How much does AppFolio cost? As of October 2026, AppFolio pricing for residential portfolios starts at $1.49 per unit per month for Core, $3.20 for Plus and $5.00 for Max. The catch: every plan has a minimum spend that AppFolio does not publish, and Core needs at least 50 units. Fees for payments, screening and onboarding are extra.
Sound familiar?
- You liked the software, but with only a few tenants it cost too much for you.
- One Capterra reviewer listed websites at $139 a month, “constant up selling” and then a $2.49 eCheck charge.
- You were promised a 2 hour response time on AppFolio Plus. It averages closer to 2 days.
- “They charge for everything.”
- The price keeps going up. An owner and broker with 2+ years on AppFolio named constant price increases as a con.
AppFolio’s published rates are starting points, not your bill. Your bill is your units times the rate, or the minimum spend in your quote, whichever is higher. For small portfolios, the minimum often sets the price. Get the minimum in dollars, the onboarding fee and the payment fee model in writing before you compare it with anything else.
How Much Does AppFolio Cost Per Unit?
As of October 2026, AppFolio’s pricing page lists residential Core at $1.49 per unit per month. Plus starts at $3.20 and Max at $5.00 per unit. Each rate says “Starting at” and carries an asterisk. The footnote says a minimum spend applies. Each plan has a “Get a Quote” button, so your real rate comes from a sales quote.
| Plan | Starting rate (October 2026) | Minimums as published | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core | $1.49 per unit per month | “Minimum spend and 50 unit minimum apply.” No dollar amount shown. | Accounting, leasing, maintenance, inspections, Realm-X Assistant & Messages, Standard Support |
| Plus | $3.20 per unit per month | “Minimum spend and units apply.” No amounts shown. | Affordable and student housing tools, advanced budgeting and accounting, Realm-X Flows, read-only API, Enhanced Support |
| Max | $5.00 per unit per month | “Minimum spend and units apply.” No amounts shown. | Leasing CRM, Leasing Signals, read/write API, a dedicated customer success manager |
These are the residential rates. The page’s market filter shows different Core rates for community associations and commercial portfolios, covered below.
$1.49 per unit per month is where AppFolio Core starts for residential portfolios, as of October 2026, before the minimum spend.
50 units is the minimum AppFolio Core requires, as of October 2026.
$298 a month was the last Core minimum spend AppFolio published, in August 2024.
AppFolio prices by the unit, not by the property. A unit is one rentable home, such as an apartment or a house. So a 12-unit building counts as 12 units. The pricing page does not say how it counts units, for example whether vacant units count. Ask before you compare quotes.
To get a monthly cost, multiply your units by the plan rate. Then check that figure against your minimum spend. You pay the higher of the two. The worked examples further down show how that plays out.
Does AppFolio Have a Minimum Unit Count or Spend?
Yes. AppFolio Core has a 50-unit minimum, and every plan has a minimum spend, as of October 2026. The pricing page does not print the dollar amount for any plan. Plus and Max say only that “minimum spend and units apply,” so their unit counts are not public either.
The last dollar floor on the page dates from 2024. An Internet Archive capture of the page from August 8, 2024 shows the old Core footnote. It read “$298 minimum spend per month, and 50 unit minimum” at the time. That number is over two years old. Use it to see how a floor works, not as today’s price.
Here is why the floor matters. At the Core rate, 50 units come to $74.50 a month. Under the 2024 floor, those same 50 units would pay the full $298 a month. That works out to $5.96 per door, four times the advertised rate. At that floor, the Core rate only caught up at 200 units.
| Units on Core | Units times the Core rate | Bill under the 2024 floor | Cost per door | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | $74.50 | $298 | $5.96 | Rate, 2024 floor |
| 100 | $149 | $298 | $2.98 | Rate, 2024 floor |
| 200 | $298 | $298 | $1.49 | Rate, 2024 floor |
| 300 | $447 | $447 | $1.49 | Rate, 2024 floor |
Small portfolios feel this most. The fewer doors you have, the more each one carries of the floor. Once you have a quote, divide the monthly bill by your units to see your real cost per door. The calculator in the portfolio section below does it for you.
AppFolio Pricing Plans: What Do Core, Plus and Max Include?
As of October 2026, AppFolio Core covers accounting, leasing, maintenance and Realm-X Assistant & Messages. AppFolio Plus adds affordable and student housing tools, advanced budgeting and read-only API access. AppFolio Max adds Leasing CRM, Leasing Signals, read/write API access and a dedicated customer success manager. All three run on one platform, “primarily offered via three Subscription Plans,” says AppFolio’s annual report. Core is “generally suited for small property management companies,” it adds. Plus is for “more complex, growing” businesses, and Max is for the “largest operators,” in its words.
Core
The base plan. It covers property accounting and reports, marketing and leasing, work orders, inspections and unit turns, resident communication and Realm-X Assistant & Messages. Support is Standard Support.
- Fits single-family and multifamily managers who need one system for the basics
Plus
Everything in Core, plus tools for complex portfolios. These include affordable and student housing tools, advanced budgeting and accounting, custom fields, Realm-X Flows and premium integrations. You also get read-only API access, Enhanced Support and Accounting Performer for bill entry and financial close.
- Fits growing managers with affordable or student housing, or detailed owner reporting
Max
Everything in Plus, plus Leasing CRM, Leasing Signals, read/write API access, a dedicated customer success manager and Accounting Performer for budgeting.
- Fits large operators that run their own leasing tools or data systems
Two lines in the plan list matter if you run your own website or leasing tools.
- API access. Plus includes the AppFolio API with read-only access. Max gets read/write access. Read-only lets a tool pull data out of AppFolio, such as listings. Read/write also lets it send data back in. If you want a custom tool to create or change records, ask whether that needs Max.
- Leasing CRM. Leasing CRM and Leasing Signals are only on Max. If you track leads in another tool today, weigh what it costs against the step up to Max. Max costs $1.80 more per unit per month than Plus, as of October 2026. That is at the starting rates on AppFolio’s pricing page.
Pick the plan by the features you will use every week. A feature you might use one day is a poor reason to pay the higher rate on every unit.
Paying for AppFolio and still chasing renters? Send the address and we send back what it actually ranks for today, from Search Console, with the gaps marked.What Fees Does AppFolio Charge on Top of the Subscription?
AppFolio charges for onboarding and for per-use services such as payments and tenant screening, on top of the plan rate. These “Value Added Services” are “not covered by our subscription fees,” says AppFolio’s annual report. They are charged per use, either as “a percentage of the transaction amount” or as a flat fee per transaction. Some of these fees land on you. Others land on residents, applicants, vendors and owners.
| Fee | Who pays | Published amount (October 2026 unless dated) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan subscription | The management company | From $1.49 per unit per month on residential Core, plus a minimum spend | AppFolio pricing |
| Onboarding | The management company | Not published | AppFolio 10-K |
| eCheck payment (an ACH bank transfer) | Residents and homeowners, since July 31, 2023 | $2.49 per payment, as reported in July 2023 | AppFolio 8-K, PoPville |
| Electronic cash payment | The person paying | $4.99 per transaction | AppFolio help |
| Card payments | The person paying | Not stated; shown before the payment is sent | AppFolio help |
| Tenant screening and risk mitigation | Managers or residents, per use | Not published | AppFolio 10-K |
| Website | The management company | One reviewer reported $139 a month | Capterra review |
Onboarding is a real cost even though no price is posted. “We charge our customers for assistance onboarding onto our Subscription Services,” the 10-K says. Ask for that fee in dollars, and ask what it covers.
When did AppFolio start charging an eCheck fee?
AppFolio began charging an eCheck (ACH) transaction fee on July 31, 2023. Its June 1, 2023 filing says the company “had previously waived” that fee for residents and homeowners. The filing gave no amount. “AppFolio is now charging tenants $2.49 for e-checks,” a July 11, 2023 reader letter on PoPville reported. Some reports, such as CostBench, say the manager can pay the fee instead. They don’t agree on what that costs. Ask your rep for the current terms in writing.
Renters see the fee before they pay. “You are notified of the fee amount before you submit the payment,” says AppFolio’s help page. On bank statements, the charge shows as APPFOLIO_TXNFEE. The same page puts an electronic cash payment at $4.99 per transaction as of October 2026.
A proposed class action filed in 2026, Comfort et al. v. AppFolio, Inc., alleges that AppFolio failed to adequately disclose a transaction fee added to rental payments. Truth in Advertising lists the case as pending. Whatever the outcome, decide early who pays payment fees, and tell renters plainly.
Is a website included in AppFolio pricing?
AppFolio’s pricing page shows no website price, as of October 2026. Its “Customize Your Plan” section lists Websites as a value-added service. Online Payments, Screening & Verification and Premium Listing are there too. It prices none of them. One Capterra reviewer reported websites at $139 a month. That is one review, not a price list, so ask what your quote includes.
Your listings can also live on a website you own. We build AppFolio websites for property managers, with a page for every listing. Our AppFolio Listings Pro plugin builds a crawlable page for each unit from AppFolio’s public listings. Our guide shows how to put AppFolio listings on a WordPress site.
Why Do You See Different AppFolio Prices Online?
You see different AppFolio prices because the pricing page has changed over time, and many reviews still quote old numbers. Here is the timeline.
| Date | What was published | Source |
|---|---|---|
| September 1, 2022 | Core $1.40 per unit with a $280 monthly minimum; Plus $3 per unit with a $1,500 minimum | DoorLoop review |
| August 8, 2024 | Core $1.49 with a $298 minimum spend per month and a 50-unit minimum; Plus $3.20 and Max $5.00 per unit, with “minimum spend and units apply” | Internet Archive |
| By September 15, 2024 | The dollar amounts were gone from the page | LetHub |
| Around September 14, 2026 | The starting prices reappeared | PricingSaaS |
| October 2026 | Residential Core $1.49 per unit; Plus $3.20 per unit; Max $5.00 per unit per month; no dollar minimum printed | AppFolio pricing page |
So if a review quotes $1.40 and a $280 minimum, it is quoting figures dated 2022 or earlier. If it quotes a $298 minimum, it is quoting 2024. Some reviews skip Max entirely. The live page lists Max at $5.00 per unit per month as of October 2026.
Even the current numbers are not a quote. Every footnote on the page tells you to contact sales for details. Treat any figure you read online, including the ones in this guide, as a starting point for your sales call.
How Much Does AppFolio Cost Per Month for Your Portfolio?
Your monthly AppFolio cost is your units times your plan rate, or your minimum spend if that is higher. The examples below use the starting rates on AppFolio’s pricing page as of October 2026. They are examples, not quotes. Your real rate and floor come from a sales quote.
A 40-unit single-family manager
At 40 units, you are below Core’s 50-unit minimum. Even 50 units at the Core rate come to $74.50 a month, but the minimum spend sets the real floor. If your quote matched the $298 floor from 2024, you would pay $7.45 per door. Ask AppFolio how it bills a portfolio under 50 units.
A 100-unit multifamily manager
At 100 units, AppFolio Core costs $149 a month at the starting rate. Plus would be $320 a month and Max $500 a month at their rates. That is before their minimum spends, which AppFolio does not publish and which may well be higher. Under the 2024 Core floor, the floor would still win at 100 units. The bill would be $298 a month, which is $2.98 per door.
A 300-unit portfolio with affordable or student housing
Affordable and student housing tools sit on Plus, not Core. At 300 units, AppFolio Plus costs $960 a month at the starting rate, or $11,520 a year. Plus has its own minimum spend and unit count, and neither is published. Get both in your quote.
What does AppFolio cost for an HOA or commercial portfolio?
As of October 2026, AppFolio’s pricing page lists Core at $0.85 per unit per month for community associations and $1.50 per unit per month for commercial portfolios. Pick Community Associations in the page’s market filter to see the association rate. It carries the same “Minimum spend and 50 unit minimum apply” footnote. No Plus or Max price is shown for associations.
Commercial has its own view in the same filter. There, AppFolio Plus starts at $3.20 and Max at $5.00 per unit. All three commercial plans carry the same minimum spend footnotes. Some features differ. Commercial Core, for example, tracks common area maintenance (CAM) charges.
Subscription fees “vary by property type,” says AppFolio’s annual report. So ask for an HOA or commercial quote with the minimum in dollars. If you manage homes and commercial space, ask whether one rate covers both.
AppFolio monthly subscription estimate
- Units you manage
- Per-unit rate from your quote
It multiplies your units by the rate. Compare the result with your minimum spend. You pay the higher one.
Effective cost per door
- Monthly bill
- Units you manage
It divides your monthly bill by your units. That shows what each door really costs you.
Why take this from us
Kiran Dasgupta wrote this guide. He founded Kihan Marketing and leads every engagement. We build on top of AppFolio for property managers. Our AppFolio Listings Pro plugin turns public AppFolio listings into crawlable pages for each unit. It runs on the sites of a Seattle property manager and a Western Washington apartment management company, and on their community websites. We also built a chat leasing tool on the AppFolio API that shows renters real active listings. And we help property management clients shortlist and choose their software.
How Does AppFolio’s Cost Compare With Other Property Management Software?
AppFolio Core and Max sit inside the normal range for property management software cost, as of October 2026. A Monetizely guide from August 2025 puts the average per unit at $1 to $3 a month for basic tools and $5 to $12 for comprehensive platforms. AppFolio residential Core at $1.49 falls in the basic band, and Max at $5.00 sits at the bottom of the comprehensive band. Plus at $3.20 falls between the two. Monetizely also lists one-time setup costs of $250 to $2,000.
Here is what other vendors publish, as of October 2026.
| Software | Published starting price | Minimums and setup | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| AppFolio Core (residential) | $1.49 per unit per month | Minimum spend and 50-unit minimum; no dollar amount shown | appfolio.com |
| Buildium | Essential from $62 a month; Growth $192 a month; Premium $400 a month | Growth and Premium must use Buildium’s onboarding service; price not shown | buildium.com |
| Rentvine | As low as $1.50 per unit, per active unit | One-time setup fee; amount not shown | rentvine.com |
| DoorLoop One | $2.50 per unit per month | Minimum of $199 a month | doorloop.com |
| Yardi Breeze (Residential) | $1 per unit per month | $100 minimum per month; no onboarding fees | yardibreeze.com |
| Propertyware | Starts at $1 per unit per month | $250 monthly minimum, plus an implementation fee of twice the monthly subscription price | propertyware.com |
| Rent Manager | Quote only | Not published | rentmanager.com |
Per-unit rates and flat monthly plans don’t compare directly. Work out each one at your unit count. Add the minimum and the setup fee, then divide by your doors. Count payment fees too, since they can land on residents.
For the full head-to-head on features as well as price, see AppFolio vs Buildium and AppFolio vs Yardi. For a wider view, read our property management software comparison.
What Should You Ask in an AppFolio Quote?
Ask for every number the pricing page leaves out. Get the answers in writing, so you can line them up against other quotes.
- The minimum spend, in dollars a month, for the plan you want
- The unit minimum, and how units are counted, including whether vacant units count
- The per-unit rate for each property type you manage: residential, HOA or commercial
- The onboarding fee, and what it covers
- How payment fees work: what residents pay, and what it costs you to absorb them
- Screening and other per-use fees, and who pays each one
- Which add-ons are in the quote, and which cost extra
- Whether a website is included, and what it costs if not
- Whether you are billed monthly or annually
- How prices can change over time, what the agreement covers and how either side ends it
Is AppFolio Worth the Cost for a Small Portfolio?
AppFolio can be worth it for a small portfolio if the minimum spend fits your budget and you will use its built-in tools. At small unit counts, the floor often sets the price. Under the 2024 Core floor, that held all the way up to 200 units. Your cost per door can then run well above the advertised rate. The more units you add, the closer you get to that rate.
Think about time as well as money. If it replaces separate tools for accounting, rent collection and maintenance, the saving can offset a higher cost per door. If you would only use one part of it, the math is harder.
Quick check: Does AppFolio’s cost fit your portfolio?
- Do you manage 50 or more units today?
- Is the minimum spend in your quote less than you pay now for the tools it would replace?
- Will you use it for accounting, leasing and maintenance, not just one of them?
- Are you comfortable with how payment fees would fall on you or your renters?
- Do you expect your unit count to grow in the next year or two?
- 0 to 1 yes
- The minimum may cost you more than the software saves. Price other software at your unit count before you decide.
- 2 to 3 yes
- It could work. Get the full quote and run the cost per door before you commit.
- 4 to 5 yes
- The cost likely fits. Now pick the plan by the features you will use every week.
What to Do First
Do three things before your first sales call. They make the quote easier to read and to compare.
- Count your units by type. Split them into single-family, multifamily, HOA and commercial, and note how many are vacant. AppFolio’s fees vary by property type.
- Get a written quote. Ask for the minimum spend in dollars, the onboarding fee and the payment fee model. Use the checklist above.
- Do the math per door. Divide the monthly bill by your units. Then compare it with one or two other quotes at the same unit count.
AppFolio Pricing and Cost FAQ
Does AppFolio offer a free trial?
No free trial or free plan is listed, as of October 2026. AppFolio offers a free demo instead. Its demo page has a “Book a Free Demo” button. The pricing page lists paid plans only.
Does AppFolio charge a setup fee?
AppFolio charges for onboarding, but it does not publish the amount. Its annual report says it charges customers “for assistance onboarding” and gives no price. Get the onboarding fee as a dollar figure in your quote.
Do tenants pay fees with AppFolio?
Often, yes. Since July 31, 2023, AppFolio has charged an eCheck fee it had previously waived for residents and homeowners. PoPville reported it at $2.49 in July 2023. Electronic cash payments cost $4.99 per transaction as of October 2026, per AppFolio’s help page. Card fees are shown before the resident pays.
Can you negotiate AppFolio pricing?
You can ask. AppFolio’s rates are “Starting at” prices, and every plan points you to a quote. The company publishes nothing about discounts, so don’t count on one. Ask for the rate, the minimum and the onboarding fee as dollar figures, and compare them with other quotes.
Does AppFolio charge for vacant units?
AppFolio’s pricing page does not say, as of October 2026. Ask how billable units are counted, and whether vacant units count, before you compare quotes.
Does AppFolio bill monthly or annually?
Mostly monthly. “We generally invoice monthly or, to a lesser extent, annually in advance of a subscription period,” says AppFolio’s annual report. Ask which applies to your quote.
What do AppFolio users say about its pricing on Reddit and review sites?
Reviews on Capterra and Trustpilot raise three pricing themes: cost for small portfolios, extra charges and price increases. Reddit comments quoted by CostBench focus on payment fees, and on whether the manager or the residents pay them. Read reviews by date, since the pricing page has changed several times.
