They solve different problems. Plenty of operators need one, the other, or both. Here's what each one does, what the big suites cost to enter, and a plain decision tree.
A full suite is money-and-lease software. AppFolio, Buildium, DoorLoop, and Yardi all center on the same jobs:
They all include a maintenance module too (resident requests and work-order tracking). But it's a record-keeping corner of a money product, not the product itself. If you manage property for owners and hold their funds, you need a suite. Trust accounting and owner statements are legal-and-relationship territory. No maintenance tool should pretend to cover them.
Maintenance software is work software. It runs everything between "tenant reports a leak" and "fixed, documented, paid." That means intake, dispatch, contractor coordination, scheduling, photo and video proof, and the per-job record. Property Meld does it at enterprise scale. Latchel and Lula do it as hired services. RQ200 does it for the hands-on manager who runs their own contractors. (Full landscape: the maintenance software roundup.)
None of these run your books. The honest ones say so plainly.
Most professional managers don't pick one or the other. They run a suite for the money and a field layer for the work. The suite stays the system of record for rent, leases, and owners. The field tool runs the coordination and holds the job-level record: what it looked like before and after, and who approved it.
Connecting the two is simpler than people expect. RQ200, for example, takes AppFolio work orders directly, with the work-order number, priority, tenant, and unit included on arrival. It takes requests from Buildium and other sources too. Your accounting stays as it is. The field work just stops living in text threads.
The test: open your suite. Try to answer "what did the last five repairs at this building involve, and where's the proof?" If the answer lives in your texts, you have a field-layer gap, not a suite problem.
Suite marketing quotes per-unit prices. The fine print is minimums. As of mid-2026, from published pricing and widely-cited reporting:
Two honest takeaways. Under ~50 doors, part of the market has decided you don't exist. That's fine. At that size you may not need a suite at all. Over a few hundred doors managing for owners, the suite question is settled. The only open question is whether its maintenance module carries your field work.
RQ200 is the field-work layer, and only that. It's built for the hands-on manager of about 40-300 doors who runs their own contractors. Every job carries the unit and tenant contact. The contractor acknowledges it, sets up the visit with the tenant, posts photo and video updates, and submits for your review. You direct and approve instead of relaying calls. Tenants report issues through a QR portal in about 30 seconds, no login. Contractors sign in from their phones. Browser-based, no app store.
It will not collect rent, sign leases, or do your accounting. That's by design. We'd rather say it here than have you find out on a demo call. It runs beside AppFolio or Buildium, or beside a spreadsheet if that's your scale.
No, and honest maintenance tools don't claim to. Trust accounting, owner statements, leases, and screening are suite work. Maintenance software runs the field side next to a suite. If you're small enough to skip a suite, it runs next to a simple ledger.
Yes. Both track resident requests and work orders. For some teams that's enough. The gap shows up in the field. The calls, scheduling, contractor quotes, photos, and approvals happen in text threads the suite never sees. The suite holds a work-order row. The real coordination and its record live elsewhere, or nowhere.
You probably don't need a full suite. Some won't even take a portfolio your size (AppFolio is widely reported to require 50+ units). A spreadsheet or simple ledger covers the money at that scale. The work bites first: repairs with no record. A maintenance tool keeps requests, contractors, and photo proof in one place, without suite overhead.
Free for founding partners right now, while we build it with you. No per-door minimums or enterprise tiers. Pricing later will be simple, and never a surprise charge.
Free while we build it with you. The founder sets it up on your real buildings. You help shape what gets built next.
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