Azibo vs. Hemlane: a Detailed Comparison for Real Estate Investors

Property management software powers your business. It helps you choose the right tenants, collect rent on time, and manage tenant relationships. The best solutions also help you manage your property finances.

Any solution you choose, no matter how simple the application, takes time to set up. That's why it's worth thoroughly evaluating your options before deciding on a platform.

This article analyzes Azibo and Hemlane in-depth, comparing their features, pricing, and target users. You'll get a side-by-side look at these platforms to quickly evaluate which option best suits your property management needs.

Azibo vs. Hemlane comparison overview

Company profiles: An overview of each company’s background and focus.

Feature comparison: We’ll provide a detailed analysis of the capabilities of both platforms, including renter screening, lease administration, rent collection, accounting, customer support, integrations, and ease of use.

In-depth analysis: We’ll cover each platform's most significant features and capabilities.

Customer reviews: We’ll provide a summary of customer reviews from third-party review sites.

Pros and cons: We’ll present key advantages and drawbacks for each platform to help you choose the best fit for your business.

Company overviews

Azibo

Azibo is a dynamic and innovative property management platform established in 2018. With a dedicated team, Azibo has quickly made a significant impact in the industry. The platform is highly regarded for its comprehensive financial tools and integrated banking services, offering a robust solution that simplifies and enhances property management for landlords and property managers. 

Azibo’s rapid growth and commitment to providing advanced features make it a standout choice for those seeking a versatile and reliable property management system.

Hemlane

Dana Dunford and Frank Liu founded Hemlane to address challenges in property management by leveraging technology while also maintaining human involvement. The company’s goal is to improve the experience for both property owners and tenants through a more efficient and less complex platform.

As of 2024, Hemlane supports over 20,000 rental properties across 4,418 cities in the United States. In May 2024, as a response to market conditions affecting landlords, Hemlane introduced a free version of its application.

Feature comparison

Here’s an at-a-glance feature comparison of the capabilities of Azibo and Hemlane:

In-depth analysis

To help you choose which platform is right for you, let’s take a deeper look at Azibo and Hemlane.

Pricing breakdown

While both Azibo and Hemlane offer free features for landlords, knowing what comes with the free plan and what costs extra will help guide your decision-making process.

Azibo

Azibo’s free landlord platform offers a comprehensive set of features at no cost, including online applications, robust rent collection, real estate-specific accounting, financial management, and document storage up to 1 gigabyte.

In addition to these core capabilities, property owners can choose paid features such as state-specific, legally compliant lease agreements for $29.99, team collaboration for $99 per user per year, and white-glove onboarding for larger portfolios at $300.

Tenants can access a centralized portal to track rent payments, submit maintenance requests, and communicate directly with their landlord at no cost. Rent payments via ACH are free, while credit/debit card payments incur a convenience fee of 2.99%, one of the lowest in the industry. 

Additionally, renters can benefit from services like Credit Boost to improve their credit by reporting on-time payments, and renter’s insurance to protect their personal property.  

Potential renters also pay $39.99 for tenant screening, which includes comprehensive credit and background checks.

Hemlane

Hemlane’s free plan offers limited marketing syndication to Zillow, Trulia, Hotpads, and Zumper. It also includes basic background checks and entry-level accounting with cash flow and income reports.

The basic plan starts at $30 per month, with an additional $2 per month for each unit beyond the first. This plan includes advertising on all premier rental listing websites, as well as lead and applicant tracking. Tenant screening is available for $40 per report, paid by the potential tenant. Other property management features include document storage, rent collection, and maintenance request submission and tracking.

Hemlane’s essential plan builds on the basic plan, adding state-specific leases and repair coordination services. It starts at $48 per month for one unit plus $20 per month for each additional unit.

The complete plan includes operational services such as full repair coordination, access to a network of service professionals, a local leasing agent for property showings, and all tenant communications. Pricing starts at $96 per month for the first unit and $68 per month for each additional unit.

Pre-eviction services are available for $475 per instance, mediation services cost $4.95 per month per property, inspection reports are $300, and on-demand tenant leasing services are $595.

Feature analysis

Rent collection

• Azibo: Azibo stands out for automating the rent collection process at no cost to landlords. Property owners can set up recurring payments, automatically apply late fees, send rent reminders, and track payment status. Additionally, the system integrates directly with its accounting software, simplifying financial management.

• Hemlane: Hemlane offers automated rent collection with its paid plans, including the ability to apply late fees. Its accounting features are currently in beta, which might limit the automation of financial tracking and management for users at this stage.

Tenant screening

• Azibo: Azibo’s tenant screening is part of a unified system that gives landlords detailed reports, including credit, eviction history, and background checks. The platform lets you customize the application process to comply with state and local regulations, including handling application fees. 

Once you select a tenant, Azibo’s integrations automatically generate a lease agreement, set up rent collection, and store tenant files. The system also automates the process of sending an adverse action notice for declined applications, verifying compliance, and providing efficiency.

• Hemlane: Hemlane offers background and credit checks, along with an algorithm that recommends tenants based on your criteria and the data provided.

Lease management

• Azibo: Azibo offers fully customizable lease agreements that are legally compliant and tailored to each state's specific regulations. These agreements include essential clauses for pets, smoking, storage, utilities, and unique tax scenarios. Azibo also incorporates state-specific addenda, such as those for lead disclosure and bed bugs. 

The platform automatically generates a legally binding lease, pre-filled with your details and all state-specific clauses. You can then send it through eSign and receive real-time status updates on its progress. Once signed, all your Azibo leases are stored in one place, making it easy to manage renewals.

• Hemlane: Hemlane offers state-specific lease agreements only as part of a monthly paid plan, rather than allowing users to purchase them a-la-carte as needed.

Accounting and expense tracking

• Azibo: Azibo offers purpose-built accounting software for real estate that’s fully integrated into the overall property management system. It automatically imports your bank and credit card transactions while also allowing you to manually add transactions and journal entries. 

You can assign transactions to specific properties and categorize them using a real estate-specific chart of accounts. Set up rules to automatically categorize recurring transactions and customize reports by property, portfolio, and date range. 

Azibo’s free platform also provides key financial reports, including profit and loss statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, and Schedule E tax forms.

• Hemlane: Hemlane's free plan includes accounting features such as bank synchronization and access to two reports: cash flow and income statements.

Team/role-based access

• Azibo: Azibo offers secure collaboration features that allow landlords to add collaborators to help manage their properties. You can set different roles and permissions for each collaborator, limiting access to specific properties or portfolios as needed. Adding or removing collaborators is easy and includes team members like assistants, accountants, and partners. 

This feature is available for $99 per seat per year, providing an affordable solution for landlords who require additional support with property management tasks. This functionality is especially useful for landlords with larger portfolios or those who work with property management teams.

• Hemlane: Hemlane offers options to add other team members like property owners, leasing agents, and admin staff, and each team member can have their own account. 

Further renter benefits

• Azibo: Azibo enhances the renter experience with a range of tailored benefits. Renters can use Azibo Credit Boost to improve their credit scores by reporting on-time rent payments to credit bureaus for a low monthly fee of $4.99. 

Additionally, Azibo provides renters insurance to protect belongings from theft, damage, and other potential risks, offering both reassurance and comfort.

• Hemlane: Hemlane provides a tenant portal for rental applications and rent payments but does not offer additional tenant services.

Platform customer reviews

Real-world user reviews give you an inside look at platform’s performance for peer organizations.

Azibo

Azibo is highly regarded by users, earning 4.9/5.0 on Capterra for value for the money. It also holds a solid 4.4/5.0 rating on Trustpilot, with 78% of its reviews being 5-star. 

On Software Advice, Azibo maintains a strong 4.5/5.0 rating across 48 reviews. While its Google rating is somewhat lower at 3.3/5.0 from 41 reviews, the platform’s value and comprehensive features remain well-appreciated by users.

Hemlane

Hemlane receives generally positive feedback with a 4.8/5.0 on Capterra for value for the money. However, its Trustpilot rating is 3.2/5.0, based on just one review.

Software Advice ratings place Hemlane at 4.8/5.0 from 160 reviews, and it performs well on Google with a 4.6/5.0 from 277 reviews.

Platform pros and cons

It’s a good idea to review the pros and cons of any platform before you make a final decision. Here are the key considerations for Azibo and Hemlane:

Azibo

Pros:

• Free platform: Azibo’s platform is free for landlords at the core services level, which includes online applications, rent collection, accounting and financial management, maintenance management, and document storage. This full set of features makes the software accessible to all portfolio sizes.
• No hidden fees: Azibo’s pricing is transparent for tenant credit/debit card rent payments, screening reports, and state-specific lease agreements. 
• Lease agreements: Access to state-specific, legally compliant lease agreements on a per-lease pricing basis, which means landlords only pay for what they need.
• Banking: Azibo offers banking services specifically for landlords. These include the ability to set up an unlimited number of accounts for each property, which simplifies tax preparation — all with no monthly fees.
• Document storage: Property owners can consolidate all real estate files into one central location, eliminating the need for multiple software platforms. This streamlines the process of retrieving records and information when needed.
• Financial automation: Azibo’s built-in accounting software and financial reporting help landlords automate tedious bookkeeping, view performance reports, and prep for tax season.
• Insurance: Azibo simplifies landlord insurance and offers coverage for property, liability, umbrella, and other losses, such as rent. 
• Customer support: Users can easily get support through email, phone, chat, or self-learning via a knowledge base and training documentation. 

Cons:

• Listing syndication not available: Azibo currently does not offer syndication of property listings across multiple rental websites.
• No managed services: Azibo doesn’t offer managed services like booking showings or eviction services.

Hemlane

Pros: 

• Listing syndication: Landlords can market rental properties and handle tenant applications from the platform to simplify advertising and screening. 
• Coordination services: Hemlane’s coordination services, including property repairs, scheduling showings, tenant communication, and eviction services, are particularly beneficial for out-of-state landlords.

Cons:

• Limited free services: Hemlane’s free basic services do not include essential features such as rent collection, automatic late fees, income and expense tracking, and maintenance and repair capabilities. 
• Pricing: Hemlane offers four pricing tiers, but some tiers include additional charges, making the pricing structure more difficult to understand.
• Lease agreements: State-specific lease agreements are only accessible under a paid monthly plan rather than allowing users to purchase them individually as needed.

Choosing the right property management platform for your needs

Azibo and Hemlane serve different landlord needs, so evaluating each entails slightly different considerations.

Azibo provides a comprehensive free platform for collecting rent, supporting the tenant experience, and managing property finances. It fits portfolios of all sizes and scales with a la carte services that you can leverage as needed without paying extra monthly fees.

Hemlane focuses on investors looking for property management software and third-party services for a more hands-off approach.

For landlords looking to get a handle on their property finances with a cost-effective way to simplify operations, Azibo is the better choice. Get started with Azibo’s core features for free today and see how this integrated platform can optimize your business.