Property management software is a must for landlords. It saves you so much time and energy on responsibilities you’d otherwise have to complete manually.
Furthermore, software is much cheaper than hiring a property management company to take over all your duties.
With that being said, finding the perfect property management software can seem like an impossible task. With so many options on the market, how do you know which one is the best?
Here’s an in-depth comparison of Innago vs Buildium, two popular software options for landlords.
Pricing
Choosing a software that gives you the most bang for your buck should be one of your primary objectives.
Buildium offers three different pricing packages:
- The Essential Plan – This is for newer landlords who are looking for the basic property management features for their daily operational tasks. This plan costs $52 per month.
- The Growth Plan – This is for landlords looking to grow their business, providing additional features like performance analytics and unlimited eSignatures. This plan costs $166 per month.
- The Premium Plan – This is for landlords who want every feature the software has to offer. In addition to everything included in the Essential and Growth plans, this plan offers insights-to-action, Open API, and more. It costs $479 per month.
Innago, on the other hand, only offers one pricing plan. With Innago, landlords have access to every feature the software has to offer for free. That’s right—Innago is totally free for landlords. How can this be the case?
Innago brings in its revenue by charging tenants for certain add-on services. For example, when a tenant pays for rent using ACH, they’re charged an additional $2 fee. When they pay using a debit or credit card, that fee becomes 2.75%. Landlords can cover these fees if they want to. Innago also charges applicants a fee for screening reports, ranging from $30 to $35. Finally, tenants can purchase renters insurance policies on Innago’s platform, which are priced on an individual basis.
Features
Price isn’t the only variable. You must ensure that the platform you choose offers all the features your business needs.
Here’s a rundown of Innago’s key features:
- Online payments
- Full tenant screening reports
- Custom applications
- Online leasing and digital signatures
- Financial tracking and reporting
- Maintenance requests
- Listing syndication
- Automated payment reminders, late fees, and messages
Included in all of Buildium’s plans are:
- Online payments
- Basic tenant screening
- Accounting
- Maintenance requests
- Marketing tools
- Online portals
If you have Buildium’s Essential plan, you must pay $5 for every eSignature. You must also pay a $99 set-up fee for every bank account you wish to add. In the Growth and Premium plans, these fees are gone. Furthermore, the Growth and Premium plans offer premium tenant screening tools and additional insights.
On Capterra, Innago received 4.8 stars out of 5 for its features in general, while Buildium only received 4.3 stars.
Customer Support
While a platform’s price point and features are the most obvious components to look for, equally crucial to consider is customer support. If you have questions or need assistance with the platform, it’s essential that you’ll be helped quickly and effectively.
Innago offers full email support, phone support, a live chat option during business hours, educational articles and videos, webinars for new landlords, and one-on-one demos by request. Furthermore, Innago’s customer service is personalized, meaning that every account is assigned a specific representative whom you can contact via email or phone. After hours, you can almost always reach someone on the general support line.
Buildium provides many of the same resources as Innago, such as email support and a help center full of educational articles and videos. If you want live phone support, however, you must upgrade to the Growth or Premium plan. The Essential plan only operates on a ticket support system. Furthermore, only the Premium plan comes with onboarding support and priority support.
Overall, Innago scored 4.9 stars out of 5 on Capterra for customer service, while Buildium scored 4.5 stars.
Conclusion
Innago and Buildium are both solid property management software options. With that said, you just can’t beat Innago’s value for what it provides.
Innago is known for its excellent features, fantastic customer support, and slick interface. It has everything you could want from a property management software platform, and you don’t have to spend a penny.
