Mashvisor Alternative
Mashvisor Alternative —
The Honest Read.
Mashvisor is a real product. They're the strongest name in short-term rental analytics, and if Airbnb is what you're underwriting, they're the right tool. Value Add Calculator does not do STR. Full stop. This page tells you exactly when VAC is the better choice — and when Mashvisor is the call instead.
Written by Cam Burke — active investor, 70+ rental units, Oklahoma City. I don't do STRs. Page reflects that.
Do You Actually Need a Mashvisor Alternative?
Before anything else — one question decides whether this page is for you.
If you're doing STR / Airbnb…
Stop reading. Stay on Mashvisor, or look at AirDNA. They're both built for it. I'm not.
VAC has zero STR functionality. No nightly-rate scrapes, no occupancy projections, no Airbnb data layer. I'd rather lose the click than sell you a tool that doesn't fit.
If you're doing flips, BRRRRs, or LTRs…
Keep reading. VAC is built for you, and Mashvisor's data layer is overkill for what you're actually doing.
You're going to underwrite real deals with real numbers, manage real rehabs, and roll up real portfolios. That's the product VAC was built for.
TL;DR — Who Should Use What
Use Mashvisor if…
- • You're underwriting Airbnb / short-term rentals
- • You're trying to find a market or pick a neighborhood
- • You want STR heatmaps and projected occupancy data
- • You want a recommendation engine surfacing properties for you
- • You only need data access and the Lite tier (~$50/mo annual) fits
Use Value Add Calculator if…
- • You're running flips, BRRRRs, or long-term rentals
- • You already have a property in front of you to underwrite
- • You need scope of work, expense tracking, and draw requests
- • You manage multiple active deals at once
- • You want underwriting math that survives a lender's review
Honest take: Mashvisor and VAC do different jobs. Picking one isn't really picking — it's answering which job you're actually doing.
Feature-by-Feature
What each tool actually does. Honestly marked — green checks where it's real, em-dash where it's missing.
| Feature | Value Add Calc | Mashvisor |
|---|---|---|
| Airbnb / STR analytics Mashvisor wins outright. STR is their flagship product — VAC does not analyze short-term rentals at all. | — | ✓ |
| STR heatmaps by neighborhood Mashvisor wins. Scraped Airbnb data at the neighborhood level — nothing in VAC even tries to do this. | — | ✓ |
| Property recommendations / discovery Mashvisor surfaces properties based on projected return. VAC starts with a property you already found. | — | ✓ |
| Market-level rental comps Mashvisor wins on breadth. VAC has Rentcast rent estimates per property but not full market heatmaps. | Partial | ✓ |
| Long-term rental (LTR) underwriting | ✓ | ✓ |
| Flip / fix-and-flip underwriting VAC is purpose-built for flips. Mashvisor has basic resale projections but not real flip math. | ✓ | Limited |
| BRRRR underwriting (real hard money math) VAC models actual interest on actual loan balances and refi mortgage amortization. Mashvisor does not. | ✓ | — |
| Scope of Work builder | ✓ | — |
| AI rehab scopes from property photos | ✓ | — |
| Expense tracker vs. budget | ✓ | — |
| Lender draw request PDFs | ✓ | — |
| Multi-deal pipeline (Kanban) | ✓ | — |
| Portfolio dashboard (your owned deals) | ✓ | Limited |
| Built by an active investor VAC is built by Cam Burke, who runs 70+ rental units and active flips. Mashvisor is a data company. | ✓ | — |
| Starting price Mashvisor Lite runs ~$50/mo on annual billing at time of writing — check their site for current pricing. | $49/mo | ~$50/mo (Lite, annual) |
| Free trial | 7-day | Limited demo |
Where Mashvisor Actually Wins
I'm going to be blunt because there's no point in writing this page otherwise. Mashvisor has real strengths and I'm not pretending otherwise.
- STR / Airbnb analytics.This is their flagship and they've been doing it longer than almost anyone in the space. Nightly rates, occupancy projections, neighborhood-level Airbnb data — the whole stack. VAC does none of this. If you're underwriting short-term rentals, Mashvisor isn't the alternative, it's the right tool.
- Market discovery and heatmaps.Pick a city, see returns by neighborhood, drill into specific zip codes. If you're trying to figure out which market to be in — or which part of a market you already chose actually cash flows — that data layer is genuinely useful. VAC starts with a property you already have. Mashvisor starts with "where should I look."
- Property recommendations.Their algorithm surfaces properties based on projected return inside whichever market you're looking at. That's a different product than VAC. You can't open VAC and have it tell you "here's a 4-plex in Tulsa hitting 12% CoC."
- Dedicated STR data layer at the entry tier.Mashvisor Lite (~$50/mo on annual billing at time of writing) gets you into their full data product. VAC Solo is $49/mo but doesn't solve the STR research problem at all. If data access for short-term rental underwriting is the job, Mashvisor is the tool — pricing isn't the decision point.
If any of those four things is the actual problem you're solving — buy Mashvisor. Don't buy VAC and try to bend it into a market research tool. That's not what it is.
Where Value Add Calculator Wins
Mashvisor is a data product. VAC is an operator's product. The line between the two shows up the day you actually put a property under contract.
- Underwriting a real deal with your real numbers. Mashvisor gives you a projected return based on their scraped market data. That's fine for screening. VAC lets you actually pencil the deal with your offer, your rehab budget, your hard money rate, your refi assumptions, your reserves. The number that comes out is YOUR deal, not a projection of an average property in an average neighborhood.
- BRRRR math that holds up. VAC models hard money cost as actual interest on actual loan balances with a draw-schedule approximation on rehab funds. Refi mortgage gets amortized properly — not estimated as interest-only. The difference shows up most on deals with $50k+ rehab and a long hard money period. Mashvisor doesn't go there.
- Flip depth. Mashvisor has resale projections but they're generic. VAC is purpose-built for fix-and-flip — MAO, holding costs by month, real selling costs, scenario analysis across ARV ranges. If you flip houses for a living, the difference is obvious in 30 seconds.
- Scope of Work + AI rehab scopes. Build line-item rehab scopes — labor + materials per item — directly in the tool. Or upload property photos and get a scope back generated from what the AI sees. Mashvisor doesn't do scope of work at all. This is a separate product you'd otherwise buy.
- Expense tracker vs. budget. After you close, log expenses against your SOW line items. Watch budget vs. actual in real time, by category. This is where flips and BRRRRs die — untracked overruns. Mashvisor stops the day you submit the offer.
- Lender draw request PDFs and portfolio rollup. Build itemized draw requests with photos, send to your bank. Roll up every deal you own into one dashboard — total ARV, projected profit, monthly cash flow, deal-stage Kanban. Operator tooling, not analyst tooling.
The honest version: Mashvisor stops where the deal starts. VAC starts where Mashvisor stops.
Try the Full Tool.
No Card for 7 Days.
Build a deal, run a scope of work, log expenses, export a draw request — see if it actually fits how you operate. Cancel any time before day 8 and you pay nothing. If you're here for STR, this is your reminder to go back to Mashvisor instead.
Start 7-Day Free TrialSolo $49/mo · Pro $97/mo · Team $157/mo
FAQ
Does VAC do Airbnb / STR analysis?+
No. I'll say it plainly because this is the question that matters most on this page. Value Add Calculator does not analyze short-term rentals. There is no STR calculator, no Airbnb projection model, no nightly-rate scraper, no occupancy data layer. I don't run STRs — I run long-term rentals and flips — so I haven't built that side of the product. If you're here because you're underwriting Airbnbs, stop reading. Mashvisor is the right tool for you. AirDNA is also a solid option. This page is about the honest version of when VAC fits and when it doesn't — and Airbnb is when it doesn't.
Should I leave Mashvisor for VAC?+
Only if your investing has moved past the discovery stage. Mashvisor's strength is helping you find a market or a property — heatmaps, neighborhood data, properties surfaced by projected return. VAC's strength is what happens after you find one. You bring a deal in front of you and VAC lets you actually pencil it with your real offer, your real rehab budget, your real hard money terms. If you're still in "what market should I be in" mode, stay on Mashvisor. If you're in "I have a property under contract and I need to close it, rehab it, and track it" mode, that's when VAC starts paying for itself.
What does Mashvisor do better than VAC?+
Three things, honestly. One: STR / Airbnb analytics — entire product category VAC doesn't touch. Two: market discovery — heatmaps that show you which neighborhoods cash flow before you've picked a property. Three: property recommendations — their engine surfaces deals at projected returns, you can't do that in VAC. Those are real strengths. I'm not going to dance around them.
What does VAC do better than Mashvisor?+
Underwriting a real deal you have in front of you, and then running the deal after the offer gets accepted. Mashvisor gives you a return projection. VAC gives you a full pencil — your offer, your rehab line items, your hard money cost, your refi math, your real cash flow. Then once you close, VAC keeps going: scope of work, expense tracker against budget, lender draw request PDFs, multi-deal Kanban pipeline, portfolio rollup of every deal you own. Mashvisor stops at the projection. VAC runs the whole deal from offer to refinance to portfolio.
Can I use both?+
Yes, and a lot of operators do — even though I think most people end up dropping one. Use Mashvisor for market research and finding properties. Use VAC for underwriting the specific deal and running it once you're in. The two products don't really overlap if you ignore the marketing language. Mashvisor is upstream of the offer. VAC is the offer and everything after. The honest catch: if you're only doing flips, BRRRRs, and LTRs in your home market and you already know your buy box, Mashvisor's data layer becomes optional pretty fast.
How does VAC's rental math compare to Mashvisor's?+
Different inputs, different outputs. Mashvisor pulls market-level rent data from their scrapes and gives you a projected CoC based on assumed financing. VAC starts with your actual purchase price, your actual rehab, your actual loan terms, and pulls Rentcast rent estimates for that specific property — then runs cash flow with real PITI, real management fees, real reserves. Mashvisor is great for "what would this generally cash flow." VAC is built for "what will MY deal actually cash flow at MY numbers." Different jobs.
What's the best alternative for STR investors specifically?+
Stay on Mashvisor or look at AirDNA. AirDNA is the other serious STR data player — they pull Airbnb and VRBO data directly and a lot of full-time STR operators run their underwriting on AirDNA exports. If you're doing STR seriously, those two are the real choices. VAC is not on that list. I'd rather you go to the right tool than buy mine and find out 30 days in that it doesn't do what you actually need.