Forge vs TurboTenant
Free for you often means fees for your tenants. Forge is $1.10 a door, flat, and our published policy passes the payment processor's fee through to the resident at actual cost - never marked up - with your choice to cover it instead, plus a lease that cites the actual statute.
For solo & small landlords - sourced and dated 2026-07-12The all-in cost, 10 doors
As of 2026-07-12, sourced from turbotenant.com/pricing and TurboTenant's own support documentation. TurboTenant is genuinely free-to-landlord on its entry tier - the cost shows up on the tenant side instead, or in the Pro + REI Hub bundle a landlord upgrades to in order to remove it.
| Row | Forge | TurboTenant |
|---|---|---|
| Landlord subscription (10 doors, annual) | $132/yr flat ($1.10/door/mo) | $0 (Free) or $199/yr (Pro) |
| What tenants pay to pay rent by ACH | Published rate: processor's cost, passed through at cost - never marked up; PM can choose to cover it - online resident payments not yet live | $2/payment on Free (waived on paid plans)¹ |
| Card payment fee | Published rate: processor's cost, passed through at cost - never marked up; PM can choose to cover it - online resident payments not yet live | 3.49%, never waivable¹ |
| Accounting / Schedule E | Coming soon | REI Hub add-on, $15/mo first property + $5/mo each additional, capped $85/mo¹ |
| All-in cost, 10 doors, 1 year | $132/yr | ~$619/yr example (Pro + REI Hub across 5 properties; up to $1,219/yr for more properties) - or $0 landlord cost + ~$240/yr extracted from tenants on Free |
| Tenant screening | In provider onboarding - not yet live (PM sets the applicant fee at launch) | $55 (Free) / $45 (paid), via Rent Butter¹ |
| Lease agreements | Included, state-specific, statute-cited | Historically $59/lease on Free, unlimited on paid; current site centers a $199 forms pack² |
Two ways "free" gets paid for
Path A: stay on Free
You pay $0. Your tenants pay $2 per ACH payment (or 3.49% by card). Across 10 doors paying monthly, that's roughly $240/year taken out of your tenants' pockets for the privilege of paying rent on time.
Path B: upgrade to remove the tenant fee
TurboTenant Pro is $199/year and waives its tenant ACH fee. Add REI Hub for real bookkeeping - $15/mo for the first property plus $5/mo per additional property, capped at $85/mo - and a 5-property portfolio lands around $619/year total, landlord-paid this time, not tenant-paid.
Forge skips both trade-offs: $132/year flat, a published policy of at-cost, never marked-up bank-transfer fees with your choice to cover them yourself, and no separate accounting bill to add on top. Online resident payments are not yet live - that is our published policy, not a fee anyone pays today.
Why we don't chase "free"
TurboTenant wins the top-of-funnel with a $0 sticker price and a large self-managing-landlord brand. We win on all-in cost honesty and tenant experience: what your renters actually pay, how fast your money actually moves, and whether your lease actually cites the law it claims to follow. If you're a solo landlord who cares what your tenants experience - it's your relationship with them, your renewal to protect - that's the comparison that matters.
Bring your doors over, free
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1 Sourced from turbotenant.com/pricing and TurboTenant support documentation (support.turbotenant.com), read live 2026-07-12: Free/Essentials $149/yr, Pro $199/yr (1-10 units); TurboTenant tenant ACH $2/payment on Free, waived on paid plans; card 3.49%, never waivable; screening $55 (Free) / $45 (paid) via Rent Butter; REI Hub accounting $15/mo first property + $5/mo each additional property, capped $85/mo; TurboTenant payouts 5-7 business days (Free) / ~2-4 business days (paid).
2 The historical $59-per-lease Free-plan figure is a widely reported secondary figure; TurboTenant's current pricing page instead foregrounds a $199 Landlord Forms Pack. We could not independently reconfirm the exact current per-lease Free price as of 2026-07-12 - treat the $59 figure as historical, not current.
Figures are for general comparison, not a quote, and may change after this date. Not affiliated with or endorsed by TurboTenant.
Related reading: Tenant Payment Fees, Platform by Platform and What Property Management Software Actually Costs in 2026.