Cozy Shut Down? Best Alternatives for Small Landlords in 2026
Cozy.co was the gold standard for small landlords — free rent collection, tenant screening, and a clean interface that actually made sense. Then Apartments.com happened. Here's what to use instead.
If you're reading this, you probably already know the story. Cozy.co was a beloved property management platform for small landlords — the kind with 1 to 20 units who didn't need enterprise software but did need something better than a spreadsheet and a Zelle account.
In 2018, CoStar Group (the company behind Apartments.com) acquired Cozy. By early 2021, new landlord signups were redirected to Apartments.com. Existing Cozy users were migrated over. And the complaints started immediately.
What Made Cozy So Good
Before we talk alternatives, it's worth understanding what people actually miss. Cozy nailed a few things that most platforms still can't match:
- Free rent collection — ACH payments at no cost to landlords
- Tenant screening — credit checks, background checks, and eviction history bundled together
- Clean, simple interface — no enterprise bloat, no 47-tab dashboard
- Tenant-friendly experience — tenants could sign up and pay without wanting to throw their phone
- Maintenance request tracking — basic but functional
It wasn't perfect. It didn't handle roommate-split rent well. It didn't have e-signatures. But for the core job of "collect rent and screen tenants for free," nothing else came close.
What Went Wrong with Apartments.com
The migration to Apartments.com has been, to put it diplomatically, rough. Reddit is full of landlords who lived through it:
"I was a previous Cozy user and it was amazing, exactly what I needed with only a few units and my tenants loved it. For over two years I had zero issues. When Apartments.com bought Cozy I didn't think much of it, but I'm now doing my first turnovers on the new system and it is an absolute mess." — r/Landlord
"Small time landlord here who loved (mostly) Cozy and is frustrated with the way Apartments.com has integrated after the acquisition. What alternative services do you use?" — r/Landlord
The common complaints: the interface got cluttered, the rental application process became confusing, and the overall experience felt like it was designed for large property management companies listing apartments — not a landlord with a duplex trying to collect rent.
"Apartments.com is so terrible that I made a post on Reddit about it asking for alternatives." — r/realestateinvesting
To be fair, Apartments.com has improved since the initial migration. The rent collection still works. Tenant screening is available. But the magic of Cozy — that "this was made for me" feeling — is gone. It's now one feature inside a massive listing platform, and it shows.
The Best Cozy Alternatives in 2026
Five years after the acquisition, the landscape has shifted. Here's an honest comparison of the tools that have filled the gap, ranked by how well they replicate what Cozy did — simple, free (or cheap), and designed for small landlords.
1. Rentlane — Best for Roommate Rentals and Zelle Tracking
Price: Free plan (1 property, e-signatures, manual tracking). Pro at $5/mo per property for AI payment matching.
Rentlane is the newest entry in this space, built specifically for small landlords who manage shared housing and roommate situations — the exact scenario where Cozy (and frankly every other platform) fell short.
What makes it different: Rentlane doesn't force tenants onto a payment portal. Your tenants keep paying via Zelle, Venmo, or whatever they already use. Rentlane connects to your bank via Plaid (read-only) and uses AI to match incoming payments to the right tenant automatically. Each roommate gets their own balance, late fees calculate on their own, and you get a dashboard showing who paid and who didn't.
What Cozy users will like:
- Clean, simple interface — no enterprise bloat
- Free e-signatures (send leases by text)
- Works with how tenants already pay (no new accounts to create)
- Actually handles per-roommate rent tracking
What's missing vs. Cozy: No built-in tenant screening yet (coming soon). No listing syndication.
Miss how simple Cozy was?
Rentlane was built for small landlords who want simplicity back. Free plan includes e-signatures and manual rent tracking. No credit card required.
Try Rentlane Free →2. TurboTenant — Best Free All-Rounder
Price: Free for landlords (tenants pay for screening). Premium at $8.25/mo.
TurboTenant is probably the closest spiritual successor to Cozy. It's free for landlords, covers rent collection, screening, lease signing, and listing syndication. The interface is reasonably clean and it's clearly built for small operators.
What Cozy users will like:
- Free tier covers most basics
- Tenant screening with credit, criminal, and eviction reports
- Listing syndication to Zillow, Realtor.com, etc.
- E-signatures included
Downsides: The free plan pushes tenants to pay via their portal (extra friction). Rent collection requires tenants to create accounts and link bank info. State-specific lease templates are a premium feature. And like most platforms, it treats each unit as having one tenant — no roommate-level tracking.
3. Avail (by Realtor.com) — Best for Screening + Leases
Price: Free (basic). Unlimited Plus at $7/mo per unit.
Avail was one of Cozy's original competitors. It's now owned by Realtor.com (another giant company — notice a pattern?). The free tier includes listing, screening, lease templates, and rent collection.
What Cozy users will like:
- State-specific lease templates (even on free plan)
- Solid tenant screening
- Clean, landlord-focused interface
Downsides: Free plan has a 2-day ACH hold on rent payments (Unlimited Plus waives this). Customizing lease clauses requires the paid plan. Like TurboTenant, tenants need to create an account. No roommate-split support.
4. Baselane — Best for Financial Tracking
Price: Free.
Baselane takes a different approach: it's as much a banking tool as a property management tool. You get a dedicated landlord bank account, automated bookkeeping, and rent collection through their portal. If your main frustration with Cozy's absence is financial disorganization, Baselane is compelling.
What Cozy users will like:
- Completely free (they make money on banking)
- Automated bookkeeping and Schedule E reports
- Dedicated bank account per property
Downsides: No tenant screening. No lease signing. Tenants must use their portal to pay. The banking-first approach means the property management features feel secondary.
5. Innago — Best Budget Option
Price: Free.
Innago is genuinely free — no hidden premium tier. Rent collection, screening, lease signing, and maintenance requests are all included. The catch is that the interface feels dated compared to newer options, and the feature depth is shallow.
What Cozy users will like:
- Truly free everything
- Covers all the basics Cozy covered
- No unit limits
Downsides: The UI is clunkier than Cozy ever was. Tenant experience isn't as polished. Limited reporting. No roommate-level features.
6. Stessa — Best for Investors Focused on Numbers
Price: Free (basic). Pro at $20/mo.
Stessa (now part of Roofstock) is an income and expense tracker for rental property owners. It's excellent at financial dashboards and tax prep but light on day-to-day management. If you miss Cozy's simplicity for tracking income, Stessa fills that gap — but it won't replace the operational side.
What Cozy users will like:
- Beautiful financial dashboards
- Automatic transaction imports
- Tax-ready reports
Downsides: Rent collection is a Pro-only add-on. No screening. No leases. No maintenance tracking on free plan. It's a financial tool, not a property management tool.
What About Just Using Apartments.com?
Look, Apartments.com is free and it works. If you're already on it from the Cozy migration and things are fine, there's no urgent reason to switch. The rent collection is reliable. The screening is adequate.
But if you're a new landlord looking for that Cozy experience in 2026 — or if you manage shared housing with roommates — Apartments.com probably isn't going to feel right. It's a listing platform that bolted on landlord tools, not a landlord tool that happens to list properties.
Quick Comparison Table
Here's how these stack up on the features Cozy users care about most:
- Free rent collection: TurboTenant ✓, Avail ✓ (with delay), Baselane ✓, Innago ✓, Rentlane ✓ (manual), Stessa ✗ (Pro only)
- Tenant screening: TurboTenant ✓, Avail ✓, Innago ✓, Baselane ✗, Rentlane (coming soon), Stessa ✗
- E-signatures: TurboTenant ✓, Avail ✓ (paid), Innago ✓, Baselane ✗, Rentlane ✓, Stessa ✗
- Roommate/split tracking: Rentlane ✓, everyone else ✗
- Tenants don't need an account: Rentlane ✓, everyone else ✗
- Financial tracking: Baselane ✓✓, Stessa ✓✓, Rentlane ✓, others basic
So What Should You Pick?
It depends on what you actually need:
- You manage roommate rentals or accept Zelle: Rentlane. Nothing else handles per-roommate payment tracking with existing payment methods.
- You want the closest thing to Cozy's all-in-one: TurboTenant. It covers the most ground for free.
- You care most about financial tracking and tax prep: Baselane or Stessa.
- You want everything free with no catches: Innago, if you can tolerate the interface.
- You need strong lease templates: Avail.
The truth is, no single platform has perfectly replicated everything Cozy did. The market has fragmented — different tools are best at different things. Many landlords end up using two tools: one for rent collection and one for screening/leases.
That said, the landscape in 2026 is better than it was in 2021 when everyone was scrambling. You have real options now. Pick the one that matches your actual workflow, not the one with the longest feature list. (For a deeper dive into the full software landscape, check out our complete property management software comparison.)
Built for landlords who miss simplicity
Rentlane brings back what Cozy got right — simple, clean, built for small landlords. Plus roommate tracking and AI payment matching that Cozy never had.
Try Rentlane Free →