Parqay vs Buildium: an honest comparison
Two different models. Buildium is subscription software for professional property managers. Parqay is a free-to-start platform that earns only when your space earns.
The short answer
Pick Buildium if you are a professional property manager who needs trust accounting, tenant screening, listing syndication, and owner reporting across a growing portfolio. Pick Parqay if you are an independent landlord or host who wants free-to-start software that collects rent, signs leases, keeps a real ledger, and fills vacant parking and space with paying bookings from a built-in marketplace. If your business is managing other people's properties for a fee, Buildium is the safer choice today.
Feature comparison
Buildium covers more of the traditional property management stack, and Parqay covers the essentials and adds a demand marketplace that Buildium does not have. Here is the honest row-by-row view.
| Parqay | Buildium | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Revenue share on marketplace bookings | Monthly subscription that scales with unit count |
| Entry price | Free to sign up and list | $62 per month (Essential plan) |
| Free tier | Yes, free to start | No free tier; 14-day free trial |
| Accounting | Double-entry ledger, Schedule E categories, CSV export | Full accounting: bank feeds, reconciliation, 1099 e-filing |
| Trust accounting | Not offered | Yes, with commingling safeguards |
| Tenant screening | Not offered | Credit, criminal, and eviction checks via TransUnion |
| Listing syndication | Not offered; Craigslist autoposting for parking only | Zillow Rental Network, Apartments.com, Zumper, more |
| Maintenance | Work orders with photos and AI-assisted triage | Work orders, inspections, maintenance contact center |
| Owner portal | Not offered | Yes, with owner statements and 1099s |
| Reporting | Expense summaries with CSV export; no rent roll | Full suite with rent roll and analytics |
| Flexible-term leasing | Hourly, nightly, and monthly terms; pay-in-full option | Standard residential lease terms |
| Built-in demand marketplace | Parking, stays, and coworking, with SMS concierge | Not offered |
| Ancillary revenue generation | Vacant space earns booking income, auto-posted to ledger | Not offered |
| Migration support | Team-assisted migration from your data export | Guided onboarding; priority support on Premium |
Where Buildium is stronger
Buildium is the stronger platform for professional property management operations, and in several areas it is not close. It offers real trust accounting with commingling safeguards, bank feeds, reconciliation, and 1099 e-filing, none of which Parqay offers.
Buildium also includes TransUnion tenant screening with credit, criminal, and eviction checks built into the leasing workflow, and it syndicates vacancies to the Zillow Rental Network, Apartments.com, Zumper, Apartment List, and other major rental sites. Parqay does not screen tenants and does not syndicate rental listings.
If you manage properties for third-party owners, Buildium's owner portal, owner statements, and 1099 filing are table stakes that Parqay simply does not have. Buildium also serves portfolios from five doors to five thousand, and its Premium plan adds an Open API for custom integrations.
Buildium's track record is verifiable: it holds a 4.5 out of 5 rating across 2,232 reviews on Capterra (capterra.com/p/47428/Buildium-Property-Management-Software). That is a maturity signal a younger platform cannot match.
Where Parqay is stronger
Parqay is the only platform in this comparison with a built-in demand marketplace: vacant parking, guest suites, and coworking space get listed to real paying demand, booked by the hour, night, or month, and every booking posts to your double-entry ledger automatically. Buildium helps you manage the rent you already collect; Parqay also goes and finds new revenue in the space you are not using.
Leasing terms are more flexible on Parqay. You can offer hourly, nightly, and monthly terms, and longer stays can be paid in full up front. An SMS concierge answers inbound texts and walks prospects to a booking link, and parking listings can auto-post to Craigslist.
The business model is aligned with yours. Parqay is free to sign up and list, and it earns a percentage of marketplace bookings, so it makes money when you do rather than charging a subscription whether your units are full or empty.
Migration is assisted, not self-serve. The Parqay team moves your data with you from an export of your current system, so you are not left alone with an importer and a spreadsheet.
Pricing compared
Buildium starts at $62 per month and Parqay starts at free, but the two models are different enough that the sticker price is not the whole story.
Buildium's published plans are Essential at $62 per month, Growth at $192 per month, and Premium at $400 per month, with pricing that scales by unit count and a 14-day free trial (source: buildium.com/pricing). On the Essential plan, per-use fees stack on top of the base price: $5 per eSignature document, $99 to set up each business bank account, tenant screening from $17 per screening, incoming EFT payments at $2.35 per transaction, and credit card payments at 2.99%. Higher tiers waive or reduce many of these. Prices verified as of July 25, 2026.
Parqay is free to sign up and list. Parqay earns a percentage of marketplace bookings plus a small guest service fee, and the exact rates are shown in your dashboard before you accept a booking. There is no monthly subscription and no per-unit charge, so if the marketplace is not earning for you, Parqay is not charging you.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I import my data from Buildium?
- Yes, with help from the Parqay team. There is no one-click importer. You export your properties, tenants, and leases from Buildium, and the Parqay team migrates the data with you. Plan for a short guided handoff rather than an instant sync.
- Is Parqay cheaper than Buildium?
- It depends on how you use it. Buildium charges a subscription starting at $62 per month plus per-use fees, while Parqay has no subscription at all and earns a percentage of marketplace bookings plus a small guest service fee. If you want fixed, predictable software costs, Buildium's model is more familiar. If you want zero fixed cost, Parqay starts free.
- Does Parqay have trust accounting?
- No. Trust accounting is not offered on Parqay, and neither is bank reconciliation. If you hold funds for third-party owners and your state requires trust accounting, Buildium is the better fit. Parqay does include a built-in double-entry ledger, and security deposits are collected up front and held until move-out with guarded refunds.
- Does Parqay screen tenants?
- No. Parqay does not run credit, criminal, or eviction checks. It does include digital rental applications and e-signature leases, and hosts are identity-verified through Stripe Identity. If screening reports are a requirement, Buildium includes TransUnion screening for a per-screening fee.
- Does Parqay syndicate listings to Zillow or Apartments.com?
- No. Parqay does not syndicate to Zillow, Apartments.com, Realtor.com, or Zumper. Parking listings can auto-post to Craigslist, and the built-in marketplace brings its own paying demand for parking, stays, and coworking, which is a different way of filling a vacancy.
- Who should choose Buildium over Parqay?
- Professional property managers. If you manage units for third-party owners and need owner statements, 1099s, trust accounting, tenant screening, and listing syndication, Buildium is built for exactly that and has a large verified review base behind it.
- What does Parqay cost?
- Parqay is free to sign up and list. Parqay earns a percentage of marketplace bookings plus a small guest service fee, and the exact rates are shown in your dashboard. There are no monthly software fees.
- Can I rent space by the hour or night on Parqay?
- Yes. Parqay supports hourly, nightly, and monthly terms for parking, stays, and coworking, plus a pay-in-full option for longer stays. Buildium is built around standard residential lease terms.