DoorLoop vs Buildium Pricing and Buildium vs DoorLoop Cost From 10 to 300 Units

DoorLoop and Buildium sell to the same buyer, a property manager or a landlord who has outgrown a free app, and they publish their prices in very different shapes. DoorLoop steps its price up every 20 units and shows you one rung at a time. Buildium runs three plans with their own unit bands and bills you, not your residents, for every rent payment by bank transfer. Line the two up properly and the answer depends on your door count and on who you want paying the payment fees.

Both are back offices. Neither one fills an empty unit faster. If a vacancy is the problem this month, you can list the unit on RentPlace for $39 a month and get inquiries that arrive with move-in date and income already answered, or score your ad first in the Listing Grader.

The short answer

Up to about 50 units, Buildium Essential is the cheapest plan either company sells: $671 a year prepaid at 20 units against $1,788 for DoorLoop Pro, the cheapest DoorLoop plan once you pass ten doors. From 50 to 300 units, DoorLoop Pro costs less than Buildium Growth once rent payment fees are counted, by about $650 a year at 100 units and $1,770 at 300. Buildium's subscription is lower in places, but it charges you $1.35 per incoming payment where DoorLoop charges your tenant $0.99.

Every rung of both ladders is on our DoorLoop pricing and Buildium pricing pages. This article puts them on one table and adds the lines the pricing pages leave off.

DoorLoop vs Buildium pricing from 10 to 300 units

Yearly cost on annual billing, before onboarding and before payment fees. DoorLoop's figure is its annual per-month rate times twelve; Buildium's is the prepaid annual invoice its calculator quotes.

Three things stand out. DoorLoop's Starter plan stops at ten units, so a 15-door landlord jumps straight to Pro. Buildium Growth is flat at $192 a month all the way to 50 units, which is why it looks expensive at 10 doors and reasonable at 50. And the two top tiers cross at 121 units: DoorLoop Premium is cheaper below that, Buildium Premium (flat to 150) is cheaper above it on subscription alone.

Billed monthly instead, DoorLoop Pro runs $189 to $459 a month across this range and Buildium Growth $192 to $482, so the two mid tiers sit within a few dollars of each other at almost every size. The subscription is not where this comparison is decided.

Add the rent payment fees and the order changes

Here is the line most comparisons skip. Buildium charges the manager for every incoming EFT: $2.35 on Essential, $1.35 on Growth, and on Premium nothing for the first 12 months, then $0.60. DoorLoop charges the tenant a platform fee on every ACH payment: $2.49 on Starter, $0.99 on Pro, nothing on Premium. DoorLoop's own help center notes those tenant charges do not show up on landlord or management reports.

The table below counts both, one bank payment per door per month, whoever ends up paying. Buildium Premium is shown in its second year, when the $0.60 fee starts.

At 300 doors Buildium Growth's payment line alone is $4,860 a year, nearly as much as the subscription. Counted this way DoorLoop beats Buildium Growth and Buildium Premium at every size from 50 units up. Buildium Essential, with its $2.35 fee, still comes in under DoorLoop Pro until roughly 55 units ($2,462 against $2,742 at 50).

Two caveats keep this fair. Most Buildium managers pass the EFT fee to residents as a convenience fee, which moves the cost rather than removing it; check your state's rules before you do. And DoorLoop's tenant fee is not optional on Starter or Pro: you cannot choose to absorb it the way you can on Buildium. If your residents complain about fees, DoorLoop Premium and Buildium Premium in its first year are the only ways to make bank payments free on either platform.

Which is cheaper for a small portfolio

Buildium, clearly. At ten doors Essential is $671 a year plus $282 in EFT fees, $953 in total. DoorLoop Starter is $828 plus $299 in tenant ACH fees, $1,127. At 20 doors the gap is wider because DoorLoop has no plan below Pro: $1,235 all-in on Buildium Essential against $2,026 on DoorLoop Pro.

Essential has real limits for its price. It is sold only up to 150 units, comes with ticket support rather than phone, charges $99 for every business bank account you connect, and bills $5 per e-signature. A landlord with 15 doors and one operating account will not notice. A manager holding a separate trust account for each owner will.

If you are below ten doors and do not manage for anyone else, neither of these is the obvious buy. A free or flat-priced landlord app costs less; our Innago pricing page works out what it costs to run a small portfolio on a free app and cover the tenant fees yourself.

The fees that sit outside the subscription

Onboarding is the number to chase. Neither company prints it, Buildium makes it mandatory on its two larger plans, and DoorLoop prices it by portfolio size. On a 200-unit migration it can be a meaningful share of the first year's bill, so ask for it on the demo call, in writing, before you compare anything else.

Screening favors Buildium at $17 when you pay it yourself. DoorLoop's $25 to $45 per report is higher, though on Pro and Premium you can mark it up to the applicant. eSignatures matter only if you sign a lot outside the lease flow: management agreements, owner addenda, vendor contracts. A team that signs dozens of those a month may find a separate electronic signature tool for the whole office cheaper than buying credits on either platform.

Where Buildium is the better buy

• Up to about 50 doors. Essential is the cheapest plan in this comparison, by hundreds of dollars a year at 10 to 20 doors.
• You want to try it first. Buildium's 14-day trial needs no card; DoorLoop sells through a demo.
• You plan to grow past 300 units. Buildium publishes its price up to 5,000; DoorLoop stops quoting at 300.
• You want residents to see no platform fee. On Buildium you choose whether to absorb or pass on the EFT fee. On DoorLoop Starter and Pro the tenant always pays it.
• You screen a lot of applicants and pay for it yourself. $17 a report against $25 to $45.

What property managers say about Buildium once they are live, including its support, is in our Buildium review.

Where DoorLoop is the better buy

• 50 to 300 units, payment fees counted. Pro beats Growth all-in at every size in that range.
• You want bank payments free for residents. Premium waives the ACH fee permanently; Buildium Premium waives it for one year.
• You need many entities or bank accounts. Premium verifies business accounts free, with no cap of 10 or 100.
• You want AI tools inside the platform. DoorLoop sells them as an add-on; Buildium does not offer an equivalent package.

Our DoorLoop review covers what managers report after the first few months. If AppFolio is on your shortlist too, the Buildium vs AppFolio pricing comparison runs the same arithmetic at 50 to 500 units.

What to get in writing before you sign

1. The onboarding fee at your exact unit count, and whether a current promotion waives it.
2. The price at your next rung. DoorLoop steps every 20 units; Buildium Growth jumps at 51 units and Premium at 151. Know what the bill is after your next acquisition.
3. Who pays each payment fee, and whether you can change it later without a plan upgrade.
4. The annual discount on your tier. DoorLoop's runs from about 12% on Premium to 30% on Starter; Buildium's is about 10% across the board.

Then come back to the problem neither platform solves. Whichever back office you pick, a vacant unit at $1,800 a month costs about $60 a day, and the software only starts earning once a lease is signed. RentPlace's plans for property managers sort inquiries by move-in date, income and occupants before they reach your team, and the $99 and $299 tiers cover 25 and 150 active listings.