7 Best Tenant Screening Services [2024 Edition]

Managing successful rental property hinges on your ability to:

• Collect rent, and
• Maintain the condition of your properties

On both counts, the types of tenants you accept to occupy your units make all the difference. It's important to verify and calculate tenants' income and evaluate various aspects of their credit and rental history.

Great tenants pay their rent on time, communicate on important matters, and take care of their unit.

Bad tenants make rent collection a hassle, don’t routinely inform you of issues with the property, and generally don’t take care of the unit itself.

Fortunately, tenant screening is designed to help avoid just that sort of issue.

That’s why, below, we’ll be covering some of the best tenant screening services available.

We’ll also cover:

• What a typical tenant screening report provides
• And how to choose a tenant screening tool

Before we get into the best tenant screening services, let’s talk about what a tenant screening report looks like and what it typically includes.

What does a tenant screening report provide?

While every tool is different, the top tenant screening services allow you to review multiple points of interest related to a prospective tenant’s potential reliability.

A typical tenant screening report can include:

• Background check
• Credit history
• Bankruptcy
• Eviction history

Taken together, you get information relevant to that prospective tenant regarding their:

• Financial reliability (on multiple levels)
• Character reliability
• And specifically their unreliability as a tenant, if they have an eviction on their history

Each of these plays an important role in informing you of whether or not said applicant may be a good tenant.

There is no way to 100% guarantee that any tenant is going to work out.

However, with these kinds of checks in place, you’re far more likely to only accept those applicants who become great, reliable tenants.

What is the best tenant screening service for landlords?

Before we get into the best tenant screening services for landlords, let’s talk for a sec about what you should look for in a good tenant screening service.

The best tenant screening services:

• Offer all of the above-mentioned screening features
• Integrate seamlessly with full digital leasing features
• Allow you to store applicant and tenant information digitally

There are other things to look for, such as other property management features, but these are the essentials that you should get from any great tenant screening service.

7 Best tenant screening services for landlords

Below are seven of the best tenant screening services available today.

Each was selected for a variety of reasons, either because it serves as a good budget option, is easy to use, offers unique features, or is an all-in-one solution.

Let’s get started…

1. RentPrep

RentPrep makes the list as a good option for getting bulk tenant screening reports.

If you have a large number of properties (bulk discounts start at 50+) but you’re not ready to implement a full property management software, this can be a good standalone solution.

The only big drawback with RentPrep is that you can’t charge tenants for background checks directly.

So, you’ll have fewer options for how you want to recoup the cost.

In addition, their credit report add-on doesn’t include a credit score. So, you’ll only have the credit report itself to go off of.

2. Avail

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Avail is one of a few property management software options on this list.

The major benefit in going with a property management tool instead of a specifically tenant screening software is that you typically get several other useful features along with it.

In the case of Avail, in addition to tenant screening those features include:

• Online rent payments
• Leasing tools
• And maintenance management

Also, Avail offers landlord reference checks, unique among many other screening tools of its kind.

3. RentSpree

RentSpree offers a collection of property management tools centered mostly on the leasing process and rent collection.

The tool offers a variety of tenant screening features, including:

• Credit history
• Eviction history
• And criminal background check (most states)

The main drawback is that while it offers a number of features, RentSpree is neither the strongest in tenant screening services nor as an all-in-one property management tool.

While decent for tenant screening services, if you’re looking for an all-in-one solution, however, it is limited in what it can do.

4. Property Matrix

Property Matrix is another good option with basic tenant screening options paired with solid overall property management features.

Tenant screening features include:

• Credit
• Eviction
• Criminal background checks

The high price tag notwithstanding, Property Matrix is a good option if you want a balance of features along with tenant screening.

Property Matrix pricing

Property Matrix’s Standard plan comes in high compared to all other options at $400 per month, though it covers up to 250 units. Additional units are $1.50 per unit per month.

5. TenantAlert

TenantAlert makes the list as a great free option for landlords looking for a simple tenant screening service.

Features include:

• Credit history
• Eviction history
• Background check
• Terrorism reports

You can also send applications to tenants online along with a link to pay for the background check for added convenience.

TenantAlert is a dedicated tenant screening service, so you won’t get any other features, but it does its job well particularly if you’re on a budget.

6. SmartMove

SmartMove is a dedicated tenant screening service that offers a unique income insights report.

Other tenant screening services include:

• Credit history
• Criminal background check
• Eviction report

It’s not (mostly) free like TenantAlert, however, so keep in mind that if you’re only looking for a dedicated tenant screening service, you’ll need to decide if the extra features such as its income insights report are worth it to you.

7. DoorLoop

DoorLoop is an all-in-one property management solution with a complete suite of tenant screening services to ease the tenant screening process.

Features include:

• Criminal background checks powered by TransUnion
• Full credit analysis including credit history, score, loan payments, credit cards, and more
• Bankruptcy report so you know if your tenant has ever filed bankruptcy
• Eviction history to uncover whether your applicant has ever run into trouble paying rent

In addition, you get access to a full set of eLeasing features to streamline your entire leasing process.

So, you’re not only making your approval process more reliable, but your entire leasing process more efficient at the same time.

Beyond that, you get access to features to help you optimize multiple property management processes.

Including:

• A full accounting suite
• Automated rent payments
• Tenant portal
• Maintenance management system
• And a whole lot more

Check out DoorLoop’s tenant screening services and see what it can do for you by scheduling a free demo today.

How to choose a tenant screening tool

Now that we’ve covered some of the best tenant screening tools available, let’s talk about how to choose which tenant screening service to go with.

First, remember what we talked about earlier.

Any tenant screening service you’re considering should have checks for:

• Background
• Credit history
• Bankruptcy
• Eviction history

It should also:

• Fully integrate with a complete digital leasing system
• And allow you to store applications and tenant information digitally

Beyond that, look for simplicity, reliability, and security.

Some property management tools, like DoorLoop, allow you to manage your entire portfolio from a single dashboard.

Would you rather screen tenants with one software, complete the leasing process with another, do your accounting with yet another, and manage other tasks such as:

• Work orders
• Tenant communications, and
• Rent collection

… all from different tools.

Or, would you rather be able to handle all of those tasks from one convenient place?

With DoorLoop’s all-in-one property management platform, you can handle all your tenant screening and countless other property management tasks from your desktop, laptop, or even smartphone.

Whatever tool you choose to do your tenant screening, keep the above points in mind when deciding which software to go with.

Automate and simplify your tenant screening with DoorLoop

Want to learn more about tenant screening and finding high-quality tenants? We have a huge pool of information, start with this article!

An effective tenant screening tool can mean the difference between accepting unreliable tenants or those you can count on to both:

• Pay their rent on time, and
• Take care of your property

If you’re in need of a great tenant screening software, but don’t want to overcomplicate your system with software bloat, try DoorLoop.

You can manage your entire portfolio, including all your tenant screening and eLeasing needs, from one streamlined and easy-to-use dashboard.

Check out DoorLoop’s tenant screening services and schedule a free demo today.