If you're starting a UK letting agency, the software you pick on day one is a 5-year decision. Migrating mid-stream is painful. This guide compares the realistic options for a brand-new agency in 2026.
What a New Agency Actually Needs
Most "letting agent software" comparison articles miss what new agencies care about. You don't need a 40-branch enterprise feature set. You need:
- Everything in one place — properties, tenants, landlords, viewings, offers, tenancies, maintenance, finances, compliance. Splitting these across 4–7 tools at the start guarantees data silos and double entry.
- Mobile apps for the people you don't pay — tenants, landlords, contractors. If they have a portal/app, they self-serve and don't bombard you with email.
- Compliance built in — gas safety, EPC, EICR, Right to Rent, AML, deposit protection — automated, with reminders. See compliance breakdown.
- Predictable pricing — flat-fee monthly rather than per-user, per-property, per-feature. New agencies live or die on cash flow.
- Setup measured in hours, not weeks — enterprise tools take 4–6 weeks of "onboarding" before you can use them. You don't have time for that.
Reapit / Alto / Jupix (Same Owner)
Reapit and Alto are the enterprise players — most large independent agencies and corporate chains run on them. Jupix is their mid-market product.
Pros: feature-complete; deep integrations; established support.
Cons: setup takes 4–6 weeks; per-user pricing adds up; on-premise feel even on the cloud product; tenant/landlord portals exist but feel like 2015 web apps; pricing only on request (typically £100–£200/user/month after a £2–5k setup fee).
Verdict for new agencies: overkill for the first 50 properties. You'll spend more on the software than you'll earn in fees for the first 6 months.
Goodlord
Goodlord is the dominant tenant onboarding + referencing product — used by many letting agencies as an "add-on" to their main CRM.
Pros: best-in-class referencing flow; clean tenant experience; e-signature built in.
Cons: not a complete CRM — you still need a separate property management system; pricing is per-tenancy (~£30–£50 per onboarded tenant), which adds up; integrations with the broader CRM you'll need are patchy.
Verdict for new agencies: solid if you already have a CRM. If you don't, you're buying half the stack.
Acquaint
Acquaint (formerly Acquaint CRM) is the budget option among traditional letting agent software.
Pros: cheap; British company; you can talk to a human; covers the core CRM workflow.
Cons: dated UX; no native mobile apps for tenants/landlords; compliance tracking is bolted on rather than core; minimal automation.
Verdict for new agencies: works if you're optimising purely for price. If you care about UX or automation, you'll outgrow it within a year.
LettingGuru
We're going to be honest: this is our own product, so treat what follows as a self-pitch — but we built LettingGuru specifically because we couldn't find a tool that did everything a new UK agency needs in one place at a price that made sense.
What's included on every plan:
- Full property management CRM (properties, tenants, landlords, viewings, offers, tenancies)
- Digital tenant onboarding wizard with referencing, AML, Right to Rent (replaces Goodlord)
- Maintenance workflow with contractor portal (replaces Fixflo)
- Compliance tracker (gas safety, EPC, EICR, deposits, NRL)
- Financial module — rent collection, landlord statements, contractor invoices, CIS — Xero-syncing
- Seven dedicated mobile apps — tenant, landlord, contractor, inspector, viewer, buyer, vendor
- Native Rightmove + OnTheMarket portal feeds
- Optional: AI Receptionist (Nita) handles incoming calls 24/7 from £79/month
- Optional: AI floor plans, AI image enhancement, AI room descriptions for HMOs
Pricing: from £399/month with every feature included. No per-user fees, no per-tenancy onboarding fees, no extra modules to unlock. Full pricing.
Setup time: most agencies are using LettingGuru productively within 24 hours. We import existing property + landlord data and walk you through the onboarding wizard on a 1:1 call. See our guide on choosing letting agent software for the full evaluation framework.
Our Recommendation
For a brand-new UK letting agency in 2026:
- Under 20 properties: LettingGuru. The single-tool approach saves real time and removes the integration headaches. £399/month covers everything.
- 20–100 properties: LettingGuru still. The tiered per-property pricing kicks in but stays competitive (and remains everything-included).
- 100+ properties or multi-branch: still LettingGuru in our view, but at this size you should also evaluate Reapit and Alto. Book a side-by-side comparison demo and we'll show you how LettingGuru compares feature-by-feature.
Already on Another Tool?
If you're already running on Reapit / Alto / Goodlord / Acquaint and considering a switch, we can usually migrate your data within a week. The friction is much lower than people think. Book a 30-minute call and we'll walk through what's involved for your specific setup.