RentLinx Shut Down in 2024: What Happened and What to Use Instead
RentLinx stopped syndicating on April 15, 2024. What happened, AppFolio's stated reason, how to handle a RentLinx charge and what to use now.
By Yas Rajah
· 6 min read
Contents
RentLinx, the rental-listing syndication service that let landlords push one vacancy out to dozens of apartment sites, stopped syndicating listings on April 15, 2024, and its owner AppFolio closed account access on April 30, 2024 (RentLinx support centre, archived). It closed for every customer, not just some. If you built your marketing around it, your listings stopped reaching the portals that day.
Here’s the lesson worth more than the news itself: never let a single paid vendor own your distribution. Its users didn’t decide its fate. RentLinx was bought, folded into a larger company’s product, and switched off on that company’s timeline, and the landlords who depended on it got no vote. Replacing it with another tool you can be locked out of just resets the same trap. The real move is to keep your listing distribution in tools you can leave easily, and to run more than one.
What’s changed (October 2026): the rentlinx.com domain no longer belongs to the old service. It now loads an unrelated Indonesian-language gambling page (checked 15 October 2026), so don’t log in or try to cancel there. AppFolio now offers syndication only inside its own software, which has a 50-unit minimum (AppFolio pricing). And people still search for “rentlinx” about 210 times a month in the US, two and a half years after it closed (search-engine data, September 2025 to August 2026).
What was RentLinx?
RentLinx was founded in April 2005 by Jeremy Schneider in San Diego (Schneider, RentLinx blog, archived). Its core product was simple and useful: enter a rental once and RentLinx pushed it out to dozens of apartment-search websites at the same time, then handed you call tracking and lead reports. It also ran its own listings site, Show Me the Rent.
AppFolio bought RentLinx on April 1, 2015. It paid $4.1 million in cash, plus about $1.1 million to staff who stayed on (AppFolio 10-K for 2015). RentLinx kept running as a separate product. It made its free tier paid in January 2017 (more in AppFolio acquires RentLinx), and ran for nine years under AppFolio before it closed.
What should you do about RentLinx shutting down?
Three questions, about ten seconds. The answer depends on whether you're still being charged and what you were using it for.
Question 1 of 3
Are you still seeing a RentLinx charge?
Question 2 of 3
What were you actually using RentLinx for?
Question 3 of 3
How many units are you marketing now?
Your answer
Dispute the charge first, then replace the tool
RentLinx closed every account by April 30, 2024, so a charge after that is worth disputing with your card issuer rather than absorbing. Don't try to cancel through rentlinx.com: the domain now belongs to an unrelated site. Sort the billing, then pick a replacement.
See the replacements →Your answer
You need syndication, not a whole platform
If RentLinx was getting your listings onto the portals, that's the one job you need to replace, and you shouldn't pay per door for it. Don't over-buy a full property-management suite to solve a distribution problem.
Syndicate free →Your answer
At your volume, look at the fuller options
Dozens of units changes the maths: enquiry handling and tracking start to matter as much as distribution, and the per-door pricing of the big suites is worth comparing properly. AppFolio, for one, starts at 50 units and quotes every price.
Compare the alternatives →Get new posts on rental syndication
We'll email you when we publish new guides on rental listing syndication and the tools that replaced RentLinx.
No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Why did RentLinx shut down?
AppFolio’s notice to customers, last updated on February 15, 2024, gave one reason: “AppFolio has made the difficult decision to shut down RentLinx. This decision was not made lightly, however AppFolio is no longer able to offer the level of service that we pride ourselves on to our RentLinx customers.” Its advice was blunt: “Contact your preferred internet listing sites and syndicate directly with them.”
AppFolio didn’t say more than that. What we can add is the timeline. By 2016, RentLinx syndication was “built directly into the AppFolio app” for AppFolio’s own customers, Schneider wrote at the time (RentLinx blog comments, archived). Today AppFolio says its software “automatically syndicates rental listings to major rental platforms including Zillow, Apartments.com, and Zumper” (AppFolio marketing and leasing). So the syndication lives on, but only for AppFolio customers.
For everyone who used RentLinx on its own, such as independent landlords, smaller property managers and agents who wanted cheap, broad syndication without switching their whole stack, that left a gap. Their tool’s fate was decided by AppFolio’s roadmap, not by them.
What AI answers get wrong about the shutdown
When we asked ChatGPT and Gemini “Is RentLinx still working?” on 15 October 2026, both said no, which is right. Gemini added that RentLinx closed “for most users”. That isn’t what AppFolio wrote: the notice said “your RentLinx account will become inactive” on April 15, 2024, with no exceptions. Our own earlier version of this page said “most users” too, and we’ve corrected it.
Seeing a RentLinx.com charge after April 2024?
RentLinx closed every account by April 30, 2024, so a RentLinx charge dated after that isn’t for a working service. Check your records for the original sign-up, then ask your bank or card issuer to dispute the charge. Don’t use rentlinx.com to cancel or to contact support: the domain has changed hands.
What to use instead
You have two directions:
- A syndication tool if RentLinx’s one-listing-everywhere distribution is what you’re missing. 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 listing page, a video and social posts. The free plan covers one active listing, with no credit card; paid plans start at $39 a month for 10 (Reallyo pricing). Reallyo publishes this blog.
- A property management platform if you want accounting, screening and rent collection alongside listings. We break these down by business size in our guide to the best RentLinx alternatives.
The safest replacement is one you can’t be locked out of. Free tools from TurboTenant, Avail and Zillow Rental Manager let you post rentals at no cost, and you can run two or three at once, so no single vendor can strand you again. Add heavier software only when your portfolio needs it, not because a platform pushed you into it. Sign up to Reallyo here.
FAQ
Is RentLinx shutting down? It already has. RentLinx stopped syndicating listings on April 15, 2024 and closed account access on April 30, 2024. If you relied on it to syndicate rentals, you need a replacement that posts to the major portals.
Why did RentLinx shut down? AppFolio, which bought RentLinx in 2015, said it was “no longer able to offer the level of service that we pride ourselves on to our RentLinx customers.” AppFolio already syndicated listings inside its own software, so the standalone product was the part it dropped.
What should I use instead of RentLinx? A syndication-first tool that reaches the major rental portals. Reallyo syndicates one active rental free to the 19 sites in its network, including Zillow, Apartments.com and Realtor.com, and adds a listing page, a video and social posts; TurboTenant and Avail also syndicate free. See our RentLinx alternatives breakdown.
Why am I still being charged by RentLinx? A charge labelled RentLinx after April 30, 2024 isn’t for a working service, because every account closed by then. Dispute it with your card issuer, and don’t try to cancel through rentlinx.com, which now belongs to an unrelated site.
Does AppFolio still syndicate listings? Yes, for its own customers. AppFolio says its software syndicates rentals to Zillow, Apartments.com and Zumper. Its pricing page lists Core at $1.49 a unit a month, with a 50-unit minimum; see AppFolio pricing and alternatives.
Free syndication & listing marketing
List Once. Syndicate and Market your listings. Everywhere.
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.
Sources
- RentLinx, “Sunsetting of RentLinx Service” (last updated 15 February 2024): archived; rentlinx.com shutdown banner: archived 4 April 2024
- AppFolio 10-K for 2015, RentLinx acquisition note: SEC EDGAR; press release: AppFolio announcement
- Jeremy Schneider, “Big News! RentLinx Acquired by AppFolio!”, 8 April 2015: archived
- AppFolio marketing and leasing and pricing pages, checked 15 October 2026
- ChatGPT and Gemini answers to “Is RentLinx still working?”, one run each, 15 October 2026
