Most roommate sites have figured out how to make finding a roommate worse than the problem itself. Paywalls between you and the people you want to message. Stranger profiles you can't tell anything about. Ten minutes of scrolling past listings that turn out to be a leasing office in a person costume. We built RoommateAds.com to do the opposite of all of that.
Posting ads is free. Browsing ads is free. Contacting people is free. ID verification is free. Saving searches and getting email alerts when new matches post — also free. There are no premium tiers, no "boost your listing" upsells, no message limits, no paid filters, and no subscriptions to unlock the obvious next thing.
Twenty-four questions about how you live — sleep schedule, cleanliness standards, social tolerance, work-from-home reality, quiet expectations, guest frequency, pets, smoking, alcohol around the house, food situation, shared spaces, temperature preferences. All the things you and your last roommate fought about silently for six months.
When you take the quiz and a poster has taken it too, you'll see a match score right on their listing card — "85% match" — based on actual answer overlap, not vibes. No competitor does this seriously. Most don't do it at all. And when new users join who'd be a strong match for someone already on the site, our matching system pushes notifications so good matches don't sit unseen.
Tell us what you're looking for — a 2-bedroom in Allston under $1,400, no pets, available by June 1, near the T — and save the search. We'll email you when new listings match. Instant, daily, or weekly digests, your call. One-click unsubscribe in every email. We rate-limit so we never spam you.
This is how you find the right room before someone else does, instead of refreshing the same search page seventeen times a day.
Upload an ID photo and a selfie. Our system compares the two and verifies your identity automatically — no fee, no third-party screening service, no report stored anywhere. The face matching runs locally in your browser; we don't keep your biometric data. We comply with Illinois BIPA, Texas CUBI, Washington RCW 19.375, New York SHIELD, and California CPRA biometric provisions — and we name them explicitly in our privacy policy.
Verified users get noticeably more replies, and listing owners take them more seriously. For people who want deeper screening, we link out to TransUnion SmartMove via our background check guide — but we make it crystal clear what RoommateAds does and doesn't do. We're not a consumer reporting agency. We don't see, store, or sell any screening report.
See how active a poster is before you waste time messaging them. Profile completeness percentage on the sidebar. Whether they took the compatibility quiz. Whether they verified their ID. Whether the listing is brand new or has been sitting for a month. In a market where most messages on other sites get no reply, knowing who's actually checking in is the difference between finding a place and giving up.
Open any message thread and tap Video Call — a secure, browser-based call starts instantly. No Zoom account, no app, no per-minute charge. Use it to verify the person is real before meeting in person. Scammers almost always refuse video calls.
Every listing page has a live neighborhood map with 10 interest layers: Food, Shopping, Grocery, Fitness, Schools, Parks, Transit, Nightlife, Medical, and Property. Click any pin for name, hours, phone, and website. Powered by OpenStreetMap — no Google Maps, no API cost, no external account needed.
Each listing sidebar shows a Walkability, Transit, Dining, Parks, and Quiet score computed live from OpenStreetMap data — not a licensed Walk Score widget with a watermark on it. The data is the same; the branding is ours.
Enable push notifications once from your profile and we'll ping your device when someone messages you, starts a video call, or your listing is about to expire — even if you've closed the tab. No app download, no third-party service. Runs from our own servers via the open VAPID standard.
Type your work or school address — see drive, transit, bike, and walk times to every listing instantly. Saved per browser so you never re-enter it. Powered by OpenStreetMap routing — no Google Maps billing.
Tell us when you need to move and only see listings available by that date. No more digging through descriptions to figure out timing.
Town-level search across the entire country, with geocoding down to micro-municipalities. Not just the five cities the competition bothers with.
Show the room, the kitchen, the neighborhood. No two-photo cap, no paid-tier upgrade to add more. Paste a YouTube link to add a full video walkthrough.
Walk through rent split, utilities, cleaning schedule, guest policy, quiet hours, and move-out terms. Print a clean letter-sized agreement from the browser — no PDF editor, no lawyer, no charge.
Split rent equally, by room size, or by income. Handles utilities and shared expenses too. No login required, always free.
Listers offer available time slots for in-person or video tours. Seekers book a slot with a note. Both parties get notified instantly. No Calendly link, no back-and-forth email.
Friends searching together? List as a pair or trio and get matched as a group, not just solo. Both partners get notified when someone contacts the joint listing.
Switch any search to map view — listings appear as pins, clusters expand on zoom, popups show photo + rent. Built with Leaflet and OpenStreetMap; no Google Maps account required.
The report-listing button on every page is reviewed by real people. Scams and leasing offices in person costumes don't last long here.
After a matched roommate connection ends, both parties are prompted to leave a star rating and review. Reviews appear on profiles and your printable Roommate Resume — a shareable PDF that works like a reference letter without the phone calls.
Ask the built-in chatbot about security deposit limits by state, eviction rights, fair housing, lease break rules, rent control, or co-tenant liability. It's connected to BostonApartments.com's 7,000+ article rental knowledge base and answers factual questions instantly — not just site FAQs.
Share your personal referral link. When a friend signs up through it, you both get a reward credited automatically. No claiming, no form, no expiry.
A free printable room-by-room condition report you fill out at move-in with your landlord or roommate. Both sign, both keep a copy. Pre-fills from the listing address. If there's ever a deposit dispute, this is your evidence. No login required.
Ask a past landlord, roommate, or employer to write you a reference. They get an emailed link, fill a 2-minute form, and their response shows on your profile permanently. SpareRoom charges for this feature. Ours is free.
Upload a pay stub, offer letter, or bank statement. Our team reviews it within 1–2 business days and adds an Income Verified badge to your profile. Your income amount is never shown publicly. No credit check, no Plaid, no third-party account. Document deleted after review.
RoommateAds is a Progressive Web App. One tap from your phone browser to add it to your home screen. Works offline, sends push notifications, launches without browser chrome. No app store approval, no storage fees, works on iOS and Android.
We're built for the side of the transaction that's been ignored: people who just want to find a decent person to live with, in a real place, for a fair amount of money, without paying a tech company a subscription fee for the privilege.
Want more on who we are and how we got here? Read about RoommateAds.
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