There are lots of opportunities out there to help you find a roommate through apps. Choosing the right one is a bit like picking between the same job at different companies. While the core functionality remains the same, each has different perks and benefits. It’s the same way when searching specifically for a ‘find a roommate’ app. Here’s a comparative list of benefits for different roommate finder apps out there, ordered from the fewest to the most.
Craigslist: Popular roommate finder app
- Finds roommates: Yes
- Finds rooms: Yes
- Renter advice: No
- Local guides: No
- Benefits: Free to search
Craigslist offers nice perks in the quick and cheap department to find a roommate, rooms or both. It has the option ‘find roommate’ in the app. There are some basic posting guidelines that people have to follow. But outside of that, posters have a lot of freedom in how they write their ads. This leads to a lot of diversity in posting style, which can be a bit confusing and make room-to-room comparisons a trial. Unfortunately, it also has a reputation for being a haven for scammers, shady brokers, and other undesirables.
Related: How to Find a Roommate During a Pandemic
Rent.com
- Finds roommates: No
- Finds rooms: Yes
- Renter advice: Yes
- Local guides: No
- Benefits: Simple to use
Rent.com isn’t flashy, but its best benefit is that it’s straightforward to use. A quick filter menu at the top lets you set things like minimum and maximum price, pop in the neighborhood, and off you go. If you want more filters, you can add them in this room finder app. The interface gives you a scrolling option of whatever fits your filters, or you can jump over to the map view and select things based on location.
However, it doesn’t let you find roommate in this app, so you’re still stuck there. And while each listing has some very basic neighborhood info, it doesn’t really help you get to know the area before you decide to move in.
Find a Roommate on Roomiapp.com
- Finds roommates: Yes
- Finds rooms: Yes
- Renter advice: Yes
- Local guides: Yes
- Benefits: Safe and secure.
Find both rooms and roommates, easy to use, lots of local guide support.
It’s the recommended app to find roommate(s). Roomi was started after all three of these options and was able to take the things people didn’t like about the websites and addressed them when starting the company. We combined great local advice, secure chat, roommate finder app, apartment finders, helpful renting advice, and an easily accessible customer service crew all into one. For renter one-stop-shopping, our site has lots of benefits to offer.
Apartments.com
- Finds roommates: No
- Finds rooms: Yes
- Renter advice: Yes
- Local guides: Yes
Benefits: Nice GUI, easy to filter when searching large areas
Apartments.com has a pretty slick graphic user interface or GUI. That’s fancy talk for the window you mouse around on when you want to use their website. This won’t help you find a roommate, however, it’s easy to scale in and out of large areas, even on statewide or national levels, and add or remove different filters. The listings update quickly and smoothly, which is a nice perk for large scale searches while finding a room.
There are two major drawbacks though. One, this app doesn’t help you find a roommate. Two, it’s built for more national and state level searches. The renter’s advice on the blog is quite good but very general. The local guides offer nice overviews of a city or neighborhood but don’t get into many specifics and don’t update often.
Related: How To Find A Good Roommate In NYC
D’you know what else Roomi does outside of helping its readers with roommate finder apps? With our ever-increasing lists of rooms and roommates across the world, we help you find your perfect match! Download the app here and hop on the easiest ride home, ever!
