Buildium pricing 2026: plans, ePay fees and add-ons
2026-10-27 · 8 min read
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It's Tuesday at a small property management office with about forty doors. Rent came in last week, mostly. Two tenants paid by check, one paid half through Venmo, and one hasn't paid and isn't answering. Meanwhile a dishwasher leak came in by voicemail, a second request came by text to your cell, and an owner emailed asking for last month's statement. You've been tracking it all in a spreadsheet and QuickBooks, and Buildium keeps coming up. Before you move everything over, you want to know what Buildium pricing really comes to once the per-transaction fees are added in.
I checked Buildium's pricing page on October 27, 2026. Every number below comes from that page. Pricing pages change, so look again before you sign up.
Buildium pricing at a glance
Buildium has three plans. Each one is listed as "starting at" a monthly price, with a 14-day free trial that doesn't need a credit card.
| Plan | Price on Buildium's page | What the page says it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | Starting at $65/month | Basic accounting, maintenance and leasing, basic communications, a built-in assistant, standard and bulk reporting |
| Growth | Starting at $202/month | Everything in Essential, plus more customization, reporting automation, enhanced tenant screening, lower eSignature and EFT fees, business analytics |
| Premium | Starting at $420/month | Everything in Growth, plus Open API, free inspections, unlimited eSignatures, a year of free incoming EFT, and the full automation suite |
The page leaves a few things out. It doesn't explain how the price climbs above "starting at," or how unit count affects it, and it shows no annual rate or contract minimum. If you manage more than 5,000 units or run a community association, the FAQ says to call sales at 877-396-7876. Growth and Premium also require Buildium's paid onboarding service, where they import your data and build a training plan. The page doesn't list a price for onboarding, so ask about it before you choose a plan.
The fees that change the real monthly bill
The plan price is only part of the bill. Rent payments, screening and lease signing each carry a per-use fee, and the fee depends on your plan:
| Fee | Essential | Growth | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Incoming EFT (rent paid by bank transfer) | $2.35 per transaction | $1.35 per transaction | Free for the first 12 months, then $0.60 |
| Outgoing EFT | $0.99 per transaction | $0.99 per transaction | $0.99 per transaction |
| Credit card payments | 2.99% per transaction | 2.99% per transaction | 2.99% per transaction |
| Bank account setup | $99 per account | 10 free, then $99 each | 100 free, then $99 each |
| eSignature | $5 per document | $1 per document | Unlimited, included |
| Tenant screening | $17 per screening | $17, or $20 enhanced | $17, or $20 enhanced |
The page also lists screening at $35 when the applicant pays. It doesn't say on the pricing page whether the EFT fee falls on you or on the resident, so ask sales how that's set up for your account.
What a 40-unit portfolio pays per month
Take forty units where every tenant pays rent by bank transfer once a month. Using the starting prices and the incoming EFT fee alone:
| Plan | Plan price | Incoming EFT for 40 payments | Total before other fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | $65 | $94.00 | $159.00 |
| Growth | $202 | $54.00 | $256.00 |
| Premium, first year | $420 | $0 | $420.00 |
| Premium, after year one | $420 | $24.00 | $444.00 |
Treat that table as a floor. The starting price may be higher at forty units, and owner distributions go out as outgoing EFT at $0.99 each. Leases, renewals and screenings add their own fees on top. For a portfolio this size, Essential and Growth are close enough that the support terms might decide it. Live phone support is only on Growth and Premium. Essential gets ticket support and the self-guided training.
Buildium add-ons and their prices
These are listed on the same page as extra fees:
| Add-on | Price on Buildium's page |
|---|---|
| Renters insurance (MSI) | Starting at $12.00/month, paid through the Resident Center |
| 1099 e-filing (Nelco) | $50 per batch plus $4.50 per form |
| Showings Coordinator (Tenant Turner) | Starts at $41/month, varies by unit tier; $25 setup on Essential, waived on Growth and Premium |
| Property inspections (HappyCo) | Essential: $99 setup plus $40 to $95 a month. Included on Growth and Premium |
| Remote check printing (RevSpring) | $30 setup plus $1.50 per check |
| Retail cash payments (PayNearMe) | No price listed |
| EZMail (RevSpring) | No price listed |
| Lumina, Buildium's assistant add-on | Account-specific pricing |
| Priority Support | Add-on on Growth, included in Premium |
Premium customers also get up to $500 in lead credit from All Property Management, subject to conditions on the page.
What Buildium handles on its own
The pricing page lists online payments and autopay, a resident portal, an owners portal, task and work order management, bank reconciliation and financial reports. Under automation it names resident payment reminders, automated tenant screening, returned payment automation, reporting automation and workflow automations. The page's feature list doesn't show which plan each of those sits on, so confirm the ones you care about during the trial. If rent reminders are the reason you're buying, ask that question first.
What a small office still does by hand
Buildium works on whatever reaches it. Most of the hand work sits in front of the software:
- Requests that never touch the portal. Tenants text your cell, leave voicemail, and email whoever they last talked to. Someone has to read each one, decide how urgent it is, and type it into a work order. I compared the two ways of taking these in portal vs text for tenant maintenance requests.
- The after-hours call. A leak at 9 p.m. needs a person, and a slow drip can wait until morning, but from a voicemail you often can't tell which one you've got.
- Chasing the tenants who didn't pay. Reminders before the 1st are easy. The awkward part is the 3rd and the 6th, usually with the same few people. I wrote about why property managers spend the 6th chasing rent, and there's a set of payment reminder messages you can adapt.
- Owner updates. The reports exist, but owners still email asking how their unit is doing, and you end up typing the answer yourself.
Automating around Buildium without moving up a plan
You can cover most of that list with a few small pieces next to the plan you have:
- One intake number and inbox for maintenance. Texts, voicemails and emails get transcribed, tagged by urgency and unit, and handed to you or entered as a work order.
- An after-hours rule that rings your phone for words like leak, flood, no heat or gas, and sends everything else a reply saying when you'll get to it.
- A late-rent sequence on the 2nd, 4th and 6th for whoever still shows a balance, written in your voice, which stops the moment they pay.
- A short monthly note to each owner with rent collected, open work orders and anything you flagged, so they stop emailing to ask.
The page lists Open API under Premium. On Essential or Growth, I build these around the texts, calls and emails before they ever reach Buildium, so they don't depend on the API. Builds start at $500 one-time, then a flat monthly from $99 after an included run-in period, cancellable. With a dozen units and a quiet phone, Buildium's built-in reminders may be all you need, and I'll tell you if that's the case. More on how this works for portfolios is on the property management automation page.
What stays with a person
Some of this shouldn't be automated. Who gets approved for a unit is your decision, made under your screening criteria and the fair housing rules that apply to you, and no reminder sequence should be making it. A tenant who lost a job deserves a phone call before the third automated text. Whether to waive a late fee, send a vendor at midnight or start a formal notice stays with you. So does the conversation with an owner who wants to sell. I automate the sorting and the reminders so your time goes to the calls that need you.
Before you move your portfolio
If you're pricing Buildium, or you're already on it and the phone still runs your week, book a free 20 minute process audit. We'll look at where requests and rent slip through, and whether the fix is a higher plan or a small build around the one you have. Book it here.