The 10 Best Apartment Websites of 2023

Looking for an apartment? Here are your go-to sites for finding the right space

By
Jacqueline Emigh
Jacqueline Emigh
Writer
  • Emerson College
  • Brandeis University
Jacqueline Emigh is an award-winning writer whose writing appears in PC World, PC Magazine, and more. She's also held editorial positions at Newsbytes, ZDNet, and others.
lifewire's editorial guidelines
Updated on January 4, 2023
Reviewed by
Christine Baker
Reviewed by Christine Baker
Christine Baker is a marketing consultant with experience working for a variety of clients. Her expertise includes social media, web development, and graphic design.
lifewire's editorial guidelines

Finding an apartment used to mean reading ads in newspapers and driving around town to check out potential places to live. These days, apartment-finding websites make the search easy and convenient. Here are the top 10 apartment-finding sites that will help you select the perfect new dwelling at the right price.

01
of 10

Rent.com: Best Website to Find Apartments Using Filters

What We Like

  • 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.

  • Many listings are for apartment complexes with multiple units available.

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

Many apartment complexes on the site offer virtual tours.

02
of 10

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

What We Like

  • 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.

This apartment finder provides highly specific information about apartment complexes. Beyond a detailed overview of property features such as 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. 

03
of 10

Zumper: Most Price-Sensitive Apartment Hunting Site

What We Like

  • Has unique search filters, such as 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, but the amount of information varies considerably from one apartment or property to the next.

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.

04
of 10

Hotpads: Most Feature-Packed Apartment Finder

What We Like

  • Shows you how long the apartment has been listed on the site.

  • Lots of features on the site.

What We Don't Like

  • Filters are more plentiful on some other sites.

During your search, this feature-rich site shows you a map of the area alongside a list view. In the map view, select building icons to see details and photos of specific apartment listings. Photos also include Google Street View.

Built-in search filters include the type of dwelling, price range, number of baths and bedrooms, rental types, and property types. 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, save listings as favorites.

05
of 10

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

What We Like

  • Using a "Plan Your Commute" search filter, 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.

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, search for cheap apartment rentals, luxury properties, or elevator buildings.

By default, you receive a map view. 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.

06
of 10

Craiglist: One of the Best Websites to Find Apartments Worldwide

What We Like

  • The site includes a decent set of filters. 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.

A longtime 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 opt to post location maps and photo and video tours of the apartment. Dates for open houses are also easy to find.

Although Craigslist doesn't have 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 for both Android and iOS.

07
of 10

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

What We Like

  • You can write apartment reviews.

What We Don't Like

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

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. Search an entire state or by nearby colleges or military bases, for example.

08
of 10

RentHop: Best Apartment-Finder Website for Urban Dwellers

What We Like

  • Each listing comes with very well informed property and neighborhood profiles, right down to names of specific stores and restaurants nearby.

  • Offers price comparisons with similar apartments in the neighborhood.

What We Don't Like

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

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. 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 property manager's reputation. However, a HopScore lower than 95 percent is seemingly rare.

RentHop has a RentHop Manager app for landlords and brokers on both iOS and Android, as well as a RentHop Apartments for Rent app for iOS and Android.

09
of 10

PadMapper: Most Map-Happy Website

What We Like

  • Includes features for hiding listings of no interest to you.

What We Don't Like

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

PadMapper uses listings from websites such as 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 also available for Canada.

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.

10
of 10

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

What We Like

  • 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 ultimately save you much time.

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