Innago and Buildium are two well-regarded property management software products and choosing between them can be a challenge.
This article compares pricing, features, customer support, and more to help you decide which software is the best for your business.
Pricing
Pricing is an integral piece when you’re trying to decide on the viability of a product.
Buildium has three different packages: Essential, Growth, and Premium. The Essential plan is for newer landlords and property managers who need help with daily operational tasks. It starts at $52 per month. It comes with most of your basic features and basic ticket support.
The Growth plan costs $166 per month. This plan is for landlords and property managers ready to grow their business. It includes added features like performance analytics and full customer support.
The Premium plan starts at $479 per month. This plan is for established landlords and property managers that want all the bells and whistles. It includes Open API, insights-to-action, and more.
Innago, on the other hand, is free. Yes, you read that correctly. It comes at no cost to you. So, how do we make money? We have tenants pay small fees for certain add-on services. For instance, when a tenant takes care of a bill through ACH, they owe an additional $2 fee. If they pay with a card, that’s an additional 2.99%. Landlords and property managers can absorb the cost of these fees if they want to.
Innago also charges applicants $30 for credit and criminal reports or $35 to include eviction history reports. Lastly, Innago allows tenants to buy renter’s insurance directly on the platform. The insurance policies are priced individually.
Simplicity
If you look at online review sites like Capterra and Softwareadvice.com, you will find that Innago is the preferred option. Our interface is sleek and uncomplicated. Innago scored 4.8 out of 5 possible stars on ease of use on Capterra, and tons of reviews mention how intuitive and user-friendly the platform is.
Buildium simply (pun, intended) isn’t on Innago’s level when it comes to simplicity. It received 4.3 out of 5 possible stars on Capterra for ease of use. A number of reviews talk about how time-consuming and confusing the platform can be.
Customer Support
Customer support is a key part of property management software. If you have questions, you want to know they’ll be answered correcly and in a timely manner. Innago received 4.9 stars out of a possible 5, and Buildium received 4.5 out of 5 possible stars.
Innago offers full email support, phone help, and a live chat option during business hours. Furthremore, we host webinars to help new landlords get up to speed, and we offer personalized demos by request.
Innago assigns a representative to each account to ensure customers get personalized service. Landlords receive the representative’s email and contact information. You can almost always reach someone on Innago’s general support line after hours (it won’t necessarily be your assigned representative, though). And, if you can’t reach them right away, they always return calls and emails within a couple of hours.
Buildium, on the other hand, has a help center full of how-to articles and training videos, email support, and phone support similar to Innago’s (if you call after hours, they’ll get back to you as soon as they can).
Key Features
Features should play an important role in the software you choose. The platform you go with must be able to meet your needs and improve your business.
Some of Innago’s key features include:
- Listing syndication, marketing, advertising, the ability upload images and videos, and publish to major rental listing websites with the single click of a button
- Custom applications and tenant screening, including a customizable application builder and criminal, credit, and eviction history reports
- Online leasing, digital signatures, status tracking, and unlimited file storage on the Cloud and sharing
- Automated payment reminders, tenant communication tools, messaging, email templates, and archives
- Invoice automation, recurring billing, automated late fee settings, and receipt and image storing
- Online rental payments through ACH, credit and debit card payments, and automated debits, with single-business-day funds delivery available
- Tenant maintenance request portal with picture and video upload, work order tracking, and ticket forwarding to repair personnel
- Financial tracking and reporting, bank deposit history, and exportable data
- Support via phone, email, and a dedicated account representative
Buildium’s key features include:
- Accounting and reporting
- Virtual marketing and leasing tools
- Resident and owner management
- Online maintenance
- Full mobile capabilities
- Continuous software updates
On Capterra, Innago received 4.8 out of 5 possible stars for features (this refers to features in general), which is higher than Buildium’s 4.3 stars.
Taking it a step further, if you read reviews from sites like Capterra and Softwareadvice.com, you can clearly see that people generally prefer Innago’s features.
Likelihood to Recommend
It’s such a valuable indicator of their belief in a product. No one is going to recommend a product that doesn’t provide them with a lot of value. This tells you someone’s true feelings about a product. If I am willing to recommend something to my friends, that means I endorse it. It’s one of the strongest statements about a product’s quality.
On Capterra, 81.2% of reviewers said they would recommend Buildium. Meanwhile, 97.4% of reviewers said they would recommend Innago’s platform to others.
This is the final category for this review because it matters when it comes to your decision. That said, you should still look carefully at everything else and make a choice that works best for your business.
Conclusion
You cannot beat Innago’s pricing. And our smooth design, exceptional customer service, and powerful features give you everything you need to manage your property well. Innago has higher ratings in practically every category than Buildium and that remains the case on every major rating site.
