Best Second Phone Number Apps for Landlords (2026): Keep Tenants Off Your Personal Cell
- At a Glance
- 1. Google Voice — best free pick
- 2. Hushed — best disposable/listing numbers
- 3. YouMail — best spam protection
General information only: this article is for educational purposes and is not legal, tax, or financial advice. App pricing and features change — verify current terms on each provider's site before you commit.
Your phone number will end up everywhere once you're a landlord: listing sites, yard signs, tenant contact lists, contractor invoices, your property manager's office. Every one of those is another place your personal number can leak, get spammed, or get called at 11 PM.
A second phone number app solves this cleanly. You keep your real number private and run a separate line for the rental business — tenants, prospects, and vendors reach "the business" while your personal phone stays personal. Here's how the leading options compare for a landlord's actual use case, with pricing checked in October 2026.
At a Glance
| App | Price | Landlord verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Google Voice | Free | Best free pick for a simple second line |
| Hushed | From $1.99 prepaid; unlimited from ~$4.99/mo | Best for disposable/listing numbers |
| YouMail | Free tier; paid from $5.99/mo | Best spam protection + free voicemail |
| Sideline | ~$10/mo | Solid all-rounder with auto-replies |
| Line2 | From $9.99/mo | Strong call screening, iPhone-friendly |
| Grasshopper | From ~$28/mo | Entry-level business system feel |
| OpenPhone | From ~$15/user/mo | Best for teams/shared inbox |
1. Google Voice — best free pick
Google Voice remains the default answer for a free second number. The free tier gives you a real US number with unlimited texts, voicemail transcription, and call forwarding — enough for most single-unit landlords. The catch is that the free tier is US-only and lacks an auto-attendant; paid Google Voice tiers ($10–$30/user/month) add that and deeper admin controls.
If you want a second number that costs nothing and you're already in Google's ecosystem, start here. Full comparison: Ooma vs Google Voice for Landlords (2026).
Best for: one-property landlords who just need a free buffer number.
2. Hushed — best disposable/listing numbers
Hushed's whole pitch is disposability. Prepaid bundles start at $1.99, and unlimited subscriptions start around $4.99/month (a 3-line plan runs $14.99/month or $139.99/year). You can spin up a number for a vacant unit's listing, run all showings on it, then delete it when the unit is rented — prospective tenants never touch your real number. It supports 300+ area codes, call forwarding, auto-replies, and custom voicemail greetings.
Trade-off: users report occasional app glitches, and the cheapest plans cap minutes — it's a privacy tool, not a full-time business phone system.
Best for: listing numbers you want to kill after the unit rents.
3. YouMail — best spam protection
YouMail's free tier blocks spam calls, gives you visual voicemail with transcription, and replaces your carrier's voicemail — genuinely useful when your number is plastered across listing sites. Paid plans start at $5.99/month (Plus), and the Essentials tier at $11.99/month adds a true second phone number with any US area code plus unlimited calling and texting on it. Higher tiers ($19.99–$27.99/month) add auto-attendant and multiple numbers for growing portfolios.
Best for: landlords drowning in spam calls on a number that can't be changed.
4. Sideline — reliable all-rounder
Sideline (around $10/month) gives you a second number with texting, auto-replies, and number porting. It's unglamorous but dependable — a straight second line with a business-ish voicemail greeting. Nothing fancy, nothing missing for the basics.
Best for: landlords who want a set-it-and-forget-it second line.
5. Line2 — best call screening
Line2 starts at $9.99/month with strong call-screening features and vanity-number options — nice if you want "landlord-ish" caller ID on your outbound calls. iPhone users report a smoother experience than Android users, which is worth knowing if you carry an Android.
Best for: iPhone-carrying landlords who screen a lot of calls.
6. Grasshopper — business system on a budget
Grasshopper starts around $28/month and behaves like a proper business phone system: extensions, business texting, and call handling that sounds professional to callers. Full comparison: Ooma vs Grasshopper for Landlords (2026).
Best for: landlords who want tenants to hear a "business," not a person.
7. OpenPhone — best for teams
OpenPhone starts around $15/user/month and shines when more than one person answers the phone: shared inbox, internal comments on conversations, and integrations. If you have a partner, assistant, or property manager who all need to see tenant texts, this is the category winner.
Best for: multi-person operations and growing portfolios.
Which one should you get?
- 1–3 units, solo: Google Voice (free) or Hushed ($1.99+ prepaid for listings).
- Spam is the problem: YouMail's free tier today; Essentials ($11.99/mo) if you also need the second number.
- You want to sound like a company: Grasshopper or OpenPhone, depending on whether you have a team.
- Contractors and vendors: give them a Hushed or Sideline number you control; never your personal line.
Whichever you pick, the move that matters is the same: keep the personal number off everything. Change the number on listings and signatures once, and tenants' midnight texts go to voicemail on the business line — where they belong.
For a full virtual-phone-system comparison, see Ooma vs OpenPhone for Landlords (2026) and our landlord–tenant communication guide.