Moving to a big city is exciting, but it can also be a stressful experience, especially if you’re relocating to a new country. Looking for a new place to live, figuring out your transport routes, and so on, can be tiresome. This is why having a room finder to help you out is a great idea. Choosing the best website to find rooms for rent can be confusing because of the number of options available online. Here, we’ve compared Roomi and PadMapper to give you an idea of what each offers. With this information at your fingerprints, you can then choose the best room finder for you!

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

When you’re looking for a room, you probably already have an idea of the kind of things that are important to you. For example, you may want to live in an apartment that allows pets and smoking. Or if you’re looking for a roommate, maybe someone who’s quiet, non-smoking, and has no pets. Speaking to several roommates or landlords can become an exhausting process. This is why you should use a room finder to help you filter out things from the get-go and make the whole process simpler! We’ve explored the most basic features any good room finder should have and compared Roomi and PadMapper across each of them. Read on to learn more.

No fee apartments

The PadMapper app and website have a filter called “no broker fee” which allows you to view listings with no additional fees on top of your rent. On Roomi, however, all listings are no-fee! That means you’ll know exactly what the room costs, with no hidden extras.

Pet-friendly apartments

Both room finder portals allow you to filter listings by whether they’re pet-friendly. However, PadMapper only lets you select either cat or dog-friendly properties. Roomi goes one step beyond this and enables you to choose listings that allow other pets too.

Subletting

While you can sublet through PadMapper, you follow the same process as messaging the lister through the portal. Roomi helps you to sublet safely, by allowing you to request potential roommates to complete background checks. You can also directly chat with them securely through the app or website.

Related: What Happens When You Share An Apartment With Too Many Roommates?

Filtering rooms based on amenities

The PadMapper interface allows you to filter amenities by typing out the amenity that you’re looking for, e.g. a washing machine. However, this quickly becomes tiring when you’ve got a lot of preferences to add. In contrast, Roomi has over fifteen amenities already listed that you can simply tick to filter your listings by!

Filtering rooms based on Listing Type

Both room finder portals allow you to filter rooms based on listing type. But like almost every point on this list, Roomi has that one little extra thing that pushes it ahead. In this case, with Roomi you can also filter by shared room or private room in addition to the whole place. PadMapper, on the other hand, only allows you to pick between different property types.

Related: Moving In Together? Here’s The Ultimate Checklist You Need To Follow

Filtering rooms based on House Rules

Here’s an interesting feature that is actually super helpful but unfortunately not found on PadMapper. Roomi gives you a list of over ten house rules you can choose from to filter your searches. This will help you make sure that you and your potential roommates are on the same page before you agree to move in.

Pricing: Are these room finder apps free or paid?

Like with anything you’re using to help you, it’s important to keep in mind the monetary investment you’ll be putting in and whether it’s worth it. We’ve taken a look at the costs of using the Roomi and PadMapper app to confirm whether they’re free or paid, and what the advantages of each plan are. With all of these details, we hope you’ll be able to settle on the best website to find rooms for rent.

Allowing Free Listings

PadMapper is a free, map-based room finder. While it doesn’t have a paid option, it takes apartment listings from other websites like Airbnb and ForRent and puts them on a map in the radius you’re looking in. There aren’t any costs to sign up and you can view all the listings you want. Roomi on the other hand has paid and free versions. In the free version, Roomi allows all users to sign up and post listings for free. It’s also free to search through the listings to rent. The paid version also allows you to activate up to two listings a day on the platform itself!

In-App Messaging

On PadMapper, there’s no way to submit an application directly on the website. Instead, you can only contact the lister directly, which makes the process less safe. In the free version of Roomi, you can send up to five messages or swipes a day. What’s more, with the paid Roomi Gold subscription at just $29.99 a month, you can choose between personal and business accounts. As a personal account holder, you can send unlimited messages, ID verification, and the highlight – a ranking boost that allows you to view seven times as many ratings! With the number of features you get with the Gold plan, investing is definitely worth it.

Related: Is Roomi free to use?

Security: How Do These Apps Ensure That The Listings Are Credible?

If you’re moving to a whole new city, safety is one of the key aspects you want to keep in mind. You should always ensure that the room finder website or app you use to find accommodation considers this aspect. Whether it comes to trustworthy renters, roommates, or localities, it pays to do your research.

To check that you are a real person, PadMapper asks you to connect your Facebook account for verification. Roomi takes a few more steps to make sure you and your details are safe. Firstly, the team only shows you rooms listed by people whose contact details have been properly verified. Listers have multiple options to choose from to verify their profiles and the level of verification is displayed for you to see. Secondly, if you feel something’s wrong with a listing, you can report it to Roomi’s 24/7 moderation team. All in all, it’s a great interface that keeps your privacy and safety top priority!

So, Which Is the Best Room Finder For You?

Using a room finder is great to make your life easier when you are hunting for a place to live in a new city! The best website to find rooms for rent is the one that helps you find everything you need in one place, with minimal effort on your end. Such room finders may appear impossible to find, but through this article, you’ve probably realized that’s not the case.

While PadMapper seems to be an easy interface to find room listings on, it definitely struggles to compete with the wide array of features offered by Roomi. To sum up, with Roomi you can rest assured that your room has the exact amenities you need and that your private details are safe. You can also be confident that you’ll be sharing your space with only the number of people you choose.

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