Innago costs a landlord nothing, and that is the first thing every review says. The more useful question is who pays instead, how much, and what the free price means when something goes wrong with a payment. This review answers those from Innago's own FAQ, the fee figures it publishes, and the pattern in what landlords have posted on Trustpilot and BiggerPockets. We sell rental listings, not rent collection, so we have no stake in which rent app you pick.
If what brought you here is an empty unit rather than the rent ledger, 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
Innago is a solid free choice for an independent landlord with one to about fifty doors who wants online rent, e-signed leases and maintenance requests in one place and is comfortable with tenants paying a $2 fee per bank payment. It is a weaker fit if you want tenants to pay nothing, need fast payouts from day one, or rely on the bundled screening as your only background check.
Is Innago really free?
Yes, for the landlord. Innago charges no monthly subscription, no setup fee and no contract, and every account gets the same full feature set with no unit minimum and no tiers. Listing a vacancy, syndicating it to rental sites and taking applications are free too. The costs sit on the tenant side, per payment and per application.
That is a different model from the paid apps, where the landlord's subscription is what buys lower tenant fees. With Innago there is nothing to upgrade to, so the tenant fees below are the whole price list. Our Innago pricing page lists every fee with who pays it, and works out what it costs you per door to cover the tenant fee yourself.
How does Innago make money?
Innago makes money from transaction fees paid by tenants: $2 for each rent payment by bank transfer and 2.99% for each payment by credit or debit card. Applicants also pay for screening, $30 to $35 for credit, criminal and eviction reports, plus $10 more if you add income verification.
| Fee | Amount | Who pays by default |
|---|---|---|
| Landlord subscription | $0 | Nobody |
| Rent by ACH bank transfer | $2 per payment | Tenant (landlord can absorb it) |
| Rent by credit or debit card | 2.99% per payment | Tenant (landlord can absorb it) |
| Screening, credit, criminal and eviction | $30 to $35 per applicant | Applicant |
| Income verification add-on | +$10 | Applicant |
| Listing and syndication | $0 | Nobody |
Over a year the tenant side adds up. A tenant paying $1,800 rent by bank transfer pays $24 in fees. The same tenant paying by card pays $53.82 a month, or about $646 a year, which is more than most paid landlord apps charge the landlord. You can switch the fees to your own account in settings, and a landlord with ten tenants all on ACH would then pay $240 a year, close to what the paid apps cost.
Innago against RentRedi, TurboTenant and Avail
The four apps small landlords shortlist most often all run on the same idea, a low or zero landlord price with fees on the tenant side. The fees are where they differ.
| Innago | RentRedi | TurboTenant Free | Avail Free | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landlord pays | $0 | $144 a year (annual term) | $0 | $0 |
| Tenant ACH fee | $2 | $1 | $2 | $2.50 |
| Tenant card fee | 2.99% | 3.1% + $0.30 | 3.49% | 3.5% |
| Applicant screening | $30 to $35 | $39.99 | $55 | Varies by state |
On the tenant side Innago is the cheapest of the free options on cards and on screening, and level with TurboTenant on ACH. RentRedi halves the ACH fee but charges the landlord $144 a year to do it. The full schedules, with the paid tiers, are on our RentRedi pricing (with a full RentRedi review) and TurboTenant pricing pages, and the TurboTenant vs Avail pricing comparison covers the other pair.
How long does Innago take to deposit rent?
Usually one to two business days. Innago processes payments on weekdays between 9am and 5pm Eastern, and a payment sent after 5pm starts the next business day. The first payment from a tenant, or from a new bank account, is held for three business days as a fraud check, and a failed payment resets that hold.
Plan the first month around the hold. If a mortgage payment falls two days after rent is due, the first cycle is the one that can bite. Innago shows the expected deposit date on each payment and partners with a company called Accelerent for instant withdrawals, which is a separate arrangement.
What reviewers praise
Innago holds a 4.7 on Trustpilot across more than 460 reviews, and the positive ones repeat three things. The first is setup: landlords describe adding properties and inviting tenants in an afternoon, with tenants joining from an email link. The second is automation, mainly autopay and automatic rent reminders, so the landlord stops chasing each tenant. The third is price, for obvious reasons.
A BiggerPockets thread on the software reads the same way, with one long-time user reporting three years without a reason to switch and a bookkeeper describing a client who runs Innago for the properties and QuickBooks for the accounting side by side.
What reviewers complain about
The one- and two-star reviews cluster around money in motion. Several describe funds held longer than expected after a bank setup error, and one landlord describes a tenant reversing a payment months after the lease ended, with Innago pulling the amount back from the landlord's account. That second one is how card and ACH disputes work on most platforms, but the free model means there is no account manager to argue it with.
The other themes are support by callback rather than a live phone answer, a screening checkout where the price did not match the tier a landlord expected, and one reviewer who found a criminal record in county files that the bundled report had not shown. If you screen in a state where records are patchy, check the court record yourself as well.
Is Innago legit?
Yes. Innago was founded in 2017, is based in Cincinnati, Ohio, and runs payments through PCI-compliant processing in a SOC 2 data center. It has hundreds of public reviews averaging 4.7 on Trustpilot. The complaints that exist are about payment timing and support speed, which is normal for rent software, not about money disappearing.
Who Innago fits, and who it does not
It fits a local landlord with a handful of doors, or a few dozen, whose tenants will pay by bank transfer. The $2 fee is small next to what a paid app costs, and the feature set is the same one the paid apps sell. It also fits mixed holdings, since Innago takes storage units, parking and small commercial space in the same account. If some of those tenants are on commercial leases, it helps to turn each commercial lease PDF into a one-page summary of rent steps and renewal dates before you set up the recurring charges.
It fits less well a landlord who wants tenants to pay nothing extra, because absorbing the fees makes Innago cost roughly what a paid app does. It is also not the tool for an owner in another state who needs someone on the ground; that is a managed service, and our Hemlane pricing page and Hemlane review cover what that costs.
One gap is worth naming. Innago's free syndication sends your listing to the portals, and the inquiries come back as the portals deliver them: a name, a phone number and "is this still available?". That is the part RentPlace is built for. Your listing asks move-in date, income band, occupants, pets and lease length before a message can send, and it is scored out of 100 before it goes live. Plenty of landlords pair a free rent app with a paid listing for exactly that reason; the RentPlace plans start at $39 a month.
Is Innago worth it?
For most small landlords, yes. It costs nothing to try, the tenant fees are at or below its closest rivals, and the complaints are about timing rather than trust. Set it up a month before you need it, so the first-payment hold does not land on a mortgage date, and keep your own copy of the screening results. If the vacancy is the problem this week rather than the ledger, list the unit on RentPlace and let the inquiries arrive already answered.