TenantAssist vs AppFolio
AppFolio vs TenantAssist — when you don’t need the enterprise price tag
AppFolio is powerful and priced for PM firms managing hundreds of doors. TenantAssist delivers the 90% of features a landlord or small PM actually uses, without the $280/mo minimum or the sales call.
TenantAssist pricing
Self-serve, no demo. Flat pricing. Unlimited units is $149/mo — less than AppFolio’s minimum.
AppFolio pricing
AppFolio Core starts ~$1.40/unit/mo with a ~$280/mo minimum — effectively $280+ before any add-ons, and they require a demo to onboard.
Side by side
| Feature | TenantAssist | AppFolio |
|---|---|---|
| AI maintenance triage (tenant-facing chatbot) Deflects ~50% of "is this normal?" tickets before they reach you. | Yes | No |
| Per-unit monthly price | $0 (flat plans) | Tiered + per-unit |
| Free plan for small portfolios | Free up to 5 units | No |
| Native ACH rent collection | $0.80 flat | $0.50–$2.49 |
| Card rent collection | 2.9% + $0.30 (Stripe) | Varies, often 2.95%+ |
| Tenant portal (PWA, push notifications) | Yes | Yes |
| Minimum monthly fee | $0 | ~$280/mo |
| Self-serve signup AppFolio requires a sales demo. | Yes | No |
| Built-in leasing CRM / marketing AppFolio wins if you need full marketing syndication. | Partial (applicants) | Yes |
| Accounting GL (full double-entry) | CSV to QBO/Xero | Yes |
| Public API + outbound webhooks We ship HMAC-signed webhooks with retry built-in. | Yes | No |
| Zapier / Make support | Yes | Limited |
| QuickBooks + Xero CSV export | Yes | Yes |
| Native lease e-sign with SHA-256 audit trail | Yes | Add-on / separate fee |
| Data isolation via Postgres RLS | Yes | Application-layer only |
| Time to first deflected ticket | Same day | Weeks of onboarding |
TenantAssist wins for
Landlords and PMs under ~200 doors who want self-serve, AI triage, and transparent flat pricing.
AppFolio wins for
PM firms over 200 doors with dedicated accounting and leasing teams, especially those needing multi-user role granularity and AppFolio’s marketing/leasing features.
Questions we get
Who is TenantAssist better for than AppFolio?
Landlords under 200 doors, small PMs, and anyone allergic to mandatory sales calls. Our pricing is flat and self-serve; AppFolio’s is per-unit with a demo gate.
Does TenantAssist do marketing / listing syndication?
We handle applicants and screening (TransUnion SmartMove, Plaid). We do not syndicate to Zillow / Apartments.com the way AppFolio does — if that is core to your ops, AppFolio has the edge.
What about the AppFolio mobile app?
TenantAssist is a PWA, so it installs to the home screen on iOS and Android without an app-store download. Push notifications work on both. Most of our customers say the tenant experience feels faster because it is a web app, not a heavy native shell.
Run the numbers yourself
Our ROI calculator shows your break-even in under 30 seconds based on your actual portfolio size and ticket volume.
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