Roundup
Free vs paid rental property software: what free actually covers
Free is not a marketing word in this category. Several of these products give away things other categories charge for, because the money comes from somewhere else: interest on deposits, payment processing, screening fees paid by applicants, or lease documents. Knowing which lets you judge whether the free plan will stay that shape. rents.ai has no free plan, so this page is one where the honest answer sends most readers elsewhere.
Short answer
Five products in this category have genuinely free plans as published in August 2026: Stessa Essentials, Baselane Core, Azibo's platform, Landlord Studio Go (three units) and Hemlane Starter. Stessa and Baselane are the most complete at $0, both including rent collection, with Baselane also including Schedule E reports. Free plans here are funded by banking, payment processing and applicant-paid screening rather than by you, which is a real trade rather than a catch, and rents.ai has no free plan at all.
How this was ranked
The criteria, stated up front.
- 01A plan you can stay on at $0 indefinitely, not a trial with an end date.
- 02What the free plan actually includes, feature by feature.
- 03How the free plan is funded, so you can judge whether it lasts.
- 04The first thing you hit that costs money.
rents.ai is one of the products in this list and is placed where those criteria put it, which is not first. Prices were read from each vendor's own pricing page, most recently on August 10, 2026, and every entry links its source.
The list
6 products, ranked.
1Stessa
Free, or $12 to $35/mo
Best for landlords who want free bank feeds and rent collection first.
The broadest free plan. Essentials at $0 includes bank feeds, rent collection, screening, listings and a tenant portal. The first paid wall most landlords hit is the Schedule E report, on Manage at $12/mo billed annually.
Verified August 10, 2026 from stessa.com/pricing
2Baselane
Free, or $20/mo
Best for landlords who want landlord banking and the books in one account.
The deepest free plan on accounting. Core at $0 includes banking, rent collection, transaction import, a tenant portal with autopay and an accountant tax package with Schedule E reports. Funded by banking; Smart is $20/mo.
Verified August 10, 2026 from baselane.com/pricing
3Azibo
Free, with paid add-ons
Best for landlords who want rent collection with no monthly fee at all.
No monthly fee at any size. Rent collection, banking, accounting and a Schedule E form are free; leases are $29.99 and screening is $39.99 charged to the applicant.
Verified August 10, 2026 from azibo.com/pricing
4Landlord Studio
Free for 3 units, or $12/mo
Best for landlords with a handful of units who want per-unit pricing.
Free for three units on the Go plan, including bank feeds, rent collection, screening, listings and a tax export. The wall is the unit count: unit four costs $12/mo on Pro.
Verified August 10, 2026 from landlordstudio.com/pricing
5Hemlane
$0 to $58 per unit/mo
Best for remote landlords who want a local person on the ground.
Starter is free forever and covers listings, applications and screening. Rent collection and e-sign start at Basic, $2 per unit/mo including a $30/mo platform fee.
Verified August 10, 2026 from hemlane.com/pricing
6rents.ai
$10/mo one property, $18/mo unlimited
Best for landlords whose actual gap is the tax return.
Not free, and there is no free tier planned: $10/mo for one property or $18/mo unlimited after a 7-day trial. On this particular page that is the wrong answer for most readers, and the four options above are better starting points.
Our own product. Listed here at its real position, not at the top.
All of them at once
Published price and the three axes that matter.
| Product | Published price | Free plan | Rent collection | Schedule E |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stessaverified August 10, 2026 | Free, or $12 to $35/mo | Essentials is $0/mo | included on every plan | Manage and Pro; Essentials gets a basic tax package |
| Baselaneverified August 10, 2026 | Free, or $20/mo | Core is $0/mo | automated rent payments on Core | accountant tax package and Schedule E reports on Core |
| Aziboverified August 10, 2026 | Free, with paid add-ons | no monthly fee for property owners | free, described as the core of the product | Schedule E tax form on the free platform |
| Landlord Studioverified August 10, 2026 | Free for 3 units, or $12/mo | Go is $0/mo for 3 units | included on every plan | tax export included on every plan |
| Hemlaneverified August 10, 2026 | $0 to $58 per unit/mo | Starter is $0/mo, free forever | Basic and above; not on the free Starter tier | accounting and tax reports listed; Schedule E is not |
| rents.ai | $10 to $18/mo | paid only, after a 7-day trial | records rent you receive elsewhere | per-property rollup by year, print view, CSV export |
How to read this
- Yes / nothe source page states it, in those words
- Partialincluded, with a real condition: a higher plan, or a separate fee
- Not publishedthe pricing page does not say. It is a fact about the source, never a mark against the product
Questions
The questions behind this search.
Is there genuinely free rental property software?
Yes. As published in August 2026, Stessa Essentials, Baselane Core, Azibo's platform and Hemlane Starter are all $0/mo with no end date, and Landlord Studio Go is free for up to three units. These are free plans rather than trials. Stessa and Baselane are the most complete of them, and both include online rent collection at $0.
How do free landlord apps make money?
Mostly not from the landlord. Baselane and Azibo are built around banking and payment flows. Screening is commonly charged to the applicant rather than to you, at $39.99 on both Azibo and RentRedi. Others sell one-off documents, such as Azibo's $29.99 state-specific lease with eSign, or move you up a tier for reporting, such as Stessa's Schedule E report on the paid Manage plan.
When is paying worth it?
When the free plan's gap is costing you more than the subscription. If your gap is rent collection or bank feeds, the free plans already cover it and paying adds nothing. If your gap is the depreciation line on Schedule E, none of the free pricing pages state that they compute a 27.5-year residential schedule, and that is the specific case rents.ai is built for at $10 to $18/mo.
See ours before you decide.
The public demo opens a fully worked portfolio with a finished Schedule E and line 18 computed from a real cost basis. No signup, no card, and no obligation to prefer it.
- Live demo: no signup or card
- No bank connection. Nothing changes for your tenants
- Trial: 7 days, card required, $0 today
- Then $10/mo for one or $18/mo for unlimited
Keep comparing
Other comparisons on the same facts.
Every page below reads from the same verified price and feature records, so the numbers agree across all of them.
Rental property tax software: which ones reach a Schedule E
Which ones reach a Schedule E, and which stop short.
rents.ai vs Stessa
Free, or $12 to $35/mo. Landlords who want free bank feeds and rent collection first.
rents.ai vs Baselane
Free, or $20/mo. Landlords who want landlord banking and the books in one account.
rents.ai vs Landlord Studio
Free for 3 units, or $12/mo. Landlords with a handful of units who want per-unit pricing.
rents.ai vs Azibo
Free, with paid add-ons. Landlords who want rent collection with no monthly fee at all.
rents.ai vs RentRedi
$12 to $29.95/mo. Landlords who want unlimited units on one flat annual price.