DealCheck for Airbnb: A Short-Term Rental Alternative
DealCheck is an excellent, inexpensive calculator for almost every kind of real estate deal, but it expects you to bring the short-term-rental revenue: you enter the rent yourself, on a daily or weekly basis. STR Yield supplies those numbers and finds the listings, but it only does vacation rentals, in five markets. For many buyers the answer is to use both.
Last reviewed September 29, 2026 · By the STR Yield team
Choose STR Yield if…
- You want the revenue, ADR and occupancy estimated for you, with nearby STR comps to check them
- You’re shopping in Gatlinburg / Pigeon Forge, Hocking Hills, Blue Ridge / Ellijay, Big Bear or Redding
- You want new listings scored every morning instead of entering each deal by hand
- You want DSCR and a year-1 tax write-off estimate on every listing
Choose DealCheck if…
- You already know the nightly rate and occupancy you expect
- You analyze long-term rentals, BRRRRs, flips, multifamily or commercial deals, not just STRs
- You want a mobile app and branded PDF reports for partners or lenders
- You want to save and template many deals anywhere in the US
At a glance
| Feature | STR Yield | DealCheck |
|---|---|---|
| New for-sale listings, pre-scoredA daily feed or alerts of newly listed homes with STR returns already worked out | YesDaily, 5 US markets, plus email digest | Not listed |
| STR revenue estimate for any addressType an address, get revenue, ADR and occupancy | YesAny US address | |
| Comparable rentals shownThe nearby STRs the estimate is based on | Yes10 nearby STRs with links | |
| Cash flow with your financingMonthly cash flow, cash-on-cash and cap rate from your down payment, rate and costs | Yes | |
| DSCRDebt service coverage ratio, the number DSCR lenders underwrite to | Yes | Not listed |
| Year-1 tax write-off estimateCost segregation and bonus depreciation estimate, not just a straight-line depreciation line | YesAutomatic on every listing | Not listed |
| Market dataOccupancy, ADR and seasonality for a whole market | PartialOur 5 markets only | Not listed |
| CoverageWhere the product works | Feed: 5 US markets. Analyzer: US-wide | US propertiessource |
| Long-term rental, flip or BRRRRAnalysis for strategies other than short-term rentals | NoSTR only | |
| PDF or spreadsheet exportDownload or share a report | No | |
| Native mobile appAn iOS or Android app, not just a mobile website | NoMobile website | |
| PriceCheapest way to use it (as of the review date) | Free | Free plan; paid from $10/mosource |
Can DealCheck analyze Airbnb? Only with your numbers
DealCheck’s own help center answers this directly: yes, its rental and BRRRR calculators can evaluate Airbnbs and vacation rentals. You enter the purchase price, financing, rehab, estimated rent and operating expenses, with the option to enter gross rent on a daily or weekly basis, and it models the rest: cash flow, cash-on-cash, cap rate, ROI and long-term projections. We couldn’t find a short-term-rental revenue estimate anywhere on its site, so the rent figure is yours to supply.
That makes DealCheck a very good calculator and an incomplete answer to the question an STR buyer actually has, which is what a cabin will earn. The hardest input in any short-term-rental analysis is revenue, and it is the one DealCheck leaves to you.
The other inputs need care too. A long-term rental might carry 10% for management, but a vacation rental has cleaning, utilities, platform fees, furnishing and more maintenance. DealCheck lets you enter all of them. It just doesn’t know what they are for your property, so a first-time STR buyer can easily leave costs out.
If you’ve run an STR before or have a property manager’s projection, that is fine. If you’re looking at a cabin in a town you don’t know, you need somewhere to get the figure. A guess of $250 a night at 60% occupancy comes to about $54,750 a year. At 45% it comes to about $41,000. A 15-point swing in occupancy moves revenue by roughly $13,700, and you’d feel that in every downstream number.
Where the nightly rate and occupancy come from
STR Yield fills that gap. For every listing it estimates annual revenue, ADR and occupancy using third-party short-term-rental market data and public listing and county tax records. It then shows ten nearby short-term rentals with their ADR, revenue, occupancy, rating, reviews and distance, with links to the Airbnb or Vrbo pages, so you can sanity-check the estimate against actual properties.
DealCheck does show comps, but they are sales and rental comps, and we couldn’t find short-term-rental comps on its site. Those are the right tool for a rental or flip and not much help in setting a nightly rate.
The costs come with the estimate, too. STR Yield defaults to 20% management, a 3% platform fee, 5% maintenance, $350 a month in utilities and STR-grade insurance, and you can change the down payment and loan term in the feed. Those defaults are a starting point, not a quote from your insurer or manager.
The estimate is not a promise. It is modeled from market data, and a well-run property can beat it while a poorly photographed one can miss it. Treat it as a starting point that you test against the comps and a local manager’s view.
One strategy, or every strategy
DealCheck does much that we don’t. It analyzes rentals, BRRRR, flips, multifamily, commercial and wholesale deals. It has iOS and Android apps, branded PDF and marketing reports, and, by its own count, more than 350,000 users. Reviewers are positive: 4.8 out of 5 across 39 Capterra reviews and 4.4 across 49 on Trustpilot.
STR Yield does one thing. It’s short-term rentals only, with no long-term rental, flip or BRRRR analysis, no PDF or spreadsheet export, and no native mobile app, only a mobile website. It also launched in September 2026, so it has no third-party reviews yet.
What it adds is the search. Every morning it scores newly listed homes in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Hocking Hills, Blue Ridge and Ellijay, Big Bear, and Redding. Each score includes cash-on-cash, cap rate, DSCR and a component-level year-1 tax write-off estimate with 100% bonus depreciation. We couldn’t find a new-listing feed, DSCR or a cost segregation estimate on DealCheck’s site. Our write-off figure is an estimate rather than a cost segregation study, so confirm it with a CPA.
Pricing: $0 to $20 a month, or free
At the time of writing, DealCheck starts at $0 with no credit card, and the Starter plan covers up to 15 saved properties. Plus is $10 a month and Pro is $20 a month, paid plans include a 14-day trial, and yearly billing gives 3 months free. For the range of work it handles, that is hard to beat.
STR Yield is free with no paid tier. A free account raises the analyzer limit from 3 analyses in total to 10 a day and turns on the daily email digest. Because the two tools do different jobs, price is not really the deciding factor. The cost of running both is $0 to $20 a month.
Pricing
Prices as of September 29, 2026.
| Plan | Price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| STR Yield | Free | Deal feed, analyzer and email digest |
| DealCheck Starter | $0 | No credit card required. Up to 15 saved properties. |
| DealCheck Plus | $10/mo | Up to 50 saved properties, 15 photos, 10 sales and rental comps, 10 templates. |
| DealCheck Pro | $20/mo | Unlimited. |
Yearly billing includes 3 months free. The paid plans include a free 14-day trial.
Source: DealCheck pricing page, as of September 29, 2026.
Where DealCheck is stronger
- Every strategy: rentals, BRRRR, flips, multifamily, commercial and wholesale, where STR Yield is short-term rentals only.
- Native iOS and Android apps. STR Yield is a mobile website.
- Branded PDF and marketing reports you can send to lenders and partners. STR Yield has no export.
- Works anywhere in the US, on any property, not five markets.
- A track record: 350,000+ users and public reviews, where STR Yield is new.
Using both
Use STR Yield to find and screen the listings, and to get an estimated revenue, ADR and occupancy for each. When one is worth a closer look, enter those figures into DealCheck to build your own version: your loan terms, your repair budget and a report for your lender. You get the search and the STR estimate from one tool, and the flexible model and reports from the other.
FAQ
Can DealCheck analyze Airbnb properties?
Yes, but you supply the income. DealCheck’s help center says its rental and BRRRR calculators can evaluate Airbnbs and vacation rentals, with gross rent entered on a daily or weekly basis, and it models cash flow and returns from there. We couldn’t find a short-term rental revenue estimate on its site. STR Yield estimates revenue, ADR and occupancy for you and shows ten nearby STR comps.
Does DealCheck estimate Airbnb income?
Not that we could find. DealCheck’s help center describes entering your own estimated rent, on a daily or weekly basis for short-term rentals, and its comps are sales and rental comps rather than STR comps. STR Yield generates a revenue estimate for every listing in its five markets and for any US address in its analyzer.
What is a DealCheck alternative for short-term rentals?
STR Yield is a free alternative built only for short-term rentals. It estimates revenue, scores newly listed homes in five US markets every morning, and adds DSCR and a year-1 tax write-off estimate. It doesn’t do long-term rentals, flips or BRRRRs, and it has no export or mobile app, so many investors use it alongside DealCheck.
Is DealCheck free?
DealCheck has a free Starter plan with no credit card, limited to 15 saved properties. At the time of writing, Plus is $10 a month and Pro is $20 a month, with a 14-day trial on paid plans and 3 months free on yearly billing. STR Yield is free, with a daily deal feed for five US markets.
Should I use DealCheck or STR Yield for a vacation rental?
If you know the income you expect, DealCheck is a capable and cheap calculator. If you need revenue estimated and new listings found in Gatlinburg, Hocking Hills, Blue Ridge, Big Bear or Redding, use STR Yield. Together they work well: STR Yield supplies the STR numbers and DealCheck builds the full deal.
See what STR Yield finds today
New listings scored on cash flow and a year-1 tax write-off estimate, free.
Sources
Public pages consulted as of September 29, 2026.