Both of these vendors used to print a price. AppFolio took its numbers off the web in September 2024, Rent Manager followed between January and March 2025, and now both answer "how much" with a demo booking form. So a management company comparing them is comparing two quotes it has not received yet, with nothing public to hold them against.
This article fixes that with the last list prices each one published, multiplied out by door count. If what is actually hurting this month is empty units rather than the back office, neither platform solves that part: you can list the vacant unit on RentPlace for $39 a month while the demos run, or run the ad through the Listing Grader first.
The short answer
On last published list prices, Rent Manager is cheaper than AppFolio at every portfolio size. Rent Manager Basic was $1.00 per unit per month with a $200 minimum; AppFolio Core was $1.49 with a $298 minimum and a 50-unit minimum. That is $200 against $298 a month up to 200 units, and $500 against $745 at 500. The upper tiers are further apart: Rent Manager Premium was $2.50 a unit, AppFolio Max $5.00.
Neither figure is a current quote. Both vendors now price account by account, and both charge a one-time setup fee on top. The full breakdowns, with every fee we could source, are on our Rent Manager pricing and AppFolio pricing pages.
Rent Manager vs AppFolio pricing at 50 to 1,000 units
Monthly bill on each vendor's last public list: Rent Manager from January 2025, AppFolio from August 2024. Entry tier against entry tier, then the top tiers where both published a rate.
| Units | Rent Manager Basic | AppFolio Core | Rent Manager Premium | AppFolio Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | $200 | $298 | $500 | Minimum not published |
| 100 | $200 | $298 | $500 | Minimum not published |
| 200 | $200 | $298 | $500 | $1,000 or the minimum |
| 500 | $500 | $745 | $1,250 | $2,500 |
| 1,000 | $1,000 | $1,490 | $2,500 | $5,000 |
The middle tiers follow the same shape. Rent Manager Plus was $1.75 a unit with a $350 minimum; AppFolio Plus was $3.20 a unit, and in 2023 it required at least 500 units and $1,500 a month. At 500 doors that is $875 against $1,600, at 1,000 doors $1,750 against $3,200. Across all three pairs, AppFolio's per-unit list rate is between 49% and 100% higher.
The minimums decide the bill below 200 doors
Here is the detail nobody multiplies out. Rent Manager set every minimum at exactly 200 units' worth: $200 at $1.00, $350 at $1.75, $500 at $2.50. AppFolio's Core minimum, $298 at $1.49, is also exactly 200 units. So for both vendors, any firm under 200 doors pays a flat monthly amount whatever its size, and "per unit" pricing only starts to mean something above 200.
What changes is who is allowed in. AppFolio Core will not sell below 50 units, which is printed on its pricing page today. Rent Manager has never published a unit minimum, so a 30-door firm can buy Basic. It pays $6.67 a door for the privilege, which is why most firms that small end up on Yardi Breeze at $100 a month instead; the Yardi pricing page has that arithmetic.
What year one costs with setup
Rent Manager's old price list was specific: "Implementation package is 2x monthly fee", printed under every bundle. AppFolio's said "Onboarding fee based on portfolio size" and never gave a number. So one side of this table is arithmetic and the other is a blank you have to fill in on the sales call.
| Units | Rent Manager Basic, year one | AppFolio Core, year one |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | $2,800 ($2,400 plus $400 setup) | $3,576 plus onboarding |
| 200 | $2,800 ($2,400 plus $400 setup) | $3,576 plus onboarding |
| 500 | $7,000 ($6,000 plus $1,000 setup) | $8,940 plus onboarding |
| 1,000 | $14,000 ($12,000 plus $2,000 setup) | $17,880 plus onboarding |
Even before AppFolio's onboarding fee, its first year runs about 28% above Rent Manager's with setup included. Ask each vendor for the setup figure in writing in the same email as the per-unit rate, and ask what data migration it covers, because that is where the two quotes usually diverge.
What your residents pay on each
The subscription is the smaller part of what either platform earns. AppFolio's own 2025 results put 76% of its revenue in Value Added Services, mostly payments and screening. Trade press reported a $2.49 per-payment eCheck fee for AppFolio residents from July 2023, or $1.00 if the manager absorbs it. Across 200 units paying monthly, that is $5,976 a year out of residents' pockets, more than the Core subscription.
Rent Manager runs payments through Zego, and the ACH, card and debit fees are set in the Zego agreement rather than published. The manager can cover a method, usually ACH, so residents always have a free option. In both cases, treat the payment fee schedule as part of the price, and get it on paper before you sign.
When each one took its prices down
Archived copies of the two pricing pages give the dates. AppFolio printed prices on August 8, 2024 and none on September 15, 2024. Rent Manager printed them on January 18, 2025 and none on March 28, 2025. In both cases the last change before the prices vanished was an increase: AppFolio Core went from $1.40 to $1.49 and Plus from $3.00 to $3.20, and Rent Manager Plus went from $1.50 to $1.75, with Premium from $2.25 to $2.50 a year earlier.
That matters for negotiation. A quote at or under the last list rate is a price holding steady. A quote well above it is new pricing, and you are entitled to ask why.
Where AppFolio is the better buy
AppFolio is built for residential management companies from about 200 doors up, and at that size its leasing, resident portal and maintenance workflows are among the most polished available. It is a public company with 9.4 million units under management, so the product is not going anywhere. If you run apartments and single-family homes for owners, want a modern resident experience, and are big enough that the $298 floor has stopped mattering, the price gap is smaller than it looks in percentage terms and the product may justify it.
Where Rent Manager is the better buy
Rent Manager wins on price at every size in the table, it has no unit minimum, and every bundle has listed unlimited users since at least 2021. It also covers portfolios AppFolio is not built for: self storage, RV parks and campgrounds, manufactured housing, associations and commercial space, all in one ledger. A 150-door firm with a storage facility and a strip of retail will usually find Rent Manager the only one of the two that fits. If the portfolio carries HUD or tax-credit units, budget separately for tracking the compliance obligations those programs attach to each property; both vendors handle the rent side, not the whole audit trail.
And if you are also pricing a vendor that still publishes, Buildium sits between these two; we put it next to AppFolio in Buildium vs AppFolio pricing.
How to use one quote against the other
Book both demos in the same week and ask each for the same four numbers in writing: the per-unit rate, the monthly minimum, the one-time setup fee, and the resident fee per ACH and card payment. Then hold the answers against the last list prices above. If AppFolio comes in at $1.49 with a $298 floor and Rent Manager at $1.00 with $200, you are looking at the old lists and the gap is about $1,200 a year at 100 doors before setup.
Whichever wins, the back office starts working after someone applies. The part before that, getting the vacant unit in front of renters who answer your screening questions in the first message, is what RentPlace does: every listing is scored out of 100 before it goes live, and inquiries arrive with move-in date, income band, occupants and pets already filled in. The Landlord plan is $39 a month for up to five listings, and the Manager plan for management companies is on the pricing page.