AppFolio Acquires RentLinx: The 2015 Deal and What Came Next

Update (October 2026): AppFolio bought RentLinx on April 1, 2015, and closed it nine years later. RentLinx stopped syndicating listings on April 15, 2024, and account access ended on April 30, 2024. AppFolio’s notice to customers gave its reason in one line: it was “no longer able to offer the level of service that we pride ourselves on to our RentLinx customers” (RentLinx support centre, archived April 2024).

The price, which neither company disclosed in 2015, is in AppFolio’s annual report: $4.1 million in cash, plus about $1.1 million paid to staff who stayed on (AppFolio 10-K for 2015). One more thing has changed since: the rentlinx.com domain now loads an unrelated Indonesian-language gambling page (checked 15 October 2026), so don’t type a password there. The full story of the closure is in RentLinx shut down in 2024, and the replacements are compared in the best RentLinx alternatives.

Our original report from April 2015 follows, corrected against the primary sources.

Introduction (8 April 2015)

AppFolio announced today that it has bought RentLinx, the rental listing syndication service. The deal closed on April 1, 2015 (AppFolio press release). AppFolio’s chief executive, Brian Donahoo, said: “We’re thrilled to welcome RentLinx to the AppFolio family.”

About RentLinx

Jeremy Schneider started RentLinx in San Diego in April 2005 (Schneider’s announcement on the RentLinx blog, archived). AppFolio’s release describes the product: RentLinx “syndicates rental listings to dozens of the most popular apartment search websites with a single click,” adds tracking and lead tools, and runs the apartment search site Show Me The Rent.

Schneider’s own post opened: “I’m beyond proud and excited to announce that we have been acquired by AppFolio as of April 1st, 2015!”

Key points of the acquisition

From Schneider’s post and AppFolio’s release:

• RentLinx would keep running on its own. “We will still operate as an independent service and continue to grow and improve.”
• Some RentLinx tools would move into AppFolio. AppFolio planned to offer its customers “the advanced vacancy marketing features found in RentLinx”.
• More engineering. “We’ll be hiring more developers, adding new features and generally improving everything.”
• No double entry for AppFolio users. Schneider wrote that they “won’t have to maintain separate accounts as your listings will begin flowing automatically.”
• AppFolio’s software offered to RentLinx users, including online applications, resident screening, rent collection, mobile inspections and accounting.

Why AppFolio wanted it

AppFolio’s 2015 annual report gives the reason: it bought RentLinx “to expand the Value+ services offered to our property manager customers, giving them the ability to better spend, track and optimize their marketing investments.” It also called the deal “not material” to its financial statements. For a company that listed on Nasdaq two months later, RentLinx was a small add-on: a syndication engine it could build into its own product.

What happened next

The promises above mostly came true, then ran out:

1. October 2016: RentLinx announced the end of its free tier after “the last 10 years”, with paid plans from January 2017 (RentLinx blog, archived). In the comments, Schneider told an AppFolio customer that syndication was “built directly into the AppFolio app” at no extra cost.
2. Early 2017: the RentLinx homepage counter fell from 61,919 companies in late January to 11,136 by June (January and June snapshots).
3. April 2024: syndication stopped on April 15 and logins ended on April 30. AppFolio told customers to “contact your preferred internet listing sites and syndicate directly with them.”
4. Today: AppFolio says its own software “automatically syndicates rental listings to major rental platforms including Zillow, Apartments.com, and Zumper” (AppFolio marketing and leasing). That’s for AppFolio customers, and its Core plan carries a 50-unit minimum (AppFolio pricing). More in AppFolio pricing and cheaper alternatives.

The lesson we’d draw from the whole arc: the syndication you rely on should be one you can leave in an afternoon. If RentLinx’s distribution is the part you miss, Reallyo sends rentals to the 19 rental sites in its syndication network, including Zillow, Apartments.com and Realtor.com, and turns the same listing into a video, social posts and a printable flyer. The free plan covers one active listing, and paid plans start at $39 a month for 10 (Reallyo pricing). Reallyo publishes this blog. Sign up here.

FAQ

Did AppFolio acquire RentLinx? Yes. AppFolio completed the purchase on April 1, 2015 and announced it on April 8. It paid $4.1 million in cash, plus about $1.1 million to RentLinx staff who stayed on, according to its 2015 annual report.

How much did AppFolio pay for RentLinx? $4.1 million in cash ($4,073,000), of which $0.5 million went into escrow. AppFolio also paid about $1.1 million to certain employees on condition that they stayed, which brings the total close to $5.2 million. The 2015 press release said only that “terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.”

What happened to RentLinx after the acquisition? AppFolio ran it as a separate product for nine years. RentLinx turned its free tier into paid plans in January 2017, stopped syndicating listings on April 15, 2024, and closed account access on April 30, 2024. See RentLinx shut down in 2024.

Is AppFolio a legit company? Yes. AppFolio was founded in 2006, is based in Santa Barbara, California, and trades on Nasdaq as APPF (AppFolio investor relations).

Why am I still being charged by RentLinx? RentLinx closed every account by April 30, 2024, so a recurring charge labelled RentLinx after that date isn’t for a working service. Ask your card issuer to dispute it. Don’t try to cancel through rentlinx.com: the domain no longer belongs to the old service.

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Sources

• AppFolio press release, 8 April 2015: AppFolio Expands Service Offerings With Acquisition of RentLinx
• AppFolio 10-K for 2015, note on the RentLinx acquisition (price, date, reason): SEC EDGAR
• Jeremy Schneider, “Big News! RentLinx Acquired by AppFolio!”, 8 April 2015: archived
• RentLinx, “New RentLinx Subscription Plans”, 27 October 2016: archived
• RentLinx, “Sunsetting of RentLinx Service” (last updated 15 February 2024): archived
• AppFolio marketing and leasing and pricing pages, and investor relations overview, checked 15 October 2026

Related RentLinx posts

• RentLinx shut down in 2024: what happened and what to use instead
• The best RentLinx alternatives
• AppFolio pricing and cheaper alternatives for small property managers