What AppFolio can do for you‍

AppFolio is a platform that helps real estate companies manage their property portfolios. The AppFolio platform has two products: Property Manager, for portfolios including single-family, multi-family, affordable housing, student housing, community associations and commercial properties; and Investment Manager, which acts as a portal to investors for those with higher-end portfolios.

This pricing guide will focus on AppFolio’s Property Manager product, which is designed for realtors with a minimum portfolio size of 50 units.

The platform’s primary benefits include day-to-day task automations to free up realtors’ time, particularly across reporting, accounting and other key services. By streamlining workflows across the company, AppFolio allows realtors to focus on building client relationships — the cornerstone of any successful real estate business.

AppFolio organizes the benefits of its Property Manager platform into six key areas:

‍1. Communication & Services

• Meet customers where they are with app-based communication channels, including email, texts, and in-app messaging.
• Create one centralized repository for all communications to reveal a single source of truth.
• Segregated portals for owners, vendors and residents for enhanced customer service.
• Make use of email and text templates, document management and surveys.

2. Accounting & Reporting

• Easy access to, and interpretation of, the essential data that drives your business.
• Gain greater visibility to make faster, more informed decisions based on real-time reporting.
• Automated processes save time and minimize the risk of human error.
• Utilize features such as database APIs, online payments, common area maintenance (CAM) tracking and reconciliation, and corporate accounting.

3. Maintenance & Efficiency

• Keep property values up and residents safe and satisfied with streamlined work orders, inspections and unit turns.
• Make use of smart bill entry to approve payments any time, anywhere.
• Online maintenance requests, work order management, and mobile inspections offer residents better visibility on maintenance workflows.

4. Staffing & Training

• Free up associate time by utilizing staffing and training services on the platform.
• Access robust training resources and programs via the mobile app.
• Customizable workflows to the individual means nothing falls through the cracks.

5. Management & Growth

• Improved insights and automated tasks free up time to expand your property portfolio.
• Make use of metrics dashboards, performance insights and audit logs to eliminate inefficiencies, increase net operating income (NOI) and help build a more sustainable business.

6. Marketing & Leasing

• Develop your pipeline and optimize occupancy with modern marketing tools such as a dedicated leasing CRM, AI leasing assistant, and virtual showings capabilities.
• Grow your business and fill vacancies faster with an integrated lease-to-lease process.

AppFolio pricing structures and tiers‍

AppFolio offers three subscription tiers for its Property Manager platform: Core, Plus, and Max. The platform’s capabilities cover elements of each of the six categories outlined above but to various scales according to the tier you subscribe to. We’ve detailed all three tiers in the sections below.

AppFolio pricing — Core

Price: $1.49 per unit, per month (pupm)

AppFolio’s Core subscription is its most basic package, intended for clients with a minimum of 50 units in their portfolio. Although the unit price per month is $1.49, there’s a minimum monthly spend of $298, so customers will only receive the advertised unit price with a minimum of 200 units in their portfolio.  Key features of the Core subscription include: property accounting and reports; end-to-end marketing and leasing; work order management; inspections and unit turns; purchase orders and inventory tracking; access to portals, mobile apps and communication channels; and standard customer support.

AppFolio pricing — Plus

Price: $3.20pupm

The Plus subscription carries a minimum monthly spend of $960, which means customers will need to have 300 units in their portfolio to receive the optimized price per unit.As well as all the platform features available in Core, Plus subscribers will have access to advanced leasing metrics, corporate accounting, premium software integrations and enhanced account support.

AppFolio pricing — Max

Price: $5pupm

There’s a minimum monthly spend of $7,500 for Max subscribers, which equates to 1,500 units at the advertised price of $5pupm. This subscription is reserved for larger realtors and comes equipped with a leasing CRM and leasing signals, custom fields, database APIs, and a dedicated account manager. AppFolio’s Investment Manager platform has a different pricing structure organized into two tiers: Core, starting at $650 per month, and Premier, which doesn’t publish pricing online. AppFolio doesn’t offer free trials for either of its products.

‍Additional AppFolio costs to consider‍

AppFolio pricing is easy to find online, which means there are no hidden costs to worry about in your subscription. The features of each subscription are clearly listed in the pricing section of the AppFolio website; if customers covet a particular feature from another tier, they can negotiate their contract and expand their platform’s capabilities.

‍Other vendors offering portfolio management solutions‍

At Vertice, we work independently of software vendors, because our aim always remains the same: to optimize your SaaS stack, regardless of the solutions you need. With this in mind, take a look at the three AppFolio alternatives below.

AppFolio pricing vs Buildium

Buildium operates in exactly the same property markets as AppFolio: single-family, multi-family, affordable housing, student housing, community associations, and commercial.

The platform is more suited to smaller portfolios — possibly even individual landlords depending on their size — and offers three pricing tiers:

• Essential, starting at $55 per month
• Growth, starting at $174 per month
• Premium, starting at $375 per month

There’s a 14-day trial available for all of Buildium’s subscription tiers, which gives it a competitive edge over AppFolio.

AppFolio pricing vs Propertyware

Propertyware is a platform for those managing single-family property portfolios only. There are three pricing tiers, all of which come with a one-time implementation fee of twice the monthly subscription cost. Here’s how Propertyware prices its tiers:

• Basic – $1pupm with a minimum spend of $250
• Plus – $1.50pupm with a minimum spend of $350
• Premium – $2pupm with a minimum spend of $450

Free trials are available.

AppFolio pricing vs Rent Manager

Rent Manager operates in the same property markets as AppFolio’s Property Manager and Buildium, but also includes manufactured housing, as well as RV parks and campground units.The platform is designed for portfolios with a minimum of 100 units and comes with 159 software integrations. Rent Manager pricing is similar to Propertyware, with the same one-off implementation fee charged at twice the monthly subscription cost. Here are Propertyware’s three tiers:

• Basic – $1pupm with a minimum spend of $200
• Plus – $1.50pupm with a minimum spend of $300
• Premium – $2.50pupm with a minimum spend of $500

Free trials are available.

‍AppFolio pricing — the Vertice verdict‍

For realtors struggling to manage their property portfolio, AppFolio automates day-to-day tasks and establishes better communication channels across the pipeline. It’s a product that benefits owners, vendors and residents in equal measure, streamlining workflows and building stronger relationships between all stakeholders.Although the platform is available to realtors with a minimum of 50 units, we’d recommend opting for another platform if your portfolio is less than 200 units. The reason for this is that AppFolio pricing offers the best value once realtors have reached this 200-unit threshold. Buildium (starting at $59 per month) and Rent Manager (starting at $200 per month) are two suitable alternatives — both platforms accommodate the same property types as AppFolio. Propertyware, meanwhile, is best suited for realtors managing single-family units exclusively. Whichever platform you require, know that Vertice’s customer purchasing teams offer vital support when it comes to negotiating software subscriptions. We make use of historical transactional data to leverage bartering power during contract discussions, all so your organization can strike the right deal. For more information about our SaaS purchasing platform, click on the link.