Last Updated on June 16, 2023 by Rental Recon
Catering to tenants while managing your own rental properties is no easy task. That’s where an all-in-one software platform like Buildium comes in! Landlords and property managers alike can use Buildium to streamline their workflow and save an average of 20 hours of work per month!
The Buildium Essential Plan Vs. Growth Plan Vs. Professional Plan
Buildium offers a tiered plan system with different rates and offerings at each level. Their Essential plan is most basic, the Growth plan is middle-tier, and the Professional plan is for… well, real estate professionals!
But which plan is right for you? Keep on reading to see Rental Recon’s breakdown of everything Buildium has to offer!
Best for Budget: Buildium Essential Plan
Buildium’s Essential plan is their least expensive option, coming in at $50 per month to start. The price does vary by the number of units for rent and is currently capped at 150 units maximum.
Like all of their other plans, it comes with a free marketing website for you to showcase your rental units to prospective clients. You can even purchase client leads via a third-party service for an additional fee if you’re looking to take your marketing strategy to the next level. It doesn’t include a growth consultant, unlike the Professional plan.
It comes with standard reports on business metrics but does not offer any analytics or insights into business performance. Unlike the other plans, it charges $5 per eLease signed using the program. The other plans have unlimited free eLeases. This isn’t a huge fee, but something that could easily add up to more than the monthly cost with more than a few tenants.
The Essential plan offers basic tenant screening and applicant-paid basic screening, whereas the other two plans offer more in-depth insights into potential tenants. It also only has ticket support as opposed to a live phone option.
Overall, the Essential plan is the least costly but doesn’t really offer that great of a value for the price, in my opinion. The monthly cost does increase significantly with the next two plans, however, so if the bottom line is a factor then the Essential plan might be the way to go!
Runner Up: Buildium Growth
Next up, the Growth plan. The price jumps steeply from the Essentials plan to $160 a month. While Buildium does offer a free trial on all of its plans, this is a hefty monthly fee to pay for what seem to be very few additional features.
The Growth plan comes with everything that the Essentials plan does, with a few notable additions. It does include performance analytics and insights, but not business analytics and insights. This seems a little strange to me since the point of using software like Buildium is to grow your business in a smart and efficient way.
While Buildium used to only offer two tiers (Core and Pro), it now offers three. It seems like they have purposely parsed out which features the middle tier will have in a way that really didn’t need to happen. It appears to lack the functionality that users would want at such a high price point and doesn’t offer much more than the Essentials plan does.
The major changes are that the Growth plan includes live phone support, unlimited eLeases, and waives some banking fees. Depending on the volume of tenants you deal with, I suppose these could end up making up for the monthly cost differential.
Overall, the Growth tier offers the least bang for your buck out of any of Buildium’s plans. I only recommend it if you need more units than the Essentials plan can offer, or you do a high enough transaction volume that the fee waivers make financial sense.
Are you charging a competitive rate for your area? Could you be making more than you currently are? There are tools to help you out! My Wheelhouse review has lots more helpful information to help make you more competitive!
Rental Recon Tip: Channel managers can really help hosts and landlords alike. They funnel all of your revenue sources into one easy-to-use dashboard and can provide insights on pricing and trends in your area. For an in-depth review of two of my favorites, click HERE!
For the Tycoons: Buildium Professional Plan
The Professional plan is for the real estate tycoons among us. It is much pricier than the other plans, starting at $460 a month (but it is billed annually). If you have more than 150 units, the price increases accordingly.
Surprisingly, I think that if your unit volume is significant enough, the Professional plan gives you the best value out of all of them. You will receive priority support, a dedicated growth consultant for new client leads, business insights, and analytics, as well as an open API for further app or software development (in addition to everything the other two plans include).
Conclusion
All in all, if you are a major landlord and rent out a large volume of units, I would recommend the Professional plan over the other two any day of the week! For smaller landlords looking to save a little time and maybe grow their business, the Essentials plan should more than have you covered.
