If you manage a handful of rentals, you have probably landed on the same two options every other small landlord ends up weighing: Avail, the Realtor.com-owned cloud platform, and KeyLoft, a free offline iOS app built for solo operators. They look similar on a feature checklist, but they solve different problems for different kinds of landlords. This comparison is written to help you pick the right one without the sales spin.
We will cover pricing honestly (including where Avail is genuinely a better deal than people assume), feature parity, the offline and privacy angle, and the specific landlord profile each tool fits. No trash talk — Avail is a real product with real strengths. But it is not the right tool for every landlord, and neither is KeyLoft.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | KeyLoft | Avail |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free forever | Free tier + $7/unit/month (Unlimited Plus) |
| Works Offline | Yes, 100% | No, requires internet |
| Account Required | No | Yes, email signup |
| Best For | Solo landlords, 1–15 units | Landlords wanting online rent collection & tenant screening |
| Platform | iOS (iPhone/iPad) | Web + iOS + Android |
| Key Features | Unit tracking, rent log, expense tracking, lease storage, maintenance notes | Online rent payment, tenant screening, e-signed leases, listing syndication, accounting |
| Data Privacy | Stored locally on device | Stored on Avail/Realtor.com servers |
Pricing
Avail has a real free tier — this is worth saying clearly because a lot of competitor comparisons gloss over it. You can list units, screen tenants (tenant pays), collect rent online (slower ACH), and use lease templates without paying a cent. The paid tier, Unlimited Plus, runs $7 per unit per month and unlocks faster payments, custom applications, waived ACH fees, and next-day rent deposits.
That per-unit model is where costs sneak up. One unit is cheap. Ten units is $70/month, or $840/year. Three years on Unlimited Plus for a 10-unit portfolio is $2,520. For a landlord with steady tenants and few transactions, that is a lot to pay for software you barely touch most months.
KeyLoft is free. Not freemium, not trial, not "free until we add a paywall." The app is free on the App Store, there is no account, and there is no per-unit charge. The trade-off is honest: KeyLoft does not process payments, does not run credit checks, and does not e-sign leases. You get a clean local ledger and document store, and that is it.
| Portfolio Size | KeyLoft (3 yrs) | Avail Free (3 yrs) | Avail Unlimited Plus (3 yrs) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 unit | $0 | $0 | $252 |
| 5 units | $0 | $0 | $1,260 |
| 10 units | $0 | $0 | $2,520 |
| 15 units | $0 | $0 | $3,780 |
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Features
Avail is a full landlord platform. It does the parts of the job that involve other people: listing your unit on Realtor.com and partner sites, accepting online applications, running TransUnion-backed credit and background checks, generating state-specific lease templates with e-signatures, and pulling rent via ACH or card. It also has a basic accounting view, maintenance ticket routing, and automated rent reminders. If your bottleneck is finding and onboarding tenants, Avail removes a lot of friction.
KeyLoft is a personal operations tool. It tracks units, tenants, rent payments received, expenses paid, lease dates, and maintenance notes. You enter the data; the app keeps it organized, searchable, and ready for tax season. There is no listing syndication, no credit reports, no online payments. If you already have tenants, screen through your own process, and collect rent by Zelle, check, or cash, KeyLoft handles the "what do I owe, what did I spend, when does the lease end" side cleanly.
The honest framing: Avail replaces a leasing agent and a payment processor. KeyLoft replaces a spreadsheet and a shoebox of receipts. Different jobs.
If your work spans more than rentals, sister apps cover adjacent ground with the same offline, no-account approach. Stintly handles freelancing, time tracking, and small business finance for landlords who also run side income or self-employment. TrestleBook covers construction project management, contractor billing, and job costing, useful if you do your own renovations between tenants or run a small contracting operation alongside rentals.
Want to try KeyLoft for free? Download KeyLoft for Free — no subscription required.
Offline & Privacy
This is where the two tools diverge sharpest. Avail is a cloud platform. Your tenant data, lease documents, payment history, and screening reports live on Avail/Realtor.com servers. That is normal for SaaS and Avail handles it professionally, but it means three things: you need internet to do anything, your data is subject to a corporate parent's privacy policy, and if your account is ever locked or the service changes terms, your records are not entirely in your hands.
KeyLoft stores everything locally on your iPhone or iPad. No server, no account, no sync to a remote database. The upside: you can pull up a tenant's rent history at a property with no signal, in a basement, on a plane. You can use the app for years without sharing tenant names, addresses, or financial details with any third party. The downside is real too: if you lose your phone without a backup, you lose your data. iCloud device backup mitigates that, but it is on you to set up.
For landlords who already feel uneasy about how much tenant PII lives in third-party clouds, local-only storage is a meaningful feature, not a marketing line.
Who Should Use Avail
- You have vacancies often and want listing syndication to Realtor.com, Zillow partners, and friends.
- You want TransUnion credit and background checks built into the application flow.
- You collect rent online and want tenants paying by ACH or card directly into your bank account.
- You want state-specific lease templates with built-in e-signature.
- You manage from a desktop browser as much as a phone.
- You are comfortable with $7/unit/month and have enough turnover or transaction volume to justify it.
If three or more of those describe you, Avail is probably worth the spend. The free tier is also a legitimate starting point — you do not have to pay to use the platform at all.
Who Should Use KeyLoft
- You have 1–15 units and stable, long-term tenants.
- You collect rent by Zelle, Venmo, ACH, check, or cash and do not need a payment processor.
- You screen tenants through your own network, a separate service, or a property manager.
- You want a fast, no-friction way to log rent received and expenses paid on your phone.
- You care about keeping tenant data off third-party servers.
- You do not want another monthly subscription on the books.
- You manage primarily from your phone, often in the field.
If you already have a leasing workflow that works, KeyLoft fills the bookkeeping and records gap without adding a recurring bill.
The Bottom Line
Avail is the better tool if your job is finding tenants, screening them, and collecting rent online. It is built for that workflow and the per-unit price is fair for what you get when you actually use those features. The free tier alone covers a surprising amount of ground.
KeyLoft is the better tool if your job is keeping clean records for rentals you already operate. It will not list your unit or run a credit report, but it will keep three years of rent history, expenses, and lease dates organized in your pocket, offline, free, with no account tying your data to anyone else's servers.
A lot of landlords end up using both: Avail's free tier when a unit turns over for listing and screening, KeyLoft for the day-to-day ledger once the tenant is in place. There is no rule that says you pick one. The real question is what you are paying $7/unit/month for — if you are using the paid features heavily, keep it; if you are paying for features you touched twice last year, KeyLoft probably covers what you actually need.
Ready to switch? Download KeyLoft for Free — it takes 30 seconds and costs nothing.