What does per-door pricing mean?

Per-door (also called per-unit) pricing means the property management software charges a monthly fee for each rental unit you manage. Common rates run $1-$5 per unit per month, often on top of a base monthly fee. A 50-unit portfolio at $2/door is $100/mo in per-unit fees plus the base.

Why do vendors use per-door pricing?

Per-unit pricing aligns the vendor's revenue with the landlord's portfolio growth. As you add units, the vendor's bill grows proportionally. From the vendor's perspective it's a fair value-capture model. From the landlord's perspective it means software is one of the few costs that grows linearly with you instead of staying fixed.

Is flat-rate always cheaper?

No — at very small portfolios (1-10 units), per-door pricing often undercuts flat-rate. Buildium at 5 units is roughly $62/mo, cheaper than PF9 Property Suite at $119/mo. The math flips around 30 units depending on the vendor. Flat-rate becomes meaningfully cheaper at 50+ units and significantly cheaper at 100+.

What is per-door pricing?

Per-door — also called per-unit — pricing is how most major property management software vendors charge: a monthly fee for each rental unit you manage. Here's the math and when it stops making sense.

TL;DR

Per-door is $1–$5 per unit per month, usually on top of a base fee. At small portfolios (1–10 units), per-door can be cheaper than flat-rate. Above ~30 units, flat-rate is almost always cheaper.

The basic mechanics

A typical per-door pricing structure looks like this: a base monthly subscription (e.g. $62/mo for Buildium Essential), plus a per-unit fee charged for every rental unit in your portfolio (commonly reported at ~$1.50/unit/mo for Buildium above 30 units). The base fee often includes a few units; beyond that, every unit you add to the system adds dollars to your bill.

Some vendors disclose the per-unit rate publicly (DoorLoop, for example, publishes tier pricing). Others (Buildium, AppFolio) gate the exact per-unit fee behind a quote, which means a small landlord can't easily compare without going through a sales conversation.

Why vendors prefer it

Per-unit pricing aligns vendor revenue with landlord growth. If you grow from 50 to 200 units, the vendor's revenue grows ~4x. For vendors building enterprise platforms with thousands of customers, that growth curve funds the development pipeline.

It's also a structurally fair value-capture model on its face: more units = more transactions, more storage, more support load. The per-unit framing makes the cost feel proportional. Whether it's actually proportional to the vendor's cost-to-serve is a separate question.

When per-door makes sense for you

Per-door works in your favor when:

You're a very small landlord (1–10 units) — the per-unit fees are minimal
You have no plans to grow significantly
The per-unit price gets you access to features (integrated screening, AI leasing, mature accounting) you'd otherwise pay separately for

When per-door stops making sense

Per-door starts costing you when:

You manage 30+ units and the per-unit fees have stacked into a meaningful number
You're growing — every duplex you buy adds to your software bill
You aren't using the vendor's premium features (screening, marketing, etc.) and you're paying anyway
You want predictable monthly costs that don't change with portfolio size

At those points, flat-rate alternatives like PF9 Property Suite ($119/mo for any portfolio size) often save hundreds-to-thousands of dollars per year.

The actual math at common portfolio sizes

Units	Buildium	DoorLoop Pro	PF9 Flat
10	~$62	$69 (Starter)	$119
50	~$92	$189	$119
100	~$167	$189	$119
250	~$392	$189	$119

Buildium estimates based on public Essential pricing + commonly reported per-unit fees. DoorLoop is monthly-billing list price. PF9 is flat regardless of portfolio size. Run the exact math at your portfolio size →

→ Property management software pricing models
→ Buildium vs PF9
→ AppFolio vs PF9
→ Per-door calculator