Why property management software actually matters
Most property management companies reach a point where spreadsheets and email threads stop working. Maintenance requests get lost. Owners call because their statement never arrived. A vacancy sits for three weeks because nobody set up a follow-up sequence after the showing.
Property management software fixes the core plumbing: it centralizes tenant records, automates rent collection, routes maintenance requests, and gives owners visibility into their portfolio. You probably already know you need it. The question is which platform fits how your portfolio is actually structured.
Buildium and Propertyware are two of the most established options in this space. They both work. But they are built for different operations, and the pricing model alone may settle the question for you.
"Buildium and Propertyware solve the same core problems. Where they differ is portfolio type, price structure, and how much flexibility you need to make the software work your way."
Quick comparison: Buildium vs Propertyware
| Feature | Buildium | Propertyware |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $58–$375/month (flat rate by plan) | $1/unit/month · $250/month minimum |
| Units on Base Plan | Up to 150 units (Essential) | No unit cap — cost scales with portfolio |
| Best Portfolio Type | Residential multi-unit | Single-family / scattered-site |
| Tenant Portal | Solid — online payments, maintenance | Solid — online payments, maintenance |
| Owner Portal | Included, standard reporting | Included, more customizable reports |
| Maintenance Management | Standard work order tracking | Stronger — vendor management, custom workflows |
| Lease Management | Yes | Yes |
| Online Rent Collection | Yes | Yes |
| Ease of Use | Easier — guided onboarding, Buildium Academy | Steeper learning curve |
| Customizability | Moderate | High — custom fields, workflows, reports |
| Parent Company | RealPage | RealPage |
| Best For | Residential PM companies, small–mid portfolios | Single-family specialists, scattered-site operators |
Buildium — deep dive
Buildium is owned by RealPage and built primarily for residential property managers. Its flat-rate pricing model makes it straightforward to budget: $58/month on the Essential plan covers up to 150 units, $183/month on Growth, and $375/month on Premium. You know what you're paying before the month starts.
Onboarding is probably Buildium's clearest competitive advantage over Propertyware. Buildium Academy gives new users structured training content, and the interface is designed to be picked up quickly. For a two-person property management company that cannot afford weeks of setup time, this matters.
Where Buildium wins:
- Predictable flat-rate pricing makes it budget-friendly for managers with smaller portfolios. If you manage 80 units, you pay $58/month — not $250.
- Tenant and owner portals are polished and cover what most tenants need: online rent payment, maintenance requests, lease documents.
- Buildium Academy makes onboarding faster. There is documentation, video training, and a structured learning path — not just a knowledge base you have to dig through.
- Works well for standard residential portfolios: apartment communities, small multi-family buildings, condos.
- Accounting tools are solid at the base level, with built-in general ledger and financial reporting.
Where Buildium has limitations:
- Maintenance workflows are functional but not deep. If your operation relies on specific vendor routing logic, custom work order types, or detailed cost tracking per property, Buildium will feel limited.
- Customization is more restricted. You can configure what is there, but you cannot add custom fields or build custom reports the way Propertyware allows.
- Single-family and scattered-site portfolios are not its strong suit. The platform is optimized around the multi-unit residential model.
- The $58 Essential plan excludes some features (like certain reporting and e-signatures) that require upgrading to Growth or Premium.
Buildium pricing note: A 120-unit residential portfolio pays $58/month on Essential. That same portfolio on Propertyware costs $250/month minimum — over four times more at lower scale. The math flips somewhere around 250+ units, where Propertyware's per-unit rate becomes comparable.
Propertyware — deep dive
Propertyware, also owned by RealPage, was designed with single-family rentals in mind. Scattered-site portfolios — where each property has its own owner, lease terms, and vendor relationships — need a more configurable system. Propertyware gives you that. Custom fields, configurable workflows, flexible reporting, and deeper maintenance management are real differentiators here.
The pricing model is $1 per unit per month with a $250/month minimum. For a 100-unit portfolio, you hit the minimum and pay $250/month regardless. For a 400-unit portfolio, you pay $400/month. This scales predictably at larger volumes, but the $250 floor makes it expensive for smaller operations.
Where Propertyware wins:
- Maintenance management is genuinely better. You can build custom work order workflows, track vendor relationships per property, manage inspection schedules, and tie maintenance costs directly to owner statements — all within the platform.
- Customizability is Propertyware's biggest strength. Custom fields on records, configurable owner reports, and flexible lease term structures give you more control over how data is organized and presented.
- Owner reporting is more flexible. If you have owners with different reporting preferences or investors who want specific line items, Propertyware can produce that without exporting to Excel and rebuilding it manually.
- Single-family rental workflows are native to the platform's design, not retrofitted from a multi-unit model.
- Scales more predictably for larger portfolios where per-unit pricing becomes cheaper relative to Buildium's plan tiers.
Where Propertyware has limitations:
- The learning curve is steeper. Propertyware's configurability means there is more to set up, and the interface is not as guided as Buildium's. Budget real time for implementation.
- The $250/month minimum is a hard stop for small operators. If you manage 50 units, you are paying $250 regardless — a rate Buildium undercuts by $192/month.
- Onboarding support is less structured than Buildium Academy. You get access to documentation and support, but the hand-holding is less polished.
"Propertyware's flexibility is real, but flexibility takes time to configure. If you want to be up and running in a week, Buildium is the faster path. If you need the system to work your way six months from now, Propertyware is worth the setup investment."
Pricing: which is actually cheaper for your situation
This question has a clear answer depending on your portfolio size.
Under 250 units, Buildium wins on price almost every time. The Essential plan at $58/month covers up to 150 units. Even Growth at $183/month is cheaper than Propertyware's $250 floor. You would need a portfolio approaching 183 units before Propertyware's per-unit rate starts to look comparable to Buildium's Growth tier.
Above 250 units, the gap closes. At 400 units, Propertyware is $400/month. Buildium's Premium plan is $375/month, covering portfolios at that scale. They're roughly equivalent at this size, and the decision comes down to features, not cost.
Above 500 units, the math tips toward Propertyware if you're growing fast — but at that scale you're also likely evaluating enterprise-tier software like AppFolio or Yardi, which compete differently.
Break-even note: Propertyware's $250/month minimum equals Buildium Growth at $183/month somewhere around 180–200 units depending on which Propertyware plan tier you're on. Below that threshold, Buildium is the cheaper option by a meaningful margin.
Portfolio type: the real deciding factor
Pricing aside, the portfolio type question is more important for long-term fit.
If you manage apartment communities, small multi-family buildings, or a mixed residential portfolio, Buildium was built for you. The workflows, terminology, and default configuration all assume a multi-unit model. Most residential property managers in this category find Buildium more intuitive without needing to reconfigure much.
If you manage single-family homes across different neighborhoods, with different owners for each property, Propertyware's architecture fits better. Each property has its own owner relationship, vendor routing, lease terms, and often different owner reporting preferences. Propertyware's custom fields and configurable workflows were designed to handle exactly this complexity.
If you manage both — a mixed portfolio with apartment buildings and single-family homes — neither platform is ideal. Most managers in this situation pick Buildium for its lower friction and handle the single-family exceptions manually, or they invest in Propertyware and accept the setup burden for a more unified system.
Ease of use and onboarding
This is not a close comparison. Buildium is easier to get started with.
Buildium Academy is a structured onboarding program with video courses, guided setup checklists, and live training options. For a small property management company where the owner is also doing the software implementation, this reduces the time before the system is actually usable.
Propertyware is more powerful but more demanding. The configurability that makes it suitable for complex portfolios also means there are more decisions to make during setup. Users consistently report a longer ramp-up period. That is not necessarily a dealbreaker — a two-week implementation that results in a better-fitted system may be worth it. But it is a real cost to plan for.
The automation gap neither platform fills
Both Buildium and Propertyware cover the operational core of property management. Where they fall short is in the workflows that happen around the core — the ones that require reaching beyond the platform to communicate with tenants, owners, and prospective leads at the right moment.
Three specific gaps come up repeatedly with property management clients:
- Tenant re-engagement after lease end. When a lease expires and the tenant moves out, most property managers do nothing with that contact. A re-engagement sequence — timed outreach asking if they want to re-rent, referring a friend, or leaving a review — runs zero times. Neither Buildium nor Propertyware has a built-in tool for this. It requires connecting your PM software to an email or SMS automation layer.
- Vacancy-to-lead nurture sequences. A prospective tenant inquires, tours, and does not sign. In most property management companies, that contact disappears. A structured follow-up sequence — checking back at day 3, day 10, offering a different unit — requires automation that lives outside either platform. Neither Buildium nor Propertyware builds this for you.
- Automated maintenance follow-up with owners. A maintenance request comes in, work gets done, and the owner never hears about it until their monthly statement. Proactive owner communication — a short update when a work order closes, a flag when a repair cost exceeds a threshold — is not built into either platform's standard workflow. It has to be built on top.
These gaps are consistent across both platforms. They are not unique to Buildium or Propertyware. The operational core of property management software has not caught up to what good customer experience requires.
Losing tenants to competitors because your follow-up is manual? We map your current workflow in a free audit and show you exactly which steps can be automated — on top of Buildium, Propertyware, or whatever you currently run.
Get a Free Automation Audit →The verdict: which one should you pick
Pick Buildium if: your portfolio is primarily residential multi-unit, you manage fewer than 250 units, you want to be operational quickly, or you're new to property management software and need a guided setup experience. The lower price floor and Buildium Academy make it the right call for most small-to-mid property management companies.
Pick Propertyware if: you specialize in single-family rentals, you have a scattered-site portfolio with complex owner relationships, you need custom reporting without exporting to spreadsheets, or your maintenance workflows are too specific to fit into a one-size-fits-all system. Accept the steeper setup curve as the cost of getting a system that actually fits your operation.
Neither platform automates the workflows that drive tenant retention and owner satisfaction. Both will handle your accounting and maintenance tracking. The work that happens between transactions — re-engaging departing tenants, nurturing vacancy leads, proactively communicating with owners — still requires a separate automation layer regardless of which platform you choose.