Comparison

Stessa vs Baselane vs REI Hub: Best Rental Accounting Software for 1–10 Units

Pricing checked October 2026 (vendor pricing pages, Oct 22, 2026)

Most small landlords don't need a full property-management suite to keep clean books. They need three things: every rent payment and expense tied to the right property, a Schedule E–ready report at tax time, and a system that doesn't eat a Saturday every month. Three tools built for this job come up again and again: Stessa, Baselane, and REI Hub.

This comparison sticks to what each vendor publishes on its own pricing page. Claims we could not confirm on a vendor page have been left out. This is not tax advice. Your CPA should have the final say on how you categorize and depreciate.

Quick verdict

Short version: Start with Baselane Core or Stessa Essentials if you want $0 software and don't mind opening their bank accounts. Pick REI Hub if you'd rather keep your current bank and want books that look like real accounting, at a set price by unit count.

Stessa

From Stessa's pricing page:

• Essentials — Free. Unlimited properties, automatic bank feeds, basic financial reports, online rent collection, tenant screening, vacancy marketing, and maintenance tracking. Receipt scanning is capped at 5 per month, and state-specific lease templates cost $15 each.
• Manage — $12/month paid annually, or $15/month paid monthly. Adds a Schedule E report, 60+ legal forms and templates, unlimited state-compliant lease agreements, one eSignature per month, accelerated rent payments, and priority chat support.
• Pro — $28/month paid annually, or $35/month paid monthly. Adds unlimited portfolios, all advanced reports, advanced transaction tracking, budgeting and pro-forma, unlimited receipt scanning, seven eSignatures per month, project expense tracking, and live phone support.

All Stessa plans include unlimited properties. Banking is provided through Thread Bank, Member FDIC. Stessa's page lists interest rates on cash balances by plan and balance tier. Those rates are variable, so check the current numbers there instead of relying on a review.

Where Stessa fits: It's the closest thing to a free "do everything" landlord app that is still built around the books. If you have a few doors and also want listings, screening, and rent collection in one login, Essentials covers a lot for $0. The catch for tax season: the Schedule E report sits on the paid Manage plan. The free plan gets a "basic tax package."

Baselane

From Baselane's pricing page:

• Core — $0/month. Unlimited checking and savings accounts, physical and virtual debit cards with spend controls, property-level income and expense tracking, an accountant tax package and Schedule E reports, and automated rent collection with reminders and late fees.
• Smart — $20/month on an annual plan. Adds AI auto-tagging of transactions to properties and 120+ categories, advanced tagging rules, automatic receipt matching, custom categories, balance sheet reports, cost segregation, shared access with role-based controls, VIP priority support, and 2-day rent deposits (Baselane says rent otherwise takes 5 business days). Smart includes a 30-day free trial.

Fees to know (from the same page):

• Rent paid by ACH: $2 per payment. The landlord can cover it or pass it to the tenant.
• Tenant debit or credit card payments: 3.49%.
• Outgoing wire: $15, waived when combined balances are $50,000 or more.
• Mailed check: $2. Checkbook: $15.
• No monthly maintenance, minimum balance, or inactive-account fees on the accounts.

Where Baselane fits: Baselane is a banking product first. Open a separate account for each property (or each business entity), have rent land there, pay that property's bills from it, and most of the bookkeeping happens on its own. For a landlord who mixes everything in one personal checking account today, that structure alone is a big improvement, and Schedule E reports are on the free plan. The trade-off is that you move your rental banking to Baselane's partner bank.

REI Hub

From REI Hub's pricing page:

REI Hub prices by portfolio size. Every tier has a free option "for those with minimal transactions" and a paid option that adds automatic transaction import and automatic booking rules:

Every plan includes revenue and expense tracking, real-estate-specific categories, loan and fixed asset tracking, and Schedule E and tax reports. REI Hub also lists P&L and cash flow by property, a balance sheet, depreciation by property, document storage, and a mileage log. Paid plans have a 14-day free trial with no credit card, and REI Hub says there are no long-term contracts.

Where REI Hub fits: REI Hub is accounting software, not a rent app or a bank. It suits landlords who already collect rent somewhere else (like TurboTenant or RentRedi), want to keep their current bank, and want books a CPA will recognize: loans, fixed assets, and depreciation by property. The free tier means typing transactions in by hand, which is workable with 1–3 units and few transactions. Past that, the bank import is what you're paying for.

Side-by-side for a 1–10 unit landlord

Which one should you pick?

• You're starting out and want everything in one free app: Stessa Essentials. Upgrade to Manage when you want the Schedule E report and lease templates.
• Your rental money is mixed with personal money: Baselane Core. A separate account for each property fixes the root problem, and Schedule E reports are free.
• You already have a rent app and want real books: REI Hub. At up to 10 units it's $15/month billed annually, with fixed asset and loan tracking on every plan.
• You need owner portals or manage for other people: You may have outgrown all three. See our Buildium vs RentRedi comparison.

Whichever you choose, pick it before January. Moving a full year of transactions after the fact is the hardest part of switching any bookkeeping tool.

Bottom line

For most DIY landlords with 1–10 units, Baselane Core is the strongest $0 starting point for bookkeeping because Schedule E reports and rent collection are free, as long as you're fine banking with them. Stessa is the better free pick if you also want leasing and screening in the same app. REI Hub is the choice for landlords who want traditional rental accounting without changing banks. Still deciding how tenants will pay? Start with our guide to free rent collection apps.

See Stessa pricing · See Baselane pricing · See REI Hub pricing

Pricing checked October 22, 2026 on each vendor's own pricing page. Prices and fees change, so confirm on the vendor's site before you sign up.