Whether a short-term rental makes money or loses it depends on the math you run before you buy. A revenue estimate is a starting point, but it leaves out most of what determines profitability. A useful calculator accounts for the variables that actually determine your bottom line, including operating expenses, financing costs, occupancy patterns, and the gap between market averages and what your specific property can realistically earn.
Not every investor needs the same depth of analysis. Someone screening dozens of zip codes for their first purchase has different needs than an operator modeling cash flow on a deal they plan to close next week. The seven tools below reflect that spectrum.
Some are free and built for quick scans, others charge a monthly fee and deliver layered data you can spend hours inside, and a few sit somewhere in between.
For each platform, we break down what it does best, where it falls short, and what it costs, so you can match the right calculator to the stage of your investment process.
1. Chalet
Best For: Investors who want to underwrite an entire deal (revenue, expenses, and financing) inside a single free tool.
Most STR calculators stop at the revenue estimate. Chalet walks you through the full financial picture. After generating a baseline estimate from local comps, it opens up every lever that matters, from average daily rate and occupancy to management fees, cleaning costs, utilities, insurance, property taxes, and maintenance reserves. You adjust the inputs, and the outputs recalculate instantly
Chalet’s financing module is its biggest edge. It separates loan amount, interest rate, amortization period, and debt service coverage ratio into independent fields. In a rate environment where plenty of properties pencil out on an unlevered basis but bleed cash once a mortgage enters the picture, having those numbers baked into the same tool instead of scattered across a separate spreadsheet changes the quality of the analysis.
Beyond the calculator, Chalet also publishes market guides, tracks local STR regulations, and maintains a directory of short-term rental agents and lenders. No subscription, no paywall, and no account required until you have run several property lookups.
Pros
- Full expense and financing modeling included at no cost
- Outputs NOI, cap rate, cash-on-cash return, DSCR, and leveraged cash flow in real time
- No signup or credit card needed to start running numbers
- Supplementary resources (regulation tracker, agent directory, market guides) add context around the data
Cons
- Coverage is limited to U.S. properties
- Does not aggregate global listing data the way subscription platforms do
Pricing: Free (no subscription, no paywall)
2. Rabbu
Best For: Quick, no-login revenue scans with seasonality breakdowns and comp-level detail.
Rabbu’s Airbnb calculator lets you type in a U.S. address and get a revenue projection without creating an account. The output includes seasonalized monthly estimates, average daily rate, and occupancy benchmarks, plus a list of nearby comparable properties. You can include or exclude individual comps to refine the projection, and the tool shows each comp’s calendar so you can see actual booking patterns and pricing.
The free calculator works well for initial screening. Rabbu also offers a marketplace for buying and selling turnkey STR properties, and its paid tiers unlock deeper market-level analytics and business plan outputs geared toward securing financing.
Pros
- No account required for the basic calculator
- Seasonalized monthly revenue projections with percentile options (25th, 75th)
- Comp selection is transparent — you can see and adjust which listings drive the estimate
- Marketplace integration connects analysis to actual purchase opportunities
Cons
- U.S. only, with no international coverage
- Relies heavily on market averages, which can underrepresent well-optimized listings
- Expense and financing modeling is limited compared to dedicated underwriting tools
Pricing: Free calculator with no signup. Paid plans available for expanded market data and business plan tools.
3. PriceLabs Revenue Estimator Pro
Best For: Operators and investors who want granular control over their comp set and revenue projections grounded in dynamic pricing data.
PriceLabs made its name in automated nightly pricing for STR managers, and that pricing intelligence carries over into its Revenue Estimator Pro. After entering an address, you can narrow the comparable listings driving your estimate using more than 20 filters, including bedroom count, location radius, amenities like pools or hot tubs, review scores, and performance tiers.
The projection reflects properties similar to the one you plan to operate rather than every listing sharing a zip code.
Revenue estimates break down month by month and display 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile performance, giving you a range rather than a single number. AI-generated insights flag patterns in the data automatically, and you can export everything as a formatted PDF or CSV, a practical feature when sharing projections with partners or lenders.
The trade-off is scope. PriceLabs focuses on the revenue side. There are no built-in expense templates, no mortgage modeling, and no cap rate calculations. You get a sharp read on earning potential, but the rest of the underwriting happens outside the tool.
Pros
- More than 20 comp filters let you build a highly specific comparable set
- Percentile-based projections (25th/50th/75th) provide a realistic range instead of a single estimate
- Backed by pricing data from over 500,000 units across 150+ countries
- Exportable PDF and CSV reports
Cons
- No expense, financing, or return-on-investment calculations built in
- Free tier is limited to two estimates, with paid access required beyond that
Pricing: 2 free estimates with a trial; paid plans from $10/mo (2 estimates) up to $125/mo (50 estimates)
4. AirDNA Rentalizer
Best For: Market-level research and trend analysis across a massive global dataset.
AirDNA pulls from one of the largest short-term rental datasets available, tracking over 10 million Airbnb and Vrbo listings across more than 120,000 markets worldwide. That scale gives its Rentalizer tool a large comp pool, and the paid tiers unlock features that are hard to find elsewhere, including amenity-level adjustments, seasonality visualizations, neighborhood benchmarking, and demand pattern tracking over multi-year windows.
The free version returns a basic revenue estimate with occupancy and average daily rate. The features that make AirDNA most useful for investment analysis, such as historical trends, advanced filtering, and multi-market comparisons, require a paid subscription.
One thing to watch is that AirDNA can sometimes arrive at a reasonable annual revenue figure through an occupancy-and-rate combination that would not match what a specific property actually experiences. The gross number might land close, but the underlying assumptions could push you toward a pricing strategy that does not reflect reality. Treat it as directional intelligence, especially for individual deals, and validate against a second source before committing capital.
Pros
- Largest STR dataset available, with 10M+ listings across 120K+ markets globally
- Historical data and multi-year trend tracking help identify market trajectories
- Amenity impact scoring and advanced comp set tools on paid plans
- Recognized as a standard reference across the STR industry
Cons
- Free tier is quite limited, and most useful features sit behind a subscription
- Individual property projections can be less reliable than market-level data, particularly in thin markets
- Pricing scales up quickly when scouting multiple markets
Pricing: Free tier for basic estimates; Starter plans from ~$15/mo; Professional plans from ~$25–$40/mo per market
5. Awning
Best For: Getting a fast, management-data-backed revenue estimate without creating an account.
Awning is primarily a property management company overseeing more than 20,000 vacation rentals across all 50 states. Its free Airbnb calculator is a byproduct of that operational footprint. Instead of relying exclusively on scraped listing prices, Awning pulls from actual booking revenue generated by the properties it manages. That distinction matters because scraped rates often reflect aspirational pricing rather than what guests actually pay.
Enter a U.S. address and property details, and Awning returns estimated annual revenue, ADR, and occupancy drawn from three to five comparable listings in the area. The interface also shows those comps on an interactive map so you can evaluate them yourself.
Awning’s calculator is strongest as a quick-reference tool. It does not offer expense modeling, financing inputs, or ROI calculations, so it works best as a starting data point that you validate and build on with a more detailed analysis tool.
Pros
- Backed by real booking data from 20,000+ managed properties rather than scraped listing prices alone
- Free with no account required
- Clean, simple interface that returns results quickly
- Interactive comp map lets you evaluate the comparable listings visually
Cons
- U.S. coverage only
- Limited to Airbnb data, with no Vrbo or other platform coverage
- No expense, financing, or return metrics built into the tool
Pricing: Free (no subscription or account needed)
6. Mashvisor
Best For: Comparing a property’s potential as both a short-term and a long-term rental before choosing a strategy.
Mashvisor is built around property acquisition rather than day-to-day hosting, and it lets you view projected performance as both an STR and a traditional long-term rental side by side, which cuts research time for investors who have not yet locked in their rental approach.
The platform connects directly to MLS listings and overlays each result with projected cash-on-cash return, cap rate, occupancy, and monthly income. Neighborhood-level heatmaps let you filter by price, rental yield, and profitability, helping you narrow your geographic search before drilling into individual deals. You can also customize startup and recurring expenses, and the calculator updates return metrics accordingly.
Mashvisor’s financing and expense tools are functional but not as detailed as what you would find in a dedicated underwriting calculator. Accuracy can also thin out in smaller markets with fewer comps. It works best as a first-pass filter, identifying promising properties and markets — that you then validate with a deeper financial tool.
Pros
- Side-by-side STR vs. long-term rental comparison in a single view
- Direct MLS integration surfaces on-market properties with projected returns
- Heatmaps for neighborhood-level screening by yield, price, and profitability
- Customizable expense inputs that recalculate return metrics
Cons
- Financing modeling is basic compared to dedicated underwriting calculators
- Data accuracy can be uneven in smaller or less active markets
- No free tier (requires a paid subscription after a limited trial)
Pricing: From ~$18/mo (Lite) to ~$75/mo (Professional), billed quarterly or annually; limited free trial available
7. Evolve
Best For: Existing or prospective vacation rental owners who want to model income and expenses using real market benchmarks from a major management company.
Evolve is one of the largest vacation rental management companies in the U.S., with over 24,000 properties on its platform. Its free income calculator works differently than most tools on this list. Instead of generating an automated estimate from an address, it asks you to input your own revenue and expense assumptions, and then calculates annual income from those figures.
You need to arrive with some baseline numbers already in hand, such as expected nightly rate, anticipated occupancy, insurance costs, property taxes, and management fees. To help with this, Evolve publishes a library of market analysis reports covering 50+ U.S. locations with performance benchmarks like average nightly rates, occupancy patterns, and seasonal demand curves.
The tool is more of an interactive worksheet than an automated estimator, which makes it a better fit for owners who already have a property (or a specific deal in mind) and want to stress-test their assumptions rather than discover new markets.
Pros
- Free tool from a management company with real operational data across 24,000+ properties
- Market analysis library provides benchmarks you can plug directly into the calculator
- Lets you model custom expense scenarios rather than relying on platform defaults
Cons
- Does not generate automated revenue estimates. You supply the inputs.
- No comp set, no address-based lookup, and no financing modeling
- Most useful if you already have baseline numbers and less helpful for initial market screening
- Functions partly as a lead generation tool for Evolve’s management services
Pricing: Free
Matching a Calculator to Your Stage in the Process
No single calculator covers every angle of STR due diligence.
If you are scanning markets and want a fast sense of revenue potential, free tools like Rabbu, Awning, or AirDNA’s free tier will get you oriented quickly. When you are ready to compare rental strategies or narrow your search geographically, Mashvisor’s side-by-side STR vs. long-term rental analysis and neighborhood heatmaps can accelerate that decision. For the most granular control over comp sets and revenue projections, PriceLabs offers filtering depth that other platforms do not match.
When you need to model the full deal (expenses, financing, and cash flow together), Chalet is the only free option on this list that brings all of those inputs into a single tool. And if you already own a property and want to test assumptions against real operational benchmarks, Evolve’s calculator paired with its market reports gives you a framework grounded in management-level data.
Using two or three of these tools in combination gives you the most reliable picture. Start with a broad scan, refine with a comp-specific estimate, then stress-test the deal with a full underwriting calculator. The numbers from any single platform are only one data point. You build confidence by seeing where they converge.
