What people complain about in AppFolio
29 reported problems name AppFolio as what the person is currently using. Below is what they said was missing, and what they resorted to instead.
- Complaints
- 29
- Avg severity
- 3.2/5
- Would pay to fix
- 2
- Industries
- 2
What they wish it did
Capabilities people described needing that AppFolio does not give them, taken from the highest-scoring problems first. These are individual accounts written in each person’s own terms, so two entries may describe the same underlying gap in different words.
- Reliable integration software that preserves data fidelity between property management and accounting platforms
- Centralized request hub with automatic contractor assignment and tenant notification
- Scheduled reminders for all follow-up steps
- Automated work order timeline tracking with status change logging and metric calculations
- Pre-built analytics dashboard for property maintenance performance
- Automatic PDF to structured data conversion for property management documents
- Email-to-spreadsheet data extraction for property managers
- AppFolio lacks flexible cross-unit cost reporting that eliminates manual Excel work.
- Property management software with built-in screen reader compatibility and high-contrast visual design
- Integrated remote inspection guidance system with live video and annotation capabilities for visually impaired supervisors
- Dedicated maintenance request portal with photo submission
- Centralized photo storage linked to work orders
- Automatic receipt capture and per-unit cost tracking
- Automated reservation scheduling and waitlist management that replaces manual spreadsheet tracking
- Customizable dashboard builder with cross-property metric aggregation for Appfolio data
- Self-service vendor portal for company information management
- Automated data synchronization between vendor profiles and property management systems
- software with intelligent, nuanced tenant communication built natively into the platform replacing external email
- Workflow automation without requiring expensive plan upgrades or full software migrations
- Automated appliance lifecycle and warranty tracking system with predictive alerts
- Automated lease renewal reminders and document generation
- Per-property expense tracking with receipt capture and tax-ready reports
- Centralized maintenance request intake and automated vendor assignment
- Dedicated tenant communication channel separate from personal SMS
- Automated data import tool that maps fields from source documents to property management software without requiring developer support
What they do instead
The manual processes people built around the gap. A long workaround list is the strongest evidence a problem is real: someone is already paying for it in time. Where several people described the same workaround, it is marked.
- Manually adding expenses to QuickBooks
- screenshots tenant photo and texts plumber
- texts tenant for photo after hours
- forgets to tell tenant about plumber's visit
- requests get buried under other texts
- manually comparing reports, spreadsheets, and timestamps to reconstruct work order timelines
- built a tiny app using vibe coding to track every status change automatically
- re-type data from PDFs and emails into AppFolio/Yardi/Buildium
- re-type data from PDFs and emails into Excel
- exports data to Excel and manually separates it to analyze costs
- Using 50" screen to remotely guide technicians during inspections
- Considering multiple software options to find accessible alternatives
- WhatsApp threads with tenants for maintenance communication
- Photos buried in camera roll
- Repair receipts scattered across email
- management company uses spreadsheets to manage reservations
- Manually contacting each property management company to request information updates
- uses email outside PM platform for tenant communication because no platform gets it right
- uses massive Excel spreadsheet to manage appliance info
- manually tracking lease renewals (forgetting them)
Industries
The problems themselves
Highest opportunity score first.
User loses data when syncing QuickBooks with AppFolio, forcing them to manually re-enter expenses.
4HighProperty ManagementAccounting & Financial ManagementSyncBridge for PropertyLandlord with 6 rental units struggles to track tenant requests and maintenance follow-ups, leading to missed communication and costly no-show fees.
4HighProperty ManagementTask ManagementTenantTask ProProperty management software companies refuse to serve small-scale property managers with only 40 properties, leaving them without adequate support or contact options.
4HighProperty ManagementGeneral Business ServicesPropertyPilot LiteProperty managers using AppFolio cannot track work order status timelines to measure response times, owner responsiveness, vendor performance, or operational improvements.
4HighProperty ManagementReporting & AnalyticsMaintLog Timeline TrackerProperty managers using AppFolio/Yardi/Buildium still manually re-type data from PDFs and emails into their systems or spreadsheets, wasting time and introducing errors.
3MediumProperty ManagementDocument ManagementDocumentPipe for Property ManagersAppFolio's reporting is too rigid, forcing time-consuming manual data manipulation in Excel to analyze costs between units.
4HighProperty ManagementFinancial ManagementUnitCost AnalyzerA blind property manager needs accessible property management software with screen reader compatibility, affordable API access, and remote inspection guidance capabilities.
4HighProperty ManagementProperty ManagementAccessiView Property ManagerSmall property operators lack affordable, easy-to-setup maintenance tracking software, relying on scattered communications and manual record-keeping.
4HighProperty ManagementMaintenance & RepairLandsioFractional vacation property owners struggle with fair scheduling and communication because existing HOA software is overkill and expensive.
4HighReal EstateScheduling & BookingFairShare ReservationsAppfolio's built-in dashboards and metrics are insufficient for tracking property-level operational and asset management KPIs.
3MediumProperty ManagementReporting & AnalyticsAppfolio Analytics HubVendors cannot update their own company information in AppFolio and must manually contact each property management company individually to request updates.
3MediumProperty ManagementClient ManagementVendorSync ProNew property manager is nervous about choosing the right property management software that will provide a good experience for tenants, landlords, and themselves.
3MediumProperty ManagementSoftware SelectionTenantHub ProProperty managers with mixed portfolios find that no single platform handles nuanced tenant communication, custom reporting, or complex operations without workarounds.
4HighProperty ManagementProperty ManagementTenantTact PMProperty managers struggle to produce monthly owner financial statements efficiently, often resorting to manual exporting and reformatting.
3MediumProperty ManagementFinancial ManagementOwnerStatement ProSmall property managers are stuck with expensive per-unit pricing from incumbents like Buildium/AppFolio and switching costs prevent them from moving to a more affordable flat-rate platform.
3MediumProperty ManagementProperty ManagementHatchkeepDifficulty migrating mass PDF files from Buildium to Appfolio for 300 properties due to insufficient export support from Buildium.
3MediumProperty ManagementData ManagementPropMigrate ProProperty management company needs to automate workflows but current software (Appfolio) requires expensive upgrade, considering migration to RealPage.
3MediumProperty ManagementWorkflow ManagementAutomateFlow ProGrowing property management company needs software that can scale from 6 to 160+ units, as current solution (Innago) is becoming insufficient.
3MediumProperty ManagementProperty ManagementPortfolioPilot ProProperty managers lose money on emergency repairs and tenant complaints because they lack a proactive system to track appliance ages, warranties, and maintenance schedules.
3MediumProperty ManagementAsset ManagementApplianceWatch ProLandlord with 10+ rental units needs portfolio management software to automate rent collection, track expenses per property, manage maintenance requests, and centralize tenant communications away from personal text messages.
3MediumProperty ManagementProperty ManagementPortfolioRent Pro
Read this fairly
These are complaints, and only complaints — nobody posts to say their software worked. A high count mostly reflects how many people use AppFolio at all, so this page is not a quality judgement and should not be read as one. What it is good for is the shape of the gaps: the specific jobs people could not get done, which are the same whether the tool is popular or not.
Folded from: AppFolio, Appfolio, appfolio