If you’re a landlord, you need to track your rental income and expenses tens of times per year. The best accounting software for rental business can help you do that easily and automatically. What’s more, this type of software even allows you to make tax reports, handle basic bookkeeping and create proposals. Here we’d like to share some best free accounting software for rental properties with you.
Want to learn best accounting software for rental business? Or about best accounting software for rentals? Check out this complete guide that shares overall best accounting software for rental properties. Here you will find the best solution if you want to track and manage your rental properties.
DoorLoop
DoorLoop is a dedicated, full-service rental property management software tool that offers everything you need to streamline and optimize your rental property management or investing business.
Designed to be highly intuitive and easy to use, DoorLoop includes a full suite of features designed by property managers for property managers.
Including:
- Everything you need for your property accounting, including custom reports and a variety of payment methods, and including ACH and credit cards
- Manage work orders remotely, even assign vendors to a job, edit a work order, and communicate directly with tenants from within the software
- Built-in CRM and tenant portal that allows you to collect rent, offer renters insurance, and accept applications
- An owner portal that gives access to reports and even allows you to print checks
- Marketing features that allow you to list properties and even do tenant screening within the software
- And much more
Save yourself time and hassle by centralizing your processes with easy documentation, automation, work order management, and robust accounting features.
DoorLoop Pricing
DoorLoop’s full-service rental property accounting software is 50% off your first two months. Plus, there are no training or support fees whatsoever. Prices start as low as $49/month for your first 20 units.
Rent Manager
Rent Manager is a dedicated rental property management software with a robust set of features. They have good accessibility, with a cloud-based, desktop, mobile app version and good customization settings.
Their feature set makes them a good fit for beginners and more advanced users, but they gate certain features behind higher pay tiers and don’t offer transparent pricing plans.
Features include:
- Custom reporting
- Automated rent payments
- Custom training and data migration
- Automatic bank reconciliation
- A large number of integrations
Rent Manager Pricing
Rent Manager offers pricing options for each version of its software, including a cloud-based and desktop version based on per-unit pricing.
However, they don’t list their pricing publicly, so you’ll need to contact Rent Manager to get more information.
Hemlane
Hemlane is designed for rental property management and offers unique features such as being able to match you with local agents. If you’re uniquely concerned with placement, Hemlane is worth considering for its leasing tools.
However, it’s one of the most expensive options on this list, so you’re paying more for those extra features.
Features include:
- Good leasing tools such as tenant screening
- Other useful local support features
- Work order management
- Online rent payments
Hemlane pricing
Hemlane’s pricing starts somewhat affordable but quickly escalates at a $2 per unit pricing model.
Their Basic plan starts at $30 per month with $2 per unit additional after the first. That means if you manage even 20 units, Hemlane will be $70 per month.
Their premium-tier Complete plan starts at $60 per month but costs $32 per property after the first.
Hemlane’s enterprise pricing model comes partly due to its unique on-location support features, which other rental property software solutions don’t offer.
Chances are, these might not be useful to you. However, to those that find such local support invaluable or necessary, Hemlane is worth considering.
Hemlane offers a 30-day free trial, so you can try it out for free.
TenantCloud
TenantCloud is one of the most affordable tools on this list, partly because it offers a 100% free plan up to a surprising 75 units.
However, depending on what features you’re looking for, you’ll find TenantCloud lacking many useful features that come standard in other tools unless you move up to one of their premium plans.
Features include:
- Reporting
- Work order management
- Online rent payments
- Insurance reminders
- Vendor payments
TenantCloud Pricing
TenantCloud is unique in that it offers a 100% free basic tier plan for up to 75 units.
The number of units included is impressive, though the plan lacks several essential features that make it a difficult fit for anymore with more than just a few properties.
Their lowest-level paid tier includes up to 150 units at $9 per month, and their premium tier includes up to 500 units at $35 per month, as well as their entire suite of features.
Rentec Direct
Rentec Direct is a long-time player with all-around solid features, a mobile app, and multi-user access.
Its feature list is one the most robust of any tool on this list, but it’s also less intuitive, and the interface feels a bit dated and hard to navigate.
Features include:
- Mobile app
- Work order management with tenant maintenance requests and vendor payments
- Tenant screening and lead tracking
- Built-in tenant communication, including SMS text and email
- Robust reporting
Rentec Direct pricing
Rentec Direct has competitive pricing, with their basic Rentec PRO plan starting at $35 per month, though it only covers ten units.
Additional units won’t cost you much, though, with 50 units costing just $55 per month up to 500 units at $450 per month.
In addition to their basic pricing tier, Rentec offers a tenant screening add-on for between $7 per month with their Basic Screening Package up to $15 for the Premium Screening Package.
AppFolio
Our choice for best overall, AppFolio, comes with basic and advanced features, making it accessible to landlords who do their own accounting and to beginner and advanced accountants and bookkeepers alike.Pros
- Pay only for the features you need and use
- Has all the advanced accounting features a landlord needs
- Includes a mobile app
Cons
- Has a minimum monthly fee
- Not fit for a small number of properties
- Limited live help after purchase
AppFolio has developed software with a suite of features a landlord would need to operate and grow their business remotely. It comes with Core and Plus plans to match the budget and complexity needs of varying users, earning our rating as the best overall accounting software for landlords.
If you fill out their online form, an AppFolio salesperson will guide you through a free demo so you can evaluate the features important to you. There is an onboarding fee of at least $400 and then a minimum $250- $1,500 monthly fee (depending on which plan you choose). They also have services you can choose to utilize for a fee. Fees increase based on how many units you have in a Core or Plus plan:
- Residential: $1.40 to $3 per unit monthly
- Commercial: $1.50 to $3 per unit monthly
- HOAs: $0.80 per unit monthly
AppFolio is a better fit for mid to large-sized property landlords with at least 200 units.
The Core tier comes with AppFolio’s customizable reports, online payments and maintenance, marketing tools, lease management, and communication functions. With the Plus tier, you also get a variety of strategic performance insights to scale your portfolio. You’ll also have access to services like website creation, lead generation, tenant screening, insurance, online payments, a maintenance call center, utility management, debt collections, and automated accounts payable. These will all be billed to your account after you have utilized the service. In addition to these native features, AppFolio has partnered with more than 80 internet listing service providers to enhance your reach with powerful marketing integrations.
The Plus tier stands out for accounting because the advanced performance insights and revenue management take the strong bookkeeping tools to the next level of business growth.
The software has very high-reliability ratings with a responsive customer support team. But there are a few customer complaints about wanting more access to a live person to talk through support issues.
Buildium
Buildium’s Growth and Premium plans support up to 5,000 properties, earning the top spot for users with large property portfolios.Pros
- Built by property managers for property managers
- Automatic rent collection through a tenant portal
- Online ticket support
- A lot of training materials offered
Cons
- Expensive pricing plans
- Some customer support complaints
- Not a fit for single property managers
Buildium, our review’s best property management accounting software for large property portfolios, has expansive accounting features supporting up to 5,000 units in their Growth and Premium plans.
Buildium offers three plans; Essential, Growth, and Premium. The cost of each plan depends on the number of units you manage. Essential starts at $50 a month and offers features for up to 150 units. Growth offers more features, the ability to service up to 5,000 units, and starts at $160 a month. Premium also allows you to have up to 5,000 units and offers features like Business Analytics and Insights and Buildium Rewards. Premium starts at $460 per month. Buildium also offers a 10% discount for anyone who signs up for annual billing.
In the cloud, users can record and view all fees, payments, deposits, and refunds, manage accounts payable through built-in calculators that show how much you owe to companies and vendors, reconcile bank accounts automatically, generate a variety of financial reports, and automatically generate and e-file a Form 1099.
Besides the accounting features, Buildium also offers a lot of advanced features with easy-to-understand tutorials.
Buildium integrates with several outside software platforms, including TransUnion, RevSpring, MSI, Nelco, Happy Inspector, PayNearMe, and more. This solid list of integrations, the recognition it has received from G2 and Capterra, and its active updates to resolve issues make it a reliable platform.
Buildium has a high rating across different review websites, serving as a testament to the reliable service they provide.
Property Matrix
Property Matrix comes packed with all the advanced features professional accountants would need, with the ability to customize everything, making this the best software for experienced accountants.Pros
- Fully customizable features
- Has a mobile app
- Designed for all levels of accounting experience
Cons
- Fit for landlords with over 250 units
- More expensive than other accounting software
Designed for users of all levels of accounting experience, Property Matrix is a website-based software equipped with powerful and advanced features that have automation capabilities for expert users. Furthermore, all features are fully customizable, allowing experienced users to pick the top-of-the-line accounting features they need to improve their reporting efficiency.
There are three pricing plans: Standard, Property Matrix Pro, and Enterprise:
- Standard: $400 per month for up to 250 units: $1.50 for additional units. Key features include enterprise accounting, maintenance, marketing, portals, custom reports, unlimited phone support.
- Property Matrix Pro: $475 per month for up to 250 units: $1.50 for additional units. Includes all Standard features, plus tools for commercial properties, budgets, and CAM (common area maintenance) charges.
- Enterprise: $1,200 per month for up to 800 units: $1.35 for additional units and all Property Matrix Pro features.
Property Matrix surpasses other software programs due to its advanced features and customization muscle. It’s capable of managing complex accounting processes, minimizing workload, and eliminating the need for third-party accounting software.
Property Matrix users can:
- Organize and track transactions
- Manage multiple companies
- Create recurring invoices and bills for vendors and tenants
- Set triggers and automate routine actions
- Track information efficiently through custom fields
- Manage documents from one single system
- Create custom forms
- Collect electronic signatures
- Organize communications through one single Communications Hub
- Get a professionally designed website
Users can customize the features they use, making it suitable for any experience level. However, enterprise-level landlords and their accountants will benefit more than small and medium-sized landlords due to the robust accounting software.
Property Matrix serves accountants, investors, and property managers through its numerous affiliates, such as the National Apartment Association and the American Apartment Owners Association. User reviews are very complimentary on Capterra and Software Advice.
Conclusion:
Best Free Accounting Software For Rental Properties. Every business needs accounting software, including the rental property business, since this is a demanding marketplace with imperfections. You need to keep records correctly in order to stay compliant and free from financial errors.