True profit showdown. Gross bookings lie; net profit tells the truth. Free, no signup.
Your realistic numbers. Defaults are starting points, change everything.
One tenant, one lease, one rent check.
Estimates for planning only. Excludes mortgage, property tax, and income tax, which hit both strategies. STR insurance, utilities, and furnishing costs are the lines long-term landlords usually forget to add back when comparing. Local STR rules and taxes vary; check yours.
Gross bookings lie and net profit tells the truth, so this tool puts short-term and long-term rental strategies on the same annual playing field. For the Airbnb side, enter your realistic numbers: average nightly rate, occupancy percentage, average stay length, platform fee percentage, the cleaning fee you charge versus what cleaning actually costs you, utilities, supplies, insurance, repairs and wear, your one-time furnishing cost spread over the months you choose, and the hours you spend per month.
For the long-term side, enter monthly rent, vacancy as a share of the year, maintenance, management fee percentage, annual turnover cost, and your hours per month. Every default is an editable starting point, not a promise about your market.
The results show each strategy's annual and monthly net, a verdict naming the winner or calling it too close to call, the occupancy percentage where Airbnb starts beating long-term, and your effective pay per hour for both. The comparison excludes mortgage, property tax, and income tax, which hit both strategies.
Example only, not typical earnings/pricing/numbers. Airbnb at $150 a night, 60 percent occupancy, 3-night average stays, and a 3 percent platform fee: 219 booked nights produce about $37,328 in revenue including cleaning fees charged. Costs come to about $18,237: turnovers, utilities, supplies, insurance, repairs, and $8,000 of furnishing spread over 36 months. Net: about $19,091 per year, or $1,591 per month. The long-term side at $1,500 rent with 5 percent vacancy nets about $15,100 per year after maintenance and turnover. Airbnb wins by about $3,991 per year, the break-even occupancy is 53 percent, and the effective pay per hour is about $80 for Airbnb versus $419 for long-term, because the long-term side takes far fewer hours.
Short-term fixed costs like utilities, insurance, supplies, and furnishing keep running whether guests book or not. At low occupancy those costs eat the revenue advantage, so the calculator often favors long-term until occupancy climbs.
The occupancy percentage where the Airbnb strategy's annual net first beats the long-term strategy's net at your current costs. It is found by testing occupancy from 5 to 100 percent, so it moves whenever you edit rates or costs.
Because the hours differ enormously. In the worked example the Airbnb side takes 20 hours a month and the long-term side takes 3, so even with lower total profit the long-term side pays far more per hour of your life.
No. It excludes mortgage, property tax, and income tax, since those hit both strategies. This is general information, not tax or legal advice; local short-term rental rules and taxes vary, so check yours.
They are starting points, not market data. Change nightly rate, occupancy, and every cost line to your realistic numbers before making any decision.