best suits you. Whether your final choice is one of these two or another option, property management software is sure to guide your business to rental success.