If you are a landlord shopping for property management software in 2026, you have probably bumped into both KeyLoft and Avail. They look similar on the surface — rent tracking, tenant management, lease handling — but they take very different paths to get there. Avail is a polished, web-based platform owned by Realtor.com that targets the full landlord workflow from listing to lease. KeyLoft is an iOS app built for solo operators who want a simple, offline-first tool without subscriptions, accounts, or cloud dependencies.
This comparison is written for landlords actively deciding between the two. We will be fair to Avail where it earns it, and we will explain where KeyLoft genuinely wins. By the end you should know which one fits your situation.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | KeyLoft | Avail |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free forever | Free tier + $7/unit/month Plus plan |
| Works Offline | Yes, 100% offline | No, requires internet |
| Account Required | No account needed | Yes, email and signup required |
| Best For | Solo landlords, 1–20 units, privacy-focused | Landlords who want online rent collection and listings |
| Platform | iOS (iPhone and iPad) | Web browser, iOS, Android |
| Key Features | Property tracking, tenant records, rent log, lease notes, expenses | Listings syndication, online rent payments, tenant screening, e-sign leases |
| Data Privacy | Local device storage only | Cloud storage on Realtor.com infrastructure |
Pricing
Pricing is where these two apps split most clearly. Avail offers a free Unlimited plan with basic functionality, and an Unlimited Plus plan at $7 per unit per month. That per-unit pricing model is fair if you have one or two units, but it scales linearly with your portfolio. Ten units on the Plus plan is $70 a month, or $840 a year — before you have signed a single tenant.
KeyLoft is free. Not "free tier with upsells" free — just free. Download it from the App Store, open it, and start adding properties. There is no premium tier, no per-unit fee, and no account to create. Here is the side-by-side over time:
| Time Period | KeyLoft | Avail (5 units, Plus plan) | Avail (10 units, Plus plan) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $0 | $35 | $70 |
| 1 Year | $0 | $420 | $840 |
| 3 Years | $0 | $1,260 | $2,520 |
To be fair: Avail's paid plan includes features KeyLoft does not offer, like online rent collection with ACH and credit card processing, listing syndication to Realtor.com and Zillow, and tenant screening through TransUnion. If you need those services and would pay for them separately anyway, the math changes. But if you collect rent by check, Zelle, or Venmo, and you find tenants through word of mouth or local listings, you are paying for features you do not use.
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Features
Avail is feature-rich. It is genuinely one of the more capable landlord platforms on the market for landlords who want to run their entire operation online. The free tier covers rent collection (with fees for instant payouts), maintenance tracking, and lease management. The Plus tier adds waived ACH fees, custom applications, next-day rent payouts, and tenant credit reporting through Experian RentBureau.
The platform also includes listing syndication, which posts your vacancy to Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, and Apartments.com. That is genuinely useful if you have a hard-to-fill unit. Tenant screening pulls credit, criminal, and eviction history reports, and the e-sign lease workflow is clean.
KeyLoft is deliberately narrower. It focuses on the everyday work of managing properties you already own and tenants you already have:
- Property records — addresses, unit details, purchase info, photos
- Tenant tracking — contact info, lease terms, move-in dates, deposits
- Rent logging — mark payments received, track late payments, see history
- Expense tracking — repairs, maintenance, utilities, taxes by property
- Lease notes — renewal dates, terms, addenda reminders
- Inspection logs — move-in/move-out condition notes with photos
KeyLoft will not syndicate your listing or run a credit check. If you need those things, you will use a separate service for them. What KeyLoft does, it does without friction: open app, tap property, log payment, done. No loading spinners, no two-factor login, no upsell modals.
Landlords who also run other small businesses tend to like this approach because it matches how they already work. If you do contracting or construction on the side, TrestleBook handles job costing and contractor billing in the same offline-first style. If you freelance or do consulting, Stintly covers time tracking and self-employment finance the same way. Same philosophy across the board: own your data, no subscriptions.
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Offline & Privacy
This is the area where the two apps are not even comparable. Avail is a cloud platform — everything you do flows through their servers, and nothing works without an internet connection. That is fine if you sit at a desk, but it becomes a problem the moment you are doing a move-in inspection in a basement with no signal, walking a property with a contractor, or trying to look up a tenant's lease while you are at the unit dealing with a maintenance issue.
KeyLoft stores everything on your device. No cloud, no sync server, no account. You can be on a plane, in a tunnel, or at a rural property with zero bars and the app works identically. Your tenant phone numbers, lease terms, rent history, and inspection photos are all instantly available.
Privacy follows from this design. Avail is owned by Realtor.com, which is owned by Move Inc., a News Corp subsidiary. Your data lives on their infrastructure and is subject to their privacy policy, which permits various uses for service improvement and marketing. That is normal for cloud software — it is just worth understanding.
With KeyLoft, there is nothing to share because nothing leaves your phone. No server to breach, no account to compromise, no terms of service to update. If you ever want to delete your data, you uninstall the app. That is appealing to landlords who handle sensitive tenant information like SSNs from screening, bank account numbers, or income verification documents.
Who Should Use Avail
Avail is a strong choice in several real situations, and we are not going to pretend otherwise:
- You collect rent online and want it automated. Avail's ACH and card processing, paired with autopay options for tenants, is more convenient than chasing checks. If you have 5+ units and dislike Zelle, the Plus plan can earn its keep.
- You list vacancies through Realtor.com/Zillow/Trulia. Listing syndication built into your management software is genuinely useful when you have turnover.
- You want tenant screening in the same tool. Avail's screening through TransUnion is integrated and reasonably priced, and the tenant fills out the application themselves.
- You manage from a desktop browser. Avail is web-first, and if you do most of your work at a computer, the larger screen and keyboard are real productivity wins.
- You report to a partner or accountant. The platform's reports and dashboards are easy to share with a CPA or co-investor.
If most of those apply to you, Avail is worth the money. There is no shame in paying for software that saves you time.
Who Should Use KeyLoft
KeyLoft is built for a specific kind of landlord:
- You have 1–20 units and the per-unit pricing of other platforms feels disproportionate to what you actually do day to day.
- You collect rent through informal channels — Zelle, Venmo, check, cash, direct deposit — and do not need a payment processor.
- You manage your properties from your phone while you are at the unit, between meetings, or sitting on the couch.
- You value privacy and would rather not park tenant data on a corporate cloud platform.
- You work in places with bad signal — rural properties, basement units, parking garages, construction sites.
- You are skeptical of subscription bloat. If you have watched a $5/month tool quietly become $20/month over three years, KeyLoft removes that risk entirely.
- You also run a small business on the side — freelancing, contracting, consulting — and you want consistent, simple tools across the board rather than learning a new SaaS dashboard for every workflow.
KeyLoft is not trying to be Avail. It is trying to be the simplest possible answer to "I own a few rentals and I need to keep track of them."
The Bottom Line
Avail is a strong platform for landlords who want a full-service, web-based, online rent collection and listing tool, and who do not mind paying $7 per unit per month for the Plus features. The product is well built and Realtor.com backing means it is not going to disappear next year.
KeyLoft is the better choice if you are a solo operator who wants to manage your portfolio without subscriptions, accounts, or internet dependence. It is free. It works offline. Your data stays on your phone. You can start using it in 30 seconds and never see a billing email.
The honest recommendation: if you need online rent collection, listing syndication, or built-in screening, and you have the units to justify $7 each per month, use Avail. For everyone else — the landlord with three rentals, the house hacker, the inherited-property owner, the small-portfolio investor — KeyLoft does the job for nothing, and does it better in the places where it matters.
Ready to switch? Download KeyLoft for Free — it takes 30 seconds and costs nothing.