Is AirDNA Worth It?

AirDNA is an Airbnb analytics and pricing platform that’s famous among short term rental investors. But with its high cost, is AirDNA worth it?

With the popularity of short term rentals among both travelers and hosts around the world, even those who are inexperienced with real estate investing want to try their luck with Airbnb. Short term rentals have the potential to generate significant returns compared to long term rentals. With its pricing flexibility, it allows owners to charge higher nightly rates leading to better income.

Table of Contents

1. What Is AirDNA Rentalizer? 
2. AirDNA Similar Websites 
3. AirDNA vs Mashvisor: Is Mashvisor Better Than AirDNA? 

Even when the housing market in some areas is cooling down a bit this year due to rising interest rates, the short term rental market remains strong. With positive sentiments from eager travelers planning to travel this year after almost two years in lockdown, experts expect to see a continuous rise in demand from Airbnb guests. 

To be a successful Airbnb investor, you need to choose your investment location carefully. While short term rentals are famous around the world, not all real estate markets are optimal for Airbnb investing. To help investors assess whether a particular market is ideal for investing in vacation rentals, they use Airbnb analytics platforms like AirDNA. 

AirDNA helps investors gain insights and provide important information on the performance of short term rental properties in their chosen area so they can make data-driven decisions. With AirDNA, investors can access essential real estate data like occupancy rates, average nightly rates, revenue trends, and market demand to identify profitable properties.

However, to access AirDNA’s full features, you need to subscribe to its plans, which are a bit pricey. With its cost, the question is, is AirDNA worth it?

What Is AirDNA Rentalizer?

The AirDNA Rentalizer is a tool that’s also known as the AirDNA calculator. It analyzes and predicts the earning potential of Airbnb properties. In other words, it will tell you how much money you can make from your property if you decide to turn it into a vacation rental. This Airbnb calculator will show the potential revenue and occupancy rate it can give you.

It’s worth mentioning that the AirDNA platform doesn’t let you search for properties for sale. Just enter the address of the specific residence you want to analyze on the platform, and it will give you the corresponding Airbnb analytics of that property. Because of this, AirDNA Rentalizer will only work if you already know the address of the property that you want to assess.

Since you cannot search for properties for sale, many investors wonder: is AirDNA worth it? 

Well, it depends on your goal as an investor. If you want to find listings with potentially lucrative returns, then the AirDNA platform may not be the best option. However, if you are already eyeing specific properties and only want to assess their potential profitability, then it may be a good investment tool to use.

How Does AirDNA Rentalizer Work?

AirDNA Rentalizer works like an Airbnb investment property calculator—it provides you with a particular property’s estimated average daily rate, revenue, and occupancy rate. AirDNA uses historical performance data of similar properties in the area to provide the best estimates for the property you want to assess.

To use the AirDNA Rentalizer, you need to type in the street address of the property you want to analyze. You also need to input the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, as well as the guest capacity of the property. Rentalizer will then assess how the property will perform when used as a short term rental and listed on Airbnb.

Once you have entered the necessary information, AirDNA will then gather a list of all nearby Airbnb rentals with similar features as your subject property. It will search for up to 50 rental comps within a 10-mile radius from a list of properties in its database. It will then create an index based on the properties’ relevance or similarity to your subject property. 

Additionally, Rentalizer will also factor in other market-wide metrics such as seasonality, rental demand, and revenue growth to provide an estimate of a property’s potential income.

After that, AirDNA Rentalizer will give you the following data in its Airbnb analysis:

• Annual Revenue
• Average Daily Rate
• Occupancy Rate
• How Seasonality Can Affect Profits
• Comparable Airbnb Rental Analysis
• Future Appreciation or Depreciation

Is AirDNA Rentalizer Useful?

The information that AirDNA Rentalizer provides about a particular property is useful for helping you set the right price should you use the property as a vacation rental. It helps investors predict the earning potential of a property using data from over 10 million Airbnb and VRBO listings worldwide. 

However, before you answer the crucial question, “Is AirDNA worth it?” it is important to consider other factors that will affect the quality of your rental property analysis.

It is worth noting that Rentalizer is free to use—however, you need to know the exact address of the property you want to analyze to get the real estate data you need. Also, the analysis and calculation provided by this AirDNA Airbnb calculator are based on comparable data, not the actual performance of the property.  

How Much Does AirDNA Cost?

While Rentalizer is free to use, you cannot access the other AirDNA tools for free. For starters, AirDNA isn’t exactly cheap. AirDNA’s pricing plans are based on how big the area you want to access is. The larger the area you wish to assess, the higher you have to pay. If you already know the area you want to invest in, AirDNA may be a good option. 

However, if you’re a new investor trying to assess several short term rental markets, subscribing to AirDNA’s tools may be costly and impractical. In fact, the AirDNA pricing model has been one of the major points of criticism in various AirDNA reviews. 

The following will give you an overview of AirDNA’s pricing plans:

• City or Neighborhood: starts at $12 per month
• State: starts at $179 per month
• Country: starts at $299 per month
• Global: starts at $599 per month
• Enterprise Plan with Custom Data: you need to contact AirDNA for a customized pricing

With the pricing model illustrated above, we can easily see that AirDNA charges costly rates to users who want to analyze larger areas. With this, the platform may not be a good fit for investors who haven’t decided on a specific market in which they want to invest. 

In fact, AirDNA doesn’t really help investors who don’t own a property that they can turn into an Airbnb rental yet. Instead, the AirDNA pricing model charges more to those potential buyers who want to be extra careful and take more time when choosing their market. Remember that if you change your mind and decide to invest in a different market, you will end up paying more.

AirDNA Similar Websites

Before you decide whether the answer to the question “Is AirDNA worth it?” is yes or no, it’s recommended to check a number of platforms that offer similar or better features. When comparing different Airbnb analysis platforms, consider the features and tools that each platform provides, their ease of use, costs, and other benefits that may be useful to you as an investor.

The following are the top five noteworthy websites that you should take a look at to help you answer the question, “Is AirDNA worth it“:

1. AllTheRooms

AllTheRooms is a platform that provides information about different short term rental markets. It helps you analyze the market to determine how much you can make should you decide to buy an investment property. AllTheRooms provides data like revenue, average daily rates, and occupancy rates.

Other than market insights, AllTheRooms also evaluates properties to help you decide whether they would make good investment choices. The assessment will be determined using a property score based on the revenue, bookings, and reviews of all other vacation rentals in the same location. 

Moreover, it also offers competitive intelligence so that investors can monitor the performance of the investment property and how it stands against the competition. This way, investors can identify areas for improvement and keep up with the market demands and the competition.

AllTheRooms offers four different pricing plans, one of which is a free version where you can access up to 100 active listings per market. The free version provides average daily rates, three months of historical data, and one week of future data. The other pricing plans are as follows:

• Basic plan: $19 per month, includes:
  • 12 months of historical data
  • one month of future data
  • all historical listings and metrics
  • precision filters
• Pro version: $49 per month, includes:
  • 49 months of historical data
  • six months of future data
  • all historical listings and metrics
  • precision filters
  • CSV data downloads
• Enterprise version: Like AirDNA’s Enterprise plan, this is a customized plan with costs that vary depending on the inclusions.

Note that both AirDNA and AllTheRooms are only for Airbnb rentals. They do not analyze long term rental strategies and don’t allow users to search for properties for sale. So considering what we discussed, is AirDNA worth it for you?

2. WheelHouse

WheelHouse is a unique tool that allows you to automate the pricing of your vacation rental based on the tool’s sophisticated algorithm. It predicts market trends using local Airbnb market data and claims to help users earn 40% more income. WheelHouse aims to help investors set the right nightly rate for a property to enjoy maximum returns.

WheelHouse is known for its dynamic pricing tool, which provides customized recommendations that help investors price their short term rentals accurately. By setting the right rental rate, you can maximize your income potential on an Airbnb property. It also provides market reports showing the active listings, nightly rates, occupancy rates, and projected revenues in an area.

In addition, WheelHouse also helps users analyze the competition through its comparable sets feature. It allows you to compare your monthly performance based on historical data against the competition. You will also access a report on your projected future performance to know how to improve your strategies as needed.

WheelHouse has two different pricing plans: 

• Pro Flex: 1% of the revenue or at least $2.99, whichever is higher. Taxes or other fees are not included.
• Pro Flat: based on how many listings you need to access per month:
• $19.99 per listing per month or less than ten listings
• $16.99 per listing per month for 10 to 49 listings
• $13.99 per listing per month for 50 to 100 listings
• For over 100 listings, customized pricing may be offered

Note that WheelHouse may be a bit too costly, especially if you own a lot of listings that you need help with pricing. Compared to what WheelHouse has to offer, is AirDNA worth it for you?

3. Airbtics

Airbtics is a platform that claims to help investors maximize their income potential using comprehensive market analysis. The analysis includes market trends, daily rates, booking patterns, occupancy rates, and seasonality. Similar to AirDNA, Airbtics can also access any short term rental market around the world. 

It also provides access to an Airbnb investment calculator so you can estimate how much you can make from a particular property. Just like AirDNA’s Rentalizer, Airbtics’ Airbnb calculator requires you to input the exact address of the property, as well as its features like property type, amenities, and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms.

The platform will also provide historical performance data based on the property type and neighborhood. With this important information, users can determine which markets to avoid and which property types are not profitable. Is AirDNA worth it, considering all of these?

Airbtics has three different pricing plans. Users who will subscribe on a yearly basis will get up to a 45% discount, depending on the chosen plan:

• 1 Market: $74 per month
• 5 Markets: $149 per month
• 30 Markets: $599 per month

Airbtics provides real estate data and market insights, helping investors optimize their short term rental properties and increase bookings. However, just like AirDNA, it doesn’t include the long term rental strategy in its assessments.

4. PriceLabs

PriceLabs is another popular short term rental platform that provides dynamic pricing based on Airbnb demand and booking insights. Comparing PriceLabs vs WheelHouse, they both help users set the correct rental price depending on the season. Through PriceLabs’ pricing recommendations, investors can maximize income during peak seasons and improve occupancy during low seasons. 

Aside from dynamic pricing, PriceLabs also offers portfolio analytics, which is a real-time reporting system that makes a comprehensive assessment of the business’s performance. The report includes relevant data, such as monthly revenue and length of stays. Plus, users can get actionable market insights found on the market dashboards.

Users who want to access PriceLabs get a 30-day free trial. After the free trial period, you will need to pay depending on the tools that you need:

• Portfolio Analytics: free
• Dynamic Pricing: starts at $19.99 per month for one listing
• Market Dashboards: starts at $9.99 per month

PriceLabs is focused on setting the right price for short term rentals. This should help you figure out the answer to “is AirDNA worth it or not?” Airbnb hosts who want to automate their rental rates may find PriceLabs useful. However, it lacks other features that may be helpful in making the right investment decision.

5. Mashvisor

Mashvisor is a real estate analytics platform that helps both new and seasoned real estate investors find the best investment property based on their preferred rental strategy. What makes Mashvisor different from other platforms above is that it doesn’t only provide insights on short term rentals but also on long term rentals. This way, you can decide which strategy is better.

When it comes to the type of rental property analysis and real estate data that AirDNA provides, Mashvisor is considered the top alternative. Since the two platforms offer very similar types of data about Airbnb rentals, comparing them in terms of data and features is the best way to answer the question: “Is AirDNA worth it?”

What Is Mashvisor and What Can It Do?

Mashvisor is an analytics platform that offers several real estate tools that are useful for making a profitable investment. The platform helps real estate investors in many ways, such as:

• Helps investors find the most profitable investment property: Unlike most other platforms mentioned above, Mashvsior allows investors to perform a property search based on the city or neighborhood where they prefer to invest in. The platform will show the results of listings for sale and investors can choose which one to assess.
• Helps investors analyze the property: Once you choose a particular property that you like from the results, you can access the data about the property. You’ll see its projected cash flow, monthly income, cap rate, cash on cash return, occupancy rate, and more. This information can help you decide if the property is worth investing in.
  
• Helps investors calculate potential returns: Mashvsior also offers an Airbnb calculator that computes the property’s potential returns. It also calculates other metrics like cap rate, cash on cash return, occupancy rate, and cash flow. Plus, you can make adjustments to the expenses, as well as your preferred financing method. 
  
• Helps investors analyze the market: Aside from analyzing the profitability potential of the property, you can also see how the entire local market performs through Mashvisor’s neighborhood analysis. You will see a score for the neighborhood, known as the Mashmeter, which tells if the area is suitable for investing.
  
• Helps investors set the right price for Airbnb rentals: Mashvisor also offers a dynamic pricing tool that helps property owners set the right Airbnb rental rates based on nationwide and local market data analysis. It considers factors like seasonality, booking trends, market demand, and local events for pricing recommendations.

How Does Mashvisor Differ From AirDNA and Other Platforms?

While AirDNA and the other platforms offer market analysis, an Airbnb calculator, and dynamic pricing recommendations, Mashvisor has more features than all of them combined. As a real estate investor, you can benefit more from Mashvisor, especially if you are just looking for an investment opportunity.

Here are the two major reasons why Mashvisor is the best real estate analytics platform available in the market today:

You Can Search for Available Listings for Sale

One of the best things about using Mashvisor is that you don’t need to have a specific property in mind to determine if the market is worth investing in. All you need to do is input the city or neighborhood of your choice, then you can access a list of properties for sale in that area.

You can filter your search based on your budget and other preferences, helping you easily find a profitable investment. Moreover, you can compare various listings to see which one makes the most profit. And when you find one that you think is best based on the analytics provided, you can make an offer or contact the seller through the platform.

You Can See the Analyses for Both Short Term and Long Term Rentals

Another thing that makes Mashvisor different from all other platforms mentioned in this article is that they only analyze short term rentals. However, Mashvsior provides data and analyses for both short term and long term rental strategies, helping you see which one is better.

Since Mashvisor specializes in both long term and short term rental strategies, you can access statistics by city, neighborhood, or individual properties. You will see which strategy works best for a particular income property. If it does not align with your chosen strategy, you will have to look for a more suitable property.

In general, Mashvisor does not only offer various tools and features that can help you start or grow your Airbnb business, but it empowers you to make the right decision. You can rest assured that your decision is backed by accurate data and based on comprehensive analysis.

Do you want to experience first-hand how Mashvisor works? Sign-up for a 7-day free trial today!

What Are Mashvisor’s Real Estate Tools?

As mentioned, Mashvisor offers many tools and features that are valuable for both beginner and experienced investors. In this section, we will discuss the different tools Mashvisor offers and how they compare with AirDNA’s features. At the end of this section, we hope to help answer the vital question many new investors ask: Is AirDNA worth it?

Here are the most significant tools that you can access when you subscribe to Mashvisor:

Market Finder

Market Finder helps you identify high-income markets depending on your chosen investment strategy. With Market Finder, you can easily see the top markets to invest in, helping you choose the right location for your investment. Under Market Finder, you’ll be able to access different other tools, including:

• Heatmap: This tool visually shows you how a specific location is performing. It is color-coded, so you can easily identify which part of the map is suitable for investing. 
• Mashmeter Score: This score is an evaluation system for the area to let users see which markets are worth investing in and which markets to avoid. The scores are A+ (highest) to D (lowest).
• Neighborhood analysis: Market Finder lets you analyze and compare their profitability potential in minutes. You will see accurate and relevant market data, including historical data, to help you determine whether a neighborhood will make a good investment or not.

To use Market Finder, you only need to type the city or neighborhood you like to assess, and you will see the color-coded heatmap with the areas’ corresponding Mashmeter scores. You will also see the top markets on the side based on the Mashmeter scores.

You can then click on a particular neighborhood from the top markets to access the general market data, including the median price, cap rate, population, days on market, and more. You will also see a comparison of short term and long term rental strategies, including the average revenues for both, Airbnb occupancy rate, and optimal property types.

Mashvisor’s Market Finder vs AirDNA’s MarketMinder

Compared to AirDNA’s MarketMinder tool, Market Finder provides a more detailed and comprehensive analysis. What’s more, it includes long term rental data and analysis, which are not available with AirDNA’s MarketMinder tool. Because of this, AirDNA may not be worth its high cost.

Investment Property Calculator

One of the most important tools that any Airbnb property owner should use is an investment property calculator. In general, a calculator is an analytics tool that predicts the earning potential of an investment property—usually by comparing it to other properties in the market. It ultimately gives the user an idea of how much money their property will make.

Mashvisor offers an interactive rental analysis calculator that allows investors to compute how much they can potentially earn from a certain investment property. Mashvisor provides the real estate data you need to do this, including the estimated monthly income and expenses. 

With Mashvisor’s investment calculator, you can access the expense details related to the property. You will be able to customize or adjust the values according to your own plans. You can adjust the following information:

• One-time expenses, including closing costs, inspection costs, repairs, and furniture and appliances
• Recurring expenses, like insurance, utilities, property management fees, property tax, HOA dues, maintenance, and rental income taxes
• Financing information, including loan amount, down payment, loan term, interest rates, and closing costs

Based on your adjusted information, the calculator will then provide the following details and metrics to help you decide if the property is worth investing in:

• Cap rate
• Cash on cash return
• Occupancy rate
• Cash flow
• Rate per night for Airbnb rentals
• Monthly income for long term rentals

Mashvisor’s Investment Calculator vs AirDNA’s Rentalizer

Compared to AirDNA’s Rentalizer, Mashvisor’s rental investment calculator offers a more comprehensive computation. You can easily customize the data based on your financing plans and if you plan to spend more on repairs and other expenses. On top of that, you can see the calculated metrics for both short term and long term rental strategies. 

Dynamic Pricing

Mashvisor also offers a dynamic pricing tool that helps short term rental owners set the best rental rates for their Airbnb rentals. Mashvisor provides an accurate rental estimate based on the current short term rental trends, Airbnb demand, local events, seasonality, and booking history. This tool allows you to manage your Airbnb accounts in one platform.

Keep in mind that since the short term rental industry is a seasonal business, being flexible with your pricing is necessary in order to maximize your earning potential. The Dynamic pricing feature from Mashvisor allows you to access several relevant tools that are necessary for staying ahead of the Airbnb competition, including the following:

• Market Insights: Mashvisor’s dynamic pricing does not only recommend the best nightly rates for your vacation rentals, but it also provides accurate and precise market insights. It allows you to understand the market conditions in your area and check out how similar properties are performing.
• Smart Pricing Calendar: This AI-powered pricing tool takes into account various factors, like market demand, local events, seasonality, and booking trends to automate your pricing in your calendar. This way, you don’t need to update your prices manually every time there are changes in the trends and seasonality. 
• Personal Configuration: Users control how the dynamic pricing sets the price by setting their own base, minimum, and maximum prices. Moreover, users can block off specific dates in the calendar if they intend to make the property unavailable in any particular period.

Mashvisor’s Dynamic Pricing vs AirDNA’s Smart Rates

AirDNA also offers a similar feature called Smart Rates. This tool also provides automated dynamic pricing based on Airbnb bookings, trends, and seasonality. While both pricing tools may work similarly, Mashvisor’s dynamic pricing is superior because of its reliable data sources. 

What’s more, Mashvisor regularly updates its database, which means that you can trust the freshness of its data. In contrast, AirDNA only updates its database once a month, which may lead to inaccuracies in pricing recommendations due to non-updated information.

Want to see how Dynamic Pricing works? Schedule a Dynamic Pricing demo to find out!

What Are Mashvisor’s Data Sources, and How Do They Compare With AirDNA’s?

When it comes to real estate analytics tools, the accuracy of the data that the platforms provide is the most important factor that will directly affect your investment choices. 

Both Mashvisor and AirDNA platforms obtain most of their Airbnb data directly from Airbnb itself. However, AirDNA also collects data from VRBO and HomeAway, while Mashvisor collects additional data from other highly reliable sources like the MLS and real estate agencies.

Both platforms offer analysis that is based on the actual performance of active short term rental properties that are listed for rent on Airbnb. The only difference is that Mashvisor updates its data regularly. In fact, you can trust that the data you see in its database is always fresh and relevant.

On the other hand, AirDNA only updates its real estate information once a month. This means that its analyses may not be as relevant since the data used is not as fresh. It is for this reason that Mashvisor is still the better option in terms of data and accuracy. As far as getting more value for your money is concerned, is AirDNA worth it compared to Mashvisor? Probably not.

AirDNA vs Mashvisor: Is Mashvisor Better Than AirDNA?

To find out how AirDNA compares to Mashvisor and which of the two platforms is better, check out the video below:

Bottom Line: Is AirDNA Worth It?

If you’re still asking , “Is AirDNA worth it?” Well, the answer depends on what you want to use it for.

If you already own an Airbnb rental and you want to improve your property’s performance, then using AirDNA might not be a bad idea. AirDNA can help you easily verify any inaccurate information about your property and adjust the data accordingly to see the most realistic results when gauging the property’s income potential.

In this case, however, you’re basically just using the calculator tool without making use of the data behind it. Also, depending on the size of the market that you want to assess, AirDNA can be too costly. The larger the market you wish to access, the heftier the fees for your AirDNA subscription will be.

Moreover, AirDNA lacks essential features that are available with Mashvisor. For one thing, you cannot search for available properties for sale using the AirDNA platform. On the other hand, Mashvisor makes it easier for you to find the best investment property with its property search tool.

Additionally, Mashvisor provides analyses for both long term and short term rental strategies, providing you with relevant information on the best strategy to use for a particular property. This information is not available with AirDNA, as the latter is strictly for short term rentals only.

In general, Mashvisor is simply a superior option that is cheaper to use and offers more tools and features that are more valuable for real estate investors. Moreover, it provides more accurate, reliable, and up-to-date data, ensuring that your assessment is correct. 

To get access to our real estate investment tools, click here to sign up for a seven-day free trial of Mashvisor today, followed by 15% off for life.