July 19, 2024
Last Updated
The hard work of preparing a property for listing isn’t everything that you need to do as a landlord. After you’ve done the hard labor and figured out your business plan, it will be time for you to find tenants for your property.
And finding the right tenant is so important!
Choosing great tenants to live in your properties is an essential part of being a successful landlord. The right tenants will keep the property in good condition, pay rent on time, and be generally enjoyable to work with! Bad tenants, on the other hand, can cause problems from day one.
To be able to choose the best tenants possible, you’ll want to get your listing out to as many potential renters as you can. The larger the pool of potential renters, the better your chances are of finding the perfect tenant for your needs.
Moving your listings online is a great way to expand your audience while also connecting with modern renters, but using online listing sites can be expensive at times. The best free rental listing sites for landlords, however, will balance your needs perfectly.
Today, we’re introducing our top free rental listing sites. Let’s first take a look at how each site stacks up against each other…
Comparison Table for Rental Listing Sites
| Site Name | Free/Paid | Syndication (#) | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Zillow Rental Manager |
Free and Paid | Yes (3) | 5 stars |
| 2 |  Zumper |
Free | Yes (2) | 4.5 stars |
| 3 |  Apartments.com |
Free | Yes (10) | 4.5 stars |
| 4 |  Move |
Free | Yes (3) | 4 stars |
| 5 |  RentDigs |
Free | Yes (3) | 3.5 stars |
| 6 |  Apartment List |
Free | Yes | 3.5 stars |
| 7 |  Craigslist |
Free | No | 3 stars |
| 8 |  Oodle |
Free | No | 3 stars |
| 9 |  Doorstep |
Free | No | 2 stars |
Rental Listing Site Reviews
There are many different rental listing websites out there. Some, like Zillow, may have crossed your radar before. Others, like Zumper, may be less familiar to you. Ultimately, it will be up to you to decide how many of these sites are worth investing time into to find the right tenants for your rental property!
1. Zillow Rental Manager
When most landlords start searching where to list rental property, Zillow is one of the most commonly discovered sites! Zillow is a property website that allows properties to be listed for both sale or rent in a convenient and clear way.
Features
All things real estate can be found on Zillow. The site is free and streamlined to use. Because the site is so user-friendly on the renter side as well, many modern tenants are searching on Zillow before they look anywhere else. Posting here helps you find tenants before those who do not use Zillow.
When you upload your listings to Zillow, the listing can easily be pushed to a number of other sites. In particular, Zulia and Hotpad are two great sites that are partnered with Zillow. You can even get HTML code directly from Zillow, which will allow you to easily share your listing on sites like Craigslist more professionally!
Pros
- Easy to set up
- Pushes listing out to more than 20 other websites
- Tons of renters look here first
- Map view available
- Many filters help the right tenants find you
Cons
- Not the best choice if you have more than 50 units
- Cannot link to other sites within your listing, but that’s not usually necessary
2. Zumper
Zumper is another listing site that offers landlords the ability to list their apartment, condo, or home listings on a marketplace for tenants to be able to search. This site doesn’t have a huge amount of popularity, but it still has some noteworthy features to consider.
Features
One thing that stands out on Zumper is their Instant Apply feature. While this feature is something that is used by renters, it can benefit how quickly you find tenants as well. The feature allows prospective renters to keep a credit report and application on file so that they can send it over immediately. This helps applications come in faster!
Pros
- Filters make it easier for tenants to find you
- Both map and list format results available
- Free to list
- Easy to use
- Allows high-resolution photos
Cons
- Instant Apply feature limited to specific cities at this time
- Zumper is not free in NYC
- Must have a PadListing account, but that is free to sign up for
3. Apartments.com
Apartments.com has a name that tells you exactly what they have to offer: apartment complexes! While houses can also be listed for rental on the site, the largest amount of traffic is going to come from those tenants that are looking for apartments.
Features
One of the nicest things about this site is the national search feature. In addition to making it easier for potential tenants to find your property even if you’re outside their exact search, this tool makes it easy for you to do market research across different areas when needed.
Additionally, you get some of the highest exposure when using Apartments.com! Through syndication with Apartment Finder and Apartment Home Living, the listings on Apartments.com have had 13 million unique visitors. That’s a lot of potential!
Pros
- Can search the entire country at once
- High-resolution videos and photos
- Up-to-date databases
- Lots of exposure
- Easy to set up listing
Cons
- Additional advertising services cost money but are easy to set up when needed
4. Move
Move, previously only known as Realtor.com, is another interesting and free rental listing site that you may consider using. This site is intricately integrated into the entire Realtor family of products, so the information that both landlords and renters can get from the website is impressive in many ways.
Features
The site is divided into different categories (such as rentals versus sale listings), and these categories can easily be further subdivided to help everyone find exactly what they are looking for. Mixed in with the categories are useful articles that can help tenants to make the right applications and you to find the right tenants!
Pros
- Many property types available
- Reliable name of Realtor
- Useful articles and supplemental information for you and for the tenant
- Mobile app is easy and convenient
Cons
- Listing details aren’t as thorough as other sites, but it simplifies the process in a convenient way
- Rental and sale listings are completely separated, which can limit what kind of tenants you will find
5. RentDigs
RentDigs is an interesting website that shows you a marketplace of different rental properties that are available. While they have been focusing on their vacation rental side lately, RentDigs still has many appealing points for landlords.
Features
RentDigs was created by landlords so it has a lot of features that landlords dig! In particular, many will find it useful that you can see the number of renters who view your listing on the site.
Often, posting your listing on a rental marketplace can feel like fishing in a lake with no bites. Are people even seeing your listing? By letting you know this number, RentDigs is able to be very honest with you about how well your property marketing is going.
Pros
- Listings for both homes and apartments is free
- Listings syndicated to Oodle, Trovit, and RentJungle
- Can create personalized links for prospective tenants
- Site indexes very well on Google and other search engines
Cons
- Some features are less advanced than other sites, but that simplicity can make it easier to use at times
- Not as much traffic as sites like Zillow or Cozy
6. Apartment List
Apartment List is a unique choice among free rental sites because it is free to list, but there is a back-end fee if you end up renting through the site! While we know that this doesn’t mean the whole process is free, you’ll only end up paying that fee if you find your renter on this site.
If you don’t love that idea, don’t worry! Apartment List certainly isn’t your only option, and all of the other options on today’s list will not make you pay if you end up renting out the property.
Features
Apartment List has partnered with Facebook in the past to set up a rental marketplace. Facebook imports listings from Apartment List to make it easier than ever before for potential tenants to browse properties while they are using their social media. In a world that exists online in many ways and even more so on mobile devices, this can be hugely beneficial.
Pros
- Customized renter searches help them find you
- Partnered with other sites to help your listing spread to a wider audience
- Has a useful mobile app
- Linked up with the Realtor.com family of sites
Cons
- Apartment complexes and multi-unit landlords are charged a variable fee that cannot be avoided, but you can use the free services on partners, like Move or Cozy, instead
7. Craigslist
When you want to list rental property, free sites like Craigslist may not be your first choice. Most people think of Craigslist as a place for scams and nothing more, but there are a lot of people who still use Craigslist to legitimately find things that they need. And for some, those things are rental properties!
Craigslist is an open marketplace that is set up by city. You can list rentals for free on Craigslist, and you may even find a lot of options!
Features
While the site itself may be a bit simply designed, there’s no doubt that renters look at Craigslist when they’re trying to find a new property! It is a little weird to list “exposure” as a feature, but that’s exactly what Craigslist gives you.
As always, it’s important to remember that you need to thoroughly screen any tenants that you receive applications from to be sure that you are only welcoming tenants that fit your current needs to stay at your rental.
Pros
- Region-specific listings possible
- Lots of traffic
- Free to post whatever information you want without a required format
- Can add your own HTML to make it look nicer
Cons
- Bad reputation, but this is mostly a myth and good business can be found here
- Tacky design, but you can use HTML to spruce up your listings, and this will help them stand out
8. Oodle
Finally, we’re going to take a look at Oodle, which is another open marketplace for more than just renting out property. Many people have compared Oodle to Craigslist in the past; this is a very obvious comparison because they are both based around the idea of bringing the classified newspaper experience online.
Despite the similarities with Craigslist, Oodle has many characteristics worth talking about as well.
Features
Like Craigslist, Oodle is a classified listing service. This means that it is not rental-focused, but that adds some benefits because the site is organized by location. This means that someone just looking through information about the area may discover your rental by mistake and love it!
The best thing about Oodle is how simple and quick it is to use. Like Craigslist, you don’t need to go through dozens of pages to fill out information about your property. The entire process is streamlined, and making things go faster will ultimately save you a lot of money!
Pros
- Streamlined listing process makes it a fast an easy choice to add to your listing sites
- Can publish directly to social media sites from Oodle
- Supports embedded Youtube videos
- Mapping available
Cons
- No clear syndication with other websites, so you’re only going to be exposed to traffic on Oodle
- Somewhat outdated design
- Limited photo resolution but you can add many photos to each listing
9. Doorsteps
For a long time, Doorsteps was a standalone site that was working to help renters and landlords find each other in a rental marketplace. Now, Doorsteps works with other large marketplaces to help expand the amount of exposure that you can get for your rental property!
Features
The most interesting thing about Doorsteps is that you cannot list directly on Doorsteps.com at all. Yes, we’re serious!
When you want to list on Doorsteps.com, you’ll actually be listing through Cozy. We’ve already talked about Cozy’s benefits today, so you can see how that might work. While Doorsteps offers some differences to renters who are browsing on the platform, the listings from the following sites all link up through Cozy:
- Doorsteps
- Realtor.com
- Cozy
Pros
- Listing on one sites gets you exposure on three
- Tenants can sort listings by type, state, and specific area
- Many visitors on Doorsteps, especially in college areas
Cons
- No unique offerings outside of what Cozy offers, but this syndication is more of a positive than a negative
Choosing Carefully Is a Must
Once you’ve managed to get your rental listings onto the best places to list an apartment for rent for free, you’re likely to be flooded with potential tenants. Sorting through all of these tenants may seem too tiresome, but it is important to choose carefully.
If you choose the wrong tenants or don’t follow through on checking their references, you may find yourself stuck in an eviction situation with a tenant that is simply bad news. With proper tenant screening, you can lower your risk of ending up in that kind of situation!
To get to that point, you first need to use the best free rental listing sites for landlords!
Ultimately, we recommend that you choose three syndicating sites to post your listings on. Trying to manage listings on more than three platforms will become overwhelming. By choosing sites which push your listings to their partner sites, you’ll save yourself both time and money!
Our top choice for rental management listing sites is Zillow (with their partners Hotpad and Tulia). The combination of powers between these three sites (which are all syndicated from Zillow) will help you to find your new renters quickly and easily!