Mercatus vs Uprent: Which is best? [2025]

Rental search is on everyone’s mind these days. Finding a home without an online platform is nearly impossible. A good rental service will help you spend less time searching, snag a more affordable place, and enjoy better-quality housing.

Mercatus and Uprent both offer valid solutions for finding rentals. But which one fits your needs best? In this guide, we dive into each platform’s features, number of available homes, areas of coverage and pricing. That way, you can see how Mercatus compares to Uprent and pick the option that suits you.

Reviews of Mercatus are available here.

At the time of writing this article, Mercatus has roughly around 15 available properties, while Uprent shows over 13.000. The reason is that Uprent aggregates listings from all rental platforms in the Netherlands, not just its own. That means you can find homes from Mercatus, plus 230+ other platforms, all in one place.

Both Mercatus and Uprent provide a feed with rental properties. There are several differences to highlight:

• Mercatus has around 15 listings, whereas Uprent has over 13,000.

• The location filters work differently. On Uprent, you can draw a search zone on a map, filter by travel time between two places, or just select cities. Mercatus, on the other hand, focuses purely on city-based filtering.

Alerts let you receive notifications when new listings appear. These notifications can be sent to your phone or email. Alerts help you in two ways:

• They free you from manually checking multiple platforms throughout the day.
• They give you a head start in applying for homes, increasing your chances of getting a viewing. Basically, you get the chance to be the first to apply.

What about Alerts on Mercatus and Uprent?

• Mercatus does not support alerts.
• Uprent does support alerts.

• Uprent sends alerts to both phone and email.

A browser extension is software you can download to simplify your workflow on existing rental platforms. For example:

• Summarize key property details in English, including price, sharing restrictions, student and pet policies, eligibility criteria, size, energy label, and other essential information.
• Auto-apply in one click with a ready-to-send viewing request.
• Calculate travel times to specific locations right on the listing page.

Mercatus doesn't offer a browser extension. Uprent does, and it's free to download from Chrome Web Store.

Some platforms help you manage your rental applications in one place, letting you share access with a spouse or roommates and collaborate on the search.

Mercatus doesn’t offer a way to track your applications.

Uprent does. Each time you apply, your application is saved to your Board - a CRM-style overview of every rental you’re pursuing. As you move applications from one stage to another, tasks are automated. You can apply in a single click, schedule viewings with Google Calendar, and receive timely reminders. Uprent also helps you draft a solid rental offer after a viewing if you want to move forward with the property.

Contract review has become increasingly important following changes in rental legislation on July 1st, 2024, and January 1st, 2025 (Wet Betaalbare Huur / Affordable Rent Act). There’s a lot of uncertainty about which clauses are legal and which aren’t. Most contracts are long, in Dutch, which is challenging even for native speakers, let alone newcomers.

Mercatus doesn’t provide a way to review your contract.

Uprent does allow you to upload your agreement and get a detailed analysis of every aspect, from monthly rent and service costs to deposit rules, rent increases, and whether pets are allowed. It also clarifies what happens if a landlord tries to sign an unlawful temporary agreement after July 1st, 2024, and explains how and when you can terminate the contract.

Mercatus will fit for people looking for housing in the following provinces: Flevoland.

Uprent covers rental listings across the entire country, from major cities to the smallest villages. This means you can use Uprent no matter where you’re searching for a home.

Mercatus charges an annual subscription of €25 to apply for listings.

Most of Uprent’s features are free. You can get Uprent at no cost right now. Optionally, you can upgrade for a premium account to get access to features that will give you an unfair competitive advantage in securing a rental. For the latest pricing, visit Uprent's pricing page.

At Uprent, we focus on every detail of your rental journey. On average, we release new features four times a month — that’s 48 a year! — and our goal is to help you succeed and finish your rental search as soon as possible.

Reward yourself by creating a free account and save a few weeks or months in finding a place to call home!