immowelt is the best starting point for a Berlin rental search in 2026: it is the only one of the four that offers alerts, a full application folder, and neighbourhood-level price data on a free account. Almost every flat here draws a queue of applicants, so the search does not go to whoever looks the longest. It goes to whoever hears about a listing first, can submit a complete application the same day, and has a realistic idea of what the flat should cost.
ImmoScout24 has the largest selection of listings, Kleinanzeigen has the highest share of private landlords, and the seven state-owned housing companies have the lowest rents. If you have only just arrived, one detail matters more than it looks: on a free account, immowelt is the only one of the four where you put the application folder together yourself and send it as your own PDF, which leaves room for documents issued outside Germany. ImmoScout24 offers the same feature, but only inside the paid Suchen+ membership.
What this comparison covers, and what it leaves out
We looked at open-ended (unbefristet) rental flats in Berlin on immowelt, ImmoScout24, Kleinanzeigen, and the seven state-owned housing companies at inberlinwohnen.de. Rooms in shared flats, furnished monthly lets, short-term rentals, and anything for sale are not covered here.
How the four were compared
We set the criteria before we started looking, in order of importance.
DISCLOSED CRITERIA
- How quickly you hear about a new listing
- Whether you can apply in full, and who ends up holding your documents
- Whether you can tell what the flat ought to cost
- Filters, including the filter for a Wohnberechtigungsschein (WBS), Berlin’s low-income housing entitlement certificate
- The app and independent awards
The first three decide the verdict. Where immowelt does not come out on top, its own section says so.
How do the four Berlin portals compare?
Everything below was checked in September 2026.
| Criterion | immowelt | ImmoScout24 | Kleinanzeigen | State-owned |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Alerts | Search assistant at five settings, from immediate to weekly | Instant push, but some listings are members-only | Fires on every new match, with saved filters | No central alert; each company runs its own, from search requests to interest forms |
| 2. Application documents | Folder and templates free, and you send the PDF yourself | Templates free, digital folder needs Suchen+ | A form on commercial listings, no uploads | A separate form per company, income checked after the viewing |
| 3. Price information | Rent index down to neighbourhood level, labelled as an estimate | Asking-rent data down to sub-district (Ortsteil) level | No benchmark, but separate cold and warm rent fields | No price data, but regulated rents |
| 4. Filters including WBS | WBS to neighbourhood level, plus fittings, year built, and floor | WBS filter, district pages, and a WBS calculator | A “WBS benötigt” (WBS required) filter, though few listings set it | WBS level shown on each listing |
| 5. App rating | 4.6 · 4.5 (App Store · Play Store) | 4.6 · 4.1 | 4.7 · 4.1, across the whole app | No shared app |
| Go to site | Go to site | Go to site | Go to site |
immowelt: the most complete way to prepare an application
OVERALL RECOMMENDATION
immowelt is our top recommendation because it does all three of the things that decide a search, and does them on a free account. The Suchassistent (search assistant) runs at five settings, from immediate to weekly; you build the Bewerbermappe (application folder) in your profile; and the rent index estimates what a flat in that neighbourhood should cost. You can send an enquiry without registering. immowelt is the second-largest property portal in Germany, following ImmoScout24. In the 2026 consumer survey conducted by the Deutsches Institut für Service-Qualität (DISQ) for the news channel ntv, it ranked first among 12 property portals, receiving 81.5 out of 100 points from over 45,000 respondents.
The folder sits in your profile next to templates for the Mieterselbstauskunft (the tenant self-disclosure German landlords expect). You fill it in, download it, and send it yourself, so you decide who receives your ID copy, your proof of income, and your credit report. This is especially important if your documents do not resemble those of a standard German applicant. Because you build the PDF yourself, you can add an employment contract, a guarantor’s undertaking, or proof of income issued abroad, instead of being pushed into fixed fields that assume German documents. The credit report landlords ask for, the SCHUFA-BonitätsCheck from SCHUFA, Germany’s main credit bureau, costs €29.95 wherever you order it, including through immowelt.
On price, immowelt labels its figures as estimates and updates them monthly. They track the rents asked for flats new to the market, not the rents paid under existing contracts. For Berlin, that works out to €14.59 per square metre (September 2026), broken down by neighbourhood, with values running from about €11.50 in Waidmannslust to about €17.60 in Wilmersdorf.
Strengths
- Search assistant at five settings, from immediate to weekly, with push notifications in the app
- The application folder is free, and you send the PDF yourself, so non-standard documents fit
- A shared shortlist with comments and ratings, for searching as a couple or a family
- A rent index down to neighbourhood level, updated monthly
- First of 12 portals in the DISQ consumer survey for ntv, with 81.5 points out of 100
Limits
- The €29.95 SCHUFA-BonitätsCheck is the one thing you pay for, though every portal expects it
- Messages to commercial listings never appear in your inbox, only in your notes, so the conversation itself moves to e-mail
Run your alerts and your application from immowelt, and keep a second free alert going elsewhere so nothing slips past.
Best for: your main portal if you want to hear first, apply in full, and keep your documents in your own hands.
ImmoScout24: the broadest range of Berlin listings
ImmoScout24 has the broadest range of rental listings in Berlin, and in Germany as a whole. Search, filters, favourites, enquiries, and instant-push alerts come with every account, and the self-disclosure templates are free. For Berlin, it adds a WBS filter, a page for each district, and a WBS calculator, plus asking-rent data down to sub-district (Ortsteil) level. Those are asking rents, not the official rent index.
The Mieter-Netzwerk (tenant network) is a separate way in. If you are giving up a flat yourself, list it there. Membership costs nothing, which opens up listings that have not been advertised publicly. If you have no flat to offer, that access comes with the higher Suchen+ tiers, Pro and Unlimitiert, which also carry the waiting lists and a “Bald verfügbar” (available soon) section; the digital application folder is in every Suchen+ tier. These are genuinely useful, and they are also where the catch is, because by ImmoScout24’s own account, some listings are visible to members only:
ImmoScout24, “Suchen+ für Miete” product page, which states that only Suchen+ premium members can see such a listing.
An alert cannot tell you about a listing you are not allowed to see. That conclusion is ours, drawn from the sentence above rather than stated by ImmoScout24. It is separate from a second promise on the same page: that subscribers can contact selected listings before anyone else. That one is a head start rather than a lock-out, and ImmoScout24 puts it at up to 24 hours. For subscribers, all of this is a genuine advantage; on a free account, some listings stay out of sight.
Strengths
- The broadest range of Berlin rental listings
- Search, filters, favourites, enquiries, and the instant-push alert all come free
- A WBS filter, a page for each district, and a WBS calculator, all specific to Berlin
- Asking-rent data down to sub-district (Ortsteil) level, plus a tenant network of listings not advertised publicly
Limits
- Some listings are marked “Exklusiv für Suchen+” and shown to Suchen+ members only
- The tenant network, the waiting lists, and “Bald verfügbar” need a Suchen+ Pro or Unlimitiert membership, unless you have a flat of your own to put up
Best for: anyone who wants reach above all, and especially anyone giving up a flat of their own, since that is the free way into the tenant network.
Kleinanzeigen: where the private landlords are
Kleinanzeigen has the largest visible share of private landlords. Around 30 per cent of Berlin rental offers come from private advertisers rather than agencies, and those landlords usually pick the tenant themselves, with no property manager in between. The alert saves your whole search, filters included, and tells you about every new match as it goes live, with no paid tier getting there ahead of you.
On Kleinanzeigen, Kaltmiete (cold rent, the base rent before bills), service charges, heating, and Warmmiete (warm rent, the figure that actually leaves your account) each get their own field, which is more useful than it sounds: German listings quote the cold rent by default. What you do not get is any benchmark for whether a rent is normal for that street.
Furthermore, Kleinanzeigen is a general classifieds marketplace rather than a property portal, and it shows in two ways. By Kleinanzeigen’s own account, the default “Empfohlen” (recommended) sort alternates commercial and private ads, with labelled paid ads above the results, so switch to “Neueste” (newest) if you want strict recency. And swaps, rooms, furnished apartments, and sublets sit among the ordinary rentals, with only a small share of them flagged as swaps.
Kleinanzeigen has no document upload and no reusable tenant profile, so paste your Mieterselbstauskunft straight into the first message.
Strengths
- Largest visible share of private landlords, around 30 per cent of Berlin rental offers
- An alert that fires on every new match, with saved filters and no paid tier ahead of you
- Kaltmiete, service charges, heating, and Warmmiete in separate fields
Limits
- Swaps, rooms, furnished flats, and sublets are mixed in with the ordinary rentals, and only a small share carry the swap flag, so filtering them out does not work
- No benchmark for whether a rent is normal for that street
- No document upload and no reusable tenant profile, and the default sort mixes commercial and private ads rather than showing the newest first
Best for: anyone who specifically wants private landlords rather than property managers. With an alert running, it earns its place as a second portal, not as your main one.
The state-owned housing companies: the lowest rents
The state-owned companies are not really a portal at all, but a separate route to flats let far below the open market. Between them, berlinovo, degewo, GESOBAU, Gewobag, HOWOGE, STADT UND LAND, and WBM hold just under 390,000 flats, by their own figures on inberlinwohnen.de. A new contract in 2024 averaged €8.81 per square metre in net cold rent, against a median Berlin asking rent of €15.74 that year (IBB Wohnungsmarktbericht).
Getting into a state-owned flat works one of two ways. Either you qualify for a Wohnberechtigungsschein, a free document from a district housing office confirming that your assessable annual income falls below a set limit. Or you are over those limits, in which case you apply for the share that is let on the open market: 4,209 of the 12,398 relettings in 2024, the ones that did not go to a WBS holder.
Two things are worth knowing if you are moving from abroad. A non-German passport is not a barrier: Berlin accepts German citizenship, EU citizenship, or citizenship outside the EU together with a residence permit valid for at least a year. You also do not have to be in the city yet, since you can send the application to a Berlin district office before you move, provided you intend to make Berlin your main residence. A WBS is normally valid for one year, and it must still be valid on your move-in date.
| WBS level | 1 person | 2 people | each further person |
|---|---|---|---|
| WBS 140 | €16,800 | €25,200 | €5,740 |
| WBS 160 | €19,200 | €28,800 | €6,560 |
| WBS 180 | €21,600 | €32,400 | €7,380 |
| WBS 220 | €26,400 | €39,600 | €9,020 |
Across the three criteria that decide this comparison, the results split. On alerts, the state-owned companies are the weakest of the four: there is no central notification, each company runs its own instead, and the flat finder is a pre-filtered list you have to open yourself. On applying, it is the other way round. At Gewobag, a short form is all it takes, a random draw decides who gets invited to a viewing, and documents come only afterwards, so nobody asks you for payslips at the first click.
So the verdict on the state-owned companies cuts both ways. If you need somewhere quickly, low turnover plus a random draw means fifty applications are fifty separate lotteries, and none of them improves your odds in the next. If you have the time, this is the biggest saving in the comparison, because the rents start well below the open market and the increases stay capped.
Strengths
- €8.81 per square metre on a new contract in 2024, against a Berlin median asking rent of €15.74
- Rent increases capped at 11 per cent over three years, and 2.9 per cent a year on average in practice
- One search entry point for all seven companies, with the WBS level on each listing
- Open to non-EU citizens with a residence permit valid for at least a year, and you can apply before you move
Limits
- No central notification: each company runs its own, from a full search request at degewo and Gewobag to a search profile at GESOBAU and HOWOGE and an interest form at WBM
- A small pool of around 12,400 relettings a year, and no city-wide waiting list
- You search in one place, then apply on each company’s own form
Best for: anyone inside the WBS 220 limits, and anyone with the time to let a slow route run in the background.
What may a landlord in Berlin ask you, and what does the search cost?
Your choice of portal decides how fast you hear about a flat and how complete your application can be. Everything after that, at the viewing and in the contract, is governed by law rather than by any portal, and three parts of it are worth knowing before your first appointment.
The German data protection authorities hold that a landlord may not ask about your nationality. The current statement of that position is version 2.0 of the Orientierungshilfe (guidance note) issued by the Datenschutzkonferenz, the standing conference of Germany’s data protection authorities, published in January 2026; the same line has stood since the 2018 edition. It is not binding law, but it is the yardstick those authorities go by. The same ban covers religion and ethnic origin, a copy of your ID, your marital status, how long you have been in your job, contact details for previous landlords, and a Mietschuldenfreiheitsbescheinigung (certificate of no rent arrears). If you are turned down because of where you come from, the Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz (AGG), Germany’s equal treatment act, is the law to cite.
What can be asked depends on how far along you are. At a viewing, your name and address. Once you are applying for a particular flat, the number of people moving in, your job, and your employer, and confirmation that your income clears a threshold rather than the figure itself. Payslips, bank statements, or a tax assessment come only once you have been chosen, as redacted copies, along with a credit report. That means the paid SCHUFA-BonitätsCheck. The free alternative, the SCHUFA Datenkopie (data copy), is meant for you alone, and no landlord may insist on seeing it.
Two costs are worth clarifying before you budget. You do not pay the estate agent, because under the Bestellerprinzip whoever hired the agent pays. What you do pay before you move in is the deposit, up to three months’ Kaltmiete, on top of the first month’s rent. Rents themselves have a ceiling too. The Mietpreisbremse (rent brake) caps a new rent at 10 per cent above the local comparative rent. The two rent figures in this article measure different things, which is why they sit so far apart: the official Berliner Mietspiegel 2026 puts the mid-level rent for existing tenancies at €7.71 per square metre, while €15.74 is what landlords ask for a flat coming onto the market. Three warnings apply across the board, no matter which portal you use: transfer nothing before a viewing, nobody sends keys by post, and treat a landlord who says they are abroad with suspicion.
Which portal fits your situation?
One portal is rarely enough, and the right combination depends on where you are starting from.
You are moving to Berlin and have no flat to offer. Set up alerts on immowelt and ImmoScout24 (both free), set them to immediate, and get your documents ready in the immowelt Bewerbermappe that you send yourself. Just remember that some ImmoScout24 listings are visible only to Suchen+ members.
Your assessable income is under €26,400 on your own, or €39,600 as a couple. Assessable income is not gross salary and comes out well below it, so do the sum before you rule yourself out. Apply for the WBS first, from abroad if you need to: it is free, required for occupancy-linked flats, and your portal search can run in parallel.
You are searching as a couple or a family. The shared shortlist on immowelt means you no longer have to coordinate by sending each other screenshots, since everyone you invite can add flats, comment on them, and rate them.
You specifically want private landlords rather than property managers. Kleinanzeigen has the largest visible pool. Switch the list to “Neueste” and write your self-disclosure straight into the first message, because private listings come with no form.
Frequently asked questions about finding a flat in Berlin
Which portals are worth using for a flat search in Berlin?
Four are worth your time: immowelt, ImmoScout24, Kleinanzeigen, and the seven state-owned housing companies at inberlinwohnen.de. immowelt gives you alerts, the application folder, and price data on a free account. ImmoScout24 has the largest selection of listings, Kleinanzeigen the largest share of private landlords, and the state-owned companies the lowest rents, though they relet only around 12,400 flats a year.
What are the alternatives to ImmoScout24?
For rental flats, the obvious alternative is immowelt, Germany’s second-largest property portal, where the search assistant, shared shortlist, application folder, and document templates all come with a free account. Kleinanzeigen is worth the effort if you want private landlords, and inberlinwohnen.de is where the state-owned companies put their flats.
Can I get a Wohnberechtigungsschein if I am not German, and can I apply before I move?
Yes to both. Berlin recognises three cases: German citizenship, EU citizenship, or citizenship of a country outside the EU together with a residence permit valid for at least a year. If you have not moved yet, send the application to a Berlin district citizens’ office or housing office. The WBS is normally valid for a year, and it has to still be valid on the day you move in.
What may a landlord in Berlin ask me for?
At a viewing, only your name and address. Once you are applying for a particular flat, the number of people moving in, your job, and your employer, and confirmation that your income clears a threshold. Payslips and a credit report come only once you have been chosen. Your nationality, religion, marital status, and a certificate of no rent arrears may not be asked for at all.
Written by Fabian Lindhofen · This article contains affiliate links, which cost you nothing extra.
Treat this as orientation, not legal advice.
