What Software Do Property Managers Use? (Top Software + FAQs)

What is the best property management software out there?

What software do property managers use themselves?

If you’re looking for a tech solution that will help you streamline and optimize your property management, property management software can be an invaluable tool.

But rather than play around with different software and test a slew of options before you finally find one that works for you, we’ve made the process a whole lot simpler.

Below, we’ll show you the best property management software to use depending on several factors.

And, after, we’ll cover some of the most common questions related to property management software.

Such as:

• What is the best property management software to choose?
• What should you look for in property management software?
• Is QuickBooks good for landlords?

Ready? Let’s get started.

What Software Do Property Managers Use? Our top picks

Depending on what type of properties you manage and how large your portfolio is, there are a number of options that can fill your needs.

We’ve separated each of the tools below based on a few major categories, including software that is:

• Ideal for smaller portfolios
• Offers commercial real estate tools
• And the best all-in-one solutions

First, let’s cover some options that are best if you have a smaller portfolio.

Best for: Small portfolios

Our first two options are good options for smaller portfolios with no more than a few properties.

Each of these options offer free plans, and while their feature set is limited, they’re good starting places if you’re on a strict budget.

1. Avail

Our first option, Avail, offers a good balance of affordability and features.

Users report that getting started can be difficult given that they don’t offer great tutorials or a sufficient knowledge base and their feature set is limited.

However, their free plan makes them a good option for getting started if you just have a few properties.

Avail features:

• Tenant screening
• Maintenance management
• Online rent payments

Avail pricing

Avail offers a free plan for an unlimited number of units, though features are limited. They offer an Unlimited Plus paid plan with additional features, though it’s pricey compared to other options at $5 per unit, per month.

2. TenantCloud

TenantCloud is another option that offers a free plan, in this case, up to 75 units.

Avail users report the software is easier to use than TenantCloud, while TenantCloud’s list of features– though limited compared to most of the other tools on this list– is more impressive than Avail’s.

So, if you’re looking for a free or low-budget option to start with but you don’t want to give up too much in terms of features, TenantCloud is worth consideration.

TenantCloud features:

• Online rent payments
• Decent accounting features
• Maintenance management

TenantCloud pricing

TenantCloud offers a free plan up to 75 units, while their basic paid plan is $12 up to 150 units and offers a few more notable features.

However, to get a semi-comparable list of features to most of the other options on this list, you’ll need to upgrade to their $40 per month Growth plan.

Best for: Commercial property

Next, these options are best if you mostly deal in commercial property management:

3. RealPage Commercial

RealPage Commercial is designed solely for commercial property management and offers a comprehensive set of features to that end.

Users report liking their lease administration feature and common area maintenance reconciliation system, though the software itself isn’t super intuitive and can be hard to navigate.

RealPage Commercial features:

• Commercial property tools such as lease administration
• Maintenance management
• Tenant portal
• Good accounting suite

RealPage Commercial pricing

RealPage prices differently than most property management software, based on the type of property and square footage rather than per unit per month.

Their Office & Retail Assets plan is $12.50 per month per 10,000 square feet, while their Industrial Assets plan comes in at $7.30 per month per 10,000 square feet.

4. MRI Commercial Management

MRI Commercial is another commercial property management system, this one with an equally comprehensive set of commercial-specific features.

MRI’s Commercial software differentiates itself in its customization features as well as great leasing tools.

With that said, you’ll pay more for those features as MRI uses an enterprise pricing model.

MRI Commercial features:

• Online bill pay
• Lease templates
• Robust reporting tools
• Automated accounts payable
• Work order management

MRI Commercial pricing

MRI doesn’t list pricing for its Commercial software online, so you’ll need to contact their sales team directly to find out more about their pricing structure.

Best for: All-in-one property management solutions

Next, let’s talk about some amazing all-in-one options.

If you’re looking for something that fits the budget, but you want to get the best that property management software can offer for any size portfolio and any type of property, these are great options to consider.

5. DoorLoop

DoorLoop is the best rental property management solution on our list, and for good reason.

It not only offers the most comprehensive set of accounting and property management features, it does that while boasting the cleanest UI that is both lightning-fast and easy to navigate.

Plus, no other property management software comes close if customer service is important to you.

Not only can you easily get in touch with customer service throughout the week, but you can talk to a real person who will walk you through your question or concern, rather than a chatbot or an email you need to wait days to get a response on.

DoorLoop features:

• Collect rent easier with an accessible tenant portal, automatic rent payments, and multiple payment methods
• Manage all your property accounting from one place
• Streamline tenant communications channels into one
• Simplify maintenance management by communicating with tenants on work orders right from within the map, assigning to vendors, paying bills, and more to manage maintenance requests
• And more

DoorLoop pricing

DoorLoop’s starter plan is just $59 for up to 20 units, at $1 per unit per month thereafter. You can determine which plan is best for your business using DoorLoop's pricing comparison calculator.

Schedule a free demo today.

6. Buildium

Buildium is another great all-in-one option that offers comparable features and good tutorials for getting started.

They don’t offer a QuickBooks Online integration and users report that the software can be difficult to use, partly due to the sheer number of features and that access to them isn’t organized in an intuitive way.

With that said, they’re a decent option worth considering.

Buildium features:

• Online rent payments
• Robust reporting
• Maintenance management
• Bill pay

Buildium pricing

Buildium offers a 14-day free trial, and their starting plan comes in at $52 per month up to 20 units, all the way up to 150 units for $479 monthly.

Frequently asked questions

Now that we’ve covered some of the best software options available, let’s cover some of the most frequently asked questions pertaining to property management software.

The goal will be to equip you with everything you need to take the next step toward finding a property management tool that helps make managing your properties both easier and more effective.

1. What does property management software do?

Property management software allows you to streamline and optimize your property management process, simplifying certain tasks that make life easier and even automating others to make them a thing of the past.

When you consider every one of the features you typically get from an all-in-one property management tool like DoorLoop together, you get not only productivity and efficiency but peace of mind.

2. What is the best property management software to choose?

To figure out what is the best property management for you, consider the primary reason you’re considering investing in property management software.

Is it for property accounting? Do you need help streamlining maintenance management? Are tenant communications scattered and inconvenient?

Or maybe you just need a tool that brings it all together into a cohesive unit so you can see everything all at once from the same dashboard.

Once you know what you’re looking for, consider the rest of that tool's feature set and what it can do for you, as well as pricing based on your budget.

3. What should you look for in property management software?

There are a lot of property management tools out there, some better and more comprehensive than others.

Every one of them will make it sound like they have everything you need, but that’s not always the case.

A complete all-in-one property management software should include some combination of these features:

• Accounting: Such as automatic online payments, multiple payment methods, bank reconciliations, and more.
• Tenant portal: A place where tenants can pay their rent and other responsibilities as well as communicate with you on maintenance orders.
• Owner portal: A place where you can print checks and run reports for your owners.
• Maintenance management: This typically includes the ability to create and edit work orders, assign to a vendor, pay that vendor, and communicate on said work order with the tenant.
• Leasing and marketing tools: This can include tenant screening and eLeasing features, a custom IDX-based website, automatic listings, and more.

Some tools, like DoorLoop, offer every one of these features and more. So, make sure to compare feature sets of the software you’re considering before making the leap.

4. Is QuickBooks good for landlords?

QuickBooks is a decent property accounting solution used by many investors, landlords, and property managers.

With that said, it’s not designed for property management, which results in needing inconvenient workarounds that, while not difficult to set up, can lead to confusion when running reports and running your daily accounting tasks.

Another important point is that QuickBooks doesn’t offer property management tools, only accounting.

For that reason, if you’d prefer not to use something like DoorLoop’s complete suite of property accounting tools, it’s advised that you get a property management tool with a QuickBooks Online integration, which you can also do with DoorLoop.