rents.ai vs Stessa
Broad and free, or narrow and tax-focused.
Stessa's free plan is not a teaser. Bank feeds, online rent collection, tenant screening, listings and a tenant portal are all on Essentials at $0, which is more than most paid products include, and the Schedule E report arrives on Manage at $12/mo billed annually. rents.ai is smaller and more manual on purpose: no bank connection, no rent collection, no screening. What it does instead is compute the depreciation line and keep the Schedule E rollup current per property, all year.
Short answer
Stessa is free and broader: bank feeds, rent collection, tenant screening and listings are all on its $0 Essentials plan, and its Schedule E report sits on the paid Manage plan at $12/mo billed annually. rents.ai has none of those features and costs $10/mo for one property. The only reason to pay for it instead is that it computes residential depreciation from cost basis on the 27.5-year mid-month schedule and keeps a per-property Schedule E current all year, without a bank login.
What each one costs
Published prices, both sides.
Stessa
- Essentials
- $0/mo
- Manage
- $12/mo billed annually
- Pro
- $28/mo billed annually
$15/mo billed monthly
$35/mo billed monthly
rents.ai
- Basic
- $10/mo
- Pro
- $18/mo
- Trial
- $0
one property, every feature
unlimited properties, every feature
7 days
Stessa figures read from stessa.com/pricing on August 10, 2026. Products change. If a line here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
The $10 question
What the subscription actually buys.
A year-round record for each property: rent roll, ledger, work orders, documents, deposits, notes, and renewal dates. No bank login is required, no rent moves through the product, and nothing changes for your tenants. Keep collecting rent exactly how you do today. If that is not the gap you have, Stessais very likely the better answer.
Side by side
Where each one actually earns its keep.
| What it does | Stessa | rents.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Free plana plan you can stay on at $0, not a trial | Essentials is $0/mo | paid only, after a 7-day trial |
| Automatic bank feedspulls transactions from a connected bank login | included on every plan, Essentials included | manual entry or CSV import; no bank login |
| Online rent collectiontenant payments move through the product | included on every plan | records rent you receive elsewhere |
| Tenant screeningcredit, background, and eviction reports | included on every plan | not a leasing tool |
| Listings and syndicationposts a vacancy to the rental sites | included on every plan | not a leasing tool |
| Schedule E reportincome and expenses arranged by tax line | Manage and Pro; Essentials gets a basic tax package | per-property rollup by year, print view, CSV export |
| Residential depreciation computedcost basis and land split on the 27.5-year mid-month schedule | not stated on the pricing page | computed from cost basis and land on the 27.5-year mid-month schedule |
| Mobile appa native iOS or Android app | not stated on the pricing page | responsive web app, no native app |
| Maintenance and work orderswork orders with the vendor and what the job cost | not stated on the pricing page | Kanban work orders with vendor and cost tracking |
Free plan
a plan you can stay on at $0, not a trial
- Stessa
- Essentials is $0/mo
- rents.ai
- paid only, after a 7-day trial
Automatic bank feeds
pulls transactions from a connected bank login
- Stessa
- included on every plan, Essentials included
- rents.ai
- manual entry or CSV import; no bank login
Online rent collection
tenant payments move through the product
- Stessa
- included on every plan
- rents.ai
- records rent you receive elsewhere
Tenant screening
credit, background, and eviction reports
- Stessa
- included on every plan
- rents.ai
- not a leasing tool
Listings and syndication
posts a vacancy to the rental sites
- Stessa
- included on every plan
- rents.ai
- not a leasing tool
Schedule E report
income and expenses arranged by tax line
- Stessa
- Manage and Pro; Essentials gets a basic tax package
- rents.ai
- per-property rollup by year, print view, CSV export
Residential depreciation computed
cost basis and land split on the 27.5-year mid-month schedule
- Stessa
- not stated on the pricing page
- rents.ai
- computed from cost basis and land on the 27.5-year mid-month schedule
Mobile app
a native iOS or Android app
- Stessa
- not stated on the pricing page
- rents.ai
- responsive web app, no native app
Maintenance and work orders
work orders with the vendor and what the job cost
- Stessa
- not stated on the pricing page
- rents.ai
- Kanban work orders with vendor and cost tracking
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
Source
Stessa figures read from stessa.com/pricing on August 10, 2026. Products change. If a line here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Beyond the axes
What this table does not cover.
The rows above compare a narrow set of pricing-page features. rents.ai also keeps these records behind each rental.
- A per-property ledger, categorized to Schedule E lines all year rather than in April
- Rent roll with late fees computed from each lease's due day, grace period, and fee rule
- Residential depreciation from cost basis, land, and in-service date on the 27.5-year mid-month schedule
- Documents attached to the property, tenant, transaction, or property record they belong to
- Append-only tenant notes that become immutable after a 15-minute edit window
- Insurance, property tax, and rental licence records with an SMS renewal reminder before they lapse
- Per-property P&L, NOI, and cap rate, plus CSV import and export
The honest version
There's a right answer for you.
Sometimes it isn't us, and we'll say so. Here's the short way to tell.
Choose Stessa if
- You want a capable plan that stays free rather than a trial.
- Automatic bank feeds are the feature you would miss most.
- You want online rent collection, screening, or listings in the same place.
- Paying $12/mo for Manage when you need the Schedule E report suits you fine.
Choose rents.ai if
- You want depreciation computed from cost basis, land, and in-service date, not just tracked.
- You want every expense already mapped to its Schedule E line, per property, in August rather than in April.
- You would rather not connect a bank login to your rental books at all.
- You want insurance, property tax, and licence dates to text you before they lapse.
On purpose
Why pay when Stessa is free?
Do not pay for rents.ai because it has more features. It has fewer, and the table above is the honest count. Pay only if the tax engine is the job you need done, and if the depreciation schedule and the per-property Schedule E rollup are worth $10/mo to you. If bank feeds and rent collection matter more, Stessa is the better product and this page is happy to have said so.
Questions
What landlords ask comparing the two.
Is Stessa really free?
Yes. Stessa Essentials is $0/mo and, as published on stessa.com/pricing on August 10, 2026, includes automatic bank feeds, online rent collection, tenant screening, listings and a tenant portal. The paid Manage plan is $12/mo billed annually or $15/mo monthly, and Pro is $28/mo annually or $35/mo monthly.
Does Stessa have a Schedule E report?
Yes, on the paid plans. Stessa's pricing page shows the Schedule E report on Manage and Pro, with the free Essentials plan getting a basic tax package. rents.ai includes its per-property Schedule E rollup on both of its plans and also computes residential depreciation from cost basis on the 27.5-year mid-month schedule. Both produce records for tax preparation, not tax advice.
Does Stessa calculate depreciation?
Stessa's pricing page does not state that it computes a residential depreciation schedule, so this comparison marks that row as not published rather than guessing. rents.ai computes it from cost basis, land value and in-service date using the 27.5-year straight-line MACRS mid-month convention, and puts the result on Schedule E line 18.
Compare the tax workflow on real numbers.
The public demo opens a fully worked portfolio. Inspect the per-property Schedule E, the line 18 depreciation, and the ledger underneath it before you create anything.
- 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.
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