Quick Answer
RentRedi and Avail both handle rent collection, tenant screening, and maintenance tracking, but they price and package things differently. Avail’s core plan is free, then jumps to $9 per unit per month for Unlimited Plus. RentRedi charges one flat rate, starting at $12/month, with no per-unit fees no matter how many properties you manage. RentRedi also includes cash payment options, one-click Schedule E reports, and free team member accounts, none of which Avail offers. For landlords who plan to grow past a handful of units, RentRedi’s flat pricing and deeper accounting tools are the bigger factors to weigh against Avail’s free entry point.
Choosing the right rental software affects more than just how rent gets collected. It shapes how much time you spend chasing payments, how prepared you are for tax season, and how much a growing portfolio ends up costing you every month. RentRedi and Avail are two of the more established platforms landlords compare, and while they overlap on the basics, they diverge in a few places that matter once you look past the sign-up page.
Quick Comparison Table
| Feature | RentRedi | Avail |
|---|---|---|
| Online rent collection | ✅ | ✅ |
| ACH payments | ✅ (only $1 ACH) | ⚠️ ($2.50 fee on the free plan, waived on Unlimited Plus at $9/unit/mo) |
| Credit card payments | ✅ | ⚠️ (3.5% fee on every plan) |
| Cash rent payment options | ✅ (+90K Chime locations) | ❌ |
| Autopay | ✅ (99% on-time rent payments) | ✅ |
| Automated rent reminders | ✅ | ✅ |
| Tenant screening | ✅ (TransUnion) | ✅ (TransUnion) |
| Income verification | ✅ (Plaid) | ⚠️ (renter profile collects employment details; not Plaid-verified) |
| Credit reporting / Credit Boost | ✅ (all 3 credit bureaus) | ⚠️ (CreditBoost, $3.95/mo, reports to TransUnion only) |
| Maintenance management | ✅ | ✅ |
| Maintenance coordination network | ✅ | ❌ |
| Rental listing syndication | ✅ (Zillow Network & more) | ✅ (19+ sites, including Realtor.com and Zumper) |
| Mobile app for landlords | ✅ | ❌ (web-based only, no dedicated app) |
| Mobile app for tenants | ✅ | ❌ |
| Spanish-language tenant experience | ✅ | ❌ |
| Accounting tools | ✅ | ⚠️ (tracks only transactions logged through Avail; CSV export, no one-click tax reports) |
| Expense tracking | ✅ | ✅ |
| Receipt scanning | ✅ | ❌ |
| P&L reporting | ✅ | ⚠️ (basic, CSV export only) |
| Schedule E reporting | ✅ | ❌ |
| Team member accounts | ✅ | ⚠️ (not offered as a named feature on either plan) |
| Unlimited units | ✅ | ⚠️ (free on Unlimited, $9/unit/mo on Unlimited Plus) |
| Unlimited tenants | ✅ | ✅ |
| Customer support | ✅ (24/7 live chat, plus phone, email, and Spanish support. 5-star rated in reviews.) | ✅ |
| Pricing transparency | ✅ | ✅ |
Takeaway: Avail’s free tier is an advantage for a landlord testing the waters with one or two units. But the moment you add units, add a teammate, need cash payments, or want tax-season reports without a manual export, RentRedi’s flat, all-inclusive pricing starts to look like the better long-term deal.
Why Landlords Choose RentRedi
- Flat pricing that doesn’t grow with your portfolio. Avail’s Unlimited Plus runs $9 per unit per month; RentRedi charges the same flat rate whether you manage one unit or fifty.
- Cash payments are built in. RentRedi tenants can pay rent in cash at more than 90,000 retail locations. Avail doesn’t support cash payments at all.
- Tax prep takes minutes, not a manual export. One-click Schedule E and AI receipt scanning go further than Avail’s CSV-based expense tracking.
- Credit reporting hits all three bureaus. Avail’s CreditBoost reports to TransUnion only; RentRedi reports to TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax.
- A dedicated mobile app for both sides of the lease. Avail is web-only. RentRedi gives landlords and tenants a native app to manage everything on the go.
- A maintenance coordination network handles repairs beyond simple tracking, so you’re not the only one fielding vendor calls, through RentRedi’s partnership with Lessen.
Financial Reporting and Tax Management Tools
Both platforms give landlords a way to track income and expenses, but they stop at different points. RentRedi’s accounting suite lets landlords snap and store receipts, track expenses by category, and generate profit-and-loss statements and Schedule E summaries directly in the dashboard. Payments collected through RentRedi populate automatically, and landlords can export to QuickBooks Online, Wave, or a spreadsheet when a CPA needs the raw data.
Avail’s Rental Property Accounting tool is free and covers the basics: it logs rent payments and expenses as transactions happen and lets landlords categorize and export to CSV at tax time. The tradeoff is that Avail only tracks what’s entered or processed through the platform, so a landlord paying a contractor by check has to log that manually to keep the books accurate. Avail doesn’t generate a one-click Schedule E report, which means an extra step translating exported CSV data into the IRS-required format come filing season.
Maintenance and Support
- Maintenance tracking with RentRedi: Landlords and tenants submit and manage maintenance requests through the app, attaching photos or video and tracking status in real time. RentRedi also offers a maintenance coordination network for landlords who’d rather outsource vendor management for an added fee.
- Customer support on RentRedi: Support runs 24/7 through live chat, plus phone, email, and Spanish-language support. RentRedi’s help center backs this up with self-serve tutorials for common questions.
- Maintenance tracking with Avail: Tenants submit maintenance requests through Avail’s web platform, and landlords can log vendor details and repair costs. Avail doesn’t have a dedicated mobile app, which can slow things down for a landlord trying to approve a repair from their phone.
- Customer support on Avail: Support is available by email and help center, with faster response times reserved for Unlimited Plus subscribers.
Landlords who want to manage maintenance from their phone, not just their laptop, will notice the gap here. RentRedi’s mobile-first design and 24/7 support give it an edge for anyone juggling repairs between other jobs.
Tenant and Lease Management
RentRedi’s online rental application flows straight into the landlord’s dashboard, with customizable pre-screening questions to filter applicants before a showing. Screening runs through TransUnion for credit, criminal, and eviction reports, and Plaid-verified income adds a second layer of confidence for a one-time tenant-paid fee.
Avail also offers online applications and TransUnion-backed screening, but custom application questions are gated to the paid Unlimited Plus plan. Avail’s edge here is lease templates: it offers lawyer-reviewed, state-specific lease agreements that can be customized with additional clauses on the paid plan. RentRedi doesn’t ship built-in lease templates, but it lets landlords upload their own leases and collect e-signatures with identity verification at no extra cost, which works well for landlords who already have an agreement they trust.
For day-to-day communication, RentRedi’s mobile app sends push notifications and in-app alerts, so rent reminders and maintenance updates reach a tenant’s phone directly rather than getting buried in email.
Pricing and Cost Analysis
RentRedi offers three billing terms, all with the same full feature set: $12/month billed annually, $20/month billed semi-annually, or $29.95/month billed monthly. Every term includes unlimited units, tenants, and teammates, with no per-unit fees, plus a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Avail’s free Unlimited plan covers core features for landlords managing units on their own. Once a landlord wants waived tenant ACH fees, faster support, or a customizable property website, Avail’s Unlimited Plus plan runs $9 per unit per month, a cost that scales up as a portfolio grows. A landlord with 10 units on Unlimited Plus would pay $90/month, more than seven times RentRedi’s flat annual rate for the same unit count.
The Trade Show Test
Five things a RentRedi rep could say to a landlord comparing the two platforms, face to face:
- “Your price doesn’t change when your portfolio does.” RentRedi’s flat rate holds whether you have 1 unit or 50. Avail’s Unlimited Plus multiplies by $9 for every unit added.
- “Tenants can pay with cash, not just a card or bank transfer.” RentRedi supports cash payments at more than 90,000 retail locations. Avail doesn’t offer a cash option at all.
- “Schedule E is one click, not a CSV you reformat yourself.” RentRedi generates the report directly. Avail’s accounting stops at exportable transaction data.
- “Every teammate gets an account, free.” RentRedi doesn’t charge per seat. Avail doesn’t offer team accounts as a named feature on either plan.
- “Credit reporting goes to all three bureaus, not one.” RentRedi’s rent reporting hits TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. Avail’s CreditBoost reports to TransUnion only.
Choosing between RentRedi and Avail usually comes down to how the two platforms handle the same core need: getting rent paid on time and keeping records straight for tax season. From here, a few common questions come up.
FAQ
Is Avail really free?
Avail’s Unlimited plan is free and includes core tools: rent collection, listings, applications, and basic maintenance tracking. The tradeoff shows up in payment fees ($2.50 per ACH transfer) and in features gated behind the paid Unlimited Plus tier, which costs $9 per unit per month.
Does RentRedi charge per unit like Avail’s paid plan?
No. RentRedi charges one flat rate per account, starting at $12/month on the annual term, regardless of how many units, tenants, or teammates you add. Avail’s Unlimited Plus scales with unit count, so the cost gap widens as a portfolio grows.
Which platform has a mobile app?
RentRedi offers native mobile apps for both landlords and tenants. Avail is web-based and doesn’t currently have a dedicated mobile app, which some landlords note as a limitation when managing properties on the go.
Can tenants pay rent with cash on either platform?
RentRedi supports cash rent payments at more than 90,000 retail locations nationwide. Avail doesn’t offer a cash payment option; tenants pay by ACH or card only.
How does credit reporting work on each platform?
RentRedi reports on-time rent payments to all three major credit bureaus (TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax) for $5.99/month. Avail’s CreditBoost feature costs $3.95/month and reports to TransUnion only.
Which platform is better for a growing portfolio?
Landlords adding units tend to see the bigger gap in Avail’s per-unit Unlimited Plus pricing versus RentRedi’s flat rate. A 10-unit portfolio on Avail’s paid plan costs significantly more per month than the same portfolio on RentRedi’s annual term.
RentRedi vs. Avail: Flat Pricing, Free Team Accounts
Avail’s free plan works for a landlord just getting started, but the moment you need cash payments, three-bureau credit reporting, or a mobile app, the platform’s gaps start to show. RentRedi includes all of that from the first unit, with one flat price that doesn’t climb as your portfolio does. Choose RentRedi, choose unlimited possibilities.