Free Landlord Software Price Index 2026: What 76 Tools Really Cost

Of the 76 active landlord tools in our catalog, 24 (32%) have a free plan. Free plans are most common in accounting (7 of 8 tools) and rare in all-in-one software (4 of 20). "Free" usually means the cost moves to tenants, applicants or per-payment fees rather than disappearing. On paid plans, the median core tool costs $20.00 per unit a month at 1 unit but $2.90 at 10, because flat fees and minimums land hardest on the smallest landlords.

Every number here comes from our pricing index, built from vendors' own pricing pages, checked October 28, 2026.

Headline numbers

Which categories have free plans

Accounting is the most "free" category. Stessa, Baselane, REI Hub, Landlord Studio, Rentastic, QuickBooks and Landlordy all have a free plan; Quicken is the only one without. Even there, the median cheapest paid tier is only about $15 a month (month-to-month).

Baselane is a financial technology company and is not an FDIC-insured bank.

All-in-one tools rarely have a free plan. The four that do are Avail, Hemlane (Starter), Innago and TurboTenant.

Finding 1: "free" usually shifts the cost to tenants or transactions

A $0 subscription doesn't mean nobody pays. Here's where the money comes from on free plans in the index:

A worked example from the index. Five units on Avail's free tier, with every tenant paying by ACH, means about $12.50 a month ($150 a year) in tenant-paid ACH fees. Avail's Unlimited Plus, which waives the ACH fee, would cost $45 a month for those 5 units. For a landlord, free is the cheaper plan; it's the tenants who pay.

That's why the cost figures in this index are subscription costs only. Transaction fees can easily exceed a cheap subscription, and they're often paid by someone other than you. For a fee-by-fee breakdown, see what rent collection really costs per unit.

Finding 2: free plans come with caps

Many free plans are limited by units, users or records:

• Landlord Studio Go: 3 units, 1 user, 10 documents
• Landlordy Free: 1 unit, 1 lease
• Breezeway: first property only
• Turno: 1 property, or any number using only Marketplace cleaners
• QuickBooks Free: 1 user, 2 invoices a month
• Maintenance Care Free Forever: 2 users, 5 assets
• REI Hub Free: "minimal transactions," with no automatic transaction import
• PayRent Free-for-five: a 5-unit minimum, not a maximum

Finding 3: minimums hurt small landlords most

For core small-landlord software (all-in-one, accounting and rent collection), the median cheapest paid plan costs:

Per-unit cost falls about 90% from 1 to 25 units, because most plans are flat fees or carry minimums. The minimums in the index that matter most for small portfolios:

• DoorLoop: $199 a month minimum, which works out to $199 per unit at 1 unit and $19.90 at 10
• Propertyware: $250 a month minimum, plus an implementation fee
• Yardi Breeze: $100 a month minimum
• Property Meld: $200 a month minimum
• Showdigs: $120 a month minimum

At 10 units, the cheapest paid all-in-one plan in the index ranges from $12.42 a month (TurboTenant Essentials, billed annually only) and $18 (TenantCloud Starter, monthly) to $199 (DoorLoop) and $250 (Propertyware). Flat-priced DIY tools stay cheapest per unit at every size: TurboTenant $12.42 (billed annually, up to 10 units), Stessa Manage $15 monthly ($12 billed annually) and RentRedi $29.95 monthly ($12 billed annually).

Median paid cost at 10 units, by category

Small samples are directional (see caveats below).

Finding 4: a lot of pricing isn't public

For 33 of the 76 tools, a monthly cost can't be calculated from public pages:

• 11 are quote-only (for example Entrata, Rent Manager, ResMan, HappyCo and Hostaway)
• 6 are pay-per-use screening or jobs
• 4 are free-only platforms (Innago, Tellus, Rentler and Zillow Rental Manager)
• 12 publish only "starting at" prices, price per listing, show prices in-app only or use a calculator, such as Buildium, ManageCasa, Rentvine, Rently, Zumper, OwnerRez, RentCheck, zInspector and DocuSign

If a vendor won't publish a price, ask for it in writing, including minimums and onboarding fees.

What this means if you have 1–10 units

• Start free where it fits, but count what tenants and applicants pay; $2–$2.50 ACH fees add up.
• Check caps before you onboard tenants. Moving tenants and ledgers later is work.
• Avoid minimum-heavy software at small sizes. A $199 minimum over 5 units is about $40 per unit a month.

Our best free landlord software guide covers which free plan to pick. Landlord software by unit count covers picks by portfolio size.

How we checked

This index was built by our data team on October 28, 2026 from our catalog of 77 listings. Every listing's pricing was checked that day on the vendor's own pricing page. Azibo is excluded as discontinued, leaving 76 active tools.

• Free plan: the listing's free-plan flag, with the plan's $0 line and free-plan description. Free trials don't count. REI Hub is counted as free per its pricing page, verified Oct 28, 2026 ($0 a month on every unit tier, "for those with minimal transactions").
• Cost at N units: the monthly price of the cheapest paid plan that covers N units, as published. The month-to-month price is used wherever the vendor publishes one. An annual-billing rate is used only when a plan is annual-only or no monthly price is published; those are labeled, never estimated. Formulas use only published platform fees, per-unit rates, minimums and unit bands. Per-unit cost is monthly cost divided by N. Short-term-rental tools count properties or listings as units. Where a vendor prices by property, lease or tenant, that's treated as a unit and flagged.
• Blank, not estimated: a cost is left blank when the price is quote-only, "starting at" without a unit schedule, per use, per listing, or has no billing period.
• Medians use only tools with a computable value, and n is shown on every table and chart. AppFolio is excluded from the medians. AppFolio's pricing page (checked Oct 28, 2026) says "Minimum spend and 50 unit minimum apply," but the spend amount isn't published, so its $1.49 per-unit list price would understate small-portfolio cost.
• Costs exclude tenant-paid fees (ACH, card, screening, application), landlord transaction fees, setup or implementation fees, add-ons and taxes.

Caveats and data gaps

• "Free" isn't free: the cost figures leave out transaction fees, which can exceed a cheap subscription.
• Small samples: rent collection and short-term rentals (n=3 each at 10 units) and leases & e-sign (n=2). Inspections and tenant screening (n=1 each) are left out of the category chart.
• Low-confidence inputs are flagged in the data. These include a waitlist-page price for one maintenance tool, search-snippet prices for SimplifyEm, an unclear package-vs-unit relationship for Leasey, and a Starter price conflict for TenantCloud (the $18 monthly price is used; the page also shows $25, which is still flagged). Others: Landlord Studio's $1.20 per extra unit, assumed monthly; Smoobu's EUR billing, using the vendor's USD estimate at 1 unit only; and Quicken's first-year promo price.
• Assumptions: ClearNow and PayYourRent assume one ACH or debit payment per unit per month. Hospitable uses Host ($29 for 1 property, +$10 for a 2nd) and Professional for 3+ properties.
• Thin free-plan details: Rentastic doesn't publish its free plan's limits, Zumper's free tier comes from a search snippet, and Zillow Rental Manager's free flag rests on free rent collection and landlord-free screening.
• All prices were checked on one date, and vendors change prices often.

Independence. Some tools in the index run affiliate or referral programs. Payouts played no part in the data or the findings, and no vendor paid to be included.

FAQ

What share of landlord software has a free plan?

24 of the 76 active tools we index (32%), as of October 28, 2026. Accounting has the most (7 of 8), and lease/e-sign and inspection tools have none.

How much does landlord software cost in 2026?

For core tools, the median cheapest paid plan is $20.00 per unit a month at 1 unit, $5.80 at 5, $2.90 at 10 and $1.98 at 25.

Why is landlord software so expensive for one or two units?

Most plans charge a flat fee or have a minimum, so the cost is spread over few units. A $199 monthly minimum is $199 per unit at 1 unit and $19.90 at 10.

What's the cheapest paid all-in-one plan at 10 units?

In our index, TurboTenant Essentials at $12.42 a month (billed $149 a year) and TenantCloud Starter at $18 a month, month-to-month.

Related

• Best free landlord software
• What rent collection really costs per unit
• Landlord software by unit count
• All-in-one landlord software