Evolve and Awning are both younger, tiered alternatives to the legacy national vacation rental brands, and both publish an exact starting fee. This comparison uses only what each company states on its own site, checked October 2026, so figures that change on either site after that date will not be reflected here.
Checked 2026-10-09Evolve and Awning are the two companies in this comparison set that both publish an exact starting fee without a sales call: Evolve at 10% on its Core tier, 15% on Plus, and Awning starting at 10% of revenue on every tier. Awning's own page states cleaning and maintenance are included in that fee and handled by local crews, while Evolve's published pages do not state who covers cleaning or maintenance, only that guests get a local Guest Contact the owner chooses plus 24/7 remote support. Evolve backs its plans with a Risk-Free Guarantee, a refund of management fees if an owner is unsatisfied within the first six months, and published damage protection of $5,000 to $10,000 plus $1M liability insurance; Awning describes liability and dwelling coverage on every reservation but does not publish a dollar figure or a satisfaction guarantee. Awning publishes a firm 90 day cancellation notice with no penalty, while Evolve states no long-term contract but does not publish a specific notice period. Evolve is the older of the two, founded in 2011 against Awning's December 2019, and Evolve's own site counts owners rather than properties, stating more than 30,000 owners and over $5 billion in rental income earned, while Awning counts 20,000+ managed properties and a separate furnishing and real estate brokerage arm that Evolve's pages do not mention at all.
Every row quotes or closely paraphrases the company's own page. "Not published" means neither evolve.com nor awning.com states it, not that the company lacks it.
| What matters | Evolve | Awning |
|---|---|---|
| Published fee | 10% (Core), 15% (Plus), custom (Pro), plus a $250 one time onboarding fee ($25 per additional property), per evolve.com. A separate Mid-Term Rental Add-On runs $249 per listing per year for 28-plus night stays | Starts at 10% of revenue, with no setup fees and no hidden fees, per awning.com/airbnb-management. Awning also publishes separate rates for furnishing (starting at $3,000) and real estate brokerage (no fee premium over a traditional agent), services Evolve's owner pages do not offer |
| Contract term | "No long-term contract"; plan changes between tiers take effect within 15 business days, per evolve.com | "No contract lock-in" and no annual contract, per awning.com/airbnb-management |
| Cancellation notice | Not published as a specific notice period | 90 days' written notice to cancel, with no cancellation penalty |
| Satisfaction guarantee | Risk-Free Guarantee: a refund of management fees from the first six months if unsatisfied, "Terms & conditions apply" | Not published. Awning's own page instead states "an average of 20% higher owner returns than the management companies we replace," a performance claim rather than a guarantee |
| Cleaning included | Not stated as included or billed separately; evolve.com's own company history page names "experienced cleaning teams" as partners, not as a service folded into the fee | Yes, listed as part of the 10% fee and performed by "vetted local cleaners," with linen and restocking service also named on awning.com/airbnb-management |
| Maintenance included | Not stated as included or billed separately | Yes, "maintenance coordination" plus pool, hot tub and lawn maintenance |
| Dynamic pricing | Yes, "AI-powered dynamic pricing," daily rate adjustments described as included | Yes, "dynamic pricing models" described as included at every tier |
| Guest support | 24/7 remote support plus a local Guest Contact the owner chooses; Plus and Pro owners get a dedicated Performance Advisor and Premium Support Desk | 24/7 guest communication plus a dedicated phone and text line for owner questions, per awning.com/airbnb-management |
| Local presence | A local Guest Contact chosen by the owner, not a described local staff model | "Vetted local cleaners" are named; no described local staff or office model beyond that |
| Markets | Not published as a count; destination links cover US states and one Mexico market, and evolve.com separately claims "18% more revenue than the market average" without naming the markets behind that figure | All 50 US states, with named example markets including Nashville, Scottsdale, Gatlinburg, Destin, Joshua Tree, Big Bear and Galveston |
| Property count | Not published as a property total; evolve.com states "30,000+ owners" and over $5 billion in rental income earned instead | 20,000+ properties managed |
| Founded | 2011, per evolve.com's company history page, which states its co-founders entered the vacation rental industry that year | December 2019, per awning.com/about |
| Damage protection | $5,000 damage protection (Core), $10,000 (Plus), plus $1M liability insurance | Liability and dwelling coverage described for every reservation; no dollar figure published |
Sourced from evolve.com and awning.com, checked 2026-10-09.
Choose Evolve if a published satisfaction guarantee and a specific damage protection figure, $5,000 on Core and $10,000 on Plus plus $1M liability insurance, matter more to you than a published cancellation notice period. Evolve's own company history page also cites 16 million-plus guests hosted and more than $5 billion in rental income earned, a scale claim Awning's pages do not make in the same terms, and its three tiers give an owner a clear upgrade path as a portfolio grows, from Core up through Plus to a custom Pro rate. Evolve's own pages do not state who handles cleaning or maintenance, so confirm that directly, and expect a $250 onboarding fee plus $25 per additional property that Awning does not charge.
Choose Awning if you want cleaning and maintenance stated as included in the headline fee, a written 90 day cancellation notice with no penalty, and no separate onboarding charge. Awning also publishes a furnishing arm starting at $3,000 (over 300 homes designed and furnished in the last 12 months, per its own site) and a real estate brokerage arm with over $30M in homes sold in the last 12 months, neither of which appears on Evolve's owner-facing pages, so an owner who wants to buy, furnish and manage a property with one company has a documented path with Awning that Evolve does not describe. Awning's own pages do not publish a satisfaction guarantee or a dollar figure for its liability and dwelling coverage the way Evolve does, so ask directly if either of those matters to your decision.
Answered only from each company's own published pages.
Both publish a starting rate of 10%. Evolve's Core tier is 10% with a $250 one time onboarding fee plus $25 per additional property, and its Plus tier rises to 15% with a custom rate on Pro based on portfolio size. Awning starts at 10% of revenue with no onboarding fee published and no setup fees, which makes Awning's headline cost the lower one once Evolve's onboarding charge is counted. Evolve also charges a separate $249 per listing per year Mid-Term Rental Add-On for stays of 28 nights or longer, a fee Awning's pages do not mention. Neither company publishes a full published price list beyond these headline tiers, so the exact total a given property pays will still depend on its market and plan.
Awning's own page lists cleaning as part of its 10% fee, performed by what it calls "vetted local cleaners," alongside named linen and restocking service, pool and hot tub care, and home automation setup. Evolve's published pages do not state whether cleaning is included or billed separately; its company history page only names "experienced cleaning teams" as partners who help homes "reach five-star standards," without saying who pays them. If keeping cleaning costs predictable matters to you, Awning's page is the more explicit one on who performs the work and what it covers.
Awning publishes an exact term: 90 days' written notice with no cancellation penalty, a policy it frames on its own site as a deliberate departure from "the industry standard of annual contracts with exit fees." Evolve states "no long-term contract" and that plan changes between tiers take effect within 15 business days, but it does not publish a specific cancellation notice period or penalty on the pages checked for this comparison. If a precise notice window matters to your decision, Awning's published 90 day term gives you something concrete to hold the company to, where Evolve's page does not.
Evolve does. Its Risk-Free Guarantee refunds management fees from the first six months if an owner is unsatisfied, with terms and conditions applying, per evolve.com. Awning does not publish a satisfaction guarantee on the pages checked, though it does publish a performance claim: "an average of 20% higher owner returns than the management companies we replace."
Awning states it manages 20,000+ properties on its own site, with a 4.8 star average guest rating. Evolve does not publish a property total; it states more than 30,000 owners, over 16 million guests hosted, and over $5 billion in rental income earned instead, which are different units and not directly comparable to Awning's property count. Evolve's own site also claims an average guest review of 4.8 stars, the same figure Awning publishes.
Evolve publishes exact figures: $5,000 damage protection on its Core tier, $10,000 on Plus, plus $1M liability insurance on every plan, with discounted tax and permit support added on Plus. Awning describes liability and dwelling coverage on every reservation but does not publish a dollar figure, so ask for the specific coverage amount before signing with Awning. Both companies describe the coverage as applying per reservation rather than as a flat annual policy limit.
Evolve is the older company. Its own company history page states co-founders Brian Egan and Adam Sherry entered the vacation rental industry in 2011. Awning states on its about page that it was founded in December 2019, about eight years newer, that its property management service is "Powered by RedAwning," and names Shri Ganeshram as Founder and CEO and Danaus Chang as Co-Founder and President on its team page.
Evolve's published pages describe a local Guest Contact the owner chooses, backed by 24/7 remote support for questions and coordination; Plus and Pro owners also get a dedicated Performance Advisor and a Premium Support Desk, per evolve.com. Awning's pages describe 24/7 guest communication plus a dedicated phone and text line for owner questions, but name "vetted local cleaners" rather than local guest-facing staff as its on-the-ground presence. Neither company's published pages name an individual local office address the way a regional specialist manager typically would.
Transparency: STR Select is an independent directory with no paid placements. Neither Evolve nor Awning is a client or partner of STR Select; facts above come only from their own public pages.