Best Accounting Software for Rental Properties

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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.

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.

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Not only has Rentec Direct created an easy way to add account users and set different permission levels, but they also allow you to add new user accounts for free, making it our top choice for rental property accounting software if you need multiple users.

Best for multiple users, Rentec Direct allows the primary account holder to create and control multi-user accounts that others can access with a unique username, password, and permission level at no additional cost.

Packages cost $35 to $40 per month, with the pricing based on the number of units you’re managing. Additional features are available as add-ons, ranging from $7 to $15 per service. 

Rentec Direct comes with features that include general ledger accounting and financial reporting with QuickBooks synchronization. This streamlines the whole tenant rent payment process to one step that takes around 30 seconds. Users also get an automated process for tracking work orders, ACH, and credit card payment processing.

In addition to the accounting features, Rentec Direct also includes other property management features like online portals for tenants and owners, a free custom website and hosting to promote your company and properties online, online rental applications, electronic signatures with DocuSign, electronic 1099 filing, syndication of vacancy listings, utility billing integration, and tenant background screening for credit, criminal, and eviction records.

It currently integrates with QuickBooks Online Advanced and DocuSign. 

The support staff has excellent reviews from customers on third-party review sites.

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Buildium's Growth and Premium plans support up to 5,000 properties, earning the top spot for users with large property portfolios.

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 $52 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 $166 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 $479 per month. Buildium also offers a 15% 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.

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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.

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: $450 per month for up to 250 units: $1.75 for additional units. Key features include enterprise accounting, maintenance, marketing, portals, custom reports, unlimited phone support. 
• Property Matrix Pro: $550 per month for up to 250 units: $1.75 for additional units. Includes all Standard features, plus tools for commercial properties, budgets, and CAM (common area maintenance) charges.
• Enterprise: $1,400 per month for up to 800 units: $1.60 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

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.

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Popular among investors, Stessa is a free rental property finance software that comes with everything a landlord with several properties would need, making it a great pick for those that want to keep expenses low and get the best value.

Because Stessa is free software and comes with ample accounting features, it is the best value for real estate investors to get the basics done well.

Founded in 2016, tens of thousands of investors use Stessa to monitor over $45 billion in real estate assets. It’s a web-based software that has an app compatible with Mac devices. 

It has a fully automated bookkeeping and financial tracking feature that syncs with the bank and financial accounts associated with a rental property, a document management center, an option to scan receipts, and the option to create a variety of reports (balance sheets, cash flow, rent rolls, IRS-ready tax statements, and more). 

Stessa is perfect for landlords and investors who want to manage their assets and track their finances by focusing on key metrics. However, it has a limited amount of features and is not fit for professional or enterprise-level users. 

Stessa currently integrates with AppFolio, allowing users to import income and expense transactions automatically every month. It’s fairly easy to use for novice investors and accountants, a fact backed up by reviews left from previous users.

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Rent Manager has the most complete accounting system with advanced features that handle all aspects of a business’s finances and documents.

The comprehensive accounting system in Rent Manager has all the functionality a landlord may need combined with outside platform integrations, so we awarded it as our best for extra features.

It comes with an online version, standalone versions, and a mobile app to help users manage their business wherever they are.

Rent Manager allows users to process e-payments, e-checks with delivery via email, create custom-designed reports, make electronic bank reconciliations, control every aspect of accounts payable and receivable, and more. It also functions in cash and accrual accounting simultaneously, saving time otherwise spent on double-entry bookkeeping. 

Rent Manager also has additional customizable features for each user, including online payment portals, marketing and leasing, operations, maintenance, and advanced reporting. It integrates with close to 100 other programs like Avidxchange, Beanworks, Safeguard, and ZeGo by PayLease.

Customer service provided by Rent Manager is top-notch. The customer support staff is also praised for their knowledge of all features, including the latest upgrades.

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With over 200 solution partners and 25 consulting partners, MRI Software gives users the flexibility to choose what they need to facilitate the work of accountants and bookkeepers, making it the best choice if integrations are important to you.

To simplify and streamline the whole accounting process, MRI has partnered with over two hundred companies, each designed to provide a financial solution that meets the unique requirements of each management firm, making it best for integrations.

MRI Software doesn’t have specific pricing tiers or a free trial version. As you can add over 200 integrations and features, the cost can vary.

The list of MRI Software’s features is lengthy: online rent collection, maintenance requests, tenant screening, multifamily insurance, resident communication, investor relations, rent tracking, compliance solutions, credit risk management, and more. This integrated accounting software can grow with you as your needs change through its Partner Connect program. Through this program, you can add third-party tools for AP automation, debt collection, electronic payments, and more.  

Because of the many features and the option to add additional tools, commercial users would be able to optimize MRI Software as well as their partner relationships.

MRI Software has been in business since 1971, a testament to its reliability and expertise in providing a variety of services to clients across different industries.