You’re probably here because you just plugged “best alternatives to AppFolio” into Google (or some other search engine) and shuddered at the sheer number of options. On G2 alone, there are 382 property management software solutions. 382! Don’t worry though — we’ve done the legwork for you. In this guide, we’ll cover the pros and cons of the top property management software solutions on the market.
But first…
In short, AppFolio is a generalist. It’s an all-in-one property management software designed for multiple use-cases (apartment, residential, commercial, student housing, etc.).
But the problem with generalist solutions is that they often fall short when it comes to specialization. With that in mind, using property management software that’s more specialized allows you to do the following:
1. Use software that’s designed specifically for commercial real estate
If you’re looking for a solution that helps you manage a commercial property, you’ll need an alternative to Appfolio Property Manager that’s more focused on that.
Of course, commercial and residential property managers have many tasks in common, including screening tenants, maintaining properties, collecting rent, and chasing arrears. But commercial property managers also face unique challenges like
We’ve heard from our customers that they weren’t able to serve this part of their business well with their previous software. Instead, they had to run the commercial side of their business on reports rather than an intuitive property management system.
If you’re not too familiar, CAM stands for common area maintenance. So CAM reconciliations are all about making sure the CAM expenses reimbursed by the tenants match the actual expenses incurred by the landlord during the prior year.
For example, if tenants paid $10,000 towards CAM expenses but the landlord only spent $7,000, you have some adjustments to make. AppFolio does offer CAM tracking and reconciliation tools but its functionality isn’t as comprehensive as many users need, forcing them to use Excel instead.
Running this task in Excel may seem fine at first, but it comes with many risks. What happens as you scale? What does it mean in terms of efficiency and return on investment? How will it affect your business as you bring on younger employees who expect slick and intuitive user experiences?
AppFolio promotes a “single-stack solution” encompassing both accountancy and property management capabilities. However, a quick look at G2 reviews will show you that the accounting side of the software often falls short — leading to double-entry errors, extra work, and lots of frustration.
This comes back to the generalist issue. It’s awfully hard to get both property management AND accounting right, meaning it’s often better to use an accounting product that was developed by accountants and a property management system created by property managers.
That said, you need both sides to work together because they’re so intertwined. That’s why at Re-Leased, we partner with the best accounting solutions in the market like QuickBbooks Online, Xero, and more. (Learn more about Re-Leased here).
Another glance at G2 or Capterra will show you that AppFolio really struggles when it comes to customer service. Problems with training, onboarding, and response times are a common thread, often leading to costly delays and botched implementation.
Using an alternative to AppFolio Property Manager gives you a better chance of reaching customer support. At Re-Leased, for example, our team is dedicated to making every customer in our community a success.
Re-Leased is a mission-critical system for your business so we're ready to help if you ever need us. Our support team is available 24 hours a day, 5 days a week via web chat, phone and email and are experienced commercial property professionals. No ask is too big for our team to help you get the most out the Re-Leased.
Here are some G2 reviews of our support experience:
“Love the help option and that support is only an email away.”
“There is nothing to dislike - the support is there when you need it, and the software is ever-evolving, so anything that has been a little clucky has been refined."
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As you can see in our comparison table above, there are a lot of choices with property management solutions. But don’t be intimidated! We're here to help.
In this section, we’ll inspect each one, weighing the pros and cons so you can choose the best project management software for your business. And while we may be a bit biased with our #1 recommendation below, we’ll start with our favorite.
Re-Leased property management software is specifically designed for commercial real estate. We understand what commercial professionals need and make the complex simple because that’s what great technology should do.
We like to keep things simple here at Re-Leased, so we offer a choice of plans across our products to suit your property management needs. Contact Re-Leased for custom pricing information!
Like AppFolio, DoorLoop’s software is built for property managers, management companies, owners, landlords, investors, or anyone managing any type of property worldwide. Unlike AppFolio, DoorLoop is specifically designed for property managers with smaller portfolios.
DoorLoop’s pricing starts at $49 per month for entry-level features.
Buildium’s software is designed for residential property managers, property managers with mixed portfolios, and managers of community and homeowners associations. Like DoorLoop, it’s a good place to start if you’re just getting into property management and have a small portfolio.
Buildium’s entry-level plan starts at $50 per month.
Yardi Breeze is a property management software designed for residential, commercial, and specialty markets. Of the three Yardi property management products (Breeze, Breeze Premier, and Voyager), Breeze is Yardi’s entry-level platform.
Pros
Cons
Yardi uses a per-unit pricing model, with residential starting at $1/unit/month with a $100 minimum. For commercial users, prices start at $2/unit/month with a $200 minimum.
Yardi Voyager is a browser-based property management system designed for large properties like condominiums, co-ops, and homeowner associations. Compared to Yardi Breeze, which is better suited to small residential real estate, most mid to large property management companies will be better served by Voyager.
Contact Yardi Voyager for custom enterprise pricing.
Founded in 1971, MRI has been around the block when it comes to the real estate industry. They offer both residential and commercial solutions that are ideally suited to companies managing large portfolios.
Contact MRI for pricing information.
TenantCloud is a property management software solution for small, independent landlords. It’s best for collecting payments online and advertising vacant residential properties.
TenantCloud’s starter plan is free. Its paid plans start at $12 per month and go up to $40 a month for the business plan.
Similar to TenantCloud, RentRedi is an affordable property management software designed for small independent landlords.
RentRedi pricing starts at $19.95 per month.
Entrata is a property management software provider with a single-login, open-access Platform as a Service (PaaS) system. It offers a variety of online tools and serves more than 20,000 apartment communities nationwide.
Contact Entrata for pricing information.
When choosing between AppFolio Property Manager alternatives, remember to think carefully about your needs. Where exactly is your current system falling short? What manual processes do you wish your software could do?
If you manage a commercial property, Re-Leased could be a great fit because it was built for commercial real estate from the ground up. We strive to keep you one step ahead with continual product innovation and enhancements, driven by market insight.
Plus, we can accommodate your growing business. By trusting Re-Leased with your core operations and connecting it to the leading cloud solutions you need now and in the future, you’ll have one central hub for commercial real estate that grows with you.
Yes, AppFolio is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that primarily focuses on cloud-based property management services and data analytics for the real estate industry.
AppFolio does not have an open API. This means you can't easily integrate AppFolio with another property management solution.
AppFolio does not have a payroll function, so you’ll need to use another accounting program to do payroll.
While you can use residential software for your commercial investments, it typically leads to performing a lot of manual processes outside of the system in spreadsheets. Residential software usually isn’t built to handle all the intricacies of commercial properties.
