Moving to a new city can be both an exhilarating and challenging experience. While you’re excited to work in a different environment and meet new people, finding the perfect apartment can be daunting. Apart from the location, you also have to worry about having a rental cost that fits your budget and needs. Roomi and Apartment List are apps that can help you find rooms for rent on top of other services and features.

You may be asking yourself, “Is Apartment List legit?” How does Roomi verify users? How do you know if the listings are credible? If you’re planning on finding out the answers to these, we’ve saved you the time by comparing them for you. Here’s our Roomi and Apartment List review to get you started.

Features: What filters & preferences do these room finders offer to help you find your perfect room?

No one wants to go through dozens of room finders and reviews just to find the perfect room for rent. Each room finder may have unique features and services, but how many really give you value for your money? Only a comprehensive Roomi and Apartment List review will give you the answers you need. Let’s put the two apps head-to-head to see which app has the best tools for a seamless experience.

No fee apartments

Is Apartment List legit? To list a property on Apartment List, there are pricing options that cater to your requirements. These aren’t publicly listed, so you’ll need to email Apartment List to get a customized package. With Apartment List alternative Roomi, you don’t need to pay any fees to sign up and list a property. It’s absolutely free. Under a free account, you can also send up to five messages or swipes per day and activate up to two listings. It is therefore much easier to list a property on Roomi.

Related: What Apartment Rental Fees Can My Landlord Legally Charge Me?

Pet-friendly apartments

Websites like Apartment List don’t really let you specify if having pets around is okay or a no-go, which is a bit of a bummer if you’re planning on moving with a furry friend. Meanwhile, Roomi lets you tick a filter so you can find pet-friendly apartments – great news for you and your puppy!

Related: How to Deal With Your Roommate’s Pets

Subletting

Here’s an Apartment List review on subletting. Okay, so this isn’t an issue with Apartment List. If you’re a tenant wanting to sublet a room or an entire apartment, you’ll need to discuss this directly with the landlord or homeowner. The same goes for Apartment List alternative Roomi, and it’s even explicitly stated on its homepage. The great thing about Roomi is that it also helps you safely find roommates, or, in this case, sublessees.

Filtering rooms based on amenities

When using websites like Apartment List, you can choose which amenities matter most to you. Options include accessibility, air conditioning, grilling equipment, down to ice makers, dishwashers, in-unit laundry, parking, and swimming pools, among other. With Roomi, on the other hand, you can choose all of the above plus also specify if you want an elevator, TV, and Wi-Fi. These are features not listed under Apartment List’s filter for amenities.

Filtering rooms based on Listing Type (entire place/shared rooms)

For this Apartment List review, we’ve found that you can indicate an entire place or just a bed or two. But the app doesn’t allow you to specify if you want to share a room, which is important if you’re cash-strapped. Under a Roomi account, you can choose from the entire place, a private room, or a shared room.

Filtering rooms based on House Rules

As far as the house rules filter goes for websites like Apartment List, there’s not much to say. That’s because you won’t find any. With Roomi, meanwhile, you can really find your ideal place. With this Apartment List alternative, you can specify if you prefer non-smokers and whether you mind having couples or pets around.

Related: Help! My Roommate Smokes In The Apartment and I Don’t

Which app offers the best free and paid features?

No Apartment List or Roomi review would be complete without a comparison of their free and paid features. After all, you don’t want to end up paying for a room finder that doesn’t really give you helpful features and services. Although Apartment List lets you list properties for free, you pay a back-end fee when someone books through the app.

It’s great to know that Roomi has amazing features that you can benefit from without needing to pay a single cent. Here are just some amazing ones that you can enjoy as a free user.

Allowing free listings

With Roomi, you can list up to two properties for free. You can also use these to activate any pending or deactivated listings. When signing up for a Roomi Gold subscription, you get an even bigger bang for your buck. First, you need to choose between a personal or a business plan. Personal users get unlimited messaging, identity verification, and a ranking boost for seven times more views on listings. Depending on the business tier you choose, you can get a verified partner badge, unlimited listings, and unlimited messaging. Pay either $29.99 for one month or $14.99 per week.

In-app messaging

We’re all aware of the presence of hackers and false profiles online. You’ll be happy to know that Apartment List alternative Roomi guarantees secure in-app messaging so you can keep your communication private. You can also easily message a property owner on Apartment List, but the app doesn’t really offer a specialized privacy or security feature for its users.

It’s pretty clear that Roomi gives you greater value for your money with both of its free and paid features.

Security: How do these apps ensure that the listings are credible?

On Apartment List, when signing up, you’ll need to provide your name, contact info, budget, income, renter history, and apartment preferences. While there are listings labeled as “verified,” Apartment List does not mention any investment in tech to automate user verification.

As an Apartment List alternative, Roomi verifies a user’s phone number and email address with GlobaliD, a digital identity platform. Users need to create a GlobaliD and connect it with Roomi. Through this system, GlobaliD verifications describe something about users that a third-party agency has verified to be true. This feature goes to show that Roomi puts a premium on keeping users’ information secure and verifying users’ authenticity. That’s fewer points for this part of the Apartment List review.

Your private data is safely stored in the GlobaliD vault, which cannot be accessed or shared without your explicit consent. This means that your data isn’t stored on each new service provider you choose to connect to your GlobaliD. In case Roomi gets hacked, know that your data is secure as it is not kept on Roomi servers. On top of the GDPR, Roomi users can enjoy secure in-app messaging to contact potential roommates without sharing personal info.

So, which is the best room finder for you?

With all the features mentioned above, we hope this comparative Roomi review and Apartment List review helps you as you move to a new city. We know, no matter how many times you move, it never gets any easier. But having the technology to speed up the process of finding a place and roommates definitely helps. Especially when you know it invests in safety and data privacy, as well as affordable pricing. Knowing your data and transactions are protected gives you undeniable peace of mind.

This is why Apartment List alternative Roomi is naturally the best room finder out there. It ensures real people are signed into the app, keeps in-app messaging secure, and uses a state-of-the-art digital identity platform to add an additional layer of security. Plus, you can benefit from using the app whether as a free or paid user. You get the leads that you want and the peace of mind that you deserve.

As an all-in-one app offering all of these features and more to help you find the best room, Roomi is clearly the best room finder for you.

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