6 Best Property Management Software for Small Businesses
Gina is a licensed real estate salesperson, experienced trainer, and former high school educator of 1,000+ learners. She writes for Fit Small Business with a focus on real estate content.
Jealie is a staff writer at Fit Small Business, specializing in real estate education.
The best property management software for small businesses includes a professional website, listing syndication, maintenance management, accounting reports, tenant application and screening, and online rent collection. These features help landlords manage rental properties and simplify tenant payments. In addition, property management software provides mobile apps with owner and tenant portals, making communication more accessible and efficient. Here are the top options based on features, pricing, ease of use, and support.
- TenantCloud: Best overall for its free property management software for up to 75 units
- Avail: Excellent for independent landlords seeking comprehensive property management services
- Buildium: Suitable for property management firms handling up to 5,000 units
- SimplifyEm: Best for property owners seeking an easy-to-use property management software
- Property Manager Cloud: Ideal for portfolios with diverse property types
- TurboTenant: Offers the most affordable paid subscription plan for property owners
The options above focus mostly on long-term rentals. If you’re looking for short-term property management software for your vacation rentals, consider Beyond. With Beyond, landlords can build and manage their own booking site and sync their vacation homes across multiple platforms. In addition, review data on your portfolio’s performance to guarantee you’re making the right decisions for your properties.
Best Property Management Software at a Glance
Providers | Starting Price | Free Trial | Mobile App | Customer Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Free; paid plans start at $12, monthly | âś“ (14 days) | âś“ | Phone and email |
 | Free; paid plan costs $5 per unit, monthly | âś• | âś• | Phone, email, and live chat |
 | $52 per month | âś“ (14 days) | âś“ | Phone, email, and live chat |
 | $25 per month | âś“ (15 days) | âś• | Phone and email |
 | $19.77/month | âś• | âś• | Phone and email |
 | Free; paid plans start at $4.92 every month | âś• | âś• | Email |
There are many property management systems available to property owners to help manage their properties. Take our quiz to see what the best fit is for you:
Which Property Management Software is Right For You?
TenantCloud: Best Free Property Management Software for Up to 75 Units
Overall Score:
4.84 / 5
What We Like
- Free plan and 14-day free trial
- 512MB to 100GB storage space
- Free real estate listing website and listing syndication
What's Missing
- Live chat customer support
- Per-unit plan options
- 24/7 phone and email customer service
Why Should You Choose TenantCloud?
TenantCloud’s plans include tenant screening, customizable late fee settings with automatic notifications to tenants, maintenance management, basic leads, and online rent payments.
TenantCloud offers a free TenantCloud account that lets landlords manage up to 75 units, keep track of one appliance like a refrigerator or dishwasher, one landlord lease template, 10 service reminders, and storage space of 512MB. Also, TenantCloud’s maintenance management system enables landlords to manage maintenance issues online. Landlords can get video and pictures of maintenance requests from tenants, connect with service pros, send messages, and manage invoices.
In addition, TenantCloud offers a free real estate listing website that they will syndicate with several well-known websites, such as Apartments.com, Zillow, and Facebook Marketplace through Rentler. This will give your listings a ton of visibility, which will help you attract potential tenants.
TenantCloud allows landlords to draft leases and documents and have them digitally signed. State-specific lease templates are also provided, following each state’s lease regulations. You may upload a PDF or paste the content of your lease into its system. Furthermore, you can introduce merging fields that will update with each new lease you make, much like with any digital signature service such as DocuSign or PandaDoc.
Additional TenantCloud Features
TenantCloud’s comprehensive financial reports (Source: TenantCloud)
- Financial reports: Provide landlords with comprehensive reports like tax preparation statements, tenant statement, property statement, and lease statement.
- Online rent collection: With the free TenantCloud account, landlords can accept credit and debit card payments through Stripe payment processing or automated clearing house (ACH) transactions provided by Dwolla. Rent can also be paid by tenants using PayPal accounts.
- Accounting software: Allow landlords to store, sort, retrieve, and summarize financial data. Landlords can also set up automatic invoicing, late fees, and receipts.
- TC Messenger: This built-in communication tool enables landlords and tenants to communicate securely without relying on email or texting; landlords can organize tenant conversations as well.
- Tenant screening: Through its partnership with TransUnion, landlords can get a comprehensive screening report, including background and credit check, plus a National Eviction Records search.
TenantCloud Customer Feedback
TenantCloud garnered a customer rating review of 4.3 out of 5. Landlords commended its modern software and fair pricing. One user said he likes that he can create custom leases and have them e-signed in the software and create other template forms, such as notices. It makes his property management processes faster and more accessible.
Unfortunately, some landlords expressed dismay with the unclear onboarding instructions and challenging system navigation.
TenantCloud Pricing
- Free Plan: Free for rental listings management, scheduling, rental applications, applicant screenings, online rent payments, maintenance requests, and vendor network
- Starter Plan: $12 (paid monthly) for everything in the Free plan, plus premium leads, tax reports, e-signature, lead tracking, customer relationship management (CRM), auto-pay rent online for tenants, and Google calendar sync
- Growth Plan: $40 (per month) for everything in the Starter Plan, plus property manager tools, individual owner portal, management fees, lease builder, landlord forms, property message board, and QuickBooks online sync
- Business Plan: Custom pricing for everything in the Growth Plan, plus team management and tools, task management, and customization
Avail: Best Comprehensive Property Management Services for Independent Landlords
Overall Score:
4.57 / 5
What We Like
- Free subscription plan
- User-friendly platform
- Online marketing, digital lease signing, online rent payment, and maintenance tracking
What's Missing
- 24/7 customer support
- Mobile app
- Free trial for the paid subscription plan
Why Should You Choose Avail?
Avail offers independent landlords managing one unit or a portfolio of properties robust property management services to simplify rent collection and list rental properties. It includes syndicated listings, credit and criminal screening, state-specific leases, online rent payments, and maintenance tracking.
Avail is a comprehensive property management software designed to support independent landlords who handle their property or portfolio by themselves—from managing property advertising to collecting rent online. With its user-friendly platform, independent landlords can efficiently find renters to fill vacancies, sign leases, check credit histories, and collect rent from a single interface.
Avail also offers a free subscription plan, but compared to TenantCloud, its included features are limited to only basic property management services like syndicated listings, applicant screening, state-specific leases, online rent payments, and maintenance tracking.
Moreover, independent landlords can easily request rental applications with crucial information like contact details, employment histories, and residence histories that help determine whether the potential tenant is qualified to live in the rental property. Additionally, the platform simplifies communication between landlords and tenants by allowing landlords to schedule tours with prospective tenants, ask prescreening questions, and manage maintenance issues from current clients.
Additional Avail Features
Avail’s rental property income and expense tracker (Source: Avail)
- FastPay: With Avail FastPay, landlords can manage rental income with next-day expedited rent payment processing.
- Rent price analysis: Provides information to assist landlords in making educated decisions, including a rent estimate for your property, rent benchmarks for adjacent rentals, and county rent trends.
- Marketing tools: It syndicates listings to sites, such as Zillow, Trulia, and Apartments.com. Landlords can also easily add listing information and upload photos of their properties.
- Property accounting software: This helps landlords streamline rental property income and expense tracking. It also automatically populates payments and property maintenance expenses logged through the Avail dashboard.
- Leasing features: Includes state-specific lease templates, electronic signatures, and the ability to store documents online. It notifies tenants when their rent is due and follows up with them if they fail to pay on time.
Avail Customer Feedback
Avail has a customer rating of 4.62 out of 5 stars. The dashboard was praised by most of the landlords and tenants for being user-friendly and visually appealing. They also appreciate the affordable price, extensive customer service, and the option to create a lease using templates.
Regardless, many users complained about the weekly automated emails they receive. Users were also dissatisfied due to a lack of software and reporting module tutorials.
Avail Pricing
- Unlimited Plan: Free for syndicated listings, credit and criminal screening, state-specific leases, online rent payments, and maintenance tracking features
- Unlimited Plus Plan: $5 per unit, per month, for everything in the Unlimited plan, plus next-day rent payments, waived ACH fees, custom applications and leases, clone and reuse custom lease agreements, and create a properties website
Buildium: Best for Large Property Management Firms
Overall Score:
4.50 / 5
What We Like
- Customizable pricing
- Free professional website
- Buildium Academy training and support
What's Missing
- Free subscription plan
- Budget-friendly subscription rate
- 24/7 customer support
Why Should You Choose Buildium?
Buildium enables rental owners to manage everything—from online rent payments to vacancy management and accounting. While there is no free subscription plan, Buildium provides a 14-day free trial.
Buildium is excellent for large property management firms, providing customizable pricing for up to 5,000 units. Each plan includes property management tools like online portals, tenant communication, and streamlined application processes. These systems help landlords manage and keep track of rental payment processes and daily operations. Buildium also offers free e-leases and property inspections, except for the Essential package, which has a fee starting at $40.
The software provides a free professional website, helping property managers boost their brands and easily list their available units. It also allows you to customize the rental application, so prospective residents can apply on your site when interested in a unit.
Buildium offers extensive customer support and Buildium Academy, its self-guided training program, to assist you with the learning curve. Buildium Academy provides topics ranging from basic setup to sophisticated workflows like rental and association management.
Additional Buildium Features
Buildium 1099 e-filing (Source: Buildium)
- Built-in accounting software: Allows landlords to collect and view every fee, deposit, and refund for an accurate financial picture of their properties, 24/7. Automatic reconciliations of bank statements and every recorded check and deposit are also provided.
- Built-in calculators: Enables rental owners to manage accounts payable. Landlords can convert work orders into bills, pay them online, and set up automatic payments for recurring items.
- 1099 e-filing: Allows landlords to easily create 1099s and stay organized during tax season. Buildium provides access to the e-filing tool a few weeks before filing officially opens with the IRS to verify your tax numbers and view any recipients with missing tax information before you file.
- Online rent collection: Gives tenants several options for paying their rent, such as credit card and bank transfer rent payments and retail cash payments for renters without credit cards or bank accounts. Buildium also accepts payments from its partner, Pay Near Me, to provide renters with retail cash payments that are then transferred to landlord accounts.
- eSignature: Buildium eSignature is powered by HelloSign. Landlords can use lease agreement PDFs and other standard formats and auto-fill data for each template, eliminating the need to adjust different lease versions manually. Landlords can also set the signer order, track signatures and status for each lease and addendum, and send alerts when all requested signatures are received, letting you know when it’s your turn to countersign.
Buildium Customer Feedback
Buildium received a review rating of 4.49 out of 5 stars from customers. Clients said they love the extensive customer support and learning program they receive from the company. Additionally, one client said that Buildium is very organized and easy to use.
Some clients wished for a free subscription plan and a more affordable subscription rate. Try TenantCloud, offering a free subscription plan and an affordable monthly subscription rate, starting at $12.
Buildium Pricing
- Essential Plan: Starting at $52 per month for accounting, maintenance, resident and board member communications, free marketing website, online payments, standard reports, and ticket support. Add-ons are also available for purchase like property inspections (starting at $40 per month), basic tenant screening, and eSignatures ($5 per signature).
- Growth Plan: Starting at $166 per month for everything in the Essential Plan, plus basic and premium tenant screening, unlimited eSignatures, performance and business analytics and insights, and live phone support. Add-ons are also available for purchase, like priority support and onboarding.
- Premium Plan: Starting at $479 monthly for everything in the Growth Plan, plus open API, Buildium rewards, priority support, and a dedicated growth consultant for new client leads.
SimplifyEm: Best Easy-to-Use Online Property Management Software
Overall Score:
4.10 / 5
What We Like
- Easy-to-use interface
- Third-party integration with QuickBooks and Excel
- Landlords can send bulk notices or messages to tenants
What's Missing
- Free subscription plan
- Mobile app
- Live chat customer support
Why Should You Choose SimplifyEm?
SimplifyEm includes property management features, such as rental income, expenses, and notices, to help property owners and managers streamline daily operations. Landlords also can accept tenant payments online and store a library of forms like lease agreements and eviction notices. The software enables landlords to conduct tenant screening, including background checks, at a low cost.
SimplifyEm is a user-friendly, cloud-based property management software for landlords and property managers with up to 2,000 units. It does not require rigorous training or extra tool knowledge before you can start. SimplifyEm is a web-based application that users can access anywhere through the internet. It enables property owners to have better visibility of their occupied and vacant units with its tools to capture tenant details, monitor insurance, track deadlines, create invoices, and collect online rent payments.
SimplifyEm’s accounting module manages accounts payable and receivable, as well as recurring rent charges and transaction history. Additionally, the software generates monthly statements and exports rent records to integrated applications, such as QuickBooks and Excel. Property owners can also send bulk notices or group emails to all tenants for maintenance alerts or site visits.
Additional SimplifyEm Features
SimplifyEm tenant portal (Source: Software Advice)
- Tenant portal: Gives online access to tenants so they can update bank settings, review account balances, submit electronic payments, view rent reminders, and pay rent on time.
- Automatic tenant billing and late payment notices: Enables landlords to set automated rent reminders for all tenants, track billing history, and send late payment notices to tenants when they don’t pay their rent.
- Tax report: SimplifyEm organizes income and expense transactions in accordance with IRS tax categories. A tax report is generated automatically, allowing you to make year-end adjustments.
- Rental listings: ​SimplifyEm automatically posts listings to Zillow, Trulia, HotPads, Craigslist, and Realtor.com to build a solid online presence and get tenants faster.
- Professional website: Each listing on SimplifyEm comes with a professional webpage that can be shared and utilized on your website.
SimplifyEm Customer Feedback
Users commended how simple it was to learn and use SimplifyEm. A client said that SimplifyEm is useful for storing tenants’ information and has effective email capabilities, like bulk messaging. As a result, SimplifyEm received a 4.09 out of 5 customer review rating.
Yet, some users are not satisfied with SimplifyEm since it doesn’t offer a free subscription plan or mobile app. If these features are essential to you, consider TenantCloud. Aside from the free plan and a mobile app, you’ll also get a 14-day free trial for paid plans and a free real estate listing website.
SimplifyEm Pricing*
All SimplifyEm plans include email and live phone support, full income and expenses tracking, detailed cash flows reports, tenant and lease information management, vendor and year-end tax management, renter’s insurance, professional owner reports, and unlimited document storage.
- P10: $25 for up to 10 units
- P20: $35 for up to 20 units
- P30: $45 for up to 30 units
- P50: $60 for up to 50 units
- P75: $75 for up to 75 units
- P100: $100 for up to 100 units
- P100+: Add $8 per extra 10 units for more than 100 units
- P2000: $1,620 for up to 2,000 units
*Paid monthly
Property Manager Cloud: Best for Portfolios With Diverse Property Types
Overall Score:
4.04 / 5
What We Like
- 30-day free trial
- Easy-to-navigate dashboard
- Tenant and owner portal
What's Missing
- Mobile app
- Marketing, vendor payments, online signature, and team collaboration tools
- Live chat customer support
Why Should You Choose Property Manager Cloud?
Property Manager Cloud is suitable for various property types, including apartments, condominiums, and commercial buildings. Property Manager Cloud is priced monthly, starting at $19.77, which includes a tenant and owner portal, online rent collection, and tenant screening.
Property Manager Cloud is ideal for property managers with a diverse range of property types. It can manage single-family homes, multifamily houses, mobile home parks, and even hotels—making it an excellent choice for property owners handling commercial and residential properties.
The features provided by Property Manager Cloud enable users to automate daily tasks, including application processing, tenant notices, and bookkeeping. Property owners can even set up an automated debit system with residents to make monthly payments more convenient.
Aside from these, it provides tenants with a tenant portal where they can make payments, submit maintenance requests, track deadlines, and view payment history. Property Manager Cloud also includes an owner portal where users can see real-time information about their properties in multiple locations and generate reports.
Additional Property Manager Cloud Features
Detailed profit and loss accounting report (Source: Property Manager Cloud)
- Income tracker: Helps property owners track all lease and rental income. It also ensures that all payments are automatically updated and late fees are assessed.
- Detailed property information: It organizes the details of each unit and keeps track of maintenance performed, upgrades installed, lease and payment history, and tax bills.
- Onboarding: Helps landlords get started faster by importing rent roll, accounting, and vendor information through the data import function. The CSV templates provided make the data migration process more manageable.
- Simplify communications: Written communication via the tenant portal facilitates communication between landlords and tenants. All communication is saved in a centralized location, resulting in a trustworthy record for your organization.
- Lease and addendum creator: Landlords can combine up to 10 documents into one, set it to print or send digitally to their incoming tenant or create their own word document. This fills all of your information into the agreements automatically and saves your customized documents for the next time you need it. It also organizes the documents with the rest of the tenant information.
Property Manager Cloud Customer Feedback
Property Manager Cloud earned a 4.09 out of 5-star rating from clients. The majority of users are pleased with the dashboard’s intuitive and simple layout, as well as the responsive customer service. When clients email the support team with a question, they receive an immediate response.
But despite this, Property Manager Cloud received unfavorable feedback from its clients because of the lack of a mobile app and live chat customer support. Try Buildium, which provides mobile and live chat customer support to all its clients. In addition, Buildium offers customizable pricing and a free professional website.
Property Manager Cloud Pricing*
All Property Manager Cloud subscription plans include a tenant and owner portal, work order system, online rent collections, lease and addendum creator, and simplified communication. You’ll also get tenant screening, accounting, publish vacancies, onboarding, income tracker, detailed property info, multiple income streams, free tech support, and online applications.
- 1 to 10 units: $19.77
- 11 to 20 units: $27
- 21 to 40 units: $37
- 41 to 100 units: $57
- Over 100 units: $87
*Paid monthly
TurboTenant: Most Affordable Property Management Software
Overall Score:
3.67 / 5
What We Like
- Affordable subscription rate
- Customizable subscription plan
- Property listing and third-party integration
What's Missing
- Free trial for the paid subscription plan
- Mobile app
- Phone and live chat customer support
Why Should You Choose TurboTenant?
TurboTenant offers a free and budget-friendly subscription plan that includes key features like online rent collection, tenant screening, rental application, and lease agreement. Its syndication to third-party websites like Facebook Marketplace and Zillow.com boosts the property listing’s exposure and search ranking.
TurboTenant is property management software offering a free and most affordable monthly subscription plan, starting at $4.92. All subscription plans include lead management, tenant screening, online rent collection, document managing, maintenance requests, and expense tracking features. Additionally, property owners can customize their plan and pay a la carte menu of additional features, like e-signatures and lease addendums, that are available as needed.
TurboTenant offers features that simplify landlords’ tenant management, such as creating dedicated listing pages and sending bulk tenant messages from a single inbox. Landlords can also advertise a vacant property across multiple platforms with a single click by integrating with Facebook Marketplace, Apartment List, and Realtor.com. Furthermore, landlords can screen tenants through TransUnion, send and sign all documents online via the platform, and send payment and maintenance requests online for faster and easier transactions.
Additional TurboTenant Features
Sample rent estimate report (Source: TurboTenant)
- Free online rental application form: Helps landlords streamline their process to find the best tenant quickly by managing their property online. It provides background checks, eviction history, and credit checks for landlords.
- Rental lease agreement: Designed by lawyers and landlords, it includes all the provisions required to comply with your state’s landlord-tenant laws.
- Lead tracking: Automatically shows you the potential renters who are interested in your property. Also, it provides property owners with potential renters’ information, so users can contact them if they have any questions.
- Easy Craigslist posting: Provides landlords with personalized ads that are professional and clear to make your property stand out. You can then log in to Craigslist and copy-paste the ads.
- Free rent estimate report: Enables landlords to compare their rent with other rental properties nearby, stay ahead of market trends, and price their rental right.
TurboTenant Customer Feedback
Many landlords appreciate the straightforward interface, invoice tracker, and online rent collection of TurboTenant. Landlords stated that because TurboTenant allows prospective renters to communicate with them through the platform, listing and generating leads for their rental properties become simple and easy. With this, TurboTenant garnered a customer review rating of 4.8 out of 5.
Some clients are not satisfied as TurboTenant only provides email customer support. Clients also wished for a mobile app for better accessibility and convenience.
TurboTenant Pricing
- Free Plan: Free for unlimited properties, rental advertising, lead management, applications and screening, automated reference checks, rent payments, rent reporting, expense tracking, maintenance requests, messaging, document management, chat support, and one connected bank account
- Premium Plan: $4.92, paid monthly, for everything in the Free Plan, plus phone support, expedited rent payout, unlimited connected bank accounts, state-specific lease agreements, lease addendums, e-signatures, and landlord form pack
How We Evaluated the Best Property Management Software
We considered dozens of property management software providers and chose the top six based on their pricing structure, features, and property management software reviews. After a thorough evaluation, we discovered that TenantCloud is the best property management software, with a rating of 4.84 out of 5.
TenantCloud was ranked first due to its robust property management features like a free real estate business listing website, listing syndication, maintenance management system, and accounting software. Aside from these, TenantCloud offers a free subscription plan for landlords managing up to 75 units and a 14-day free trial for its paid subscription plans.
Other factors we examined to evaluate property management software for small businesses include:
25%
Rental Payment Features
20%
Pricing
20%
General Features
10%
Ease of Use
10%
Customer Reviews
10%
Expert Score
5%
Help & Support
25% of Overall Score
Based on various rental payment features offered that help landlords and property managers simplify rent collection, improve cash flow, and secure rent transactions.
20% of Overall Score
Pricing is based on the cost structure and a la carte options of property management services for landlords and tenants.
20% of Overall Score
It consists of various property management features like online payment collection and tenant screening for each tier to meet the specific needs of the property owners and tenants.
10% of Overall Score
Based on how easy it is to navigate the provider interface and if it provides hassle-free transactions and communication between property owners and tenants.
10% of Overall Score
Based on customer feedback for each program, with particular attention given to reviews of the product and popularity of the provider, to certify the course meets user satisfaction.
10% of Overall Score
Expertise in the field and firsthand experience with the providers allow us to evaluate the standout features, value for the money, and ease of use of property management software.
5% of Overall Score
We looked into the convenience and attainability of customer service for technical support, onboarding, and training.
*Percentages of overall score
