Stessa vs TurboTenant: Which Free Landlord Tool Is Right for You in 2026?
Stessa is the best free tracker for rental investors. TurboTenant is the best free tool for tenant management. We compare both so you don't have to guess.
TurboTenant wins as the better overall free tool for most landlords; Stessa wins for serious investors who need financial visibility and tax prep.
Stessa and TurboTenant are two of the most popular free tools for independent landlords — and both have genuinely strong free tiers. But they solve different core problems.
Stessa is built for investors. It’s a financial tracking and portfolio analytics platform that makes sense of your rental income, expenses, and returns. Tax prep is where it really shines.
TurboTenant is built for tenant management. It handles everything from listing syndication and tenant screening through online rent collection, lease templates, and maintenance requests — all from a single dashboard.
The question isn’t really which is “better.” It’s which one matches your biggest pain point right now.
Quick Verdict
| Stessa | TurboTenant | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Financial tracking and tax reporting | Full tenant lifecycle management |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes (landlord pays nothing) |
| Paid tier | Stessa Pro (~$20/month) | TurboTenant Premium (~$149/year) |
| Tenant screening | No | Yes (free to landlord, paid by tenant) |
| Listings & marketing | No | Yes (Zillow, Apartments.com, 20+ sites) |
| Rent collection | Yes (limited on free) | Yes (free ACH) |
| Maintenance requests | No | Yes |
| Tax reports | Excellent | Basic |
| Portfolio analytics | Yes | No |
Choose Stessa if: You care more about portfolio performance, financial reporting, and tax prep.
Choose TurboTenant if: You need tenant management — screening, leases, rent collection, and maintenance in one place.
Stessa Overview
Stessa was founded by real estate investors and acquired by Roofstock in 2022. Its mission is simple: give every landlord the financial visibility that professional operators have, without requiring accounting knowledge.
What Stessa Does Well
Automatic transaction tracking. Connect your bank accounts, mortgages, and credit cards. Stessa auto-categorizes every transaction and assigns it to the right property. Rent deposits, maintenance expenses, insurance premiums — all categorized and organized without manual work.
Portfolio analytics that actually matter. Track net operating income, cash-on-cash return, cap rate, and occupancy across your entire portfolio. Filter by property, time period, or expense category. For investors managing multiple properties, this level of visibility is hard to replicate in a spreadsheet.
Tax prep built in. Stessa generates a Schedule E worksheet ready for your accountant or direct import into tax software. Stessa Pro adds 1099 e-filing and more detailed reports. If you’ve ever scrambled to organize receipts in March, you understand why this matters.
Genuinely free for most users. Unlimited properties, unlimited transactions, full financial tracking, and tax package prep are all included on the free plan. The paid tier adds e-filing and advanced features but isn’t necessary for most landlords.
Where Stessa Falls Short
- No tenant management. Stessa doesn’t handle applications, screening, leases, or maintenance requests.
- No listing syndication. You can’t post a vacancy from Stessa.
- Rent collection is available but limited on the free tier and powered by a third-party integration.
- Not designed for landlords who want to manage tenant relationships — it’s purely financial.
→ Try Stessa free — unlimited properties, no credit card
TurboTenant Overview
TurboTenant is one of the most popular free property management platforms for independent landlords, with over 650,000 landlords using it as of 2025. Its model: free for landlords, paid by tenants (screening fees, ACH fees on some transactions).
What TurboTenant Does Well
Tenant screening is best-in-class for free tools. Background checks, credit reports, and eviction history come back fast, presented in a clean summary. The cost is charged to the applicant, making it free for landlords. This alone makes TurboTenant worth considering.
Listing syndication to 20+ sites. Post your vacancy once and it syndicates to Zillow, Apartments.com, Realtor.com, HotPads, and more. For landlords who dread managing multiple listing accounts, this is a significant time saver.
Online rent collection is smooth. Tenants pay via ACH (free) or credit card (fee applies). Rent reminders go out automatically. You get paid on schedule, and it’s all logged in your dashboard.
Lease templates and e-signatures. State-specific lease templates are included. Sign online, store digitally, and access from anywhere.
Maintenance request portal. Tenants submit requests through the app with photos. You can communicate and track status without playing phone tag.
The free tier handles the full tenant lifecycle. Applications, screening (paid by tenant), lease signing, rent collection, and maintenance — all available on the free landlord plan.
Where TurboTenant Falls Short
- Financial tracking is minimal compared to Stessa. Income and expense logging exists, but it’s not designed for serious accounting.
- Tax reporting is basic — no Schedule E worksheet, no depreciation tracking.
- No portfolio analytics. TurboTenant doesn’t calculate cap rates or cash-on-cash return.
- Premium features (document storage, expedited ACH, dedicated support) require TurboTenant Premium (~$149/year).
- Customer support can be slow on the free tier.
→ Try TurboTenant free for landlords
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
Financial Tracking
Winner: Stessa
This isn’t close. Stessa’s auto-categorization, real estate chart of accounts, and multi-property dashboards were purpose-built for investor tracking. TurboTenant logs income and expenses but isn’t designed for serious financial management.
Tax Reporting
Winner: Stessa
Stessa’s Schedule E worksheet, depreciation tracking, and 1099 e-filing (Pro) make it the clear winner for tax prep. TurboTenant covers basic reporting but doesn’t generate tax-ready output.
Tenant Screening
Winner: TurboTenant
Stessa doesn’t offer tenant screening at all. TurboTenant includes background, credit, and eviction screening charged to the applicant — a genuine differentiator.
Rent Collection
Winner: TurboTenant
Both support online rent collection, but TurboTenant’s is more fully featured — autopay, ACH, credit card, rent reminders, and payment history tracking. Stessa’s is a lighter integration.
Listing & Marketing
Winner: TurboTenant
TurboTenant syndicates to 20+ sites with one click. Stessa has no listing features.
Maintenance Management
Winner: TurboTenant
TurboTenant has a dedicated maintenance request portal with tenant communication. Stessa doesn’t touch this.
Lease Management
Winner: TurboTenant
State-specific templates, e-signatures, document storage — TurboTenant handles the full lease workflow. Stessa doesn’t.
Portfolio Analytics
Winner: Stessa
NOI, cap rate, cash-on-cash return, occupancy trends — Stessa’s analytics dashboard is built for investors. TurboTenant doesn’t offer this.
Pricing Breakdown
| Plan | Stessa | TurboTenant |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Unlimited properties, full tracking, tax package | Listings, screening, rent collection, leases |
| Paid | Stessa Pro ~$20/month | Premium |
| What paid adds | 1099 e-filing, advanced reports, lease tracking | Expedited ACH, doc storage, priority support |
Both free tiers are genuinely useful. TurboTenant Premium is better value than Stessa Pro for landlords focused on tenant management.
Who Should Choose Stessa?
✅ Real estate investors who want portfolio analytics — If you’re making decisions based on yield, cap rate, and cash flow, Stessa gives you the data.
✅ Tax-anxious landlords — Stessa’s Schedule E automation and transaction categorization make April significantly less painful.
✅ Multi-property owners with complex finances — The more properties and transactions you have, the more Stessa’s tracking capabilities justify themselves.
✅ Landlords who already use a separate tenant management tool — Stessa pairs well with anything that handles leases and maintenance.
Who Should Choose TurboTenant?
✅ Landlords who want a single free platform for everything tenant-facing — Applications, screening, leases, rent collection, and maintenance in one place.
✅ Landlords with high vacancy turnover — The listing syndication and tenant screening workflow saves significant time during turnover.
✅ New landlords just getting started — TurboTenant’s onboarding is intuitive, and the free tier handles most early-stage landlord needs.
✅ Landlords who hate chasing rent — Autopay, reminders, and online payment make rent collection more reliable.
Can You Use Both?
Absolutely — and it’s a popular combination. TurboTenant handles the tenant-facing side: listings, screening, lease management, rent collection, and maintenance. You then export that income data (or manually input key transactions) to Stessa for tracking, analytics, and tax prep.
The downside is slight duplication and some manual syncing. But since both have free tiers, the only cost is the setup time.
Final Verdict
TurboTenant wins as the better overall free tool for most independent landlords. Its coverage of the full tenant lifecycle — from listing to maintenance — handles the day-to-day realities of rental management that Stessa doesn’t touch.
Stessa wins for serious investors who need financial visibility and painless tax reporting. If you think like an investor first and a landlord second, Stessa’s analytics and reporting are hard to beat.
Best combo: TurboTenant for tenant management + Stessa for financial tracking. Both are free and designed to coexist.
→ Try TurboTenant free for landlords | → Try Stessa free
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