Institutional-Grade Underwriting, Without the ARGUS Price Tag
ARGUS is the institutional standard, and it's priced, gated, and complex like one. DealWise AI gives you the same rent-roll-driven cash flow and multi-year returns (plus a clear buy, hold, or pass) in your browser, in minutes, free to start.
The short version
ARGUS is the gold standard for formal valuation, and it’s quote-priced in the thousands per year, has no free trial, and takes weeks of paid training to learn. DealWise gives you the same institutional-grade underwriting (rent roll, cash flow, multi-year returns, and an AI buy/hold/pass) without the price, the training, or the install, whether you’re running one deal or a hundred.
Where ARGUS stays ahead is breadth: the full set of valuation methods, portfolio reporting across many assets, and a toolchain a lot of institutions are already standardised on. If that is your world, it earns its place. For the work of deciding whether a single deal is worth doing, DealWise is faster, published, and free to start.
DealWise AI vs. ARGUS
Where each tool fits, honestly.
| Capability | DealWise AI | ARGUS |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Published pricing | Yes | No |
| Rent-roll & lease-level cash flow | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-year cash flow & returns | Yes | Yes |
| AI buy / hold / pass verdict | Yes | No |
| AI included as standard | Yes | Yes |
| Discounted cash flow valuation output | No | Yes |
| Portfolio & multi-asset management | No | Yes |
Comparison based on publicly available information as of July 2026. ARGUS pricing is not published; figures reflect widely reported ranges. Verify current details with each provider.
Where DealWise AI pulls ahead
Institutional output, without the institutional overhead.
Minutes to learn, not weeks
No certification course, no prerequisites, no Windows install. Open it in your browser and underwrite your first deal today. If you can read a rent roll, you already know how to use it.
Priced for people, published up front
Free to start, then $178 a month on annual billing ($195 month-to-month). No quote calls, no negotiation, no implementation fee, no per-seat enterprise contract. You see the price before you sign up.
A verdict, not just a valuation
One click generates an institutional-grade memo that ends with a clear buy, hold, or pass and the rationale behind it. ARGUS gives you the model. DealWise gives you the model and the call.
Where ARGUS still wins
The jobs it genuinely owns. We'll say so plainly.
Decades as the benchmark
ARGUS has been the institutional valuation standard for a generation. That track record and the trust behind it are real, when a deal has to be modeled the way the whole industry has always modeled it, that familiarity carries weight.
It is what the industry was taught on
Altus says ARGUS is “recognized as the industry standard” and “taught in more than 200 universities and colleges worldwide,” and that its outputs trace back to a methodology “auditors, lenders, and investment committees already trust.” If your counterparty already runs on ARGUS, that shared vocabulary is worth something, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
Appraisal-grade rigor
Decades as the industry benchmark for formal valuation and regulatory-grade reporting. When the output has to stand up to institutional scrutiny, ARGUS is built for it.
Which one should you use?
Choose ARGUS if
- Your counterparty or your firm already runs on ARGUS
- You need its full valuation method set: hardcore, term and reversion, initial yield
- You manage a multi-asset portfolio and report across it
Choose DealWise AI if
- You underwrite commercial deals
- You want a fast, confident buy / hold / pass, not weeks of setup
- You'd rather start free today than schedule a demo call
- You want institutional-grade output without institutional cost
ARGUS alternative FAQ
How much does ARGUS cost?
ARGUS doesn't publish pricing. It's quote-based and negotiated per customer, and it's widely reported to run into the thousands of dollars per user per year. There's no free trial and no free version. DealWise publishes its pricing openly: a free plan with no credit card, then $178 per month on annual billing ($195 month-to-month).
Is DealWise AI a replacement for ARGUS?
For the underwriting, yes. DealWise gives you the same rent-roll-driven cash flow and multi-year returns, and ends with a clear buy, hold or pass that ARGUS does not offer. Altus are explicit that ARGUS Assist is “a decision-support tool, not a replacement for professional judgment.” Where ARGUS keeps an edge is breadth: its full valuation method set, portfolio reporting across many assets, and the fact that a lot of institutions are already standardised on it. If your counterparty runs on ARGUS, that matters. If your job is deciding whether a deal is worth doing, DealWise does that part faster, at a published price, with a free plan to test it on.
How long does it take to learn DealWise vs. ARGUS?
Minutes against weeks. ARGUS takes weeks of paid training to learn. DealWise asks for no certification course, no prerequisites and no Windows install. You open it in your browser and underwrite your first deal today. If you can read a rent roll, you already know how to use it.
Can I try DealWise AI for free?
Yes. There's a free plan with no credit card, and no demo call, no training and no quote in front of it. You can run a real deal end to end on it: rent roll, cash flow, and an AI verdict. Paid pricing is published up front at $178 per month on annual billing ($195 month-to-month), so you see the price before you sign up.
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See it on your own deal. Free.
No demo call, no training, no quote. Run a real deal end to end (rent roll, cash flow, and an AI verdict) on the free plan today.