Are you in the market to rent a new apartment, house or condo? You’re in luck because you have plenty of robust and trustworthy rental listing sites to choose from. Plus, many of these sites have helpful smartphone apps that allow you to search for rentals no matter where you are.
But with so many sites and apps to choose from, it’s hard to pick which one will help you find the best unit quickly. That’s why we’ve put together this list of the best websites to find apartments, houses and other rental units.
Zillow continues to be one of the best rental websites you can use to find your next apartment, house, or condo. Since it was established in 2006, it has become one of the most widely used websites for renters, homebuyers and landlords.
What’s more, Zillow has the largest inventory of rental listings, meaning you’ll find the widest variety and most search results using this site or its app. Plus, you don’t have don’t to limit your options in terms of where you want to live because Zillow has listings in practically every corner of the U.S.
You may know Craigslist as the one-stop-shop for lightly used furniture, rental listings, pet adoptions, meetups, and much more. But don’t underestimate this all-in-one site. It originally got its start in 1995 as an email distribution list, but it’s now one of the most widely used online advertising platforms around the world and one of the best websites to find apartments practically anywhere.
Like other rental listing sites, you can easily filter your Craigslist search by choosing the apartments/rentals category, your search location, your price and more. You can find thousands of listings in cities around the U.S., including rent-a-room options and sublets that you may not find on traditional rental listing sites.
Trulia is one of the best rental listing websites because of the sheer amount of data you get access to (for free) with every listing you view. if you’re looking to move to a new area and want to learn more about the neighborhood before taking the plunge. You can access many forms of important data, including school ratings, demographics and walkability scores.
One of the site/app’s best features is its crime map, which uses local rates and reports to color-code areas based on crime activity. The darker the area is, the more crimes that have been reported. You can see the general types of crimes in the area, too. Be sure to check out other features, like the environment, how long people stay in the area, if the place is close to grocery stores and restaurants, if it’s dog-friendly, if people feel safe walking alone at night and much more.
PadMapper has an interactive map that lets you easily search through available listings in your chosen area. This intuitive search tool makes PadMapper one of the best apartment rental sites on the internet.
Another amazing feature of PadMapper is that it allows you to view rental listing in Canada, too, perfect for people planning a move way up north. You can start to find your dream apartment without having to stamp your passport just yet.
The site’s name says it all. Rent.com has been one of the most popular apartment rental sites on the market since the early 2000s. Unlike other rental listing sites and apps, this one is solely for renters. No homebuyers allowed.
But what makes Rent.com stand out from the other best rental websites on this list is its Moving Center. This comprehensive, data-driven feature helps you calculate moving costs and get quotes for local movers, storage, truck rentals and more. So, whether you’re moving across town or across the country, Rent.com has your back in more ways than one.
Another one of the best apartment search sites, Hotpads employs a dynamic search engine with a wide variety of search filters to help you focus your rental search on properties that meet your needs. You can adjust your search using filters like:
- Zip code
- City
- State
- Price range
- Apartment size
- Amenities
What’s more, Hotpads actually works with Zillow to match you to thousands of rental unit listings based on your search criteria. That makes your search that much faster and simpler.
Don’t let the name fool you. While Apartments.com is one of the best apartment websites out there, it also hosts listings for a variety of other rental types on the market, too. That means you’re getting the benefits of a rental listing website with a great reputation and hundreds of thousands of listings without limiting your search. In fact, you can further tailor your search for highly specific and oft hard-to-find rentals, like student or military housing.
Apartments.com has also added quite a few data-driven features to help you find a rental that works for you and your lifestyle. For example, you can take advantage of the “Plan Commute” tool that calculates and maps out your commute to work or another location that you visit all the time. That way you can search for rentals along that route and within a preferred commute time.
Zumper is a newcomer to the rental listing site game, having been established in 2012, but has quickly become a contender for best online site for rental homes. That’s because this rental search platform helps educate seasoned and new renters on the rental market, with frequently updated reports on rent prices throughout the country.
The Zumper Blog is also an excellent resource for articles on rental process, landlord-tenant relationship as well as tips and tricks for finding the best unit, decorating it and budgeting. And if you’re not sure where you want to live next, you can also find helpful blogs that list affordable cities to live in, the best cities in specific states and the best cities for your interests and needs, from commuting to brewery-hopping.
You may not realize this, but Realtor.com isn’t just for buying a house. In fact, it’s a fantastic rental search site that uses many of the same tools and search features available to prospective homebuyers. It’s also affiliated with the National Association of Realtors, so it’s one of the most reliable sites you can use.
In addition to searching through rental listings on your own, you can also enlist the help of a real estate agent working in the rental market. Use the “Find a Realtor” feature of Realtor.com to find a local agent who can curate rental listings and help you find the right unit for your lifestyle.