Pararius, launched in 2006, is the largest rental platform in the Netherlands, offering the country’s most extensive selection of rental homes. Designed to connect tenants with real estate agents (makelaars), Pararius hosts listings from over 2,000 real estate agents nationwide. It’s especially popular among expats for finding rental housing in high-demand areas across Dutch cities.
Users can browse rental properties on Pararius unlimited, for free. The platform has a simple search bar where you can input your desired city, neighborhood, or postal code. To narrow down search results, Pararius offers filters for location, price range, property type (e.g., apartments, studios), number of rooms, and amenities. Pararius frequently updates its property database, so new listings appear sometimes every few minutes. Given the competitive market, especially in larger cities like Amsterdam and Utrecht, it’s crucial to be among the first to respond to new listings. You can use Uprent’s alerts bot to receive notifications about new listings on Pararius directly to your phone or email.
Once you find a property that interests you, Pararius provides an easy way to reach out to an agent. Click on "Apply with Uprent" if you're using Uprent's free browser extension, which inserts your pre-crafted application message. If you haven’t downloaded Uprent yet, click on “Contact the estate agent.”
Pararius will then prompt you to create a free account. This is actually free, so you can do that without worrying for your pocket. Unlike many platforms, contacting agents on Pararius doesn’t require a premium subscription. Your request will be sent to the agent that will decide if you will be invited to a viewing. Keep in mind that competition on Pararius is extreme, so your application message needs to stand out. Check out Uprent’s 9 Tips to Schedule More Viewings and use Uprent's browser extension to craft an effective message.
Often, calling an agent by phone will help you stand out. Uprent will let you know if it’s worth calling the agent based on the specific agency. If the agent prefers not to schedule viewings by phone, or if the phone lines are often busy, Uprent won’t suggest calling. But if it might help, you’ll see a prompt with the agent’s phone number.
Pararius is free for tenants, allowing them to browse listings and contact agents without any charges. The platform generates revenue by charging real estate agents monthly fees to list properties. Agents can also pay extra to highlight their listings or have them appear at the top of search results.
Recently, Pararius introduced Pararius Plus, a subscription service offering users features like seeing the number of applications on new listings, email notifications for new properties, and one-click applications. As much as this provides some UX improvements, we don’t think it’s worth the price, as Uprent’s browser extension provides similar perks: one-click applications and notifications for new listings across most Dutch rental platforms, not just Pararius.
Pararius generally receives great reviews online, which is understandable — they don’t manage the housing themselves but act as an intermediary between real estate agents and prospective tenants. They have reviews on TrustPilot and Facebook. At Uprent, we especially appreciate how well their website is designed: it’s simple yet provides all the necessary information.
Pararius covers the entire Netherlands, from major cities to small towns. Unlike Funda, it does not display listings in neighboring regions of Belgium or Germany. Its strongest presence is in high-demand cities like Amsterdam, Utrecht, The Hague, Rotterdam, and other urban hubs such as Groningen and Maastricht. However, in smaller cities and towns, other platforms often provide a wider selection of rentals.
Only selected real estate agents can post listings on Pararius; private landlords cannot list their properties directly. Pararius manually approves each agent, though its selection process is less stringent than Funda’s, resulting in a broader range of agents and listings. If you’re not a real estate agent but still want to list a property on Pararius, you can use services like Huizenbalie, but it might cost more than promoting your listing on, let's say, Kamernet.
Get quick summaries of lengthy property descriptions, highlighting the most important details at the top. Always in English.
Enter your work, school or university address, and the extension will show you how long it takes to get there from the property.
Answer a few questions, and… ta-da! Your perfect viewing request message is ready. Uprent will save your message and automatically paste it into application forms on any rental website in the Netherlands.
Hard to explain... Just check it out below:
In the past, many people used Google Sheets or Notion databases to track their rental applications — or didn’t track them at all — leading to missed opportunities and forgotten applications. With Uprent, every application is automatically saved to your dashboard. This allows you to easily manage and monitor all your applications in one place. Uprent also sends reminders for important follow-ups and automates tasks like creating Google Calendar events for viewings. You can even share your dashboard with your flatmate, allowing you to collaborate on the rental search.
