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AppFolio vs Buildium

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Our analysts compared AppFolio vs Buildium based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Property Management Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

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Product Basics

Analyst Rating

93 Detailed Analysis

User Sentiment

Excellent User Sentiment (1847 Reviews)

Analyst Rating

86 Detailed Analysis

User Sentiment

Excellent User Sentiment (1604 Reviews)

AppFolio is a comprehensive software solution designed to streamline property management tasks. It caters primarily to property managers and real estate professionals, offering a suite of tools that facilitate the management of residential and commercial properties. One of the key benefits of AppFolio is its ability to enhance operational efficiency through features such as online rent payments, maintenance request tracking, and automated property listing. Users appreciate its user-friendly interface and the way it simplifies daily management tasks, making it a popular choice among property management professionals. When compared to similar products, AppFolio stands out for its robust functionality and scalability, making it suitable for managing portfolios of various sizes. Pricing for AppFolio typically involves a monthly subscription fee, which may vary based on the number of units managed, emphasizing its flexibility and adaptability to different business needs.

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Buildium is a cloud-based software that helps approve lease applications, manage payments, update financial records, create bulk emails and announcements and resolve maintenance issues on the go. Users can manage portfolios that include community associations, student housing, affordable housing and residential properties.

It offers accounting, vendor management, maintenance management, analytics and insights, leasing, community association management and more. The vendor also provides a dedicated onboarding team, 24x7 customer support and a 14-day free trial.
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$1.49/Unit, Monthly
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Product Assistance

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Product Insights

  • Increase Visibility: Integrate and manage every property, resident and accounting data from a single platform. Track leads, leases and profitability from the dashboard. 
  • Streamline Communication: Maintain clear lines of communication throughout the organization and record interactions for easy year-end audits. Send and receive emails and text messages through a unified inbox. 
  • Spend Less Time on Admin Work: Automate recurring administrative tasks like rent collection, invoice generation, vacancy posting, utility tracking, report generation, bookkeeping and more. Streamline maintenance activities with smart workflows and AI. 
  • Embedded Intelligence: Leverage AI for tasks like analyzing rent structure, gathering performance insights, assisting prospects through the leasing process and streamlining screening and maintenance activities. 
  • Expedite Turnover Cycles: Always keep properties ready-to-rent and shorten the move-out and move-in cycles through regular updates on every maintenance and vacancy task. 
  • Promote Efficiency and Accountability: Minimize human errors and improve efficiency by automating operations. Promote accountability for activities with role-based user access and itemized history of tracked changes. 
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  • Work From One Place: Bring every marketing, accounting and management workflow together in a centralized platform. Monitor operations from the unified dashboard. Receive real-time alerts, notifications and updates on potential disruptions. 
  • Streamline Communications: Ensure easy year-end auditing by maintaining transparent communication via role-based portals and recording interactions and documents. 
  • Consolidate Marketing Efforts: Advertise portfolio on multiple channels, personal website and social media. Manage every listing, track prospect information and coordinate showings from the dashboard. 
  • Expedite Turnovers: Keep properties ready-to-rent with on-time rent clearances, maintenance activities and vacancy tasks. Assign associates for each task, track progress and issue work orders to external vendors. 
  • Identify Opportunities: Perform comparative analysis and design business-specific data visualizations to identify threats and drill down on opportunities. 
  • Easy Integrations: Integrate business-specific external software and create unique stacks by leveraging an open API. 
  • Secure Data Storage: All the data is TLS-encrypted with a 2048-bit certificate, signed with SHA-256 and stored in a physical warehouse monitored by Amazon Web Services. 
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  • Communication: Maintain a flat organization with clear communication between team members, managers, landlords and tenants. 
    • Individual Portals: Provide unique communication portals to associated parties based on their role. Tenants can pay rent, submit maintenance requests, interact with managers and view lease documents. Enables managers to communicate with multiple owners, issue work orders and send notifications and updates in bulk. Owners can track property-specific performance reports, assign tasks and transfer funds. 
    • Document Library: Maintain a centralized library of documents, leases and tenant information. Set role-based access permissions for each document. 
    • Board Member Management: Commercial property businesses can schedule board meetings, conduct polls on invoices and architectural requests, track votes and share documents and reports. 
    • Tenant Insurance: Tenants can submit proof of renter insurance or buy insurance provided by the vendor. Manage each policy and its maturity from the dashboard. 
    • Emails and Surveys: Email surveys, updates and notifications in bulk or send individually based on requirements. Offers unique surveys and text templates. 
    • Mobile App: Access the platform via any device and promote remote workflows. 
  • Accounting and Reporting: Gain visibility and make informed decisions faster. 
    •  Automate transaction recording and property-specific bookkeeping. 
    •  Offers CAM tracking and reconciling modules for commercial properties. 
    •  Use AI and machine learning to read PDF invoices from vendors, identify key information and automate accounts payable. 
    •  Leverage over 80 report templates and automate recurring report generation. Every template is customizable and updated frequently. 
    •  Customize the dashboard with real-time data visualizations and receive AI-driven performance insights. 
    •  Supports integration with personal banks and digital wallets to unify renting, accounting and reporting workflows. 
    •  Customize late fee processes. Set personalized rules in bulk or case-by-case waivers. 
    •  Manage multiple tenant accounts, track lease lifecycle and refund deposits directly from escrow. 
  • Marketing and Leasing: Generate leads, schedule showings, design leases and screen prospects from the dashboard. 
    • AI Leasing Assistant: Use an AI chatbot to automate property showing appointments, qualify leads according to set parameters, cross-sell units and answer FAQs. Respond to customer queries 24/7 through texts or emails. 
    • Omnichannel Marketing: Syndicate portfolio on multiple internet listing services (ILS) and manage every listing from the dashboard. Get real-time notifications upon each engagement and generate custom guest cards to track prospects. 
    • Personal Website: Design a personalized website with brand color and logo for portfolio marketing. Available at an extra cost. 
    • Rent Analysis: Retain a competitive edge by comparing rental prices of neighboring units to determine the best price for marketed properties. 
    • Virtual Showings: Accommodate prospects’ needs by scheduling and running live virtual tours of listed properties. Supports integrations with PropTech like smart locks and HVACs to facilitate self-guided property tours by prospects. 
    • Vacancy Management: Consolidate vacancy postings and tasks, view current status, and market units on multiple ILS from the unified dashboard. 
    • Tenant Screening: Screen every applicant’s credit score, eviction history, income verification and criminal record via TransUnion. Property managers can either pay for the reports or charge applicants. 
    • Leasing Hub: Design custom leases with personalized clauses and allow applicants to eSign them from anywhere. Track every lease lifecycle and set defaults for automatically updating lease dates, rent structures and statuses upon expiration. 
    • Student Housing: Supports lease and tenant management based on beds occupied. 
  • Maintenance: Streamline maintenance processes with AI and intelligent workflows. 
    • Smart Maintenance: Use the mobile app to receive maintenance requests, issue work orders and track progress. Set default rules to automatically dispatch pre-approved vendors. Accurately calculate the shared fee for common area maintenance and send invoices to renters. 
    • Vendor Onboarding: Vendors can access the platform, receive work orders, share status and send invoices. Automate bills payable and maintain records of work done for a clear audit trail. 
    • Utility Management: Track and charge each renter based on actual consumption and automate utility invoice processing. Use analytics to identify and fix leaks. 
    • Mobile Inspections: Perform mobile inspections, log issues and expedite turnovers. 
    • Auditing Center: View an itemized history of every activity and track changes made by team members and vendors. Use unique filters to identify and correct mistakes quickly. 
    • 24/7 Maintenance Contact Center: Deal with tenant calls, dispatch pre-approved vendors and input data directly to the user database. 
  • Team Management: Onboard unlimited team members, define role-based access levels and manage each person’s workflow. 
    • Training: Embed training manuals into the software to onboard new hires more easily. Centralize policies and procedures to ensure associates follow protocols while performing tasks. 
    • Task Management: Set tasks, assign staff and monitor progress with an interactive calendar. Team members can share tasks and customize workflows. 
    • Universal Search: Use the search bar to quickly navigate and find documents, records or data. 
  • Integrations: Supports integrations with personal marketing websites and third-party applications, including BlueMoon, CodeBox, Engrain, MatterPort and CIT. 
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  • Accounting: Track and share owner, vendor and residential accounts and maintain accurate books. 
    • Property Accounting: Record transactions, convert work orders into bills and pay in bulk, automate bank reconciliations, identify discrepancies, and share customized reports. 
    • Company Financials: Capture financial overviews by tracking property-specific transactions alongside miscellaneous income and expenses. 
    • Online Payments: Accept rent, set up recurring transactions, pay bills and automate bookkeeping. Residents can add bank accounts or credit cards through individual portals. 
    • Retail Cash Payments: Leverage partnership with PayNearMe to allow residents to pay rent, dues and other fees in cash at multiple convenience stores like 7-Eleven, Casey’s General Store and more. Automatically update payments on respective ledgers and deposit them into bank accounts within a week. 
    • 1099 eFiling: E-file 1099-MISCs and 1099-NECs forms, mail paper copies to owners and vendors, and automate tax calculation based on year-round incomes. 
  • Business Operations: Streamline communication with owners, vendors and residents from a centralized platform. 
    • Resident Center: Residents can pay rent, set up recurring payments, submit maintenance requests coupled with photos and access important documents via mobile-responsive portals. Offers an announcement board to highlight updates, notifications and alerts from managers. 
    • Owner Portal: Owners can access property-specific financial documents and reports. Managers can control access levels for each owner portal. 
    • Document Storage: Securely store property-related documents, including leases, addendums, expense reports, vendor invoices and more and share with a few clicks. Offers unlimited storage space. 
    • Maintenance Tracking: Track maintenance requests, create work orders, assign preferred vendors and automate recurring maintenance activities. 
    • Property Inspection: Perform inspections on the go using an app powered by Happy Inspector. Choose from several templates to customize reports. Make a to-do list, take notes, and capture pictures and videos. 
    • Renters Insurance: Provide tenants with a fully integrated renter’s insurance solution powered by MSI. Document enrollment information and manage each policy till maturity from the dashboard. 
    • Analytics: Monitor real-time data visualizations, customize reports, compare data with localized industry benchmarks and share analysis with clients and board members. 
  • Marketing and Leasing: Increase digital visibility of the entire portfolio, shortlist suitable prospects and design custom leases. 
    • Rental Listings: Create and syndicate custom property listings on multiple channels, including Apartment List, HotPads, Lovely, MyNewPlace, Trulia, Zillow and Yahoo. 
    • Professional Website: Own and design a personalized property website for prospects to apply for listings. Upload important documents like residents rulebook, floor plans and model leases to create a secure self-service hub for prospects, tenants and owners. 
    • Rental Applications: Choose the best applicants based on personalized parameters through a customizable online rental application form that integrates with the website. Accept any related application fees online. 
    • Showings Coordinator: Leverage the module powered by TenantTurner to automate tour schedules according to set rules. Communicate with prospects via email, texts and SMS. 
    • Tenant Screening: Set custom credit score requirements, run background checks and receive credit score information from TransUnion. 
    • Leasing: Design custom lease templates and autofill data to expedite the process. Prospective tenants can digitally sign documents from remote locations. 
  • Homeowner Association Management: Log, track and report property violations remotely. Automate penalties and consequent bookkeeping. Offers a unified inbox for communication among board members, homeowners and vendors. 
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Product Ranking

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Analyst Rating Summary

93
86
92
93
100
84
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69
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Business Operations
Dashboards and Reporting
Leasing
Marketing
Platform Capabilities
Platform Capabilities
Leasing
Accounting & Financial Management

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

AppFolio
Buildium
+ Add Product + Add Product
Accounting & Financial Management Business Operations Dashboards And Reporting Leasing Maintenance Marketing Platform Capabilities 92 100 100 97 86 93 93 93 84 69 98 70 60 99 0 25 50 75 100
88%
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96%
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86%
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86%
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71%
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83%
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67%
93%
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Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

75%
0%
25%
63%
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37%

User Sentiment Summary

Excellent User Sentiment 1847 reviews
Excellent User Sentiment 1604 reviews
92%
of users recommend this product

AppFolio has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 92% when considering 1847 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

90%
of users recommend this product

Buildium has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 90% when considering 1604 user reviews from 2 recognized software review sites.

4.7 (14)
n/a
4.6 (187)
4.4 (112)
4.6 (1640)
4.5 (1492)
4.2 (6)
n/a

Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated AppFolio and concluded it deserves the award for the Best Overall Property Management Software available today and earns best-in-class honors for Business Operations, Dashboards and Reporting and Integrations and Extensibility. AppFolio stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

Analysts' Pick Award
User Favorite Award
Business Operations Award
Dashboards and Reporting Award
Integrations and Extensibility Award

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Buildium and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Leasing and Platform Capabilities. Buildium stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award
Leasing Award
Platform Capabilities Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Maintenance Management: 89% of users discussing this aspect said that they saved time with smart maintenance workflows.
Workflow Localization: According to 96% of users who reviewed this benefit, the software is feature-rich and localizes accounting, marketing and management workflows.
Ease of Use: It’s an intuitive platform that doesn’t require technical knowledge for beginners, as mentioned by 95% of users reviewing the user interface.
Collaboration: It provides an efficient centralized communication hub, according to 100% of reviews on native interactions.
Universal Search Bar: All the reviews on the search bar noted that it’s easy to locate documents and data throughout the organization.
Mobile App: Users can perform every major function remotely via the app, according to 88% of users reviewing the mobile app.
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End-to-End Software: Buildium is a comprehensive solution that can handle marketing, leasing, maintenance and management workflows of a property management business, according to 88% of users reviewing its features
Accounting: It offers robust and intuitive accounting features, according to 90% of reviews on this aspect.
Resident Experience: All the users who mentioned this element said that the software enhances overall tenant experience via individual communication portals, digital work orders and electronic rent payment.
Intuitive Interface: It has a simple and easy-to-use user interface, according to 80% of reviews on this aspect.
Customer Support: According to 90% of users who reviewed support services, the vendor offers responsive and agile customer support.
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Integrations: It doesn’t support unique integrations with third-party software, according to 89% of reviews on backend connectivity.
Reporting: Reports generated through the platform lack customizations, as observed by 73% of reviews on the analytics module.
Accounting: Lack of automatic bank feeds and weekly recurring transactions and recording expenses without creating bills hinder smooth accounting, according to 57% of users reviewing the accounting module.
Customer Support: 67% of users mentioning customer support said that they were not satisfied with the support response time.
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Commercial Property Management: The software lacks nuanced features for commercial property management, according to 100% reviews on this aspect.
Leasing: Insufficient in-depth leasing customizations are an issue, according to 85% of users who reviewed this element.
Automation: Accounting and maintenance management, according to 100% of reviews on this element.
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AppFolio is an all-encompassing platform covering every aspect of property management. According to reviews, it’s an intuitive platform that localizes business processes and offers unique collaboration tools and a mobile app. Along with AI-embedded maintenance workflows, the universal search bar is one of its standout features. However, reviews noted that it’s difficult to understand a variety of nuanced features without proper training. Also, due to no open API, businesses should be wary of their existing software stack requiring integration with the platform. In conclusion, AppFolio is a robust management platform with various advanced features to support every kind of property. But the high cost, hit-or-miss support suite and scarce training resources can make it inconvenient for single landlords and managers with smaller portfolios.

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Buildium helps property owners and managers digitize and streamline every property management workflow. Users prefer the solution because of its end-to-end property management features, ease of use and responsive support suite. Reviewers also mention that residents are fond of the platform’s mobility and prefer paying rent and issuing maintenance requests digitally. However, reviews note that the platform is mainly built for residential properties and lacks nuanced features like complicated lease structures, automatic utility tracking, in-depth CC&R and violation tracking for commercial, student and community properties. Users also have to manually match transactions to bank entries and can’t issue work orders automatically. Considering everything, buildium can get confusing for larger portfolios but is perfect for single landlords and managers to organize and monitor operations from a unified dashboard.

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Screenshots

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Head-to-Head Comparison

AppFolio VS Buildium
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AppFolio VS Innago
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