Most Hemlane reviews are written by one of two people: a landlord who had a great placement or a bad payout, or a rival software company. We are the second kind, so this review sticks to what can be checked. The price list comes from Hemlane's own calculator, the service terms from its leasing and support pages, and the praise and complaints from what customers have posted on Capterra, Trustpilot and the BBB.
If the reason you are reading is an empty unit rather than a whole back office, you can list the vacancy on RentPlace for $39 a month while you decide, or score the ad you already have in the Listing Grader first.
The short verdict
Hemlane is a good fit for an owner with one to about twenty doors in a city they do not live in. Its Essential and Complete plans put real people on repairs and tenant communication for $20 to $65 a door, which is far below a full-service manager. It is a weaker buy for a local landlord who only needs rent collection, because cheaper flat-priced apps do that, and for anyone who will let a trial lapse while rent is in flight.
How much does Hemlane cost?
Hemlane charges a flat platform fee plus a rate per unit. Billed monthly, the platform fee is $34 and the rates are $2.50 a unit on Basic, $24 on Essential and $65 on Complete. Annual billing lowers that to $28 plus $2, $20 or $58. The Starter plan is $0 and has no rent collection. The whole ladder, every fee and who pays it are on our Hemlane pricing page; the short version for small portfolios is below.
| Doors | Basic | Essential | Complete |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $36.50 ($30 annual) | $58 ($48) | $99 ($86) |
| 5 | $46.50 ($38) | $154 ($128) | $359 ($318) |
| 10 | $59 ($48) | $274 ($228) | $684 ($608) |
| 20 | $84 ($68) | $514 ($428) | $1,334 ($1,188) |
Monthly amounts, with the monthly equivalent of annual billing in brackets. Many review sites still list Hemlane at "$30, $40 and $60 a month". The $30 is real but it is one unit on annual Basic; the other two figures do not match anything on the current page.
The services are priced per job. Tenant Placement is $595 plus a required $100 digital lockbox, so $695 per vacancy, paid up front. The Leasing Services bundle is $1,295 and adds an inspection and rent-ready coordination. Applicants pay $40 for TransUnion screening, ACH rent is free and card payments cost 3%, which you can assign to the tenant or absorb.
Is Hemlane a property manager?
Not in the traditional sense. Hemlane is software plus a remote team, and on the Complete plan a network of local agents and repair pros. You keep the decisions: you approve applicants, set repair limits and sign the lease. Hemlane's own line is that it delivers "90% of what a property manager does at a fraction of the price". The missing 10% is judgment and liability, which stay with you.
Coverage matters here. Hemlane says Complete usually does not work in towns under 100,000 people or more than 20 miles from a metro area, and points those owners to Essential, where its coordinator works with your own vendors.
What reviewers praise
On Capterra, Hemlane holds 4.8 out of 5 across 226 reviews, with 4.7 for ease of use and 4.8 for customer service. The same few themes come up again and again:
- Remote ownership made workable. Owners with rentals in another state describe repair requests getting handled without them being on the phone.
- One place for the whole tenancy. Listing, screening, lease, rent and repairs in one system, instead of a portal plus a payment app plus a spreadsheet.
- A simple interface. Reviewers call it intuitive once you have done a task once.
- Price against a manager. The comparison people make is with an 8% to 10% management fee, and on that basis even Complete looks inexpensive.
What reviewers complain about
Trustpilot tells a different story: 2.9 out of 5, rated "Average", from a much smaller set of reviews. That gap is common for software, since vendors invite satisfied customers to review on Capterra and unhappy ones go wherever they can. The complaints still form a pattern worth reading before you pay:
- Rent held when a plan lapses. A recent Trustpilot review describes a tenant payment started while the account was active, then held because the owner had not bought a paid plan. Hemlane's pricing FAQ says an unsubscribed account drops to "a very limited, free account", and the free Starter plan does not include rent collection. If you trial Hemlane, decide before day 14 and do not let rent be in flight when a trial ends.
- Support by ticket. Capterra reviewers mention waiting about 24 hours for an email reply that then asks for more detail. Complete adds VIP support.
- Accounting depth. Several reviewers say the reports are not enough to replace their accounting software, and some find the accounting screens confusing.
- Mobile. Reviewers ask for a proper iOS and Android app.
- Placement quality. A 2024 review blames a Hemlane placement for a problem tenant and a referred local agent who went silent with the keys for a week. It is one account, but it is the risk that comes with any service where someone else picks the tenant.
Some older complaints no longer apply: a few Capterra reviews say lease signing was missing, and e-sign is now part of Basic.
Is Hemlane legit?
Yes. Hemlane, Inc. is a San Francisco company started in 2015, BBB accredited with an A rating, and its screening runs through TransUnion. The honest caveat is operational rather than legal: rent moves through Hemlane's payment system, so read the payment section of its terms before you connect a bank account, and keep your plan active while any payment is pending.
Who Hemlane fits, and who it does not
Good fit: an out-of-state owner with a handful of single-family homes or small multifamily units near a metro area, who wants repairs coordinated around the clock and would rather pay $695 than fly in to run showings. Essential at five doors is $154 a month billed monthly. A local manager at 8% of $1,800 rent would take $720 for the same five doors.
Weak fit: a local landlord who wants rent collection and nothing else. Basic is fair at $2.50 a door, but RentRedi is $144 a year for unlimited units and TurboTenant prices by portfolio band, which our Hemlane vs TurboTenant pricing comparison lines up door by door. Also a weak fit: owners in small towns, who cannot use Complete at all, and anyone who needs full accounting in the same tool.
If you are shortlisting with written agreements in mind (Hemlane's lease, vendor terms, the placement agreement), it helps to track every lease and vendor agreement with its renewal date in one place, whichever platform runs the rent.
Is Hemlane worth it?
It is worth it when the thing you are really buying is someone else's time: a coordinator on repairs, a team booking tours, a lockbox instead of a flight. It is poor value when you are local and the hard part is the vacancy itself, because most of the $695 placement pays for work you could do, namely writing the listing, getting it seen and sorting the replies.
That last part is where RentPlace fits. An $1,800 unit loses about $60 a day while it is empty, so the placement fee equals roughly twelve vacant days. Our listings are graded out of 100 before they go live, and a renter cannot send "is this still available?" because your screening questions have to be answered first, so every inquiry arrives with move-in date, income band, occupants, pets and lease length. The Landlord plan is $39 a month for up to five listings, and all four plans are on the pricing page. If you are weighing a flat-rate app instead, TurboTenant vs Avail pricing settles that choice in one table.