Jotform, Tally and Typeform ranked for landlords and property managers: the one that collects the application, the documents, the fee and the signature in one form, the free one for a simple application with uploads, and the one for a pre-qualification quiz that saves everyone a showing.
A rental application is a form that has to do four things most forms do not: collect documents, take a fee, get a signature on the consent to screen, and hold sensitive personal data responsibly. Most small landlords still do it by email and a PDF, which means three follow-ups per applicant and a folder of pay stubs on a laptop. The three tools here fix that, and the right one depends on whether you need the whole application in one pass or a fast filter in front of it. Prices are monthly billing at the time of verification (2026-09-09), except where a vendor only publishes annual pricing.
How to choose
Decide how much the form has to carry. If you charge a fee and need a signed consent for a background check, the form has to take payment and a signature natively, and only one tool here does both without add-ons. If you do not charge a fee and just need the details and the documents, the free option is the whole answer. If you get more enquiries than showings and want to stop wasting both sides' time, put a five-question pre-screen in front of the application and only send the full form to people who pass. Then check the caps: applications come in bursts when a unit lists, and a free tier that stops at ten paid submissions stops on the second day of a listing. The form builder buying criteria cover integrations and data handling; the form builder for payments guide goes deeper on the fee side.
The picks in depth
Jotform is the complete application. File uploads for ID, pay stubs and references, payment through the major gateways for the fee, e-signature on the consent to screen, a PDF of the completed application generated automatically, and an approval workflow that routes the file to whoever runs the background check and records the decision. Conditional logic shows the co-applicant, pet and vehicle sections only when the applicant says yes. The free Starter plan allows 5 forms, 100 submissions, 10 payment submissions and 10 signed documents a month. Bronze is $39 ($34 annual) for 25 forms and 1,000 submissions; Silver is $49 ($39 annual) for 2,500; Gold is $129 ($99 annual) for 10,000 with HIPAA-grade features for the strictest data handling. The caps are hard, the interface is busy, and every tier is single-user until Enterprise, which matters for a property manager with staff. Choose Jotform if you charge a fee or need a signature, or if applications need an approval step. Skip it for a free, no-fee application; you would be paying $39 for a free tool's job, as Jotform vs Tally sets out.
Tally is the free application. Unlimited forms and submissions under an unquantified fair-use policy, with file uploads, conditional logic, calculations, a signature field and Stripe payments all on the free plan with Tally branding. A landlord with two units gets a real application with uploads and a co-applicant section at $0, and each submission can land in a spreadsheet or an email tool. Pro is $24 a month on yearly billing for branding removal, custom domains, team collaboration and partial submissions. What it lacks is the process layer: no approval workflow, no generated PDF of the application, no HIPAA option, and a fair-use limit a large manager cannot plan around. Choose Tally for a small portfolio with no application fee and no formal screening workflow. Skip it when the decision needs to be recorded and routed, or when the fee is part of the process.
Typeform is the pre-screen. Its one-question-at-a-time layout and logic jumps make a short qualifier feel like a conversation: income range, move-in date, pets, number of occupants, a credit range, done in a minute on a phone, with the full application link shown only to people who pass. The free plan is 100 responses a month with branding; Basic at $39 ($28 annual) keeps that cap; Plus at $79 ($56 annual) allows 1,000 responses and 3 users. It is not built for a dense application with uploads, a fee and a signature, and it does not do approvals. Choose Typeform when the problem is too many enquiries and not enough qualified ones. Skip it as the application itself; Jotform vs Typeform prices the gap.
What to avoid
Do not collect a Social Security number in a plain text field on any form unless the tool encrypts it and you need it for the screening service; many screening providers collect it themselves on their own consent page. Do not charge a fee without checking the local cap and the disclosure rules; several jurisdictions limit fees to the actual screening cost and require a receipt. Do not keep rejected applications indefinitely; set a deletion date that matches the retention period your local law allows. Do not run the same form for every unit without a unit field; you will not know which application belongs to which listing. And do not skip the fair-housing language; the questions you ask are regulated, and a form builder will happily let you ask the wrong one.
When not to buy
If you rent one unit every few years, a Tally form with uploads is the whole answer and costs nothing. Buy Jotform the day you charge a fee, need a signed consent, or need someone else to approve the file. Buy Typeform the day enquiries outnumber showings three to one. For the rest of a small landlord's stack, the scheduling software for small business page covers showing bookings, and the form builder for lead capture guide covers the enquiry form that comes before the application.