Buildium vs DoorLoop: Which Is Better for Small Landlords?

Where Buildium wins

Price, for anyone under 40 units. Buildium Essential costs $62 a month, or $55.80 billed annually, and its calculator shows the same price at 1, 20 and 40 units. It covers accounting, maintenance, leasing, communications, standard and bulk reporting and owner and resident portals, with support for trust accounts.

Buildium also charges less for card payments (2.99% against 3.25%) and offers cheaper screening if you pay for it yourself: $17 a report, against DoorLoop’s $35. Applicant-paid screening is $35 on Buildium too.

The upgrade path is gentler at small sizes. Growth is $192 a month and adds live phone support, enhanced screening and cheaper EFT. Premium is $400.

Where DoorLoop wins

What the base plan includes. DoorLoop One comes with core accounting, leasing, maintenance, payments, owner and tenant portals, a company website, an AI assistant, unlimited users and a full API. On Buildium, an open API is a Premium feature.

DoorLoop also charges tenants less per ACH payment: $1.50 on One, and free on Connect ($4 a unit, $299 minimum) and Multiply ($5 a unit, $399 minimum). Outgoing payments to vendors and owners are free, where Buildium charges $0.99 per outgoing EFT.

And the pricing is simple to predict at scale. Past the minimum, you pay $2.50 a unit, dropping to $1.50 a unit above 100 units.

Cost at 1, 5 and 20 units

Buildium Essential (monthly billing):

• 1 unit: $62 a month, $744 a year.
• 5 units: $62 a month, or $12.40 a door.
• 20 units: $62 a month, or $3.10 a door.

DoorLoop One:

• 1 unit: 1 x $2.50 = $2.50, below the minimum, so $199 a month, $2,388 a year.
• 5 units: 5 x $2.50 = $12.50, so $199.
• 20 units: 20 x $2.50 = $50, so $199, or $9.95 a door.

The difference is $137 a month at every one of those sizes. DoorLoop’s per-unit price only passes the minimum at 80 units (80 x $2.50 = $200).

Adding tenant ACH fees at 20 units, if you cover them: Buildium adds 20 x $2.35 = $47 a month, for $109 total. DoorLoop adds 20 x $1.50 = $30, for $229 total. Buildium is still $120 a month cheaper.

Billed annually, Buildium Essential is $55.80 a month, or $669.60 a year. DoorLoop says yearly billing saves up to 25% but doesn’t show the price. Even at the full 25%, One would be $199 x 0.75 = $149.25 a month, or $1,791 a year, which is still $1,121.40 more than Buildium billed annually.

Other costs to check: Buildium Essential charges $99 to set up each business bank account, so two accounts add $198 upfront. DoorLoop’s help center lists eSignature at $3 a request on its lowest tier, and reviewers mention SMS credits and other add-ons. Both charge more than the headline once you use the extras.

The deciding questions

1. How many units do you manage? Under 40, Buildium is cheaper by a wide margin. Between 40 and 80, get a Buildium quote, because the Essential price past 40 isn’t published.
2. Do you need several users or an API? DoorLoop includes unlimited users and a full API on its base plan. On Buildium, the open API is on Premium.
3. Who pays transaction fees? If your tenants pay by ACH and you cover the fee, DoorLoop’s $1.50 is cheaper per payment, but the gap is $0.85, and it takes about 161 payments a month ($137 divided by $0.85) to cover the subscription difference.
4. How many bank accounts do you run? If you keep a separate account per property or per owner, Buildium’s $99 setup fee on Essential adds up. Growth includes 10 free.
5. Do you need a company website? DoorLoop includes one on its base plan. Buildium’s Essential plan description doesn’t mention one.

Who should pick each

Pick Buildium if you have 1 to 40 units, manage for a small number of owners, or want the lowest subscription for full property management accounting. Plan on Growth at $192 a month if live phone support matters to you.

Pick DoorLoop if you’re near or past 80 units, you need several staff logins and an API without paying for a top tier, or you want a company website included. Under 80 units you’ll pay the $199 minimum, so treat the extra $137 a month as the price of those features.

Pick neither if you only manage your own few rentals. A landlord app like RentRedi at $144 a year, or TurboTenant’s free plan, covers listing, screening and rent collection for far less.

Problems reviewers raise about each

Buildium: repeated price increases since the RealPage acquisition; transaction fees that add materially to the subscription; live phone support only from Growth up; expensive for very small landlords; some find report customization limited.

DoorLoop: the monthly minimum is high for small portfolios and costs jump as you cross plan thresholds; chatbot-first support frustrates some users; add-on fees push the real cost above the headline.

Migration notes

Both are full accounting systems, so a switch is a bookkeeping project, not an app swap.

• Pick the date. January 1 is ideal. Otherwise the 1st of a month, after you’ve reconciled every bank account in the old system.
• Export everything. Rent roll, tenant ledgers, security deposit balances, vendor list, owner balances if you manage for others, and a trial balance as of the cutover date. Download signed leases and documents.
• Enter opening balances, not every historical transaction. Keep the old exports for your accountant.
• Rebuild bank connections. On Buildium Essential, budget $99 per business bank account.
• Move tenants to the new portal. Give at least two weeks’ notice. Autopay doesn’t transfer, and some tenants will miss the email, so follow up before the due date.
• Run both for one cycle if you can, until the first month’s rent has cleared in the new system.

If you’re under 40 units and on DoorLoop because you liked the interface, that’s a fair reason to stay. Know that it’s costing you about $1,644 a year compared with Buildium.