AppFolio vs. Buildium vs. DoorLoop: Which Is Best?

Property management software, like AppFolio, Buildium, and DoorLoop, can easily the day-to-day operations of property managers and landlords.  

Whether it’s streamlining your maintenance management, making rent collection easier than ever, or impressing a real estate investor, a good tool can make a big difference.

But which should you choose?

Which tool can deliver what you need in a fast and easy-to-use package? And, perhaps most importantly, which does all that while being the most affordable?

Below, we’ve reviewed three of the best property management software options available:

• DoorLoop
• Buildium
• AppFolio Property Manager

Each does its job well, delivering all the features you’d expect from a great property management software.

But when it comes to AppFolio and Buildium vs. DoorLoop, which comes out on top? Which is best for you? Read on to find out.

Disclaimer: This post highlights certain features on each platform. This does not mean the other platforms do not have those features. Please do your own research before making any conclusions.

What Is the Best Property Management Software for You?

Finding a property management solutions isn’t hard, but finding the one that fits you best takes more work.

In the review below, we’ve broken down all three software based on the following factors:

• Features
• Pricing

In the end, we’ll give our pick for the grand winner.

So, let’s start by reviewing the feature set of AppFolio vs. Buildium vs. DoorLoop.

AppFolio vs. Buildium vs. DoorLoop: Features

Below, we’ve singled out the six major feature categories for any good property management software.

In each feature category, we’ll cover not only whether each software offers particular features but also where it's unique from the others.

Let’s start with the category many look to property management software to help them first: accounting.

Accounting

Each software offers strong accounting features that, in many cases, allow you to replace QuickBooks altogether (depending on your needs).

AppFolio

AppFolio comes baked-in with a collection of accounting features, including online rent payments, multiple payment methods, billing, and invoicing, making it an attractive choice for mixed portfolio property managers.

A notable unique feature includes its late fee calculator.

Buildium

For Buildium, you can expect access to a collection of accounting features as well, including online rent payments, multiple payment methods (e.g., credit card and ACH), payment tracking, and bank reconciliations, perfect for residential, commercial, or HOA properties or a mixed portfolio.

DoorLoop

DoorLoop offers a complete suite of accounting features, including online rent payments via a convenient tenant portal, multiple payment methods (e.g., credit card and ACH), bank reconciliations, and a complete chart of accounts to keep track of everything (and get rid of QuickBooks).

Tenant Portal

A tenant portal is a staple feature of great property management software, as it allows you to streamline rent collection and tenant communications.

Here’s what each of our contenders offers:

AppFolio

AppFolio includes access to a complete tenant portal, where tenants can make online payments and communicate directly with you via the app.

Buildium

Similarly, Buildium offers a “resident center,” where you can do much the same: collect rent payments, association fees, and receive tenant communications, all online.

DoorLoop

DoorLoop offers a convenient tenant portal that lets you do everything from accepting rent payments and late fees online to handling maintenance requests, communicating directly with tenants directly from the app, viewing payment history, and more.

Communications

Another unique feature of property management software is communication tools. Communications tools allow you to simplify the back-and-forth involved with talking to tenants about things like rent and maintenance, saving you time and affording you peace of mind.

AppFolio

AppFolio allows you to communicate with tenants on maintenance requests and has unique association features like calendar and event management.

Buildium

Buildium offers similar communication features, including bulk emails to tenants as well as a physical letter service with EZMail.

DoorLoop

With DoorLoop, you can communicate directly with tenants on maintenance orders they send in as well as through email and SMS text messaging services. With multiple forms of communication straight from the app, keeping in touch with tenants so all parties can stay on the same page is easy. You also get access to a plethora of tenant screening tools!

Maintenance

Maintenance management allows you to streamline maintenance requests in one convenient place. This includes accepting requests from tenants and assigning them to vendors.

Here’s what each offers:

AppFolio

AppFolio allows you to communicate with tenants on maintenance orders, create work orders, assign to vendors, and pay vendors right from within the app.

Buildium

With Buildium, you can allow tenants to create maintenance requests, communicate about those requests, and attach images and documents. In addition, you can get status updates sent to your smartphone.

DoorLoop

DoorLoop allows tenants to send in maintenance requests from the app and you to edit those work orders, assign them to vendors, get status requests, and even pay your vendors once the job is done. You can do all of this and more from the app.

Owner Portal

With an owner portal, you can typically print checks for owners and allow them to print reports. This offers a convenient place to streamline owner communications as a whole.

Here’s what each offers:

AppFolio

With AppFolio, you can generate reports for owners and print checks.

Buildium

Buildium allows you to generate reports for owners or give them access to those reports and print checks.

DoorLoop

With DoorLoop, you can give your owners access to a variety of reports as well as print checks directly from the app.

Pricing

If you’re seriously considering which property management software to invest in, chances are pricing is what you’re most interested in.

The pricing models of each of our three contenders are somewhat different, with notable bright spots and blemishes.

Let’s dig into each:

Buildium Pricing

Please visit Buildium’s website to see their latest prices and packages as the information below may have changed.

The Essential plan covers all the essential features, and more:

• Tenant portal
• Communications tools
• Accounting
• Maintenance management

The Essential plan doesn’t include these features:

• Live Personal Onboarding (but does include access to their help center)
• Live phone support
• Analytics and insights
• eLeasing

For that, you’ll need to invest in the plan one step up: the Growth plan.

Lastly, Buildium’s Premium plan offers the following:

• Waived EFT transactions
• Open API
• Priority support

AppFolio Pricing

AppFolio uses a standard per unit, per month model for its pricing. However, what is unique is that it separates pricing based on the type of property:

• Residential
• Commercial
• Community association

AppFolio's Core residential plan starts at $1.40 per unit per month, with the Plus plan starting at $3 per unit per month. The commercial and association plans range from $0.80 to $1.50 per unit per month.

While the Core per-unit pricing is affordable, AppFolio has a minimum monthly fee of $280 (and $900 minimum for the Plus plan).

AppFolio’s Core plan comes with most of its major features, but its Plus plan comes with workflow revenue management as well as performance insights.

DoorLoop Pricing

DoorLoop's starter plan comes in at $59 per month for up to 20 units, making it a very affordable option.

However, the real savings come in via the higher-tier Pro and Premium plans, both of which come with numerous features and freebies:

DoorLoop’s Pro plan comes in at $119 per month for up to 20 units and includes these features:

• Owner portal
• Bank reconciliations
• Custom website

The Premium plan comes in at just $179 for up to 20 units, and it includes the following features:

• Gmail and Outlook add-on
• API access
• Website portal integration

The Verdict

DoorLoop’s pricing offers a very affordable pricing structure and low monthly fee. Its premium tiers are both highly affordable while offering comparable and competitive features.

What Is the Best Option for You?

It was a tough comparison, with each of our three contenders being overall strong picks that would serve any landlord or property manager competently.

However, consider these features:

• Stellar ease-of-use
• Responsive customer service
• Affordable pricing
• Maintenance management tools
• Best option for getting started and trying out the software before committing

When it comes to these, we believe DoorLoop could be a great fit for you.

Sure, we might be a little biased. But when it comes down to it, user reviews across the internet are clear: DoorLoop is a robust contender for user-friendly, full-featured property management software.

Schedule a free demo of DoorLoop today.

Want to compare more property management software systems? Download this free whitepaper to get the inside scoop on the most popular picks!‍