Every property management tool claims AI now. We priced what it actually costs to switch it on.

Every platform in this category says it has AI, which makes the claim useless as a filter. So we priced the thing nobody advertises: what you have to pay, and what you have to sign, before the AI does anything for you. The spread runs from $0 to $400 a month to a sales call, setup fees reach $1,000, and the platform that markets hardest on AI locks the record of what its AI did behind its top tier.

Everybody says "AI-powered." Almost nobody will tell you what it costs.

Go to any property management site this month and you will be told it has AI. That claim is now worthless as a filter, because it is true everywhere. So we went looking for the number underneath it: what you actually have to pay, and what you have to sign, before the AI does a single thing for you.

The answers are not close. One platform puts its full AI on a $20 plan. Another wants $400 a month before the good agents turn on. Two will not print a price at all. And one of the newest, best-marketed entrants locks the record of what its AI did behind a custom-priced tier with a $1,000 onboarding fee and a one-year contract.

Here is the field, ranked by what it costs to reach the AI and what you get when you do. We publish this and we are first on it. Every figure below came off the vendor's own pricing page, so check them.

What it actually costs to reach the AI

1. Rentari.ai

Start at zero. Unlimited properties, unlimited units, unlimited listings, leads from Zillow and Apartments.com in one pipeline, online applications with FCRA disclosure and e-signature, tenant screening, and one inbox where the AI drafts and summarises every message. No card, no trial clock, no unit ceiling. That is the free tier, and nothing on this list matches its unit economics.

Then $10 a month, or $8 billed annually, for the part that matters: Mozart drafts your screening summaries, your state-specific leases, your renewals and your late-rent notices, triages maintenance to vendor dispatch, and logs every single draft next to the decision you made about it. Ten dollars. No setup fee, no onboarding fee, no contract, no minimum portfolio, no sales call, and no tier above you holding the good features hostage.

On rent we add no platform markup. The bank fee is split with your tenant and your card share never exceeds $5.

What we are not: we do not do commercial or association management, we do not send a human to your property, and rent collection sits behind Prime rather than the free tier. If your requirement is free rent collection specifically, say so and shop accordingly.

2. MagicDoor, the closest thing to a real fight

Credit where it is due: MagicDoor puts its Genie AI on every plan instead of holding it back for the expensive tier, and that is the right instinct. It is the most interesting new entrant in this category and it is genuinely good software.

Now read the pricing page carefully, because the sticker is not the story. Starter is $20 a month and stops dead at 10 leases, with a $10,000 monthly payment volume cap, $5 ACH, $45 screening, ticket-only support and 15 cents per text message. Advanced is $2.50 per unit and carries a $500 onboarding fee. Pro is custom-priced with a $1,000 onboarding fee and a one-year contract. Every tier adds a $25 setup plus $10 a month messaging compliance fee.

And here is the line that should decide it for anyone who cares how AI gets used on their portfolio: Audit Logging is a Pro feature. The record of what the AI did, on a platform whose entire pitch is that the AI does things, is the one thing you cannot buy at the bottom. On our side it is $10 a month and there is no tier above it.

Full MagicDoor comparison.

3. Baselane, strong at banking, thin at the tenancy

Baselane Core is $0 and genuinely generous: unlimited checking and savings accounts earning interest, per-property income and expense tracking, Schedule E reports and automated rent. Smart is $20 a month. It added AI banking and bookkeeping tooling in June 2026 alongside a $34M raise.

The limit is scope. The AI points at your books, not at your tenancy. It will categorise the invoice; it will not draft the lease, screen the applicant, or answer the tenant at 9pm. Full Baselane comparison.

4. TurboTenant, one excellent free tool and a cliff after it

The lease agreement audit is free, unlimited, and takes about fifteen seconds against your chosen state. It is the single best free thing in this article and we will happily say so.

Then it stops. The AI is a handful of point tools, not an operator: it audits a lease you already have and writes a listing description. Screening, renewals, notices and reminders are all still your evening. Premium starts at $149 a year and cards run 3.49%. Full TurboTenant comparison.

5. RentRedi, flat pricing and a narrow AI

$12 a month gets you unlimited properties, tenants and teammates, which is a genuinely good deal above roughly 15 units and the strongest pricing argument against us on this list. Its AI is a real machine-learning receipt pipeline that categorises expenses to Schedule E types.

Two catches. That $12 requires prepaying a full year, and month to month is $29.95, two and a half times the headline. And the AI is scoped to accounting, so it will file your receipt and do nothing at all about your lease. Full RentRedi comparison.

6. DoorLoop, good AI behind a bad entry tier

The AI Assistant handles renewals, reminders and reporting in plain English, and AI Inspections turns walkthrough photos into structured condition reports. That inspection feature is legitimately clever.

The entry price is the problem: $69 a month billed annually, capped at 10 units. That is close to $7 per unit before you have collected a single payment, against $1.60 on our annual plan. Full DoorLoop comparison.

7. Buildium, five AI agents behind a $400 door

Lumina is a serious product: five agents covering maintenance, leasing, accounting, resident experience and business operations, with the manager keeping final approval. We are not going to pretend it is not good.

We are going to point at the toll gate. Buildium's own AI page states that all available Lumina features are included with the Premium plan, and Premium is $400 a month. Essential, at $62, ships a basic assistant and skims $2.35 off every incoming EFT, charges $5 per lease signature and $99 per bank account. The agent suite that makes Buildium worth discussing costs forty times what ours does. Full Buildium comparison.

8. Rentvine, "as low as $1.50 per unit," then a demo booking

Rentvine sells one plan with every feature included, an AI suite, an open API and strong trust accounting, and property managers who use it rate the support highly. For a mid-sized management company it is a credible choice.

But look at how the price is presented. The pricing page says "as low as $1.50 per unit" and immediately underneath says request pricing. Third-party listings put a roughly $199 monthly minimum on it. Onboarding runs 45 days. And their own comparison chart on that page benchmarks Rentvine against "Competitor A" and "Competitor B" with a price column reading "$-$$$", which is a curious way to argue that your pricing is the reason to switch. If the number is the selling point, print the number.

9. AppFolio, the best AI you are not allowed to price

Realm-X is the most autonomous AI in this category. Its Performers act on your data without being asked, including after hours, and AppFolio publishes real outcome numbers. For a large firm it is a serious platform.

It finishes last here for one reason. Core, Plus and Max are listed with no figures at all, Core carries a 50-unit minimum, and every path ends at a demo booking. Under 50 units the decision is made for you, and above it you will find out the price in a sales call rather than on a web page. Full AppFolio comparison.

The ones that did not make this list

Innago, TenantCloud, Rentec Direct, Hemlane, Stessa and Yardi Breeze are all still selling, and several are decent at the job they were built for a decade ago. None of them advertises an AI layer as of this month, which is why they are not ranked here. If you want a filing cabinet with a rent button on it, they will do that. Hemlane is the honest exception with a real differentiator: it sells human coordinators and local leasing agents rather than models, and if you are an out-of-state owner that may beat any software on this page.

MagicDoor and Rentvine pricing read from their own pricing pages on August 18, 2026, alongside AI capability verification for every platform named. Remaining pricing was read from each vendor's own pricing page on August 13, 2026 and is carried forward here, so confirm current figures before you buy. TurboTenant's pricing page blocks automated access; its figures come from TurboTenant's own site and support documentation. Where this article says a capability is "not advertised", it means the vendor does not publish it, not that the vendor cannot do it. Plans, fees, tiers and AI features in this category change monthly. All product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Rentari.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any company named here. This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice.

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.