Free rental listing websites and tools are the best way to get your vacant property in front of as many renters as possible and find great tenants fast
Finding new tenants is one of the more time-consuming and stressful aspects of owning a rental property. You need great photography of the property, to write an attractive listing with a catchy title, and to find various places to list your vacancy.
Once you’ve done all that, you need to sift through and pre-screen all your tenant applications and run tenant screening reports. Finally, you’ll need to select a tenant you believe will pay the rent on time and in full every month, based on the data you are able to gather. When you have numerous property viewings, this process can quickly become expensive.
To help make things easier we’ve reviewed 15 of the most commonly used websites to list your property for free.
You can now create a free rental listing and syndicate it across the top marketing with Landlord Studio with the click of a button.
List your rental on Zillow, Zumper, Trulia, and Hotpads with the click of a button.
Find out more about rental listings and syndication with Landlord Studio here →
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Zillow is the largest rental listings site on the market with an average of 226 million active users on its app and website in 2023. With its extensive audience reach and powerful listing tools, Zillow can help you showcase your properties to a vast pool of potential tenants.
It has trialled various pricing structures over the years but currently it is free to list on Zillow using Zillow Rental Manager. Or, for a flat fee of $29.99, you can upgrade your listing to premium for up to 90 days.
Zumper is the second largest rental listing site in the US. In fact, more than 175 million people used Zumper last year to find, list, and rent properties in the U.S. and Canada. Zillow uses what they call a two-way system to try and match renters with their ideal property. Renters search by their top criteria and listing owners stipulate their minimum applicant criteria, such as minimum credit score.
When listing your properties on Zumper, make sure to include high-quality photos and detailed descriptions to attract potential tenants.
Zumper is free for landlords to post on. Or you can boost your listing to get in front of even more tenants which costs as little as $9.90.
Trulia's expansive reach is its main draw. As well as creating listings for a full rental unit or home are you also have the option to list a single room.
Trulia provides a few unique features including map overlays designed to help tenants get a feel for what living in the area is actually like, and a visual breakdown of the monthly costs for the property to help investors assess new investment opportunities.
It is free to list your home on Trulia and the listing includes unlimited photos and video.
HotPads is another large rental listings site and has been around since 2005. But it’s only recently that it's become more popular. Unlike sites like Zillow and Trulia, which include listings of homes for sale, Hotpads only serves those looking to rent. Users can search neighborhoods as well as towns allowing them to easily find properties in their ideal location.
Related: How To Run A Background Check On Renters
With Landlord Studio there's no need to create and manage multiple accounts on multiple platforms. Simply, create your listing on Landlord Studio and share it across all of the platforms above with the click of a button.
All your leads will automatically be fed into our tenant management system, so you can easily compare leads with automated prescreeners, and quickly and easily run a comprehensive tenant screening report. Find great tenants and fill vacancies faster than ever.
Apartments.com gets up to 35 million prospective renters every month — and the platform currently advertises around 1.1 million listings at any given time.
Plus, since the Apartments.com parent company also owns multiple other sites, such as ForRent.com, Apartment Finder, Home Living, and Apartamentos.com, they are able to amplify the reach of each of their listings.
It is free to list a unit at a base level, but there is also the option to upgrade to a premium listing that will feature your unit in a large ad and place it in a top search result for 30 days.
PadMapper allows tenants to search a map using the zoom function to look for rentals in specific areas. Additionally, there are filters that allow tenants to hide any rentals that don’t have the facilities or amenities that they are looking for.
It’s free to add listings to PadMapper and your rental will also appear on the parent site Zumper and be syndicated to Facebook Marketplace.
Dwellsy is a newer rental listings site that has been making waves in recent years. Their aim is to make it easier for landlords to secure great tenants, and for tenants in turn to find their new home. Dwellsy is free for both tenants and landlords no matter how many rentals you might have.
They also offer some interesting additional products including the Dwellsy IQ report which equips you with comprehensive data on the rental market allowing you to easily compare rentals, set rent rates, and make informed investment decisions.
Realtor.com is generally thought of as a site for buying and selling homes rather than renting. However, you can in fact use it to advertise and manage rental listings for free.
The primary purpose of Walks Score is to rank homes and apartment buildings based on their proximity to attractions and necessities like grocery stores and the business district. It is targeted at people who either don’t have a car or don’t want to use a car on a daily basis for basic needs, such as grocery shopping or commuting.
Properties receive a Walk Score according to their proximity to highly-desirable places. This makes it easier for tenants to find properties that have short commutes and are close to amenities such as dining and entertainment.
Landlords cannot list properties on Walk Score directly unless they own more than 15 buildings. However, you can create free rental listings on other platforms and have them pushed to Walk Score.
Related: How To List A Property For Rent: A Landlords Guide
Craigslist has been around for decades and is one of the best-known options for finding a rental.
However, it is also one of the least regulated platforms. The listings on Craigslist are free and easy to create, although you can sponsor a post to help increase its reach. Unfortunately, listings on Craigslist are also subject to a high number of scammers and time-wasters.
If you do decide to list your vacancy on Craigslist, it’s a good idea to outline the basics of the application process. This will allow prospective renters to have confidence that your ad is legitimate.
With RentDigs, you can create a free listing for your property with multiple images and a detailed description. The site also allows prospective renters to find rent-to-own homes and moving company quotes. Units listed on RentDigs automatically appear on Oodle.com, Trovit.com, Claz.org, Mitula.com, and RentJungle.com.
Facebook Marketplace is completely free. It allows you to upload a detailed description as well as multiple images. Considering that almost everybody has a Facebook account, this is one of the most convenient places for renters to search for potential homes. Plus, the Facebook Messenger application makes responding to inquiries simple.
However, listings on Facebook Marketplace is also less regulated than some of the more tailored platforms such as Zillow, Zumper, or Apartments.com. As such, landlords should be wary of low-quality applicants and potential scams.
Despite the name, you can list almost any type of rental on Sublet.com, including short-term, long-term, vacation, furnished, unfurnished, and private room rentals. Landlords can post a standard listing for free although, a premium listing can increase the likelihood of filling a vacancy.
Rentberry has millions of monthly users on its site, and they syndicate its listings to partner websites such as Doorsteps, Oodle.com, Realtor.com, and Zumper. Landlords can create a basic listing for free on RentBerry by entering the basic property information, monthly price, and security deposit details. There are options to upgrade to a premium listing to increase your property’s visibility.
Oodle is a classified ad marketplace similar to Craigslist where you can create rental property listings. According to the site, millions of people use Oodle.com each month to find apartments, condos, and houses to rent.
Related: The Landlord's Guide To Tenant Screening
Online tools are the best way to get your vacant property in front of as many potential renters as possible, as quickly as possible.
According to Zillow, as many as 90 percent of millennial renters use an online resource to find their next apartment. Using the free websites above will allow you to maximize exposure for your vacancy. This should quickly gain you a number of leads from qualified tenants who are serious about looking for a place to rent.
The easiest way to market your listing is to use a property management software like Landlord Studio. Instead of manually creating multiple listings, with Landlord Studio. Create a single free listing and then with the click of a button syndicate it across all the top rental listing platforms including, Ziollw, Trulia, Hotpads, and Zumper.
Collect leads in the Landlord Studio system and use our prescreening questionnaire to vet prospects and weed out time wasters. Once you have your top picks, run a tenant screening report and start collecting rent online.