This guide compares the three on what property managers ask us: how the listings look, whether each unit gets a page on your domain, whether that counts toward your site's SEO, and whether you need an AppFolio API key. We wrote one of the plugins compared here, AppFolio Listings Pro, and we say so where it comes up. The other plugin and AppFolio's own pages are described as we read them on October 16, 2026.
The three ways at a glance
One row per method, with the two plugins on rows of their own.
| Method | Look and branding | A page per unit | Counts toward your domain's SEO | Needs an AppFolio API key | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AppFolio's embed | AppFolio's layout, fonts and buttons | No, units open on AppFolio's pages | No, framed listings are credited to AppFolio's domain | No | Listings on the site today, with nothing to install |
Listings for Appfolio, a free plugin | Its own layouts, styled with your CSS | A single property view | Listings sit on your own page, not in a frame | No, it takes your AppFolio listings address | Trying a plugin on a small portfolio |
AppFolio Listings Pro, our plugin | Your card template, colors and button labels | Yes, a page for every unit on your domain | Yes, each unit page is ordinary HTML on your domain | No, one AppFolio base address | Branded listings with filters, a map and a page per unit |
A custom integration | Whatever you design | Yes, as you design it | Yes | Yes, if it is built on AppFolio's API | A full rebuild, a site that isn't WordPress, or tools such as chat search |
Method 1: AppFolio's embed
AppFolio publishes your open units on a public listings page at your company's AppFolio address, such as yourcompany.appfolio.com/listings. The embed puts that page in front of renters who come to your site, in one of two forms.
A link out
A button or menu item that sends renters to the AppFolio listings page. Nothing to install, and renters leave your site to browse.
A frame
An iframe that shows the AppFolio listings page inside one of your WordPress pages, placed with a Custom HTML block.
We could not find AppFolio's own public instructions for the embed in October 2026, so this guide gives no menu path. Your AppFolio account settings or AppFolio support will have the current code for your account.
What it gets right
The listings are always what AppFolio has, because AppFolio draws the page itself. There is nothing to install or update, and applications go through AppFolio's own apply flow.
What it costs you
AppFolio's embed costs you your branding and your search credit. Buttons, type, spacing and the shape of the card are what the platform ships, so your listings look like every other AppFolio company's. What sits inside the frame is credited to AppFolio's domain, not yours, and no unit gets a page on your site.
Method 2: A listings plugin
A plugin reads your AppFolio listings and draws them inside your WordPress pages, with no frame. Two are worth knowing.
Listings for Appfolio, the free plugin on WordPress.org
Listings for Appfolio is a free plugin on WordPress.org from a third-party developer, not from AppFolio. You enter your AppFolio listings address in its settings and place its shortcode on a page. Its description presents it as the alternative to the iframe, styled with your own CSS.
The free version
Six listings, with filters for beds, baths and price, a single property view and layouts that work on phones. A Google Maps key turns on its map.
The paid PRO version
All your listings, plus advanced search, slider and carousel layouts and group listings.
Check its status first
As of October 16, 2026, its page lists version 1.3.3, updated February 14, 2026, with more than 200 active installations. The changelog for version 1.3.0 reads "Plugin shutting down message added," and several 2025 reviews say the free version stopped working and pointed them to PRO. Read the plugin page and its recent reviews before you rely on it.
AppFolio Listings Pro, our plugin
We wrote this one. AppFolio Listings Pro reads your public AppFolio listings on the server, with no iframe and no AppFolio API key, and draws them as your site's own markup. It is available to license.
A page per unit
Each unit gets a page at /appfolio-listing/{id}/ on your domain, with a photo gallery, an overview, rental terms, pet policy, amenities, and Apply Now and Contact Us buttons taken from the listing's own AppFolio page.
Filters and sorting
Search, minimum and maximum rent, beds, baths, and pets where the listings carry it, each switched on or off in the settings. The options come from what is actually listed.
A map
The View with Map button opens a Google map beside the listings. It runs on your own Google Maps key, with the Maps JavaScript API and the Geocoding API.
Templates and colors
Three card templates or your own in HTML, primary and secondary colors, and View Details, Apply Now and Schedule Tour buttons you can rename or switch off.
Property Groups
A filtered AppFolio listings address saved as a named group, one for each building, community or region, with a shortcode of its own.
Placing it takes one shortcode: [app_all_listings] for every listing, or [app_group_listings key="..."] for a Property Group. Add style="slider" for a slider instead of a grid. Listings are cached for a number of minutes you set, and if AppFolio doesn't answer, the last good copy is served instead of an error.
Method 3: A custom integration
A custom integration builds the listings into your site's own code, rather than framing AppFolio's page or installing a plugin. It makes sense in three cases.
The site isn't on WordPress
Listings Pro is a WordPress plugin. A Next.js site, which we also build, needs its own way to read the listings.
The listings are part of a full rebuild
A custom integration fits a full rebuild, where the listings sit inside a page for every property you manage, next to owner pages and rebuilt lead forms. On a Seattle property manager's rebuild, five pages became more than 250, a page for every property it manages, with Listings Pro drawing the listings and a chat leasing tool on the AppFolio API beside it.
You want tools the listings page can't give you
A custom integration on the AppFolio API can power tools the listings page can't, such as a search that answers by neighborhood, price and area. Our chat leasing tool on the AppFolio API pulls neighborhoods, pricing, cities and areas, and shows real active listings with full detail.
The catch is access. As of October 16, 2026, AppFolio's pricing page lists the AppFolio API on its Plus plan, read only, and on its Max plan, read and write. Its Core plan lists no API. Check your plan before you plan a build on the API.
Which one to choose
One line per goal.
Listings on the site today, nothing to install
AppFolio's embed.
A plugin to try on a handful of units
the free Listings for Appfolio, once you have checked its current status.
Branded listings, filters, a map and a page per unit on WordPress
AppFolio Listings Pro.
One building or community on its own page
a Listings Pro Property Group.
A site that isn't WordPress, or a full rebuild
a custom integration, on AppFolio's API if your plan includes it.
Renters who don't know which building they want
a chat leasing tool on the AppFolio API, which shows real active listings by neighborhood, pricing and area.
If the listings are only part of the problem, and the site itself is the AppFolio template, see our websites for AppFolio managers. The same rebuild on RentCafe and ShowMojo templates is on property management website design.
Questions about AppFolio listings on WordPress
Do I need an AppFolio API key?
Not for the embed or for either plugin. All three read the public listings page AppFolio already publishes, so the connection is your AppFolio address. Listings Pro also needs its license key, and your own Google Maps key if you want the map. You need API access only for a custom integration built on AppFolio's API, which AppFolio's pricing page lists on its Plus and Max plans as of October 16, 2026.
Do iframe listings help SEO?
Not your site's SEO. What sits inside an iframe is credited to the domain that serves it, which is AppFolio's, not yours. A plugin that gives every unit a page on your domain, served as ordinary HTML, gives each listing an address that can be linked, shared and indexed. That does not decide rankings; those depend on the rest of the site too.
Do listings update automatically?
Yes, at different speeds. The embed is AppFolio's own page, so it always shows what AppFolio has. Listings Pro caches listings for a number of minutes you set, so a change in AppFolio shows on its next fetch, and if AppFolio doesn't answer, the last good copy stays up. The free plugin describes itself as fetching listings in real time. A custom integration updates as often as it is built to.
Can I show one building only?
Yes, with a plugin. In Listings Pro, save that building's filtered AppFolio listings address as a Property Group, then place [app_group_listings key="..."] on the building's page. The free plugin lists group listings as a PRO feature.
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