How Accurate is free version of AirDNA?

Question

I'm a newbie investor in North Georgia mountains and Western NC. I use the free version of AirDNA as my primary tool for estimating rental potential. However, sometimes, I'm really surprised at the results. It spits out either very disappointing numbers in areas I think would be popular, and in some cases, spits out high numbers in areas I don't think would be successful at all. Also, I notice that I don't always get the same result when I plug in the same address on a different day.

How much faith should I put into this free tool?

How much faith should I put into this free tool?

Ryan Moyer · Answer

The biggest problem with AirDNA is that it's a lagging indicator and we're in a period of fast change.  In a normal market I think they've got the algorithm working pretty well.  The problem is that it's using lagging data and when the market is changing fast you're looking at old data.  So coming out of covid it was underestimating because 2021 was a huge boom year but it didn't have much 2021 data yet.  Now it's the opposite as things slow down and return to normal some.  I think it's overestimating because it's still using 2021 travel boom data even as travel slows down back towards more historical levels some.

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

What @John Underwood said. AirDna is pretty worthless even with their paid tools. Why let an algorithm give you guesstimate numbers when you can get the real ones yourself?

Gerald Pitts · Answer

I think Rabbu is better.  Also free.

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

Exactly! And it's why we should never rely on a computer driven process..it may be right sometimes, it will be wrong a lot. I don't want decisions on my hard earned money being made by AI....

John Underwood · Answer

It's not very accurate.

you should manually look up the data on Vrbo and Airbnb. It doesn't take long.

How Accurate is free version of AirDNA?

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