The honest comparison - sourced and dated

Forge vs AppFolio vs MagicDoor

Three AI-era property management platforms, compared without spin. Forge wins on price, compliance depth, and what your residents pay to pay rent - and we will tell you exactly where the others are still ahead.

Pricing, side by side

As of 2026-07-12. AppFolio publishes no per-unit rates or minimums - its site is quote-only ("Contact us for details"); only the 50-unit floor on Core is confirmed on its own pricing page. MagicDoor figures are read live from magicdoor.com/pricing.

ForgeAppFolioMagicDoor
Price per unit / month$1.10Quote-only¹$2.50 (Advanced)²
Monthly minimumNoneImplied by 50-unit floor (rate unpublished)¹$20 flat (Starter, <=10 leases)²
Units required to onboardNone50 units (Core)¹None
Onboarding / setup feeNoneUnpublished¹$500 (Advanced)²
ContractMonth-to-monthAnnual typical (industry-reported)Starter: none - Advanced: optional - Pro: 1-yr²
Free trial / entry tier30-day full accessDemo only$20/mo Starter - no free tier²

What you would actually pay

Monthly subscription only (excludes payment and onboarding fees). Forge has a published price at every size; AppFolio does not publish one, so anything shown for AppFolio below 50 units does not exist as a real plan, and figures above that are third-party estimates, not AppFolio's own numbers.

50 units

Forge
$55 / mo
AppFolio
Below AppFolio's 50-unit floor - quote required
MagicDoor
$125 / mo

200 units

Forge
$220 / mo
AppFolio
~$298+ / mo (estimated)¹
MagicDoor
$500 / mo

1,000 units

Forge
$1,100 / mo
AppFolio
~$1,490+ / mo (estimated)¹
MagicDoor
$2,500 / mo

What your residents pay to pay rent

The fee residents actually feel every month. Forge's resident ACH fee is $0 on every plan - it is never a line item.

ForgeAppFolioMagicDoor
ACH / bank-transfer rent payment$0, always~$2.49 per eCheck (widely reported)¹$5.00 (Starter) / $3.50 (Advanced)²
Card rent paymentProcessor rate, pass-through - never marked up~2.99% + $0.25 (widely reported)¹Not publicly broken out²

Feature by feature

CapabilityForgeAppFolioMagicDoor
AI built into the base price
6 agents, every plan
Realm-X, higher tiers
Genie, every plan
AI you can trust on money & legal
Deterministic-first, explainable, human-approve
Agentic
Agentic / autonomous
State-specific statutory compliance engine
All 50 states + DC, cited to statute; CO deepest
Generic, not statute-specific
Generic, not statute-specific
Owner-acquisition engine (lead scraper + CRM + AI drip)
Finds FSBO/FRBO owners for you
CRM only - no lead-gen
Owner Wealth Optimizer (sell-vs-hold)
Tenant screening (credit, criminal, eviction; applicant-pays)
AI fraud analysis + FCRA adverse-action letter generator built in; bureau reports (credit/criminal/eviction) in provider onboarding - not yet live
Trust accounting (trust/operating separation + 3-way reconciliation)
Statutory trust layer; QuickBooks syncs the corporate GL
1099s (owners + vendors) + monthly owner report bundle
Prepare 1099s + bulk CSV export today; IRS e-file in development
Via IRS IRIS
Listing syndication
MITS-style feed built; each ILS network (Zillow, Apartments.com, Zumper, Realtor.com) requires its own partnership - not yet live on any
Zillow + Realtor.com + Apartments.com + MITS
Two-way SMS + owner repair-approval workflow + installable app
Built - activating: SMS awaits carrier registration (no per-text fee when live); owner-approval + install polish in rollout
$0.15/text on Starter²
Other verticals (commercial, student, affordable)
Residential-focused today; other verticals on roadmap
Proven scale / track record
New - pilot stage
22,096 customers, 9.4M units, FY2025¹
Only 2 Capterra / 1 G2 review as of 2026-07-12²

Where AppFolio and MagicDoor are ahead today

We would rather you hear it from us. Both AppFolio and MagicDoor have a materially longer operating track record, and both serve verticals Forge has not built for yet - commercial, student, and affordable housing. AppFolio in particular has real scale (22,096 customers and 9.4M units as of FY2025¹) that a new entrant cannot match on day one. Getting a listing feed accepted by an ILS network - Zillow, Apartments.com, Zumper, Realtor.com - is a partnership/BD process for every vendor, not purely an engineering one - Forge's MITS-style feed is built and we're pursuing those partnerships, but we are not confirmed live on any of them yet.

Where Forge wins

Forge is the lowest published price at every size with no minimum and no onboarding fee - AppFolio does not publish a price to compare against, and will not even quote you below 50 units. It is the only one of the three that encodes state-specific statutes (deposit clocks, pay-or-quit notices, late-fee caps) into the workflow for all 50 states and DC. Residents never pay a fee to pay rent by ACH, on every plan, with no tier gate. It actively finds new owner clients for you with a county-records lead engine, gives owners a sell-vs-hold Wealth Optimizer, and its AI is deterministic-first and explainable, so it never acts on money or legal matters without you.

See it on your own portfolio

30 days of full access, no credit card. Free white-glove migration from AppFolio or MagicDoor - see how it works.

1 AppFolio: appfolio.com/pricing is quote-only and publishes no per-unit rates or minimums; the 50-unit floor on Core and FY2025 scale figures (22,096 customers, 9.4M units, $951M revenue) are from AppFolio's own Q4/FY2025 investor release (ir.appfolioinc.com, Jan 29 2026). Per-unit price/minimum estimates and the ~$2.49 eCheck / ~2.99%+$0.25 card fees are widely reported by third parties, not published by AppFolio - treat as estimates. Checked 2026-07-12.

2 MagicDoor: magicdoor.com/pricing, read live 2026-07-12. Review counts from Capterra and G2 listings, same date.

Figures are for general comparison, not a quote, and may change after this date.

Common questions

How does Forge pricing compare to AppFolio?
The two price differently, so compare structures rather than rates. Forge is a flat $1.10 per unit per month with no monthly minimum, no minimum unit count, and $0 resident ACH. AppFolio publishes no rates at all - its pricing page is quote-only and states that a minimum spend and a 50 unit minimum apply to its Core plan. That means the practical difference for a smaller portfolio is not a percentage, it is that Forge has no floor to clear and no unit threshold to meet before you can buy.
Does AppFolio have a minimum?
Yes. AppFolio's own pricing page states a 50-unit minimum on its Core plan, so smaller or growing managers pay for capacity they do not use. Forge has no unit minimum and no monthly minimum.
What is the cheapest property management software for a small portfolio?
For small residential portfolios, Forge is typically the lowest cost: $1.10 per unit per month, no minimum, no onboarding fee, and a 30-day full-access trial. A 50-unit manager pays about $55/month on Forge versus MagicDoor's $125/month (50 x $2.50) - AppFolio's Core plan will not take a 50-unit account at all without a custom quote.
Forge vs MagicDoor: which is better for compliance depth?
Both are AI-native, but MagicDoor is $2.50 per unit with a $500 onboarding fee (Advanced plan) and treats every state generically. Forge is $1.10 per unit, no onboarding fee, and encodes state-specific statutes (deposits, pay-or-quit, late-fee caps) into the workflow for all 50 states and DC, every value cited to its statute, with Colorado the deepest.
Where are AppFolio and MagicDoor still ahead of Forge?
Both have a materially longer operating track record and serve verticals Forge does not yet touch (commercial, student, affordable housing). AppFolio in particular has scale (9.4M units, 22,096 customers as of FY2025) that a new entrant cannot match yet. Getting a listing feed accepted by any ILS network - Zillow, Apartments.com, Zumper, Realtor.com - is a partnership/BD process for every vendor, not a pure engineering one; Forge has built the feed and is pursuing those partnerships but is not confirmed live on any of them yet.