Free rental listing sites 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 can be a time-consuming and stressful part of rental property management. From creating your listing with great photography, a catchy title, and a persuasive description, to getting your listing in front of prospects and then managing leads and tenant screenings.
If you're looking for an affordable way to simplify advertising your listing or increase your property's visibility, knowing where to list your rental property is essential. To help you find qualified tenants faster, we've reviewed 15 of the best free rental sites below.
When choosing a free rental listing site, start by considering how easy the platform is to use. A good site should offer a clean, intuitive interface and provide all the features you need to create and manage listings quickly, without a steep learning curve.
Exposure is also key. The more visitors a site gets, the more eyes are on your property. Look for platforms with high traffic and a broad reach, ideally ones that offer listing syndication across multiple channels to maximize visibility.
While the cost might appear to be straightforward with "free" platforms, certain sites may have concealed charges or fees for premium listings. Ensure that the platform genuinely provides free listings without any unforeseen extras.
It's also wise to check out user reviews before committing. Feedback from other landlords and property managers can give you valuable insights into the platform's reliability, ease of use, and overall effectiveness.
Lastly, don't overlook customer support. Even the best platforms can run into technical issues or require a bit of guidance. Having access to responsive support when you need it can save you time and hassle.
Create a beautiful listing in minutes using our AI listing generator and share it across all the top free rental listing sites with Landlord Studio.
List your rental on over 12 sites with a single click, including Zillow, Zumper, Trulia, Hotpads, Realtor.com, Padmapper, Dwellsy, and more with the click of a button.
Plus, prescreen leads, collect rental applications online, and streamline the tenant screening process with background checks and credit reports all in one place.all in one place.
Create your free Landlord Studio account and get your listing in front of thousands of potential renters today.
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When you list on Zillow, you are sharing your property on the largest rental marketplace in the US, with an average of 229 million unique users on its app and website in 2023. With its extensive audience reach and powerful landlord tools, Zillow helps you showcase your properties to a vast pool of potential tenants.
It has tested various pricing structures over the years, but currently, you can list rental properties for free on Zillow using Zillow Rental Manager. Alternatively, for a flat fee of $29.99, you can upgrade to premium listings for up to 90 days, which increases your property's visibility.
Part of Landlord Studio's Syndication Network
Zumper is another of the top free rental listing sites. 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 a minimum credit score.
When listing your properties on Zumper, make sure to include high-quality property photos and detailed descriptions, including information about nearby attractions and neighborhood information, 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.
Part of Landlord Studio's Syndication Network
Trulia's expansive reach is its main draw. As well as creating listings for a full rental unit or home, you also have the option to list a single room, making it versatile for various property types, including apartment complexes.
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, allowing you to showcase virtual tours of your property.
Part of Landlord Studio's Syndication Network
HotPads is another large rental 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 and even estimate commute times.
Related: How To Run A Background Check On Renters
Part of Landlord Studio's Syndication Network
Realtor.com gets upwards of 100 million visits to its site every month, and the platform currently advertises around 1.5 million listings at any given time and holds about a 10% market share.
Plus, since the Realtor.com parent company also owns multiple other sites, they are able to amplify the reach of each of their listings through effective listing syndication.
It is free to list a unit at a base level, but there is also the option to upgrade to premium listings that will feature your unit in a large ad and place it in a top search result, enhancing your online property advertising efforts.
Part of Landlord Studio's Syndication Network
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, such as air conditioning or pet rent options.
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, increasing your listing exposure.
Part of Landlord Studio's Syndication Network
Dwellsy is a newer rental site that has been making waves in recent years. Their aim is to make it easier for landlords and property management companies to secure qualified 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 in your rental portfolio.
They also offer some interesting additional products, including the Dwellsy IQ report, which equips you with comprehensive data on the rental marketplace, allowing you to easily compare rentals, set rent rates, and make informed investment decisions.
Apartments.com is a great site for listing apartments for rent with approximately 1.1 million listings live at any one time and nearly 35 million hits to their site per month. They offer various tools for property managers to streamline tenant placement and communication.
The primary purpose of Walk 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 commute times 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 through listing syndication.
Related: How To List A Property For Rent: A Landlord's Guide
Craigslist has been around for decades and is one of the best-known options for finding a rental. It's a popular rental marketplace for both landlords and tenants.
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, including any requirements for background checks or credit reports. 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, offering excellent listing syndication.
Facebook Marketplace is completely free. It allows you to upload a detailed description as well as multiple images and virtual tours. 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, enhancing tenant communication.
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 premium listings can increase the likelihood of filling a vacancy by boosting property visibility.
Rentberry has millions of monthly users on its site, and it syndicates its listings to partner websites such as Doorsteps, Oodle.com, Realtor.com. 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 premium listings to increase your property's visibility in the rental marketplace.
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. It's a great platform for online property advertising, especially for individual landlords.
Related: The Landlord's Guide To Tenant Screening
With Landlord Studio, there's no need to create and manage multiple accounts on multiple platforms. Simply, create your free rental listing on Landlord Studio and share it across all of the top platforms with the click of a button.
All your leads will automatically be fed into our tenant management system, so you can easily compare leads, collect online rental applications, and get comprehensive tenant screening reports.
Find qualified tenants and fill vacancies faster than ever with Landlord Studio.
According to Zillow, over 90 percent of renters use an online listing resource to find their next apartment. This means that the best way to get your vacant property in front of potential renters is to advertise your rental on multiple free rental sites. And the easiest way to do that is to use software like Landlord Studio to create a beautiful listing and syndicate it across their entire partner network simultaneously.
Instead of manually having to create multiple listings and managing leads from numerous places, simply create your free listing on Landlord Studio once, and with the click of a button, share it across all the top rental sites including Zillow, Trulia, Hotpads, and Zumper.
Collect leads in Landlord Studio 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.