Locationster

Apartment finder websites are flourishing, with most sites accompanied by Android and iOS apps for on-the-go access. 

To avoid missing out on key features, however, it’s best to focus on the websites themselves. Here’s are the ten best websites to find apartments, whether its a studio or a cheap 2 bedroom. 01 of 10

Hotpads: Most Feature-Packed Apartment Finder

By default, this feature-rich site gives you a map of the area, with a list view alongside. In the map view, you select icons of buildings to see details and photos of specific apartment listings. Photos also include Google Street View.

Built-in search filters include apartment, price range, number of baths, rental types, and property types. You can select from rental types such as regular, sublet, corporate, and room for rent, as well as from property types such as apartment, condo, duplex, house, and townhouse.

If you register with the site, you can also save listings as favorites.

What we like:

• Hotpads also shows you how long the apartment has been listed on the site.

What we don’t like:

• Filters are more plentiful on some other sites.

02 of 10

Rent.com: Best Website to Find Apartments Using Filters

Rent.com offers a wide variety of search filters. For example, you can search for pet-friendly apartments, properties with utilities included in the rent, as well as apartments with features like air conditioning, washer/dryer, walk-in closets, or disability access.

Virtual tours are also offered for many apartment complexes on the site.

What we like:

• A built-in Moving Center supplies free moving quotes based on the size and location of your current apartment, when you’re moving, and your destination.

What we don’t like:

• The selection of apartments is smaller than some sites, and many listings are for apartment complexes with multiple units available.

03 of 10

ForRent.com: Best Apartment Finder App/Website for Those Who Crave Details

This apartment finder provides highly specific information about apartment complexes. Beyond a fairly detailed overview of property features like pet policies and proximity to shopping, you get a photo gallery, videos, and floorplans with many listings.

A built-in calculator also helps determine how much rent you can afford to pay. 

What we like:

• The site also offers helpful resources such as an apartment rental checklist.

What we don’t like: ​

• Most of the listings are for properties owned by large management companies.

04 of 10

Craiglist: One of the Best Websites to Find Apartments Worldwide

A long-time go-to for apartment seekers, Craigslist offers numerous listings through its local sites worldwide. Many listings are reasonably priced apartments from smaller landlords.

Craigslist delivers a list view, but property owners and agents can optionally post location maps and photo and video tours of the apartment. Dates for open houses are also easy to find.

What we like:

• The site includes a decent set of filters. Beyond establishing an apartment size and price range, you can search by fee/no fee, square footage, pet and smoking policies, wheelchair access, laundry, and parking. 

What we don’t like:

• The user interface seems kind of clunky and old-fashioned by today’s standards. 
• You might come across duplicate listings and some rental scams.

Tip: Although Craigslist doesn’t offer its own mobile apps, the site does load on smartphones. Third-party mobile apps are also available, such as CPlus for Craigslist – Officially Licensed, provided by YanFlex for both Android and iOS. 05 of 10

Apartments.com: Best Apartment Website If You’re Bilingual

Available in both English- and Spanish-language versions, Apartments.com provides extensive apartment listings, while also allowing you to be highly specific in your searches. For example, you can search for cheap apartment rentals, luxury properties, and elevator buildings.

By default, you receive a map view. You can use a built-in drawing tool to specify the borders for your geographic search, then turn to a polygon tool to drill down into listings in smaller geographic parts of the overall search area.

What we like: ​

• Using a “Plan Your Commute” search filter, you can specify the commute time you want from your apartment to your job, be it by driving, walking, bicycling, or public transportation.

What we don’t like: ​

• Though the site offers neighborhood guides for some cities, these guides aren’t necessarily available for all neighborhoods within those cities, including some with highly desirable rentals.

06 of 10

Zumper: Most Price-Sensitive Apartment Hunting Site

Zumper is especially sensitive to pricing considerations. The site presents median rental prices for specific cities, for instance, and the map view shows sample prices for rentals throughout a selected area.

What we like:

• You’ll come upon search filters that are otherwise hard to find, like the ability to search for Section 8 apartments and short-term rentals, as well as searching by neighborhood within a city.

What we don’t like:

• You can get details about a rental from your search results, butthe amount of information varies considerably from one apartment or property to the next.

07 of 10

PadMapper: Most Map-Happy Website

PadMapper uses listings from websites like Apartment Guide and Airbnb to create comprehensive rental maps. In addition, landlords can use the mobile app to post listings directly to PadMapper. Listings are available not just for the U.S. but Canada, too.

You can use a built-in drawing tool to designate simultaneous searches of multiple sections of a map. A “live near” mapping tool lets you find apartments within designated distances of points of interest, such as grocery stores.

What we like:

• This website includes features for hiding listings of no interest to you.

What we don’t like: 

• Apartment listings might not be as abundant as they used to be now that Craiglist listings are no longer included.

08 of 10

Apartment Guide: Best for Getting a Virtual Tour of Apartment Complexes

If you enjoy finding out about layouts and amenities before setting foot in your prospective apartment, Apartment Guide could be for you; most listings go hand-in-hand with Airbnb, photos, videos, and/or 3D tours. 

Apartment Guide is chock-full of filters. You can search an entire state or by nearby colleges or military bases, for example.

What we like: 

• You can write apartment reviews.

What we don’t like:

• Most listings are for apartment complexes from large management companies.

09 of 10

RentHop: Best Apartment Finder Website for Urban Dwellers

If you’re moving to a big U.S. city, it’s a breeze to conduct highly granular apartment searches on RentHop for virtually any neighborhood. You can search through a list view, but the site’s drag- and zoom-enabled map interface is more fun.

RentHop also gives each apartment a HopScore, based on the freshness and quality of the listing and the reputation of the property manager. However, a HopScore lower than 95 percent is seemingly rare.

What we like:

• Each listing comes with very well informed property and neighborhood profiles, right down to names of specific stores and restaurants nearby, and price comparisons with similar apartments in the neighborhood.

What we don’t like:

• This website only serves map metro areas in the U.S.

Tip: RentHop offers RentHop Manager, a mobile app for landlords and brokers, on both iOS and Android. As of October 2018, though, its mobile app for apartment hunters, known as RentHop – Apartments for Rent, is only available for iOS. 10 of 10

Virtual Assistant: Your Voice Search Alternative

If you’re not big on data entry, or you simply find it fun to play around with virtual assistants, you might try using Google Assistant, Siri or Cortana, either in your web browser or as a mobile app. 

What we like:

• You can get results quickly, whether asking for apartments near me or apartments in another city or zip code. 

What we don’t like:

• Your search results with a virtual assistant will likely be limited to apartment finding websites, realtors, and big apartment complexes, so a virtual assistant won’t really save you time, in the end.