The shortlist
4 things that do it.
A UK property portal with a rental search by postcode, city, town or station, saved properties and alerts, and renter guides.
- Free
- Not verified: Rightmove's rental pages do not state a price or say searching is free.
- Paid
- price not checked
- Best at
- Searching flats and houses to rent across the UK from one site, with guides on costs and viewings.
- The catch
- Its pages do not say who lists the properties or what coverage looks like, and do not state whether searching is free. It covers the UK only.
- web
- ios
- android
A UK site where you deal directly with private landlords, with the whole process online.
- Free
- The tenants page says 'no admin fees' and that you will only see properties with no fees.
- Paid
- price not checked
- Best at
- Renting direct from a landlord with no admin fees, and seeing only properties that are available now.
- The catch
- It lists private landlords' properties, so it may not show every home in an area. The pages we read name Google Play for the app and do not mention an iPhone app.
- web
- android
A US rental site with listings of apartments, houses, condos and townhomes, plus online applications, lease signing and rent payments.
- Free
- Not verified: the pages we read do not state that searching is free.
- Paid
- from $32.00 to apply to 10 properties
- Best at
- Searching a large US inventory and then applying, signing and paying rent through the same site.
- The catch
- Applications are paid: its renter page says applying to 10 properties costs $32.00. It does not say searching is free, and it covers the US only.
- web
- ios
- android
A rental platform for the US and Canada that says it has over 1 million listings, with long or short term leases.
- Free
- Zumper says renters can browse or contact properties for free and that it will not ask you for money to view or communicate with listed rentals.
- Paid
- price not checked
- Best at
- Browsing, contacting and applying to rentals from a phone app with filters, alerts and digital tours.
- The catch
- The page does not discuss application fees, so check what a landlord or property manager charges before you apply. It covers North America only.
- web
- ios
- android
How they compare
Which one suits you, and why.
If you are renting in the UK and want one big search
Rightmove is the broadest option here. Its rent page offers a search by postcode, city, town or station, saved properties and alerts, and it says the search covers the UK's largest choice of homes. It also has renter guides on costs and viewings, which helps if you are new to renting.
The catch is what its pages leave out. They do not say who lists the properties or what coverage looks like, and they do not state whether searching is free, so that part is not verified. It covers the UK only.
If you want to rent direct from a UK landlord
OpenRent is built for this. You deal directly with private landlords, the whole process is online, and the tenants page says there are no admin fees. Clicking Book Viewing sends a message directly to the landlord, so you speak to the owner rather than a middleman. You also see only properties that are available now.
The trade-off is choice. It lists private landlords' homes, so it may not show every home in an area, and its page does not claim otherwise. The pages we read name Google Play for the app and do not mention an iPhone app, so check that before you plan to search from an iPhone.
If you are renting in the US and want to apply online
Apartments.com lets you do the whole job in one place. It says you can browse listings, apply online, sign your lease and pay your rent from any device, with over 1 million apartments, houses, condos and townhomes.
Applications are paid. Its renter page says applying to 10 properties costs $32.00, and that credit and background reports are included. We checked this on 2026-10-09. The pages we read do not say that searching is free, so that is not verified. It covers the US only.
If you want a US or Canada rental search that is free to browse
Zumper says renters can browse or contact properties for free, and that it will not ask you for money to view or communicate with listed rentals. It says it has over 1 million listings across the US and Canada, with long or short term leases, filters, alerts and digital tours. It has web, iOS and Android versions.
Its page does not discuss application fees, so a landlord or property manager may still charge one. Ask what they charge before you apply. It covers North America only.
When paying is worth it
Searching is free to start on the sites that state it, and the main renter cost we found is the $32.00 on Apartments.com for applying to 10 properties. If you are applying to several places in the US and want credit and background reports included, that fee covers them. If you are only browsing, you do not need to pay anything yet.
What to watch for
The catches worth knowing first.
The larger costs come when you actually rent, not when you search. In England, Zoopla says letting agents and landlords cannot charge renters for administration, reference checks or credit checks, and a banned fee must be returned within 28 days. If someone asks you for one, you can raise that with them.
Zoopla also says you will usually need a holding deposit, a security deposit and at least one month's rent in advance before moving in. Rightmove's guide says that in England the holding deposit is capped at one week's rent and the tenancy deposit at five weeks' rent, or six weeks if the annual rent is £50,000 or more.
In the US, Zumper's page does not mention application fees, so check with the landlord or property manager before you apply.
The same shortlist, as a table
| Thing | Free tier | Paid from | Platforms | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rightmove (UK) | Not verified: Rightmove's rental pages do not state a price or say searching is free. | not checked | web, ios, android | Its pages do not say who lists the properties or what coverage looks like, and do not state whether searching is free. It covers the UK only. |
| OpenRent (UK) | The tenants page says 'no admin fees' and that you will only see properties with no fees. | not checked | web, android | It lists private landlords' properties, so it may not show every home in an area. The pages we read name Google Play for the app and do not mention an iPhone app. |
| Apartments.com (US) | Not verified: the pages we read do not state that searching is free. | $32.00 to apply to 10 properties | web, ios, android | Applications are paid: its renter page says applying to 10 properties costs $32.00. It does not say searching is free, and it covers the US only. |
| Zumper (US and Canada) | Zumper says renters can browse or contact properties for free and that it will not ask you for money to view or communicate with listed rentals. | not checked | web, ios, android | The page does not discuss application fees, so check what a landlord or property manager charges before you apply. It covers North America only. |
How we checked
What we read, and what we haven't tested yet.
On 2026-10-09 we read Rightmove's UK rent page and its guide to rent affordability and costs, Zoopla's page on tenant fees, OpenRent's tenants page, the Apartments.com homepage and its renter guide page, and the Zumper homepage. Apartments.com blocked a plain fetch, so we read it through a page fetcher. Zoopla is used only as a source on UK tenant fees and is not listed as a site on its own. Nothing was tested hands-on.
If none of these fit
The manual way.
In Europe, each country has its own portal, which our page on Zillow-style sites in Europe covers. For a UK rental, you can also ask a local letting agent directly what they have available.