In today's competitive landscape, property management companies need efficient systems to maximize productivity and profitability. Your chosen software solution can help you manage essential processes like creating property listings and maintenance requests to tenant screening.

However, selecting the right property management software is crucial, and the crowded marketplace makes it even more challenging to find your ideal tool.

Two leading management solutions, AppFolio and Yardi, both offer robust functionality but differ in their approach and how well those functions work. We’ll discuss each solution's essential features, providing the information you need to find the best property management software solution for your business. 

AppFolio vs. Yardi: Essential Property Management Tool Features 

Property management software helps automate critical operations for property managers and landlords alike. These tools provide benefits like easy listing management, tenant screening, maintenance coordination, and reporting. 

While many software in this industry offer overlapping features,  look for core functionalities like the following to make sure you’re getting a comprehensive solution:

• Thorough tenant screening
• Property vacancy listings
• Communication and collaboration
• Maintenance and work order tracking
• Integrations with email, accounting, and other software

Whether you're comparing AppFolio vs. Yardi or another solution, the right property management platform brings these essential capabilities together in one place to save you time, grow revenue, and reduce risk.

AppFolio: A One-Stop Shop Property Management Tool

AppFolio is a comprehensive, cloud-based property management software that offers marketing, leasing, accounting, and management tools. The software’s goal is to streamline and automate key processes for real estate professionals so they can focus on growth.  

AppFolio Key Features

The software offers many robust features, including:

• AI-integrated maintenance management to automatically create and prioritize work orders
• Mobile application access for managers and tenants to enable on-the-go property management
• Automated invoicing and billing features to simplify collections and accounting
• Virtual showings to enable remote property tours
• Integrations with top platforms:
  • Amazon for package and delivery coordination
  • Breezeway for streamlined leasing and applications
  • ButterflyMX for smart intercom and access control
  • Birdeye for monitoring online reviews and reputation

Additionally, AppFolio provides an open API to allow connections with other critical business systems. You can also build custom integrations to sync data with your preferred CRM, reporting tools, payment processors, and more. Advanced access permission settings give granular control over what users can view and edit in the software, and configurable dashboards and reporting templates let you customize analytics and reporting. These extensive customization options Appfolio highly adaptable to a wide range of companies.

AppFolio Pricing and Reviews

The tool offers two plan options–Core and Plus–making it accessible to both small and medium-to-large businesses. Unlike Yardi, AppFolio provides a free trial period to let potential users test the software’s capabilities before committing to a product plan. 

G2, a popular software review site, offers both positive and negative insights on tools from real users. AppFolio boasts a strong 4.5 out of 5 stars and is well-reviewed by users. 

One five-star review shares:

“Honestly, there's nothing easier and more convenient than this app as a property manager. [....] Having the ability of communicating with tenants, making payments, sending notices, renewing leases, posting units to be leased and the list goes on and on because every single thing you need to be able to manage your properties can all be done right from this amazing app directly from your phone anywhere anytime.”

Other reviews highlight the software’s intuitive and user-friendly platform, making it easy to provide excellent service and streamline and grow your business. While AppFolio is a competitive option, let’s compare AppFolio vs. Yardi to see how it stacks up against another major player in the same industry.

Yardi: Multiple Property Management Solutions

Yardi is a software vendor also offering cloud-based property management and real estate solutions. Their software focuses on property management, marketing, commercial applications, senior living, and investment-focused tools.

Yardi Key Features

Yardi delivers an extensive suite of property management capabilities in its various tools, including:

• Property managing and accounting to centralize operations
• Digital marketing integration to advertise listings and automate lead management
• Automated chatbot for 24/7 tenant support
• Smart Home automation to control units remotely
• Payment processing to collect rent and fees
• Resident services and screening to evaluate applicants
• Integrations with leading platforms:
  • Intellirent for utility billing
  • CondoCafe for HOA management
  • Breeze for leasing and applicant tracking
  • CommercialEdge for investment analysis
  • ALMSA for maintenance and asset management

Like AppFolio, Yardi offers a flexible data architecture and open API for custom integrations and robust access permission settings to let property managers better control data access across roles. Finally, real-time visibility into KPIs through dynamic charts and reports help Yardi use its many platforms to support a wide range of companies with varying niches in the real estate space.

Yardi Pricing and Reviews

Unline AppFolio, a single solution for various service levels, Yardi offers independent solutions for its various service areas. Yardi Breeze, for example, has a lower price point (serving small to mid-sized managers) than its primary software that best serves managers of large, multi-unit communities. However, users have noted it’s generally more expensive unless you gain access to the tool via a smart partner integration. 

While G2 reviews each Yardi software independently, they are generally ranked slightly lower than AppFolio. 

One five-star reivew of Yardi’s property management software shares,

 “[....] When my manager introduced me to Yardi everything became a whole lot easier. From [renters’] payment schedules to their Maintenance Requests , to even notes that me and the staff had to record, my job became a lot more rewarding because I got to know the residence better and it helped me upkeep with any tasks that they needed done. I really enjoyed logging into Yardi on a daily basis for their needs and my own.”

Other reviews highlight great usability, simple navigation, and user interfaces as their favorite features. 

Beyond AppFolio vs. Yardi: Finding the Best Solution for Tenant Screening 

So there you have it - the full rundown on AppFolio vs. Yardi. While both solutions offer strengths that can level up your operations, we hope this gives you the information you need to pick the best property management platform for your business. However, there's one critical piece beyond core property management software that requires a key integration - comprehensive tenant screening. 

To manage properties efficiently and fill vacancies with qualified renters, you need a solution like Intellirent. Intellirent’s tenant screening provides complete background checks, credit reports through TransUnion, and custom Renter Resumes that provide easy applicant comparison. 

Best of all, Intellirent seamlessly integrates with Yardi for a unified property management suite. See how Intellirent can complement your stack with a free product tour today.