10 Websites and Apps for Finding an Apartment

Moving to a new town can be stressful, especially when it comes to finding a new place to live. I’ve been lucky enough to live with my grandparents for the last few months, but I’m actively looking for an apartment and/or roommates. Being a girl who works in social media, naturally I turned to the internet to look. I’ve tried about every app and website I can find out there, so today I’m breaking down the top 10 websites & apps for finding an apartment and/or roommate.

1. Facebook

This is one I haven’t actually used a lot, but I’ve heard of several people using Facebook to find roommates. The key to this is finding a roommate is Facebook groups. Typically, you’ll want to look for larger, public groups just for more variety, but with everything, use your common sense!
2018 update: I actually found my current roommate through a Facebook group!

2. Roomiematch.com

This is an e-mail based service. You fill out a profile, and the website will email you potential matches. The profiles are super in-depth, and the website asks some important questions. The only downside is that you have to pay $19.99 a year to get any contact information, but so far, I’ve found the twenty bucks to be well worth the pay for the amount of leads I’ve gained.

3. Roomster.com

Besides Facebook, I think this is the biggest website I’ve found so far. You can use your Facebook profile, and there are plenty of ways to manipulate your search to find people. The only problem with Roomster is that it can become rather overwhelming easily.

4. Leasebuddies.com

I actually found this website when a local news station did a story about the two guys who founded this website. So, because of that I’m not entirely sure if this is an Austin only website or not.

5. Apartmentlist.com

Apartmentlist.com has a pretty cool user interface that allows you to swipe and search. Great photos and a great way to choose your settings. I don’t feel like I’ve caught a lot of good leads from here, but sometimes finding the perfect place is just about narrowing out the places that don’t work.
Looking for an apartment or roommate? Here are 10 apps and websites to use! Share on X

6. Apartments.com

Besides Facebook, this is probably the most well known because of their slick advertising campaign. Apartments.com has thousands of apartments, but it can be a little overwhelming. Using filters and zooming into a tight area is definitely the way to go on this site.

7. Radpad

This app puts an emphasis on photos, and they take up most of the screen on my phone. You can pay rent on here, but I’m kind of skeptical about the idea of this. It’s an interesting concept, but I’m not sure how secure it is.

8. Roomi

Roomi an app used to show listings people have of apartments. I think the one thing that makes this app stand out is the ability to pay rent. I’m not sure how I feel about that ability, but it’s definitely an interesting concept.

9. Renthoop

This is a new one I found this weekend, but to be honest there isn’t much going there yet. I guess the best way to describe it is to call it “tinder for roommates.” I think it has the potential to grow, and has a great user interface, but don’t rely on just this.

10. Craigslist

Personally, I haven’t used this too much, but it seems like people find roommates here more than they do on Facebook. Personally, I feel like there are lots of spam listings on there, so I tend to stay away. If you can weed through the muck, you have the potential to strike gold.
When using the apps, it’s best to use a bunch of these, just to cast a wide net. Be smart, and be nice to people! Find a roommate and an apartment are exciting things, but it can be stressful. By knowing the right places to look, hopefully you’ll take a little stress off yourself.