Published 2026-09-28 · 9 min read

TransUnion SmartMove vs Avail Tenant Screening (2026): Price, Reports & Portfolio Fit for Landlords

TransUnion SmartMove vs Avail Tenant Screening (2026): Price, Reports & Portfolio Fit for Landlords

TransUnion SmartMove and Avail's tenant screening solve the same problem — vetting applicants before you hand over the keys — but they come at it from very different places. SmartMove is standalone, pay-per-report screening from TransUnion itself; Avail is a full landlord platform with screening built in as one feature.

That structural difference matters more than any single report feature. Here's an honest, report-by-report comparison.

Practical Landlord is reader-supported. When you sign up for services through links on this site, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

The short answer

• Pick SmartMove if you want fast, standalone tenant screening with no platform commitment. The applicant enters their own data, TransUnion's first-party reports arrive in minutes, and the applicant-paid option keeps your cost at zero.
• Pick Avail if you want screening inside a complete rental-management platform — listings, applications, leases, rent collection — so applicant data flows from showing to signed lease without re-entry.

If you're weighing the whole screening landscape first, our best tenant screening services roundup and tenant screening head-to-head put both services in a wider field.

Side-by-side comparison

Pricing is hedged for a reason: both companies adjust pricing periodically, and the exact bundle at checkout is what counts. Figures above reflect publicly listed pricing — always check current pricing before you budget.

How each service works

SmartMove's flow is built around the applicant doing the work. You create a free landlord account, send the applicant an email invitation, and they complete their own portion: personal details, SSN, and consent. TransUnion verifies their identity, and the credit, criminal, and eviction reports generate in minutes. You never collect or store the applicant's sensitive identifiers, which removes a real security and liability headache for independent landlords. Our full SmartMove review breaks down the tiers and the ResidentScore recommendation in detail.

Avail's screening lives inside its application flow. You set up an Avail account, publish a listing, and applicants submit Avail's online rental application. Screening is requested through that same system, the applicant completes it, and the credit, criminal, and eviction reports land in your Avail dashboard alongside the application itself. Because the application and the screening share one system, you never re-enter applicant data or chase a separate report link. Our full Avail review covers the broader platform.

That platform-vs-standalone split is the core trade-off of this comparison. SmartMove is screening as a transaction. Avail is screening as a step in a pipeline.

What's actually in the reports

Both services cover the three pillars of tenant screening. Here's how they line up:

Credit. SmartMove pulls TransUnion credit directly — no middleman between the bureau and your report. Pro adds full account-level tradeline detail, and Plus adds Income Insights, which cross-checks the applicant's stated income against TransUnion's income data. Avail's screening includes a credit check sourced through its platform, built for a rental decision rather than deep tradeline analysis.

Criminal history. SmartMove includes national and state criminal searches, fuller on the Plus and Pro tiers. Avail includes a criminal background check as part of its standard screening bundle.

Eviction history. Both include eviction history — SmartMove as a dedicated report component, Avail bundled into its screening package.

The interpretive layer. This is where they diverge. SmartMove gives you the ResidentScore leasing recommendation — Accept, Accept with Conditions, or Decline — plus Income Insights on higher tiers. Avail doesn't offer an automated recommendation; you read the report and apply your own criteria. SmartMove's recommendation is a data point, not a decision: it doesn't know your written criteria, your property, or your risk tolerance. With Avail, there's no score to misinterpret — the report is raw material and the judgment is unambiguously yours.

Neither service replaces reference checks. A clean report tells you the applicant pays debts; it says nothing about how they treated their last rental. Call prior landlords regardless of which report you run.

Pricing and who pays

SmartMove sells three per-report tiers: Basic ($25/applicant) covering credit with ResidentScore, criminal, and eviction; Plus ($40) adding Income Insights and a fuller criminal search; Pro ($45) adding complete tradeline detail. Every tier is priced per report, and for each screening you choose applicant-paid or landlord-paid. In most markets the applicant pays as standard practice, which can bring SmartMove's cost to you down to zero. (Tiers change periodically — check current pricing at checkout.)

Avail prices screening per application, generally in the $25–$55 range depending on what's bundled. You can pay as the landlord or pass the cost to the applicant. Screening is only available inside an Avail account — there's no standalone per-report purchase the way SmartMove offers.

On economics: SmartMove's applicant-paid option means screening can cost you nothing out of pocket, with no platform to join. Avail's per-applicant cost is comparable, but you get it as part of a platform whose other tools — online applications, leases, rent payments — you're presumably also using. If you're paying for Avail screening but only using Avail for screening, SmartMove is the cheaper relationship.

Turnaround: minutes vs. pipeline speed

SmartMove's turnaround is its clearest win. Applicant completes their portion, report generates in minutes. In a competitive rental market, same-day screening is often the difference between landing a strong applicant and losing them to the landlord down the street.

Avail's screening is also fast — typically same-day once the applicant completes it — but tied to the platform's application flow. The applicant submits the Avail application first, then completes the screening step. If your listing is already live on Avail, the friction is zero. If you're trying to screen one off-platform applicant quickly, Avail's flow has more steps than SmartMove's email-and-done approach.

Portfolio fit: who should use which

SmartMove fits you if you screen outside a platform. Maybe you list on your own and collect rent by check or bank transfer. You don't want another system — you want a report, fast, for this applicant, today. SmartMove slots into any workflow because it doesn't ask you to change the workflow. It's also the better fit if you screen rarely: one applicant, one report, no learning curve.

Avail fits you if you want the whole rental in one system. If you're publishing listings, collecting online applications, generating leases, and taking rent payments through one dashboard, having screening live in that same dashboard is genuinely valuable. The applicant enters their information once; you review the application and the screening side by side; the approved applicant's data is already in the system for the lease.

For multi-unit landlords, Avail's pipeline advantage compounds — ten applicants across five vacancies with applications, reports, and communications in one place beats ten separate SmartMove invitations managed over email. For the landlord with one or two units who screens a handful of applicants a year, SmartMove's zero-commitment, pay-per-report model is the lighter and usually cheaper choice.

There's also a middle path: some landlords run rentals through Avail but still use SmartMove for edge cases — a co-signer who won't go through the platform, a quick re-screen of a renewing tenant, an applicant who started outside the funnel. The services don't conflict. If you're choosing one home for screening, pick the one that matches how you operate.

For more on how Avail compares as a full platform, see our Baselane vs Avail breakdown, and our TurboTenant review if you're evaluating Avail's closest platform rival.

FCRA compliance: the same obligations either way

Both services operate under the same federal rules, and both leave the legal responsibility with you:

• Written applicant consent before running any report. SmartMove collects it in-app when the applicant completes their portion; Avail collects it through its application flow.
• Adverse action notices whenever you deny, conditionally approve, or require a larger deposit based on report information. The notice must name the screening company, give its contact information, and inform the applicant of their right to a free copy and to dispute inaccuracies. SmartMove's ResidentScore "Decline" is not an adverse action notice — the recommendation is TransUnion's opinion; the adverse action is your decision.
• State and local overlays. Some jurisdictions restrict criminal-history lookbacks or credit-check usage. Neither service filters for your local rules — check them yourself.

SmartMove wins if:

• You want screening with no platform commitment — a report, not a system.
• Same-day or minutes-fast turnaround is the priority.
• You want the applicant to handle data entry and consent in-app, keeping sensitive data out of your inbox.
• Applicant-paid screening is the norm in your market and you want your cost at zero.
• You like having a ResidentScore recommendation as a starting point for your decision.

Avail wins if:

• You're running listings, applications, leases, and rent collection through one platform — screening should live there too.
• You manage multiple units and want applications plus reports in a single dashboard.
• You want applicant data to flow from application to lease without re-entry.
• You prefer reading the raw report yourself rather than starting from an automated recommendation.

The bottom line

SmartMove and Avail aren't really competing on report quality — both give you credit, criminal, and eviction history from legitimate sources, and both deliver fast enough for any realistic leasing timeline. They're competing on shape.

SmartMove is the sharper tool for a narrower job: fast, standalone, applicant-driven screening with first-party TransUnion data and a pay-per-report model that can cost you nothing when the applicant pays. If screening is a transaction you do a few times a year, it's hard to beat.

Avail is the broader platform where screening is one step in a managed pipeline: listings, applications, screening, leases, and rent collection in one system. If you're building or already running that pipeline — especially across multiple units — the integration is worth more than any single report feature.

Pick the shape that matches how you actually run your rentals. Whichever service you choose, do the rest of the job: written criteria, reference checks, adverse action notices. The landlords who get burned by screening are burned by skipping the steps around the reports.

Practical Landlord is reader-supported. When you sign up for services through links on this site, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Related reading: SmartMove review 2026 · Avail review 2026 · Best tenant screening services 2026 · Tenant screening head-to-head 2026 · TurboTenant review 2026 · Baselane vs Avail 2026

Compare more landlord software

• Landlord software compared: all reviews & comparisons
• SmartMove vs Avail Screening (2026): Which Tenant Screening Wins?
• TransUnion SmartMove Review 2026: Tenant Screening for Landlords
• Avail Review 2026: The Free Property Management Software for DIY Landlords