New property management technologies are everywhere, and some offer invaluable features that promise to make your life easier. Several new technologies—and hundreds of new software options—have emerged in recent years designed specifically with property managers in mind.
In this guide (and video), we’ll walk you through some of the best property management technologies available today, based on our hands-on experience with the 9 most popular tools on the market.
There’s technology out there for specific functions—such as inspections, accounting, maintenance, and leasing—and more comprehensive software to make managing your entire business easier. We’ll highlight tested, high-quality options that fit into both categories.
What Is Property Management Technology and Software
Property management software is a digital platform that automates and centralizes leasing, maintenance, accounting, and resident communications for property managers. It replaces manual processes with automated workflows, helping you manage multiple properties from one dashboard while reducing errors and saving time.
Key Features to Look For in Property Management Technology
When comparing software, focus on features that solve your biggest time-drains. The right platform should automate your most repetitive tasks.
Here are the core features that make the biggest impact:
- Online Rent Collection: Automated payments with late fee calculations and payment tracking
- Maintenance Request Tracking: Digital work orders with photo uploads and vendor assignment
- Accounting and Financial Reporting: Real-time financial dashboards and owner statements
- Resident Communication: Centralized messaging with automated notifications
- Leasing Tools: Digital applications, screening, and e-signature capabilities
- Integrations: Connections to banks, screening services, and accounting systems
Our Picks for the Best Technology for Property Management
We evaluated these platforms based on three key criteria:
- Time savings: How much manual work they eliminate
- Ease of use: How quickly your team can learn and adopt them
- ROI potential: Their ability to reduce costs and create new revenue streams
Here are our top picks for property management software:
1. Buildium: Comprehensive Technology for Property Management
Buildium® is comprehensive property management technology that serves property managers of all sizes and property types (including single-family, multifamily, community associations, and even commercial and student housing).
With purpose-built tools and a simple-to-use interface, property managers can adapt Buildium to meet whatever needs and growth strategies matter to them.
Features
We found that Buildium’s array of features made it easy to control the chaos of everyday tasks, attract new clients, and stay competitive with the experiences they deliver. Here are some of the features we liked most.
- Online marketing tools, including listing syndication, a free website, online applications, tenant screening, and online lease signing
- Easy maintenance requests, ticketing, tracking, and follow-up through the Resident Center and the property management dashboard
- Automated electronic payments and accounting, including eFiling for 1099s
- Business performance metrics and reporting tools, all accessible within an Analytics & Insights hub
- A full suite of lead-to-lease tools that take your prospective tenants from application to tenant screening to signed lease
- Mobile apps you, your tenants, and your owners can use to text, pay, and accomplish tasks on the go
If there’s something Buildium doesn’t offer through its main platform, one of their Marketplace partners almost certainly does. We liked how the Buildium Marketplace acts as an ecosystem of best-in-class digital tools that integrate seamlessly in just a few clicks—no coding required.
If you’re looking for additional customization, Buildium’s Open API offers the unmatched flexibility to customize data workflows and create all new automations.
Pricing
Buildium offers a 14-day free trial version of the full software and offers three pricing plans: Essential, Growth, and Premium. Key features such as online portals, maintenance, tasks, accounting, and more are accessible in each pricing plan, while additional features are available for purchase.
The Basic plan starts at $62 per month, the Growth plan starts at $192 per month, and the Premium plan starts at $400 per month.
2. All Property Management: Go-To Technology to Grow Your Property Management Portfolio
If you’re on the market for new clients, All Property Management® can help you take a proactive approach to get in front of property owners looking for your services. All Property Management is an online resource for landlords and property owners to find local property managers with experience and service offerings they’re looking for. As a property manager, you can join the network to start getting qualified leads with little effort on your part.
Features
All Property Management lets you find nearby property managers in four steps:
Step 1: Search by property type and zip code.
Step 2: Review the list of search results.
Step 3: Compare and contrast property manager quotes.
Step 4: Contact and discuss your management needs.
Pricing
Joining the network is free with no term contacts, set-up fees, or monthly fees. Users only pay per lead.
3. HomeWiseDocs: Flexible Technology for Association Documentation
If you manage an association, you know that keeping track of documentation can quickly eat up much of your time.
HomeWiseDocs® is specifically designed to make part of that responsibility easier. Its dedicated documentation software streamlines the work your association needs to do to prep documents during the sale and resale process.
With HomeWiseDocs, you can order and keep track of the essential documents needed to refinance or sell condos and other properties in an HOA or COA. You’ll be able to eliminate a lot of the paperwork and staff time that would usually be needed during the sale or refinance process. It also works well with other association technology solutions, including Buildium.
Features
HomeWiseDocs automates resale documentation, integrates with platforms such as Buildium, and enables faster processing with revenue opportunities; consult HWD for detailed capabilities such as request handling and expiration tracking.
- Process payments
- Answer requestor questions in a timely manner
- Fulfill order requests and guarantee deadlines
- Coordinate order delivery Identify orders with missing or expired documents
- Monitor document expiration timing
- Utilize an analytics dashboard to track performance and find new revenue sources
Pricing
If you’re a community association manager, you won’t be charged for using HomeWiseDocs; instead, fees are added to the price that you set for documentation services.
4. Tenant Turner: Intuitive Technology for Finding New Tenants
Tenant Turner® is lead scheduling and listing syndication technology that can help speed up the process by posting each of your listings across the sites of your choice at the same time. You can save previous information you entered in case you need to relist a unit and update any details, such as the point of contact for a listing.
Tenant Turner takes its service a step further by also helping you to schedule and manage showings (both in-person and virtual), manageable through a leasing dashboard.
The company claims that it can reduce lead calls by 70% through its self-service phone system, or by up to 100% using the optional call center.
Features
Tenant Turner includes several leasing features we found especially useful:
- A centralized leasing dashboard to view your listings, leads, and viewings
- Pre-qualification & scoring Pre-screening with scoring to help focus on qualified leads
- An optional call center where all lead calls are recorded
- Listing imports so you won’t have to re-type data
- In-person showings with calendar integrations to manage your viewings and their statuses in one place and receive alerts along the way
- Custom pre-qualification questions that Tenant Turner asks your tenant leads you specify for more detailed screening
- Various electronic lock options for easier, safer virtual showings
- Reporting visibility and owner reports for each rental’s lead and all past viewing activity that you can share with your owners along with details on leads, viewings, lead sourcing, CodeBox access, and more
Pricing
Tenant Turner has a few pricing options:
- The scheduling software & automated phone system costs $1.20 per month, per residential unit under management $60 minimum subscription, with a $19 one-time carrier registration fee. This includes automated answering, calendar integrations, unlimited leads and unlimited users.
- The electronic lockbox add-on is priced based on the type of lock system. All these options include secure self-access for leads, on-demand property tours, setup and shipping, automatic access for vendors, tracking, and fraud detection and prevention.
- Each SentriLock costs $175 plus a $5.00 monthly service fee per lockbox with a 10 year warranty.
- Each CodeBox Junior costs $85 plus a $5.00 monthly service fee per lockbox with a 1 year warranty
- Each CodeBox Senior costs $95 plus a $5.00 monthly service fee per lockbox with a 1 year warranty
- The leasing line call center add-on costs $100 per month for the first 50 minutes plus 85 cents per minute thereafter.
Note: These prices can change, so be sure to verify the latest on TenantTurner’s site.
5. Goodjuju: Helpful Services for Building Property Management Websites
If you want to win new business, you’ll also need to strengthen your brand presence and make sure the best parts of your business are highlighted when prospective clients search for you. This is where Goodjuju® comes in handy.
Goodjuju is a marketing agency that uses technology to build websites, optimize your SEO for local rankings, manage your Google Ads, and even help you manage your online reputation.
Their website tool is customizable and integrates with Buildium. The service is built for property managers looking to grow their business by generating leads on a consistent basis.
Features
Goodjuju’s primary service is building out custom websites. Each website is optimized to convert as many visitors into contacts as possible and is search-optimized and mobile-responsive to improve the user experience.
Other services include local search optimization, so that your listing shows up for the most competitive local searches.
For larger advertising budgets, they can also manage your Google Ads for you to generate more leads from Google Search. This can help you start generating leads quickly.
Finally, they offer a reputation management service that helps you generate more leads and close more deals by getting more high-quality reviews. They can also monitor critical reviews and can respond to them automatically.
Pricing
Goodjuju’s pricing is based on the competition in your market and the services you need to succeed. You can get started by receiving a free assessment on their site.
6. ShowingHero: Great Technology for Automated Showings
If scheduling showings is a challenge, a dedicated solution might be the best option to actually get prospective applicants to show up and to follow up with them promptly.
ShowingHero​®​ focuses on leasing and showing automation with a platform that helps eliminate tedious tasks related to showing your properties. Buildium also integrates with ShowingHero to automate leasing coordination, which can help you fill vacancies 3x faster and improve profitability by 70%.
Features
ShowingHero offers a few features that stood out to us:
- Prescreens of prospects prior to viewings
- A mini calendar you can send to prospects that allows them to book a time that works around your schedule
- Compatibility with electronic SMART lock boxes that are operated with one-time access codes for tenants to view the listing on their own
- Data, reporting, and showing insights, including click-through rates, showing rates, and agent activity
Pricing
Pricing for ShowingHero starts at $22 per listing per month, with a minimum requirement of four listings. Included in that price tag are unlimited users, leads, and showings, with no obligation to sign annual contracts or cancellation fees.
7.Property Meld: Dedicated Technology for Maintenance Coordination
Maintenance can be one of the most resource-intensive parts of the job, so specific maintenance management technology can go far in boosting efficiency.
Property Meld® is a property management software solution that focuses solely on making maintenance easier for your team and your tenants.
Features
Property Meld has several helpful features, including maintenance scheduling, automated alerts, and the ability to directly message vendors and tenants.
Maintenance staff and vendors get an alert when a work order is assigned and they can update the status of those work orders in real time.
With the Projects feature, you can assign and keep track of multiple work orders for the same project and keep track of them all at once. Vendors can submit invoices through the platform, as well.
While Property Meld is specifically for maintenance, it also integrates with other more holistic property management software tools, such as Buildium.
Pricing
Property Meld charges $1.60 per unit per month for its software, with a $160-per-month minimum. On their site, Property Meld notes that they reserve the right to audit each customer’’s use of their tools and limit them to prevent overuse.
8. Nutiliti: An Easy Solution for Managing Utility Services
Nutiliti® makes the move-in process easier by activating utility services, including electricity, water, gas, and internet. The service also manages tenant billing across units for both property managers and renters.
You’ll have access to pre-configured extensions which you can tailor easily to meet the specific needs of your properties and your business. Their team also monitors the service continually to make deployment easier and implementation faster.
Features
We found that Nutiliti takes a lot of the hassle out of utility management for property managers by handling all aspects of utility activations and deactivations on your behalf.
They also take care of service appointments, in-person activations, and the tenant bill-back process—from invoicing to collections—including answering billing-related resident phone calls.
Nutiliti obtains, processes, audits, and pays all of your provider invoices and offers a standalone web application, along with a mobile app for iOS and Android.
The platform bills and collects from residents directly, allowing residents to split water, electric, gas, and other shared utilities among roommates.
Pricing
Nutiliti does not have pricing details available on their site, so you’ll have to reach out directly to schedule a demo and get more information.
9. HappyCo: Specialized Technology for Property Management Inspections
HappyCo® helps multifamily property managers and teams inspect properties to document conditions, spot problems, and manage work orders with ease. The platform uses a checklist-style interface that displays all your inspection details and your inspection report in an easy-to-navigate format.
HappyCo integrates with Buildium, as well, so you can perform thorough inspections on the go and sync data with Buildium in a single step, through the Inspections mobile app.
In the app, you can view and share inspection details using Buildium’s communication portals and HappyCo, and tie inspections to your leasing process. This gives you a more complete picture of every unit, property, and active lease in your portfolio.
Features
HappyCo’s list of features cover most inspection and maintenance tasks. They include:
- Virtual inspections
- Guest inspections to assign inspections to team members, vendors, and even residents
- Real-time due diligence monitoring
- Intuitive work order management lists
- Time-saving, pre-built templates
- Fully customizable inspection checklist forms that let you adjust sections, items, ratings, and other details to suit your property type and the layout of individual units
- Reporting features that capture all past walkthrough, including scoring, comments, and photos
- The ability to save drafts automatically on the mobile app and sync details with all your users
- A digital management tool for larger projects
- IVR technology to auto-capture and route missed calls
- Performance reporting and analytics based on technology from Looker®
Pricing
HappyCo is free to use for the first three years as part of Buildium’s Growth plan and is always for Premium users. For a standalone option, subscriptions are priced per unit, per month with a minimum requirement of 500 units. You can reach out to them directly for more specific pricing information.
Which Technology for Property Management Should You Choose?
If you’re deciding between these various technologies and are still unsure about which route to take, the good news is you don’t need to settle on one solution.
To get the most value out of your investment, opt for comprehensive property management software that lets you manage various parts of your business using one platform.
With its Marketplace, Buildium gives you the best of both worlds. You’ll have access to features that span all your operations with the ability to pick and choose more specialized property management technology from Marketplace partners, so you can target the areas that matter most to you.
Once you’ve invested in one or a few of these property management technologies, be sure to monitor how well they’re working for you, how much time you’re saving, and if there are any ways you can be getting more value out of particular tools.
With property management technology always evolving, you’ll want to occasionally revisit the options out there for property management and look into whether or not the platform you use has any new features that might be useful.
To help in your search, Buildium offers a 14-day free trial, no credit card required. You can also request a demo to test out Buildium and see if it meets your needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What property management software works best for small portfolios?
All-in-one platforms with flexible pricing work best for small portfolios, focusing on core functions like rent collection, basic accounting, and maintenance tracking.
Is there free property management software available?
Yes, but free versions typically limit units or features. Most growing businesses need paid plans for full accounting and reporting capabilities.
How long does it take to implement new property management software?
Implementation timelines vary; consult the vendor’s onboarding team for an estimate based on portfolio size, data migration needs, and training scope.
Can property management software integrate with my existing accounting system?
Many platforms offer accounting integrations or built-in systems that can replace standalone tools. Check for open APIs or pre-built integrations with your current software.
What’s the difference between property management software and basic rental tools?
Basic rental tools handle single tasks like rent collection, while property management software combines leasing, accounting, maintenance, and communications into one integrated platform.
