How to Post Rentals on Apartments.com (Step by Step, 2026)

To post a rental on Apartments.com, sign up for its free Rental Manager, add the property’s address, rent, beds, baths and photos, and publish. For properties with 1 to 4 units the basic listing is free and stays live for 21 days, which you can refresh for another 21. A Premium upgrade costs a price Apartments.com sets by state and market, lasts 30 days, and buys a bigger ad and more search impressions. Properties with 5 or more units go through Apartments.com’s sales team instead (Apartments.com, checked 15 October 2026). For every paid option, from Premium to the Silver-to-Diamond packages, see how much it costs to list on Apartments.com.

Apartments.com belongs in every rental’s marketing, but it’s a channel, not the whole plan. Renters plan to research about 10 properties and seriously consider three (Apartments.com’s own Q4 2025 survey). Here’s how to post well on Apartments.com, and how to reach the renters who never open it.

What’s changed (October 2026): nothing in the packages. We re-read Apartments.com’s listing page and help centre on 15 October 2026 and the free and Premium tiers match the version archived in May 2026. What we added is the detail the September version left out: the 21-day limit, the 1-to-4-unit cap on the free package, and the fact that Apartments.com doesn’t publish a Premium price. Zillow does: its upgrade is a flat $39.99 for up to 90 days (Zillow help). When we asked ChatGPT and Gemini what an Apartments.com listing costs, both answered correctly.

Is it free to list on Apartments.com?

Yes, for small landlords. Apartments.com’s own answer is “Yes! A basic listing on Apartments.com is free.” Here’s how the two packages for 1-to-4-unit properties compare:

	Free	Premium
Price	$0	Set by state and market, shown when you upgrade
How long	21 days, refreshable for 21 more	30 days from purchase
Reach	6 websites in the Apartments.com Network	6 websites, “maximize your visibility”
Ad	Standard size	Bigger, more prominent; up to 9x more search impressions (Apartments.com’s figure)
Media	Photos	Up to 6 videos (1GB) and Matterport 3D tours

Sources: listing page, Premium help article and listing duration, checked 15 October 2026. Apartments.com also says a published listing now appears on its partner site Homes.com (Rental Manager).

Sort order is the real reason to weigh Premium. Apartments.com says “paid ads appear first, followed by user-submitted listings using Rental Tools, and then all other user-submitted listings in a randomized order.” A free listing is shown, but below every paid one.

How to post a rental on Apartments.com

1. Create a Rental Manager account. Sign up with your email at Apartments.com Rental Manager.
2. Add the property and unit, then the details renters filter by: rent, beds and baths, square footage, deposit, pet policy, parking, laundry and available date. An ad won’t go live without five things: an address Google Maps can validate, an owner or management company on file, a phone number and email, at least one photo, and at least one unit with square footage, beds, baths and price (Apartments.com help).
3. Upload real photos of the actual unit, every room, in daylight. 77% of renters want to see unit-specific photos, and for half of them a listing without photos of the specific unit is a deal-breaker (Apartments.com survey).
4. Add a video walkthrough if you go Premium: Apartments.com lists uploads of up to 6 videos under the Premium package. A listing video also works on social and on the listing’s own page.
5. Write a specific headline naming the standout feature, and complete the amenities list. On a crowded results page, the clearest listing wins the click.
6. Choose free or Premium. Start free. Upgrade only a unit that isn’t moving, since Premium lasts 30 days and doesn’t come with a published price.
7. Publish, then refresh at day 21. Apartments.com emails you before the listing lapses; refreshing keeps it live another 21 days. Changes take up to two hours to show.

The renters Apartments.com won’t reach

Use the reach tool above: any single portal, Apartments.com included, leaves most renters unreached. After you post there, get the same listing onto the Zillow Rentals Network, Realtor.com and the other portals, give it its own page for Google, and push it to social. The US rental vacancy rate was 7.3% in the second quarter of 2026 (Census), and on a $2,000-a-month rental every extra 15 days on the market costs about $1,000 (Hemlane). Stacked reach is the difference between a fast lease and a listing that lingers.

Typing the same listing into every portal is the bottleneck. What we’d do: post once with Reallyo, which sends rental listings to partner portals including Apartments.com, Zillow and Realtor.com, and makes a listing video and social posts from the same details. The free plan covers one active listing, syndication included. It’s for US listings only, and acceptance depends on each partner’s rules.

FAQ

How do I list a rental on Apartments.com? Sign up for Apartments.com Rental Manager, add the property and full details (rent, beds and baths, pets, parking, available date), upload real photos of the unit, write a specific headline, choose the free or Premium package, and publish. Refresh the free listing every 21 days.

Is it free to post on Apartments.com? Yes, for properties with 1 to 4 units. The basic listing is free and runs 21 days on six Apartments.com Network sites, and you can refresh it. Premium costs extra, priced by state and market, and lasts 30 days. Properties with 5 or more units are handled by Apartments.com’s sales team.

How much does Premium cost on Apartments.com? Apartments.com doesn’t publish one price. It says “Pricing for Premium varies depending on your state and market, and you will be prompted with a curated price when the feature is activated.” Premium lasts 30 days from purchase (checked 15 October 2026).

How long does an Apartments.com listing stay active? 21 days. Apartments.com emails you during that time with the option to refresh, which keeps the listing up for another 21 days.

How do I get more leads from an Apartments.com listing? Complete every field, lead with real unit photos, and write a specific headline. Then don’t rely on one portal: add Zillow, Realtor.com, a listing page and social so renters who skip Apartments.com still find the unit.

Is Apartments.com enough on its own? No. Renters plan to research about 10 properties before shortlisting three, and paid ads sit above free listings in Apartments.com’s own results. Treat it as one strong channel and syndicate to the other major portals too.

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Reallyo sends your rental to Zillow, Apartments.com and the rest of its 19-site rental network, then turns it into a listing page, a video, social posts and flyers. Free for one active listing, no card.

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Sources

• Free and Premium packages (1 to 4 units; 21 days; 6 network sites; Premium priced by state and market; sort order): Apartments.com list your property, checked 15 October 2026; unchanged from the May 2026 archive.
• Premium lasts 30 days: Apartments.com help, Premium listing (updated 1 August 2025).
• 21-day listing life and refresh: Apartments.com help, listing duration.
• Five requirements for an ad to go live: Apartments.com help, why is my ad offline.
• Listings also appear on Homes.com: Apartments.com Rental Manager.
• Zillow Premium $39.99 for up to 90 days: Zillow Rental Manager help, checked 15 October 2026.
• Renter search behaviour (77% want unit photos; half call missing unit photos a deal-breaker; 10 researched, 3 considered): Apartments.com Q4 2025 renter survey.
• Rental vacancy rate (7.3%, Q2 2026): US Census Bureau HVS.
• Cost of vacancy ($1,000 per 15 extra days on a $2,000 rental): Hemlane.