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Unitly vs Avail for Canadian landlords
Avail, part of Realtor.com, is built for landlords in the United States. Unitly is built for Canada first. Here is a factual, sourced look at what that difference means for your rentals.
The short version
Avail is a strong product for landlords in the United States, and its free plan is one of the most complete in the industry: unlimited units, listing syndication to what it describes as "the top 19 sites" including Realtor.com, applications and screening, lawyer-reviewed state-specific lease templates with e-signing, rent collection, and maintenance tracking, all at $0. Add a genuinely useful education hub for first-time landlords, and if you manage rentals in the United States, it is a genuinely good choice.
If your rentals are in Canada, the picture changes. Avail's Terms of Use state that the website is provided "for use only by persons located in the United States" (as of July 3, 2026), its tenant screening requires a US SSN or ITIN, its lease templates are US state-specific, its rent payments run on the US ACH network, and its published syndication list contains no Canadian rental sites. Unitly is built for Canadian landlords first: rent collection works in Canada today, bank-transfer rent payments cost your tenants nothing, and everything is free for your first 5 active units.
Side by side
| Feature | Unitly | Avail |
|---|---|---|
| Available in Canada | Yes. Built for Canadian landlords first. Rent collection works in Canada today, with US support coming. | Their Terms of Use state the website is provided "for use only by persons located in the United States" (as of July 3, 2026). |
| Price for a small landlord | Free for your first 5 active units, with every feature included. Then a flat $5/mo for 6 to 10 units, and $1 per unit beyond 10. | Free "Unlimited" plan: $0 with unlimited units. The paid "Unlimited Plus" tier is $9 per unit per month (as of July 3, 2026). |
| What the free tier includes | Everything. Every feature is included on every tier, including the free one. | One of the most complete free tiers in the industry: unlimited units, listing syndication, applications and screening, state-specific leases with e-signing, rent collection, and maintenance tracking (as of July 3, 2026). |
| Tenant fee to pay rent | Nothing for bank transfers, and no platform fee on rent. Card payments carry a processing surcharge where local law allows. | $2.50 per bank-transfer (ACH) payment on the free plan, waived only when the landlord subscribes to Unlimited Plus at $9 per unit per month. Card payments are 3.5% on all plans, paid by the tenant, and cannot be waived (as of July 3, 2026). |
| Where rent money settles | Directly in your bank account. Unitly never holds your rent. | Collected through Avail's rent-payment system, which runs on the US ACH network, then paid out on the timelines below (as of July 3, 2026). |
| Payout timing | Rent settles directly to your bank on standard bank-transfer timelines; Unitly is never a stop along the way. | Their published numbers: 3 to 5 business days for standard ACH. Next-business-day "FastPay" is on Unlimited Plus only, covers bank payments only, and requires the tenant to pay before 2:00 PM Central (as of July 3, 2026). |
| Lease documents | Not yet for templates and e-signing; both are on our roadmap. Today you upload your own signed lease documents and Unitly tracks dates, rent, deposits, and renewals. | Lawyer-reviewed, state-specific US lease templates with locally generated clauses (LocalAssist) and e-signing, included even on the free plan, which is more than most rivals include free. No Canadian provinces (as of July 3, 2026). |
| Tenant screening | Not yet. On our roadmap. | The application itself is free. Credit, criminal, and eviction reports are $30 each or $55 for all three, paid by the applicant by default; Avail notes pricing is set by TransUnion and varies by property location. Requires a US SSN or ITIN (as of July 3, 2026). |
| Maintenance requests | Yes. Tenants report issues with photos; you track every request from open to resolved. | Maintenance tracking is included, even on the free plan (as of July 3, 2026). |
| Move-in and move-out inspections | Yes. Room-by-room condition reports with photos, sign-off from both parties, and printable reports. | Not covered by the sources we checked, so we make no claim either way. |
| Mobile app | Yes. A native app for tenants and landlords on iOS and Android, plus the full product on the web. Tenants get their own app for rent, maintenance requests, and messages. | No stand-alone native app as of July 2026. Their own support site says: "we do not currently offer a stand-alone native application in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store." |
| Listing tools | A shareable public listing page for each vacancy, with inquiries collected for you. Syndication to listing networks is not yet available; it is on our roadmap. | Syndication to what Avail describes as "the top 19 sites", including Realtor.com, on the free plan. The published list (Zumper, Padmapper, Walkscore, Realtor.com, ApartmentList, and more) contains no Canadian rental sites (as of July 3, 2026). |
| Phone support | No phone line. Email support from a small independent team that reads every message, usually answered within a couple of business days. | Email, phone, and chat, Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 6:30 PM Central Time, per their support site's published hours (as of July 3, 2026). A phone line at all is more than many rivals offer. |
All Avail details above are their own published figures as of July 3, 2026; the sources are listed at the bottom of this page. "Not yet" means the feature is on Unitly's roadmap but has not shipped.
The arithmetic on tenant fees
Platform fees on rent look small until you add them up. On Avail's free plan, a tenant pays $2.50 per bank-transfer rent payment, which is $30 a year for a tenant paying monthly. The only way to remove that fee is for the landlord to subscribe to Unlimited Plus at $9 per unit per month: for a landlord with 10 units, that is $90 a month, or $1,080 a year, to waive a $2.50 fee. The 3.5% card fee, paid by the tenant, cannot be waived on any plan. Those are Avail's published figures as of July 3, 2026, and they are US figures, since Avail's terms limit the website to use in the United States.
With Unitly, bank-transfer rent payments cost tenants nothing on every tier, including the free one, and 10 units costs $5 a month rather than $90. There is no platform cut: rent settles directly in your bank account, and Unitly never holds it. We would rather the person paying rent not pay a fee to do it.
Common questions
Can I use Avail in Canada?
Avail's own Terms of Use (section 14, "Geographic Restrictions", last modified March 4, 2025) state: "We provide this Website for use only by persons located in the United States." The same terms say the website is "offered and available to Users who are 18 years of age or older, and reside in the United States or any of its territories or possessions." The feature details point the same way: tenant screening requires a US SSN or ITIN, the lease templates are US state-specific, rent payments run on the US ACH network, and the published syndication list contains no Canadian rental sites. If your rentals are in Canada, Avail is not built for you.
Does Avail have a mobile app?
As of July 2026, no. Avail's own support site says: "we do not currently offer a stand-alone native application in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store." Unitly does: tenants and landlords get a native app on iOS and Android, plus the full product on the web.
Is Unitly really free for 5 units?
Yes. Your first 5 active units are free with every feature included: rent collection, maintenance requests, inspections, messaging, scheduling, and income and expense tracking with tax-ready export. Units 6 to 10 are a flat $5 a month, and each unit beyond 10 adds $1 a month. There are no per-feature upsells; every tier has the same features.
What does Avail have that Unitly does not?
A few real things. Avail offers lawyer-reviewed, state-specific US lease templates with locally generated clauses and e-signing, included even on its free plan. It also offers applicant-paid tenant screening with credit, criminal, and eviction reports, listing syndication to what it describes as "the top 19 sites" including Realtor.com, CreditBoost rent reporting to TransUnion ($3.95 per month, paid by the tenant), phone support, and US coverage generally. Unitly does not have these yet: tenant screening, lease templates and e-signing, listing syndication, and US rent collection are on our roadmap. Today, landlords upload their own signed lease documents, and each vacancy gets a shareable public listing page rather than a push to listing networks.
Who is Avail right for?
US landlords, especially those just starting out. Avail is part of Realtor.com (Move, Inc.), its free plan is one of the most complete in the industry (unlimited units, listing syndication, applications and screening, state-specific leases with e-signing, rent collection, and maintenance tracking), and its education hub is genuinely useful for first-time landlords. If you manage rentals in the United States, it is a strong choice. If you manage rentals in Canada, most of those headline features do not apply, and Unitly is built for exactly that gap.
Sources
All Avail figures on this page were verified against avail.com and Avail's own support site as of July 3, 2026. If something here is out of date, email hello@unitly.cloud and we will correct it.
- Avail pricing page
- Avail Terms of Use, section 14 "Geographic Restrictions" (last modified March 4, 2025)
- Avail support: "What fees do tenants pay when using Avail?"
- Avail FastPay page
- Avail support: "FastPay processing timeframe"
- Avail online rent collection page
- Avail support: "How much is the application fee on Avail?"
- Avail credit and background check page
- Avail support: "Background checks for international applicants"
- Avail support: "Does Avail have a mobile app?"
- Avail support: "Contact Avail customer care"
Managing rentals in Canada? Unitly is free for your first 5 active units, with every feature included.
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