BNBCalc vs strIQ 2026: Which One Do You Actually Need?

Are you stuck choosing between BNBCalc and strIQ? Well, if you want to research markets and run the numbers on a house, loan included, without paying for a community and a deal feed, or you're buying outside the US, I'd say BNBCalc. And since we build it, check what I say about strIQ against strIQ's own pages.

BNBCalc Markets covers roughly 2,400 markets across 157 countries, and the BNBCalc Calculator that comes with it prices the house with its loan, all for $79 a month as of September 2026. strIQ rolls three things into one membership at $299 a month: finding US deals, running the numbers on them, and a community.

strIQ runs the numbers too, and an older comparison of ours got that wrong by calling it a deal finder that stops short of a full analysis. When I read strIQ's pricing page in September 2026, it listed complete financial underwriting, cash flow and cash-on-cash, editable income and expense assumptions, and a "Make It Work" scenario that works back from a target return to your offer price. So while both run the numbers, BNBCalc is still my pick, because it works outside the US and costs far less each month.

BNBCalc vs strIQ: The Short Version

I'd say BNBCalc and strIQ split on where they work, what your monthly price pays for, and how far you can take an estimate apart. As of September 2026, Markets costs $79 a month and reaches 157 countries, while strIQ costs $299 a month and covers the US. Both, mind you, take you from a market to a number with the loan in it.

The job	BNBCalc	strIQ
Market research	Rank by annual revenue, or by gross yield in US markets, then screen on occupancy, ADR, RevPAR and lead time, with 3+ years of history	Market-level ADR, occupancy and seasonal curves behind a single strIQ Score out of 100, across 100-plus US markets
Listings you study	Every Airbnb and Vrbo listing in the market, filtered by bedrooms, performance tier, listing age or operator	The comps behind its projections, which you can also pull through its API
Homes for sale	Doesn't search homes for sale; you bring the address	MLS-level search of homes on the market; its own pages put the count at both 500,000 and 1M-plus properties
Comps	Build, save, share and export a comp set as a 26-column CSV, with a breakdown by operator on top	A Comps Dashboard showing ADR, occupancy and revenue by percentile, plus AI that points out amenity gaps
Property revenue	AI revenue predictions by season, built on up to 50 comparable listings you can open, each graded with a reason	Revenue projections in percentile bands, shown on the for-sale listing in your results
Expenses	Up to about twenty expense lines, each suggested with a confidence level and a reason	"Editable income and expense assumptions," in its own words; its public pages don't list the expenses line by line
Financing	Purchase price, percent down, loan amount, loan length and rate, which give you the monthly payment	"Complete financial underwriting," plus a "Make It Work" scenario that works back from your target return to the offer price
Returns	Cap rate, cash-on-cash, cash flow over time, equity and principal paid down, plus US depreciation	Cash flow and cash-on-cash, in its own words
Coverage, as of September 2026	Worldwide: roughly 2,400 markets across 157 countries, four in five outside the US	The US, by its own FAQ
Price, as of September 2026	Calculator $30/mo or $199/yr; Markets $79/mo or $399/yr, and Markets includes the full Calculator	One membership at $299/mo or $2,500/yr, which works out to $208 a month
How you try it	Two property analyses free, or a 7-day free trial with full access	A 14-day money-back guarantee; its pricing page answers the free-trial question both ways

From Market to Returns: What BNBCalc Actually Does

So how does BNBCalc get you from a market to that number? It takes seven steps, with Markets covering the market, listings and comps, and the Calculator covering the property, expenses, financing and returns. One account pays for both, and on every Markets page the same search bar takes a city to its market or an address to an analysis.

In Markets, you rank markets on annual revenue, or on gross yield if you're buying in the US. Then you check what's left on a map for occupancy, ADR, RevPAR and booking lead time, with three-plus years of history behind each one. That map also has six heatmaps, including revenue, nightly rate and performance.

From there, you can dig into every Airbnb and Vrbo listing in the market, filtered by bedrooms, performance tier, listing age or operator. Whichever listings you keep become a comp set, which you can save, share or export as a 26-column CSV.

Once an agent or a listing site turns up a house, you type its address in and the Calculator runs the numbers. It'll model that same house as a short-term rental, an arbitrage deal, a long-term lease or a cohosting deal.

I think that matters more than it sounds, since plenty of houses that don't work as nightly rentals still work as a lease.

So where does the revenue number come from? Every estimate is built on up to 50 comparable listings you can open. For each estimate, the model looks at the photos on both sides, grades every comp, explains the ones it threw out, and tells you when the final set leans high or low. Then you choose whether it rests on its picks, your own set, the top 50% of comps, or a figure you type in.

Expenses come next, and that's where most spreadsheets cut a corner by slapping one flat percentage on everything. Instead, the Calculator puts a number on up to about twenty expense lines, each with a confidence level and a reason you can check.

Once you've entered the price, how much you're putting down, the loan amount, the term and the rate, the Calculator works out your monthly payment. Then you see the cap rate, cash-on-cash, cash flow over time, equity and principal paid down, and you can export it all as a lender-ready PDF or an Excel file.

Unfortunately, the two products don't pass data to each other, so be aware that a saved comp set won't follow you into an analysis, and the only bridge is one login and one search bar.

BNBCalc Markets vs the BNBCalc Calculator: Which Plan You Need

So which plan do you need? If you ask me, it depends on where you are in your search, and since Markets includes the full Calculator, one $79 subscription pays for both at September 2026 prices.

The BNBCalc Calculator, $30 a month or $199 a year: unlimited property analysis, AI revenue predictions by season, professional PDF reports, a tax calculator with depreciation under US rules, expense and mortgage modeling, and ROI and cash-flow projections.

BNBCalc Markets, $79 a month or $399 a year: everything in the Calculator, plus every Airbnb and Vrbo listing in any market, your own comp sets, markets ranked by annual revenue or by gross yield in US markets, and 3+ years of past data.

So if you've already found the house, or you own it and you're only re-running its numbers, the Calculator on its own does the whole job. If you're still picking the city, though, that's what Markets is for.

Where strIQ Stops

Picking the city is where strIQ hits its first limit, since it stops at the US border. I read its FAQ on coverage in September 2026, and it says strIQ covers markets across the US, while its solutions page puts the count at 100-plus markets.

So if you're shopping in Lisbon or Tokyo, you won't find either city on strIQ.

Keep in mind that when I read strIQ's marketing, solutions and pricing pages in September 2026, they explained what its projections show you but never said where the data comes from.

What about reviews? strIQ barely shows up on the review sites. When I checked in September 2026, it didn't have a Trustpilot profile or a Capterra listing, and Short Term Rental Riches' Tools & Resources page didn't list it, though that page does name AirDNA. I wouldn't hold that against the product, though, since I'd read it as a sign that strIQ is still new and niche.

Then there's the price. I went through strIQ's pricing page, and $299 a month gets you the platform plus a members-only community, live training sessions and a network of vetted agents, lenders, property managers and CPAs, and strIQ doesn't sell those pieces separately.

A ranked feed of deals picked for you and a room full of other buyers are real things to want, and I'd still pick BNBCalc, because you'd pay for that bundle every month, even in months you buy nothing and the feed sits idle.

Pricing: What Each One Costs

How big is the price gap? As of September 2026, BNBCalc Markets is $79 a month or $399 a year, against $299 a month or $2,500 a year for strIQ, so the gap holds whether you pay monthly or yearly. Even leaving strIQ out of it, I'd call $79 a bargain, since Markets is the cheapest full market-research plan you can buy month to month in September 2026.

Let's take a quick break for a warning about strIQ's pricing pages. When I went through its site in September 2026, several older pricing pages were still up with different numbers, so make sure you're reading the live price. And even the main one ran two FAQ answers that disagree on whether there's a free trial.

Ok, back to how you'd try each one.

strIQ's membership comes with a 14-day money-back guarantee. Its free Squad community gives you a free tax calculator, live events and deal breakdowns, but no access to the platform. When I looked at its page on Skool in September 2026, the Squad had 632 members. With BNBCalc, you can run two property analyses free, or start a 7-day free trial with full access, and you can get a refund within 14 days of a charge.

Need an API too? When I read strIQ's enterprise page in September 2026, it listed its API prices up front, $299 to $1,999 a month plus a $12,000-a-year white-label dashboard, though BNBCalc's REST API has no monthly fee. BNBCalc's API charges per report instead, so you only pay for the analyses you run.

Data Accuracy and What Sits Behind the Number

Whichever tool runs those analyses, how much should you trust its revenue number? I'd trust it less than its confident look suggests. I couldn't find any independent test of strIQ's revenue projections as of September 2026. And when I read its about page, I saw that strIQ measured its 20%-plus average revenue increase off its own comps dashboard.

Remember that third split, how far you can take an estimate apart? That's the better question, and BNBCalc answers it, since every estimate is built on up to 50 comps you can open, each graded on product, bedroom count and amenity fit.

strIQ's percentile tables are open about its own comps too, but the strIQ Score on top is a single number with no published formula, whereas BNBCalc grades each comp and tells you why it made the cut. When I read a June 2026 post on strIQ's own blog, it put one property's Score at 92 out of 100, so at least you know the scale.

Still, I'd say a score you can't take apart is one you have to take on faith.

Every comp-based model shares one blind spot, though, ours included. Justin Feldstein of Haus Vacation Rentals said it well in an August 2026 piece about AirDNA and Rabbu: "Neither tool has seen your home. Neither knows your photos, your hot tub, your water pressure…" He wasn't writing about strIQ, but nothing that estimates from comps has seen your home either.

No model knows how fast you'll reply when a guest messages at 11pm, either. So treat whichever revenue figure you get as the start of the question, and make sure to underwrite the low end.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Is Better for Short-Term Rental Investors?

BNBCalc, for an investor who wants to research markets and run the numbers on a house, loan included, without paying for a community and a deal feed, or who's buying outside the US. BNBCalc Markets covers roughly 2,400 markets across 157 countries and includes the BNBCalc Calculator, which prices the deal with its loan. strIQ runs the numbers too, though it covers the US only and charges $299 a month against BNBCalc's $79, as of September 2026.

Is BNBCalc a Good strIQ Alternative?

Yes, and a cheaper one. As of September 2026, BNBCalc Markets is $79 a month against strIQ's $299. Both build comps and take a house to a return with the loan built in, though only strIQ searches homes for sale, so with BNBCalc you bring the address. But every BNBCalc estimate is built on up to 50 comps you can open, each graded with a reason, and about four in five of its markets are outside the US.

Which Is Cheaper, BNBCalc or strIQ?

BNBCalc, whether you pay monthly or yearly. As of September 2026, BNBCalc Markets is $79 a month or $399 a year and includes the full BNBCalc Calculator, which on its own is $30 a month or $199 a year. strIQ sells a single membership at $299 a month or $2,500 a year, which works out to $208 a month. Part of that gap pays for extras, since strIQ's price also covers a community and a network of agents, lenders and other pros.

What Does BNBCalc Do That strIQ Doesn't?

BNBCalc covers markets outside the US, across 157 countries, while strIQ's own FAQ says it covers the US, as of September 2026. BNBCalc also shows its reasoning comp by comp, with up to 50 graded comps you can open and a flag when the set leans high or low. strIQ's main number is a single strIQ Score out of 100, and strIQ doesn't publish the formula.

Does BNBCalc Cover Markets Outside the US?

Yes. BNBCalc Markets covers roughly 2,400 markets across 157 countries, and about four in five are outside the US, with Europe holding more markets than any other region. Each market shows revenue, occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, booking lead time and three-plus years of history. Gross yield and depreciation are US only, and depreciation follows US tax rules.

How Accurate Are BNBCalc and strIQ Revenue Estimates?

Neither is a forecast. We couldn't find any independent test of strIQ's revenue projections, as of September 2026. The 20%-plus revenue increase strIQ shows on its about page is its own number, taken from its own comps dashboard. Every BNBCalc estimate is built on up to 50 comps you can open, each graded, with a flag when the set leans high or low. The low end of either range is the safer number to plan around.

The Bottom Line

So if you want market research and the numbers on a house, loan included, without paying for a community and a deal feed, or you're buying outside the US, BNBCalc is the one I'd pay for, at $79 a month as of September 2026. strIQ does come with a real community attached, but BNBCalc is still the better buy, since you get the graded comps behind every estimate. Plus, strIQ stops at the US border and costs nearly four times as much month to month.

Our full strIQ review covers the membership, while the data and analytics roundup and our BNBCalc vs AirDNA comparison cover the rest.

Already eyeing a house? Then the pricing page is where you can run two property analyses free, or start a 7-day free trial with full access.

Whatever you end up paying for, I'd think hard about what the subscription assumes about you. Anything built around a buying season still bills you through the months you aren't buying. And a number built to rank a hundred listings fast was never meant as the last word on one of them. So knock the revenue down, add the loan payment, and see what's left, because if a deal only works when everything goes right, it doesn't really work.