Rent vs. Buy Calculator: Compare Renting, Owning, and House Hacking

This free calculator compares three paths side by side, keep renting, buy a single-family home, or buy a duplex and rent out the other unit, using the same inputs, so you can see the monthly cost and the long-term wealth difference between them. No account required.

Updated October 2026.

Free forever · No signup

Three paths, one clear comparison. Rent and invest the difference, buy a place of your own, or house hack a duplex, live in one unit, rent the other. Put in your own numbers and see which leaves you wealthier over the years you actually plan to stay.

If You Rent

Enter your current monthly rent, the annual rent increase you expect, and renter’s insurance per month.

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%
$

Shared Assumptions

These apply to both buying paths: years you plan to stay, investment return, down payment, mortgage insurance, mortgage rate, loan term, home appreciation per year, property tax as a percentage of value, the extra utilities an owner pays, and the closing and selling costs.

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%
%
FHA’s annual premium (HUD ML 2023-05); it lasts the life of the loan under 10% down and 11 years at 10% or more. A conventional loan’s PMI is priced on your credit and ends at 78% loan-to-value, so use your quote. Under 20% down, FHA’s 1.75% upfront premium is added to the loan as well. The figure refills from the down payment until you type your own.
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%
%
%
$
Water, sewer, trash or common-area bills a landlord covered for you as a renter. Leave 0 if your rent did not include them.
% of price
% of value
The shared assumptions above apply to both the Buy and House Hack paths, so you’re comparing the same buyer making different choices.

If You Buy

This path models a single-family home from the home price and any HOA cost. Down payment, mortgage insurance, rate, term, appreciation, taxes, upkeep, owner utilities and closing and selling costs all come from the shared assumptions.

A single-family home you live in.
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$
Down payment, mortgage insurance, rate, term, appreciation, taxes, upkeep, owner utilities and closing/selling costs all come from the Shared Assumptions in the first column.

If You House Hack

Enter the duplex price, the monthly rent from the other unit and a vacancy rate. The tenant’s rent offsets your housing cost every month.

A duplex: you live in one unit, rent the other.
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$
%
Repairs are in the insurance and maintenance line above, so this is vacancy only.
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The tenant’s rent offsets your housing cost every month. The other unit’s rent grows at the same rate as market rent.
After 7 years
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Where You’d Stand (end of period)

The table compares all three paths on net cash spent on housing, upfront cash needed, property value, mortgage balance and ending net worth.

Rent & invest the difference$0
Buy a single-family home$0
House hack a duplex$0
BreakdownRentBuyHouse Hack
Net cash spent on housing$0$0$0
Rental income collected——$0
Upfront cash (down + closing)—$0$0
Property value at end—$0$0
Mortgage still owed—$0$0
Net sale proceeds—$0$0
Side investments at end$0$0$0
Ending net worth$0$0$0
 
How this works & what it leaves out

All three paths start with the same cash and the same monthly budget. Whoever needs the most upfront sets the bar; the other two invest the difference. Each month, whoever has the cheapest housing bill invests what they save, so every path puts out the same total each month, and the only question is where the money ends up.

The renter’s ending net worth is their investment account. The buyer’s and house hacker’s is their home equity (value minus selling costs minus the remaining loan) plus any side investments. For the house hacker, the tenant’s rent lowers the monthly housing bill, which means more goes into investments, and the duplex is usually a bigger asset building more equity. Whoever ends up with the most, wins.

Mortgage insurance follows FHA’s schedule (HUD ML 2023-05) on both loans: the annual rate you enter times the loan balance, for the life of the loan under 10% down, for 11 years from 10% down, and none at 20% down; under 20% down the 1.75% upfront premium is added to the loan. The extra utilities an owner pays are added to both buying paths and grow with rent.

Left out for simplicity: income tax in every direction (rental income is shown pre-tax, and mortgage-interest, property-tax and depreciation deductions are ignored), landlord headaches, and any lifestyle differences. This sizes up the money. It can’t tell you whether you want a tenant on the other side of the wall.

Estimates only, the future never matches the inputs exactly. Verify with your lender and CPA before deciding.
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All eleven widgets, plus the terms of use, are listed on the calculator embed page.[S1]

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Run a real-estate or personal-finance site? Embed this rent-vs-buy-vs-house-hack calculator on any page at no cost. Copy the code below into an HTML block. It auto-resizes and includes a small credit link back here.

<iframe id="vtv-rentbuy" src="https://vantovault.com/tools/rent-vs-buy/widget/" title="VanToVault Rent vs. Buy vs. House Hack Calculator" width="100%" height="3958" scrolling="no" loading="lazy" style="width:100%;max-width:900px;border:1px solid #e5e5e5;border-radius:10px"></iframe>
<script>window.addEventListener("message",function(e){var f=document.getElementById("vtv-rentbuy");if(f&&e.source===f.contentWindow&&e.data&&e.data.vtvCalcHeight){f.style.height=e.data.vtvCalcHeight+"px"}});</script>
<p>Powered by <a href="https://vantovault.com/tools/rent-vs-buy/">VanToVault Rent vs. Buy vs. House Hack Calculator</a></p>
Next step

Renting won? Try the third option.

Try the house hacking calculator. Buying a building with a second unit changes the monthly comparison, because a tenant pays part of the payment.

Keep the numbers

Once you decide, the House Hacker Budget & Tax Planner tracks the payment, the rent coming in, shared costs and the Schedule E lines in Google Sheets or Excel. $19 on Etsy; the free tools stay free either way.

Related reading

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Sources

  1. [S1] Van to Vault, read 24 September 2026: “Van to Vault publishes eleven of them, free to use on any site, with no limit on how many people run them.” vantovault.com.

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