How We Test Landlord Software
We score every landlord tool on the same five-part scorecard, and cost at 1, 5 and 20 units carries the most weight. Hands-on account tests are under way. Until each one finishes, its score is provisional, built from vendor pricing and documentation checked October 18, 2026, and the test results will replace it.
On this page
The scorecard
| What we score | Weight |
|---|---|
| Cost at 1, 5 and 20 unitsLandlord subscription plus fees you can’t pass on. | 30% |
| Core featuresListing, applications, screening, lease, rent, maintenance, books. | 25% |
| Ease of setup and daily useTime to list a unit and collect a first payment. | 20% |
| Tenant-side feesWhat your tenants and applicants pay to use it. | 15% |
| Support and reliabilityResponse times, payout speed and known outages. | 10% |
The scorecard
Every tool is scored across the same five weighted categories. The weights reflect what matters to a landlord with 1 to 20 units, where price usually decides the question.
| Category | Weight | What we look at |
|---|---|---|
| Cost at 1, 5 and 20 units | 30% | The landlord’s subscription at each size, plus any fees you can’t pass on |
| Core features | 25% | Listing, applications, screening, lease, rent collection, maintenance and books |
| Ease of setup and daily use | 20% | How long it takes to list a unit and collect a first payment, and how many steps routine jobs take |
| Tenant-side fees | 15% | What tenants and applicants pay for ACH, cards and screening |
| Support and reliability | 10% | Support hours and channels, payout speed and reported outages |
We price every tool at three sizes because the cheapest option changes as you grow. A free app can be the best deal at one unit and a poor one at 20, and a $62-a-month plan can be overkill for one rental and cheap per door at 20.
The account test
Each tool gets a live account, set up the way a new landlord would set it up. The test follows the same steps every time:
- List a unit.
- Take an application.
- Run screening.
- Sign a lease.
- Collect a test rent payment.
- Log a maintenance request.
We screenshot every step and time the jobs that matter most, like getting from sign-up to a published listing and from a tenant’s payment to money in the bank. Those screenshots and timings go into each review as its test is finished.
Where today’s scores come from
We’re being plain about this: the account tests are under way, and current scores are provisional. They’re built from each vendor’s pricing page and help documentation, checked October 18, 2026, and from recurring themes in public reviews on sites like Capterra, G2, Trustpilot and Reddit. When a figure couldn’t be confirmed on the vendor’s own page, our research marks it unverified and the page says so.
As each test finishes, its results replace the provisional score, and the review’s test-status note changes to show the date it was tested.
How we keep figures current
- Prices and fees are rechecked against vendor pricing pages every month, and every figure shows the date it was last checked.
- State law pages are reviewed against the statute every six months and cite the statute behind each rule.
- Insurance pages are written from published premium data with the source named. We use homeowners benchmarks from NerdWallet’s 2026 sample rates and say plainly that landlord policies typically cost more and that a quote is the only real number. We never present a premium as an offer.
What never affects a ranking
Commission. Some companies we review may pay us when a reader signs up or requests a quote through our links. That has no effect on a score, a ranking order or which tools we cover. The order on every page comes from the scorecard.
Questions landlords ask
The questions we get most, each answered in a paragraph.
Have you tested every tool you rank?
Not yet. Hands-on account tests are under way, and until a tool's test is finished its score is provisional. Those scores come from vendor pricing pages and documentation checked October 18, 2026, plus recurring themes in public reviews. Each review page shows a test-status note so you can see where it stands.
Do affiliate commissions affect your rankings?
No. Rankings come only from the scorecard. Some companies we review may pay us when a reader signs up through our links, and that payment never changes a score or a ranking order. A tool that pays us nothing can rank first, and one that pays well can rank last.
How often do you update prices?
We recheck every price and fee against the vendor's own pricing page each month and show the date it was last checked next to the figure. State law pages are reviewed against the statute every six months, and sooner when a law changes.