Best Landlord Software and Property Management Tools

For most landlords with 1 to 20 units, the best software is a free or low-cost platform: Stessa or Baselane if your main need is bookkeeping with a Schedule E report, and RentRedi ($12 a month on an annual plan) or TurboTenant (free for listings, or $149 to $199 a year for 1 to 10 units with leases) if you mainly need rent collection, screening, and leases. Buildium, from $65 a month, fits once you need full property accounting and higher volume. AppFolio starts at $1.49 per unit with a 50-unit minimum, so it is built for management companies. Before you choose, check how many business days rent takes to reach your account and which fees your tenants will pay.

2026 prices and limits by product

All prices are from each company's pricing page as of October 22, 2026 (Buildium updated October 28, 2026). Plans change often, so confirm before you sign up.

What the free and low-cost plans leave out:

• Stessa Essentials includes online rent collection, tenant screening, and maintenance request tracking, but no e-signatures, and state lease templates cost $15 each. Manage includes 1 e-signature a month and Pro includes 7.
• Baselane charges $24.99 and up for screening, separate from either plan. Its pricing page does not list lease or maintenance tools.
• TurboTenant Free covers listings, but state-specific lease agreements and e-signatures require Essentials or Pro, and automatic transaction import requires Pro. Essentials imports transactions by hand.

Which tool fits which job

Rent collection. Every product above collects rent by ACH bank transfer and card. The differences are fees and payout speed, covered in the next section. Rent collection systems covers autopay, due dates, and late-fee follow-up.

Accounting with Schedule E reports. A Schedule E report totals income and expenses by property on the same lines as the IRS form. Stessa (Manage and Pro) and Baselane print one. Buildium and AppFolio include property accounting and financial reports built for management companies. Whichever you pick, set the categories to match Schedule E so the report lines up with the form; depreciation of the building and improvements still needs its own schedule; landlord accounting and Schedule E categories lists them.

Tenant screening. On most of these platforms the applicant pays, subject to state fee limits: $39.99 on RentRedi ($49.99 with income verification), $45 or $55 on TurboTenant depending on plan, and $35 on Buildium (or $17 if you pay). For ordinary New York residential rentals, Real Property Law section 238-a caps combined credit and background check fees at the actual cost or $20, whichever is less; you cannot pass on any excess. The software sends the request, but the legal duties stay with you. Under FTC guidance, if a report leads you to deny an applicant or require a larger deposit, you must send an adverse action notice that names the screening company and explains the applicant's right to a free copy within 60 days and to dispute errors. The tenant screening process covers criteria and fair housing limits.

E-signed leases. TurboTenant includes unlimited state-specific leases and e-signatures on Essentials and Pro. Stessa limits them by plan, and Buildium charges $5 per document on Essential, $1 on Growth, and nothing extra on Premium. A platform's lease template is a starting point; check it against your state's landlord-tenant law.

Maintenance tickets. Stessa, RentRedi, TurboTenant, Buildium, and AppFolio all let tenants submit requests through a portal. For a few units, any of them works. At higher volume, look for work order management, which Buildium and AppFolio list as features. Handling maintenance requests covers response times and triage.

How to judge payout timing and fees passed to tenants

Payout timing is how many business days pass between the tenant paying and the money landing in your account. It decides whether rent paid on the 1st covers a mortgage due on the 1st. Published examples:

• TurboTenant: an estimated 5 to 7 business days on the free plan and 2 to 4 business days on Pro (which it also calls Premium), by its Pro plan help page.
• Baselane: standard 5-business-day deposits on Core and 2-business-day deposits on Smart for eligible tenants; a failed payment removes the faster deposit until the tenant makes two successful payments in two calendar months.
• Stessa: faster ACH clearing on Pro, with no day count given.

Count from the day the tenant pays. Rent paid on Tuesday, December 1, 2026 with a 5-to-7-business-day payout is expected between December 8 and December 10. New accounts can take longer while the platform verifies them.

Fees passed to tenants are often how a free plan is paid for. On $1,800 of rent:

RentRedi lets you cover the tenant fees from your settings, and Baselane lets you choose who pays the ACH fee. Before you require online payment, check your state's rules on the payment methods you must accept and the fees you can pass on.

How to check data security

A rental platform connects to your bank account and stores tenant applications, leases, and screening results, so check these before you sign up:

1. Two-factor sign-in for you and anyone you add as a team member.
2. Who can see screening reports, and whether you can download and delete them. The FTC requires landlords to dispose of consumer report information so it cannot be read or reconstructed once they are done with it.
3. Export. Confirm you can download transactions, leases, and tenant ledgers as files, so your records survive if you switch products.

If you are deciding whether software is enough or you need a manager, self-managing vs hiring a property manager compares the time and cost.