If you want your apartment website or leasing tool to show live units and prices, you need data out of your property management system, and for most multifamily operators that means the Yardi integration API, the Entrata API, or a feed from one of them. The catch is that neither is an open API you can sign up for. Access belongs to the property owner's account and runs through each vendor's partner program.
This guide explains how access works for Yardi, Entrata, RealPage, and AppFolio, the feeds and exports that work without it, and when a custom site is a sensible RentCafe alternative. It's written from the integration side of apartment website design projects, where live availability is the feature renters care about most.
What the Yardi integration API gives you
Yardi connects outside software to Voyager, Breeze, and RentCafe through interfaces it approves. Typical interfaces cover properties and floor plans, available units and pricing, guest cards for new leads, tour appointments, and resident data. Which ones you can use depends on the products your company licenses and what Yardi approves for the integration.
In practice, the property management company asks Yardi to enable an interface for a specific vendor or developer, agrees to the terms, and Yardi provides credentials. Developers who build many Yardi integrations often join Yardi's interface partner program, which has its own requirements and fees. We are not a Yardi or Entrata partner. The access stays with your account, or with an approved vendor you already use, and our part is the technical work: mapping your data, building the integration, and keeping it running. Either way, nothing starts until the owner's account approves it, so ask your Yardi account manager early.
Entrata API integration: how access works
Entrata has published API documentation covering properties, units, pricing, leads, applications, and leases. Like Yardi, it issues credentials per client account, and it decides which services each integration can call. The usual path is that your company requests API access, names the developer building the integration, and Entrata enables the services the project needs.
Two things save time. First, list exactly what the integration must read and what it must write, because read-only access to units and prices is a much smaller request than writing leads and applications back. Second, ask whether your plan includes API access or whether it's an added cost, so the budget isn't a surprise later.
RealPage and AppFolio
RealPage opens its platform to outside software through its partner exchange program, and AppFolio does the same through its partner stack program. Both work the same way as Yardi and Entrata: the property management company's account comes first, the vendor approves the connection, and the data available depends on the products you use.
Feeds and exports that work without API access
Many projects never need direct API access. If your units already appear on listing sites, your system is sending an internet listing service (ILS) feed, usually in the MITS XML format the multifamily industry uses. That same feed can power your own website. Scheduled exports, delivered as files by SFTP or email, are another option for data the feed doesn't include.
| Method | How current | Can write data back? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Approved API through the vendor | Near real time | Yes, if approved | Leasing tools, two-way sync, AI assistants |
| ILS listing feed (MITS XML) | Hourly to daily | No | Websites showing units and prices |
| Scheduled exports (SFTP or email) | Daily | No | Reporting, owner dashboards, extra fields |
| Manual updates | Whenever someone remembers | No | Very small portfolios only |
Key takeaway
Start with the ILS feed for a website. Ask for API access only when you need to write leads, tours, or applications back into the system.
What to sync, and in which direction
- 1
Read
Properties, floor plans, units, rent, deposits, fees, amenities, and move-in dates, so the site never shows a unit that's gone.
- 2
Read
Photos and floor plan images, if the system stores them, so there's one place to update media.
- 3
Write
New leads as guest cards, with the source they came from, so the leasing team sees them where they already work.
- 4
Write
Tour bookings, so the leasing calendar and the website never double book.
- 5
Leave alone
Screening and lease signing. Hand renters to the screening and leasing tools you already use.
Looking for a RentCafe alternative?
RentCafe is Yardi's marketing website and resident portal product, and for many communities it's the simplest choice because the data is already connected. Operators look for a RentCafe alternative when they want their own design, search across many buildings, more control over local SEO, or features the template doesn't offer.
A custom site doesn't mean leaving Yardi. The site reads units and prices from the ILS feed or an approved interface, and leads and tours flow back to Yardi where your team works. Residents can keep using the RentCafe portal for rent and maintenance, so only the marketing side changes.
| Factor | RentCafe website | Custom website on Yardi data |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Built in | A design and build project |
| Data connection | Already connected | ILS feed or approved interface |
| Design and brand | Template | Designed around your brand |
| Search across buildings | Basic | Built the way renters search |
| Local SEO control | Limited | Full control of pages and structured data |
How we build these integrations
We start by checking what your account can access, because that decides the design. A website that reads a listing feed is a quicker build than one that writes guest cards back. We build the sync as its own small service that pulls data on a schedule, checks it, and stores it, so the website stays fast even when the vendor's system is slow, and nothing breaks if a field changes.
It's the same data model of buildings, floor plans, and units behind CitySeek, our Miami rental marketplace, where 166 apartment communities each have their own building page. The same synced data can also power an AI leasing assistant that answers renters from live availability, or the owner and resident portals in property management software development.
What it costs
At typical US agency rates of $100-$175 an hour, a one-way sync that keeps a website's units and prices current usually costs $5,000 to $20,000. A two-way integration that also writes leads, tours, and applications back costs $20,000 to $60,000, depending on how many systems and properties are involved. Any partner program or API fees come from the vendor and sit on top. These are typical market ranges, not our prices.
At Avenva, simple websites start from $500 and web app MVPs from $1,000, and a first version is usually live within a few weeks. Our app development cost calculator gives a first range, and our guide to real estate website cost breaks down the rest of the site. For the bigger picture of what we build for property companies, see real estate app development or our custom software development service.