Best Smart Locks for Airbnb and Rental Properties (2026)

Bottom Line

No app required for guests

Schlage Encode Plus

A built-in exterior keypad means every guest gets in the same way: a numeric code you send by text, no app install, no account creation. Up to 100 codes cover a busy calendar of turnovers, and Apple Home Key is a nice bonus for the host's own daily use.

See Schlage Encode Plus →

Best for long-term rentals

Kwikset SmartCode 270

Codes are programmed directly at the keypad, so the lock works the moment it's installed, before a new tenant has activated internet service. SmartKey Re-Key Technology lets you rekey the physical backup cylinder yourself in seconds between tenants, no locksmith call required.

See Kwikset SmartCode 270 →

Widest guest-code capacity

Yale Assure Lock 2

Holds up to 250 codes, which matters if you're running several units or a busy calendar with long guest lists. The modular design also means the radio inside can be swapped later without buying a whole new lock.

See Yale Assure Lock 2 →

Budget keypad pick for hosts

Kwikset Halo Touchscreen

Same 250-code ceiling as the Yale, at a lower price, with a backlit touchscreen that wakes at a touch so guests fumbling with luggage can find the keypad in the dark.

See Kwikset Halo →

All four of those assume you own the door. If you're subletting, doing rental arbitrage, or your lease bans permanent lock changes, keep reading, because the fifth lock in this guide changes the calculus entirely.

Full Comparison Table

Four of the five locks here connect over WiFi so you can manage codes remotely between check-ins, which our full smart lock roundup treats as close to non-negotiable for anyone who isn't on-site to buzz guests in. The Kwikset SmartCode 270 skips WiFi on purpose, and for a long-term rental that turns out to be a feature, not a gap.

Price tiers are approximate. $ = under $50, $$ = $50 to 150, $$$ = $150 to 300, $$$$ = over $300. Tap any link for the current Amazon price.

The pattern that matters for hosting: four of these five locks put a physical keypad on the outside of the door, which is what lets a guest who has never used your app type four digits and walk in. The August is the odd one out, and that tradeoff is worth understanding before you buy it for this specific use case.

Why Guest Code Capacity Actually Matters

A single-family homeowner rarely needs more than a handful of codes: family, a dog walker, maybe a cleaner. A host running back-to-back bookings burns through codes constantly, and a low ceiling forces you to reuse or overwrite codes mid-season, which gets messy fast if you're also trying to keep a clean audit trail for who unlocked the door and when.

The Yale Assure Lock 2 and Kwikset Halo Touchscreen both top out at 250 stored codes, comfortably enough for a full year of weekly turnovers with room to spare for cleaners and maintenance visits. The Schlage Encode Plus caps at 100, still plenty for most single-unit hosts, but worth tracking if you run a high-turnover calendar or manage more than one listing on the same lock brand's app ecosystem.

All three let you schedule a code to activate only during the guest's actual stay and expire automatically at checkout, so you're not manually deleting codes after every booking. That scheduling, not the raw code ceiling, is what actually saves a host time week to week.

A long-term rental flips this priority. With one tenant at a time, the Kwikset SmartCode 270's keypad-only programming covers the job, and raw code capacity stops being the spec that decides anything.

Retrofit vs. Full Replacement: The Install Question

This is the genuinely useful distinction most buying guides skip. If you're subletting, running rental arbitrage on a leased unit, or your landlord's agreement forbids swapping the deadbolt, a full-replacement lock is off the table no matter how good its keypad is.

The August Smart Lock (3rd Gen) with Connect Wi-Fi Bridge mounts on the interior side of your existing deadbolt and keeps the original exterior cylinder and key in place. It comes off in minutes when the lease ends, leaving no trace. The catch, and it's a real one for hosting specifically: the August's exterior keypad is a separate accessory, sold on its own, not included with this lock. Out of the box, guest entry runs through the August app or a virtual key link you share by text, which works fine for a tech-comfortable guest but adds friction for anyone who would rather just be handed four digits.

For readers deciding between a full ecosystem switch instead of a single lock, our August vs Yale head-to-head goes deeper on how the two brands differ on install type and long-term flexibility.

If you own the property outright, skip the retrofit debate entirely and go straight to a full-replacement keypad lock. Anyone weighing Apple Home Key against Yale's swappable radio modules specifically should read our Schlage Encode vs Yale Assure comparison before deciding.

Rekeying Between Tenants, and Why It's Different With a Smart Lock

With a traditional deadbolt, a landlord rekeys or replaces the lock between tenants because there's no way to know if a copy of the physical key exists. A code-based smart lock mostly sidesteps that problem: delete the outgoing tenant's code and set a new one, and the door is secure again in under a minute, no cylinder work involved.

The wrinkle is the physical keyway that stays on the door with several of these locks. If a tenant had a key copied, the code alone doesn't fix it, the physical cylinder is still compromised. The Kwikset SmartCode 270 uses Kwikset's SmartKey Re-Key Technology, which lets you rekey that backup cylinder yourself with a small included tool in about 10 seconds, no locksmith required. The Schlage Encode Plus uses a standard cylinder for its backup key, so rekeying that specific cylinder means either a locksmith visit or a replacement cylinder from Schlage. The August is different again: it leaves the door's original exterior cylinder in place, so rekeying it is whatever that existing deadbolt always required. The biometric picks in our fingerprint smart lock guide face the same backup-cylinder question, just with a scanner instead of a keypad on the front.

For a landlord who wants to fully close the loop on a departing tenant's access without any specialty tools, that difference tips the Kwikset SmartCode 270 ahead for anyone who takes physical-key exposure seriously.

Vacant Units, WiFi Outages, and the Gap Between Tenants

A homeowner's WiFi is already running when a smart lock goes on the door. A rental unit between tenants often isn't; the outgoing tenant canceled their internet plan, and the incoming one hasn't set theirs up yet. That gap can stretch for days or weeks.

The Kwikset SmartCode 270 never needs WiFi in the first place, so you can program the new tenant's move-in code at the keypad before they've even signed a lease, let alone activated internet service. The Schlage Encode Plus will still open with whatever keypad codes were set the last time it had a connection, and the August still answers to Bluetooth from a phone at the door or to the original physical key. But neither lock lets you add, change, or remotely revoke access until the unit's router is back online and the lock reconnects to it. For a landlord juggling turnover on a tight schedule, that's the difference between handing over a working lock on day one and waiting on an internet installation appointment first.

Which Lock Should You Buy?

Frequently Asked Questions

How This Guide Was Researched

We started from our existing verified lock lineup, cross-checked each model's current listing for code capacity, keypad hardware, and ecosystem support, and confirmed pricing tiers against live Amazon listings. When our standalone rental-property guide was folded into this one, every landlord-specific claim (SmartKey rekeying, no-WiFi operation, bridge behavior) had just been re-verified against the live listings the same day. Owner feedback was weighted toward reviews describing heavy, repeated use: guest turnover, tenant turnover, and multi-unit portfolios. Stock and pricing were re-checked on 2026-08-02.

We do not take payment from Schlage, Yale, Kwikset, August, or any brand mentioned here. If you spot an error, please let us know.